GLOBAL – Coca-Cola, a multinational soft drink manufacturer, and its eight bottling partners from around the world have formed a Sustainability-Focused venture capital fund in partnership with Greycroft.
Greycroft, a seed-to-growth venture capital firm, will manage the US$137.7 million Greycroft Coca-Cola System Sustainability Fund which will also seek to invest in companies at the point of commercialization.
It will be the first of its kind for Greycroft, which invests in enterprise and consumer solutions across life cycles and industries. It has raised over US$3 billion in capital and has made over 400 investments since inception.
Greycroft termed the partnership with the Coca-Cola system as an attractive opportunity to help scale innovations alongside some of the top bottling operations in the world.
According to the press release, the fund will prioritize the Coca-Cola system’s carbon footprint, with a focus on five key areas with the most potential impact. The areas include packaging, heating, and cooling, facility decarbonization, distribution, and supply chain.
“This fund offers an opportunity to pioneer innovative solutions and help scale them quickly within the Coca-Cola system and across the industry,” said John Murphy, President, and Chief Financial Officer of The Coca-Cola Company.
“We expect to benefit from getting access to emerging technology and science for sustainability and carbon reduction.”
The US$137.7 million focusing on sustainability investment comes primarily from US$15 million of committed capital from 9 companies which together represent nearly half of Coca-Cola system volume around the world.
The companies are The Coca-Cola Company, Arca Continental, Coca-Cola Bottling Co. UNITED, Coca-Cola Consolidated, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, Coca-Cola FEMSA, Coca-Cola HBC, Reyes Coca-Cola Bottling, and Swire Coca-Cola.
“The market for sustainable supply chain and manufacturing technology has continued to grow as consumer brands rise to meet the demands of environmentally conscious customers,” said Dana Settle, Greycroft Co-Founder and Managing Partner.
“Greycroft has an ‘invest anywhere’ approach that we believe allows us to identify promising startups with climate tech solutions ready to scale.”
Coca-Cola Company has an aim of positively impacting people’s lives, communities and the planet through water replenishment, packaging recycling, sustainable sourcing practices and carbon emissions reductions across its value chain.
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