CLEVERFOOD: “Engaging with impact investors is crucial for scaling up food system innovations” (report)

“Growing interest in impact investing, combined with the urgency of food system transformation, creates strong potential for better aligning private capital with food system innovation”, states CLEVERFOOD in an info-pack co-founded by the European Union.

The report "Private funding to support food system transformation", published in July 2026, underlines that while recent estimates put the annual cost of transforming global food systems at somewhere between USD 300 bn and over USD 1000 bN, current investment falls far short - around USD 200-300 bn per year. This leaves a substantial financing gap and reinforces the critical role private capital must play alongside public funding.

In particular, the report identifies impact investors, charitable foundations, and crowdfunding platforms as the main private finance actors enabling food system change, stating that they “can act as early movers by financing innovations that deliver social and environmental benefits”, and thereby “help demonstrate viability, support scaling and attract more return-oriented private capital.”

The report also…