Deal of the Week: Family offices invest in fruit and veg innovation

A group of family offices have co-invested with some heavy-hitting institutional investors in a novel waste management technology company. 

Tao Capital Partners, the San Francisco investment office of Nicolas Pritzker, has teamed up with OW Management, the family office of Oprah Winfrey, singer Katie Perry, Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC, which led the round, Viking Global Investors, and two other investors, to back Apeel Sciences. 

The seven investors committed $250 million in a Series D round, bringing Apeel’s total funding to around $360 million. 

Apeel has developed plant-derived refrigeration technology to combat the waste of fruits and vegetables in the supply chain. The Goleta, the Californian-based group claims to be on track to save 20 million pieces of fruit from going to waste at retail stores in 2020.

Founded in 2012 with a $100,000 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Apeel’s valuation is today close to unicorn levels given this recent funding round. A few years ago it was branded as one of the 50 genius companies by Time magazine. 

Tao Capital, one of the most venture-committed family offices in the world, also backed – with seven other investors – Apeel in a Series A round worth $33 million in December 2016.