Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel Corporation, has died at 94. It's hard to express Gordon’s impact in ushering in an era where microchips are in everyday devices everywhere, from laptops to phones to children’s toys. A talk with Gordon years ago helped shape my view on innovation. Read my perspective on how predictable experience curves (like Moore’s Law) united in novel ways can create unpredictable outcomes and wildly successful products.
Congrats to 1955 Capital’s portfolio company Nature’s Fynd for raising $350 million. I’m grateful and humbled that Thomas (CEO) and Matt (CFO) chose 1955 as their Series A lead investor back in 2018, and we remain strong supporters, with $50 million invested to date. We are thrilled to partner with Softbank, Blackstone, Hillhouse, Balyasny Asset Management, Hongkou, EDBI, and SK in this round. The founders’ incredible vision is unchanged, and they continue to show tremendous progress toward achieving their goal: to build the next great sustainable food company and impact the lives of millions around the globe.
From Fortune raceAhead, by Ellen McGirt, March 23, 2021
Today, we turn this space over to Andrew Chung, a first-generation Asian American and founder and managing partner of 1955 Capital. He shares his experience with racism, his anguish over the murders in Atlanta, and issues a very specific call to action.
The American Dream at Risk
…My father dutifully wore a mask in a local pharmacy and was harassed by a patron who yelled, ‘Nobody’s wearing a mask in here, you’re scaring everyone with this whole China Virus!’ Dad was scared for his life and took off his mask, putting his health at risk... I had to call my parents and ask them to give up their cherished freedoms, because our collective voice has been too soft to drive the change that would keep them safe. Asian Americans and other minorities have taken steps backward because of failed leadership, and people need to express their anguish over events like those in Atlanta... Take a stand against bigotry and encourage your organizations to do the same... It’s time to speak up and take collective action.
Recently, the Chinese American CPA Association invited Andrew Chung to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic and its many challenges. Chung, the founder and managing partner of 1955 Capital, provided remarks helpful to listeners both in China and the United States. The talks covered everything from health concerns to business strategies as related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, there has been a drop in startups which has reduced employment opportunities across a variety of industries. Many businesses have been forced into budget cuts and employee furloughs because of the harsh economic times. After a virtual portfolio meeting with several company CEOs to discuss COVID-19 challenges, Andrew Chung, founder of 1955 Capital, provided the following takeaways for how startups can adapt to this new reality.
Andrew Chung, the founder and managing partner of the venture capital firm, 1955 Capital, has one of the strongest track records as a proponent of green businesses. In particular, Chung’s focus has long centered around the renewable energy and sustainable food and agriculture sectors. Over the past 15 years, Chung has invested in a number of these climate tech industries and supported entrepreneurs behind the green tech revolution.
Andrew Chung is the founder and managing partner of 1955 Capital, a venture capital firm founded in 2017 to invest in and help promote companies that address the developing world’s most pressing challenges, especially as they relate to energy, healthcare, food, agriculture, education and sustainable manufacturing. Chung has more than 15 years of experience in investing, including stints at Khosla Ventures and Lightspeed. He has served on a White House roundtable on advanced manufacturing and has advised global leaders on energy policy. Chung has served on the board of or advised more than 20 companies.
The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting many businesses in ways we could not have imagined even just a few weeks ago. Even with most states partially or fully reopened, shelter-in-place laws have slowed our economy, due to the shuttering of retail stores, restaurants, startups, and other businesses.
In some cases, these businesses have already failed or are on thin ice and unsure whether they can survive this extreme downturn. Andrew Chung has been here before
Recently, the 1955 Capital team organized a virtual portfolio company roundtable with 11 CEO’s discussing the current challenges in the COVID-19 environment, the need for strong leadership in this unprecedented crisis, and response strategies that they have undertaken.
Solving climate change depends, to some extent, on technological innovation.
The world’s leading climate authority, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), published a landmark 2018 report highlighting the urgency of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The report outlines four potential pathways for reaching that goal. The pathways are vastly different, but one thing they have in common is a central role for new technologies, all of which fall under the growing category known as climate tech.
