Shoprite, Africa’s largest retailer, has partnered with four of the globe’s premier grocery retailers to create an innovative collaborative venture capital fund known as W23 Global.
W23 Global brings together five global grocery leaders, including Ahold Delhaize (US, Europe, Indonesia), Tesco (UK, ROI, Europe), Woolworths Group (Australia, New Zealand), Empire Company Limited/Sobeys Inc. (Canada), and Shoprite Group (Africa) are among the participants.
The newly established collaborative retail venture capital (VC) fund aims to invest $125 million over five years in the most promising start-ups and scale-ups worldwide, focusing on revolutionising grocery retail and tackling sustainability issues within the sector.
Each retailer is an equal funder and partner in W23 Global, while their CEOs will sit on the investment committee.
Heading W23 Global is CEO and Chief Investment Officer (CIO) Ingrid Maes, who boasts over 25 years of experience in FMCG and grocery retail innovation. Currently at the helm of Woolworths Group’s innovation fund, W23 Australia, Maes brings valuable expertise to the initiative.
Maes said: “W23 Global is a pioneering international VC fund with a uniquely powerful proposition for both our investors and portfolio companies.
“At a time when innovation is reshaping retail and value chains across the economy, we aim to offer our investors incomparable access to transformative innovation in grocery and sustainability across the globe.
“W23 Global will also work with its investors to identify common unaddressed challenges and identify entrepreneurs best placed to innovate new solutions.
“Our ambition is to offer our portfolio companies faster pathways to global scale, without being exposed to a venture fund anchored by a single strategic investor.
“With five of the world’s leading grocery CEOs sitting on our investment committee and access to our broader ecosystem, our founders can test and develop their ideas quickly based on an accelerated understanding of retailers’ needs,” said Maes.
W23 Global complements its partners’ continuing direct innovation and investment strategies. The fund’s portfolio companies will be free to contract with any customer, whether a W23 Global partner or otherwise, on whatever terms they decide
“In South Africa we have very unique trading circumstances that are unlike anything our partners in this venture fund have ever faced or had to deal with on a daily basis. In a country with one of the highest levels of inequality in the world, as measured by the Gini coefficient, we at the Shoprite Group have to find more affordable solutions for our customers to sustain their livelihoods, every day.,” Shoprite Group CEO, Pieter Engelbrecht said.
“This is the driving force behind our need to innovate faster than most retailers and is why we entered this venture with our esteemed global counterparts. In doing so, the Group remains committed to being a responsible corporate citizen for our customers, employees, shareholders, and importantly, also the sustainability of our planet.”
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Tesco CEO, Ken Murphy, said: “We are excited to be collaborating with four other leading grocery retailers in this new investment fund. We are passionate about seeking out the best retail innovations and finding ways to make everything we do sustainable, and this partnership allows us to do that on a truly global scale.”
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Woolworths, Brad Banducci, said: “Innovation is helping Woolworths Group create better, faster and more personalised experiences for our customers, while ensuring we always have what they need in store and on-line. It’s also fundamental to the great progress we’re making in minimising our environmental footprint. That’s why we’re committed to bringing the world’s best retail innovation into Woolworths Group, and a key strategy is supporting entrepreneurs, many of them in our own backyard of Australia and New Zealand, to start and scale ideas that can solve our biggest challenges for the benefit of our customers, team, suppliers and the environment.”
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Empire Company Limited President & CEO, Michael Medline, said: “We are thrilled to be part of this unique partnership and work with other global leaders in grocery retail to drive innovation that will both benefit our customers and address key issues facing our industry.”
