Dutch Entrepreneur Peter Arensman on Agritech Investing, Future Food Fund, Food Supply Chains & more (#013)

SRI360 | Socially Responsible Investing, ESG, Impact Investing, Sustainable Investing

Peter Arensman is an experienced entrepreneur and investor in sustainable agriculture and food chains. He is a Founding Partner of the investment company People, Planet, Profit, and the venture capital investment firm, Future Food Fund.
Growing up on a farm in the Netherlands, Peter went on to study for a Masters in Business & Economics at the University of Rotterdam. Following his graduation, he took a job with he American global food firm, Cargill, but soon realized that working for a large corporation wasn’t for him, recognizing he was an entrepreneurial at heart. This led him to first found the IT company, Attecc BV, and then acquire the company, Signal. After eight years, he decided to sell both companies and ‘started again’ at the age of thirty-five, founding the financial professional subcontracting company BAS Consultancy.
In this episode, we discuss how, after reaching a certain level of financial success, Peter realized he gained no satisfaction from earning more and more money and instead found satisfaction in gaining more knowledge. Hence his return to University to study for his third Degree in Agricultural Engineering.
Peter then founded People, Planet, Profit, which was his first venture into responsible investment, and then later he went on to found the VC investment firm, Future Food Fund. In this episode, I discuss with Peter Future Food Fund’s portfolio approach, how they select their investments and you will hear some real-life examples of investments they have made.
A strong business development professional, Peter sits on the boards of several companies, is a Guest Lecturer at Wageningen University, and holds Masters Degrees in Business Economics, Financial Law, and Agricultural Engineering.
I really enjoyed this far-reaching discussion with Peter and hope you will too!
Show notes: https://sri360.com/podcast/peter-arensman
About the SRI 360° Podcast: The SRI 360° Podcast is focused exclusively on sustainable & responsible investing. In each episode, Scott Arnell interviews a world-class investor who is an accomplished practitioner from all asset classes. In my interviews, I cover everything from their early personal journeys—and what motivated and attracted them to commit their life energy to SRI—to insights on how they developed and executed their investment strategies and what challenges they face today. Each episode is a chance to go way below the surface with these impressive people and gain additional insights and useful lessons from professional investors.
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Kapitler

1. Episode intro and bio of Peter Arensman (00:00:00)

2. Peter describes his childhood, growing up on a farm in the Netherlands (00:05:45)

3. How Peter came to study for a Masters in Business & Economics at the University of Rotterdam, returning to take a third Degree years later (00:07:59)

4. Peter shares his view that making money can be addictive, and describes his satisfaction for gaining knowledge (00:09:52)

5. Peter describes his early career path (00:12:35)

6. How Peter came to found Attecc B.V. and then acquire the company Signal (00:13:59)

7. Starting from scratch again at the age of 35 and the founding of BAS Consultancy (00:15:22)

8. Founding People, Planet, Profit and the thinking behind the company (00:18:18)

9. We hear about the BAS Gives Foundation (00:18:42)

10. Thought Leader, Eckhart Wintzen, and the People, Planet, Profit idea (00:20:02)

11. We hear more about People, Planet, Profit and their company mission (00:21:19)

12. How People, Planet, Profit make their investment selections (00:24:28)

13. How Peter came to found the Future Food Fund in 2015 (00:26:28)

14. How the business start-up culture in the Netherlands has improved over the last ten years (00:31:33)

15. The Future Food Fund’s focus on AgTech and FoodTech and the problems they are trying to solve (00:34:11)

16. How the Future Food Fund differs from traditional technology VC’s (00:41:15)

17. Some real-life examples of investments Future Food Fund has made (00:47:57)

18. What Peter knows about sustainable investing now that he wishes he knew earlier (00:56:41)

19. Peter shares his advice on how to get into the VC Agtech/Foodtech investment space (00:58:06)