Amara Raja Batteries Limited and Gridtential Energy Inc, the inventor of silicon Joule bipolar battery technology, announced that they have entered into an agreement to collaborate on bipolar battery technology.
Under the technology evaluation agreement, Amara Raja Batteries and US-based Gridtential Energy will assemble and test silicon Joule bipolar reference batteries using the former’s active material to determine improvements in cycle life, energy density, battery efficiency, charging rates and manufacturability.
Heather Clancy of GreenBiz Group will host "This is ClimateTech," a webcast featuring Andrew Chung, the founder and managing partner of 1955 Capital.
Food technology company Nature’s Fynd has secured a new round of funding led by 1955 Capital, Andrew Chung’s global venture capital firm. Generation Investment Management, LLP, and Breakthrough Energy Ventures also made substantial contributions to the $80 million in new funding
Sustainable Bioproducts, the startup that’s using a microbe discovered in Yellowstone National Park to manufacture alternative protein food products, has rebranded to Nature’s Fynd and raised $80 million in Series B funding. Nature’s Fynd is set to release a range of food products from breakfast and lunch through to snacks and dinner made from its proprietary microbe-produced protein, dubbed Fy, which contains all nine essential amino acids, as well as dietary fiber, calcium, and vitamins.
Many established alternative protein upstarts — including Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat — draw on plants as the feedstock for their innovations. Nature’s Fynd (formerly known as Sustainable Bioproducts) draws on a fermentation process linked to unique microbes that live in the geothermal hot springs of Yellowstone National Park.
1955 Capital, a global venture capital firm headed by Andrew Chung, has announced that it is making a substantial investment again in the food tech company, Nature's Fynd. The company announced today that it has raised $80 million in new funding with both Generation Investment Management LLP and Breakthrough Energy Ventures leading the round. Nature's Fynd, formerly Sustainable Bioproducts, was founded in 2012 with the mission of producing nutritional food products that are kind to the environment without using animals. Nature's Fynd will use the investment funds to scale its technology and operations in order to commercialize its products with minimal environmental impact.
On behalf of the 1955 Capital team, I’m hopeful that you, your team, and your family are staying safe amid the minute-by-minute evolution of the COVID-19 crisis. Over the past week, we have been in close dialogue with our portfolio companies about the coronavirus situation. More specifically, how its unprecedented nature heightens the importance of solid leadership, good decision-making, and thorough scenario-planning through this crisis.
Having lived in Greater China and advised companies during the 2002–04 SARS outbreak, I know firsthand how a pandemic can dramatically slow businesses down and force a rethinking of their strategies. But I have also seen companies prepare themselves well and come out of a crisis stronger than before. By managing through the situation with prudence and calm, our hope is that companies will invent ways to emerge on the other side of this in an advantaged position relative to their competitors and be ahead of the curve when the market turns.
In taking stock of some of the challenges and opportunities in front of 1955’s portfolio companies, my team and I humbly suggest that our CEOs consider a few major points as they press on during these trying times.
A little more than three years after raising an $8.5m Series A, San Jose-based Crop Enhancement has raised an $8 million Series B. The round brings new partners to the table including Spruce Capital and Xeraya Capital, which led the round, Davinia Investments, and Alexandria Ventures. Existing investors 1955 Capital, Phoenix Venture Partners, and Wilbur Ellis’ Cavallo Ventures also re-upped their investments.
“What makes Crop Enhancement distinctive is the elegance of the solution and wide application across multiple crop types. They’re the first company that 1955 Capital has seen with true potential to solve the holy grail problem of protecting and boosting crop yield—by as high as 20-30% in some trials—while reducing the need for synthetic pesticides or pesticide applications,” Andrew Chung, founder and managing partner of 1955 Capital wrote to AFN via email. “Conventional chemical inputs are facing extreme regulatory pressure and it is only a matter of time before safer, softer approaches like Crop Enhancement’s become the norm.”
“Cleantech lagged because consumers and enterprises didn’t take climate change seriously enough for it to impact their spending,” Chung said. “Now that it is seen as an existential threat to the planet, there is more urgency about solving it by consumers, corporations, governments, and investors. It’s a perfect storm.”
