Tesco is putting £20m behind a new generation of food businesses, but the bigger story may be what happens after the investment.
The retailer has become the anchor investor in Bramble Fund I, the £100m venture fund established by Henry Dimbleby, the co-founder of Leon and author of the UK government-commissioned National Food Strategy. Bramble is looking at businesses working across healthier food, nutrition, sustainable production and the circular economy, with a focus on UK and European companies at Series A and growth stage.
What makes the arrangement particularly interesting for the supermarket industry is the connection between investment and the real retail environment. Businesses backed by Bramble will have opportunities to test their products and services within Tesco’s supply chain, while Tesco and Bramble are also establishing a joint innovation board.
That changes the journey for a food start-up. Instead of developing an idea in isolation and then trying to convince a major retailer to take notice, some of these businesses will have a route into one of Britain’s largest grocery operations.
Bramble’s first investment is in KluraLabs, a British technology company developing packaging designed to help extend food freshness. It is exactly the type of innovation where the supermarket can become a testing ground rather than simply the final customer.
ISN analysis
The next supermarket battle may begin long before a product reaches the shelf.
For International Supermarket News, the Tesco-Bramble partnership points to a broader change in grocery retail. Retailers are increasingly looking outside their traditional supplier networks for technologies and ideas that could change how food is produced, packaged, transported and sold.
Tesco is already involved in W23 Global, a $125m grocery venture fund backed by several international supermarket groups. The Bramble investment adds another route into the innovation ecosystem.
ISN believes the real measure of this partnership will not be the £20m investment. It will be how many ideas can make the difficult journey from promising start-up to something that works at supermarket scale, reaches consumers and remains commercially viable.
That is where food innovation becomes retail innovation — and where the supermarket itself can become part of the development process.
