UK bakery company Warburtons has launched a 50:50 joint venture with Mission Ventures, to support businesses producing innovative bakery-led products.
Batch Ventures aims to assist the growth of SMEs and start-ups through a combination of equity funding and hands-on support from entrepreneurs and industry professionals.
These include the team at Mission Ventures, an independent business accelerator for F&B, which is run by challenger brand co-founders Paddy Willis (Plum Baby), Nigel Parrott (Ape Snacks) and John Stapleton (New Covent Garden Soup Company and Little Dish).
The JV partners are looking for businesses that incorporate baking in their production process, ranging from traditional baked goods, such as breads, crackers and biscuits, to cookie dough, baking kits and baked snacks.
Brands can express their interest via the Mission Ventures website, with initial selection planned for over the summer.
The partners expect that up to five businesses will be selected over the first 12 months and, according to Mission Ventures’ website, the JV is hoping to make initial investments in early October.
“As a fifth-generation family business, we are proud to be backing British enterprise during these uncertain times, and this programme allows us to support the next generation of innovative bakery-led brands,” said Jonathan Warburton, the bakery company’s chairman.
Mission Ventures CEO, Paddy Willis, added: “We are excited to be partnered with Warburtons, one of the top five food brands in the UK today. We see this as a smart way for the industry to build compelling challenger brands that deliver true innovation.
“This partnership leverages my team’s experience as exited food entrepreneurs and six years of running food and drink accelerator programmes, together with the depth of industry experience that comes from Warburtons.”
Earlier this year, Warburtons teamed up with UK brewer Toast Ale to launch a beer brewed using leftover crumpets, as it seeks innovative ways to grant would-be food waste a second life.
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