Zurich, 1 December 2021 – Blue Horizon, a pure-play impact investor accelerating the transition to a new Sustainable Food System, welcomes Manu Gupta, a leader in US and European venture capital, to its Board of Directors.
The appointment of Manu Gupta to the Board of Directors further bolsters the leadership of Blue Horizon with additional strategic counsel from a leader in venture capital investment with a track record identifying early-stage opportunities primed for growth.
Manu joins a Board that has overseen the rapid expansion of Blue Horizon in the last 6 years since founding, on a mission to accelerate the global transition to a new sustainable food system while delivering outstanding returns for investors and the planet.
The news follows significant business developments of the asset manager which recently appointed a General Counsel, a new Partner as well as two Directors to the investment team. The investment team of 9 now consists of 67% women with 28 Blue Horizon employees worldwide. Manu brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to the Board of Directors at an inflection point of new investment opportunities in sustainable food and agriculture innovation, which Blue Horizon aims to capture amid increasing interest from institutional investors and multibillion-dollar funds in a sustainable future of food.
Manu has been investing in tech for more than 12 years across the US, Europe, and Asia. Today he is best known as founder of Blue Lion, a venture capital firm that invests in multi-stage technology companies. Manu is also a founding member and ex-Partner of Lakestar, one of Europe’s largest tech venture funds. His investments and board memberships include Opendoor (IPO), SoFI (IPO), Robinhood (IPO), Maker Studios (M&A), Pipe, Forward Health, Figure Tech, Taulia, Aetion Health, Builder.ai, Even Health, Vested Finance, Casafari, Omio, to name a few.
Manu was previously an Executive Director and Head of European Internet coverage at Goldman Sachs, working across both the London and San Francisco offices. He started his career as a Product Manager at Oracle and software coder at Sun Microsystems. Manu graduated with honors in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (EECS) from UC Berkeley and has an MBA from the University of Chicago. He has lived in San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Zurich and London.
Bjoern Witte, Managing Partner & CEO of Blue Horizon, said: “We are very excited to announce that Manu has joined the Board of Directors as we continue to grow Blue Horizon’s deep bench of talent, drawing expertise from across disciplines that include venture capital, technology, and scientific research to cement our position as the leader in the transition to a new Sustainable Food System. As a well-renowned venture capitalist, Manu brings an invaluable perspective grounded in more than a decade of personal experience investing in early stage start-ups that have gone on to become global technology leaders which gives us another unique advantage to create value for investors and a sustainable future of food.
”Manu Gupta, Member of the Board of Directors at Blue Horizon, said:“Blue Horizon invests at the forefront of an industry that will change the way all of us think about food. I am delighted to join such a high calibre board and actively help shape the bright future of this young company. Blue Horizon offers the possibility to participate in a market opportunity that offers outstanding returns for investors and the planet and I am very much looking forward to being an active part of this ecosystem.”
To date, Blue Horizon has raised funds of over $850 million and invested in 50+ companies with a focus on protein alternatives and food tech. Some of the firm’s most recent investments include Planted, an alternative protein start-up, Mosa Meat, which is developing tissue engineering technologies to mass produce affordable, cultured meat and dairy formulation and AgBiome, the leader in developing innovative products from the Earth’s microbial communities.
Media Release Blue Horizon appoints Manu Gupta to Board of Directors (PDF)
