Ahold Delhaize, Tesco and other global grocery retail giants establish collaborative venture fund W23 Global

Ahold Delhaize, Tesco, Woolworths Group, Empire Company/Sobeys, and Shoprite Group, have teamed up to establish a venture capital fund, W23 Global, which will seek to invest in innovative startups and scaleups that deploy technology to enhance customer experiences, transform the grocery value chain and address the sector’s sustainability challenges.

Each retailer is an equal funder and partner in the initiative, while their CEOs will sit on the investment committee.

W23 Global CEO and Chief Investment Officer, Ingrid Maes, says: "W23 is a potentially game-changing international VC fund with a powerful proposition for both our investors and portfolio companies.”

“We aim to offer our investors incomparable access to transformative innovation in grocery and sustainability worldwide.”

“W23 Global will work with its investors to identify common unaddressed challenges and support entrepreneurs to develop solutions, offering faster pathways to global scale for portfolio companies.”

“With leading grocery CEOs on our investment committee, founders can rapidly develop ideas based on an accelerated understanding of retailers’ needs.” 

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. 

Ahold Delhaize CEO, Frans Muller, says: “As pioneers in retail innovation for more than 150 years, Ahold Delhaize has consistently led the way in investing in the customer value proposition.”

“We look forward to enhancing our efforts by partnering with other industry leaders and maximising our collective impact. Together with best-in-class start-ups and scale-ups, we strongly believe we can further drive retail innovation, foster sustainability, and deliver greater value to communities worldwide.”

Tesco Group CEO, Ken Murphy, comments: “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.”

W23 Global will look to invest in startups and scaleups deploying technology to: 

• benefit consumers by driving faster, more personalised and connected experiences across stores and online;  

• create more efficient grocery value chains to the benefit of all stakeholders;  

• address grocery’s biggest sustainability challenges from farm to household, including emissions and waste reduction, packaging innovation, product traceability and transparency, healthy choices and biodiversity. 

In addition to investing in early-stage businesses, W23 Global will seek out entrepreneurs to solve problems that are not currently being adequately addressed.