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In our interview series, we quiz future food investors about the solutions that excite them the most, their favourite climate-forward restaurant, and what they look for in successful founders.
Christian Nagel is a Co-Founder and Partner at Earlybird Venture Capital.
What future food technologies most excite you?
Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionising food tech with entirely new approaches through generative models. For example, precision nutrition is becoming possible with hyper-personalised meal recommendations based on biomarkers and real-time data. In the lab, AI is accelerating synthetic biology, designing microbes that produce animal-free proteins.
Robotic kitchens powered by AI are moving beyond automation into culinary creativity, and supply chains are getting smarter with AI predicting demand and reducing food waste. Across the board, AI is making food systems more efficient, sustainable, and tailored to individual needs.
What are three future food verticals you are actively looking at for 2025?
AI is accelerating the design of microorganisms that can produce new proteins, vitamins, and fats, or even mimic complex animal products. This innovation will drive momentum in the most compelling foodtech opportunities: fermentation-based protein platforms, clean-label functional ingredients, and technology that enhances supply chain resilience.
What do you consider the food tech sector’s greatest achievement in the past five years?
The commercialisation of cultivated meat products, exemplified by regulatory approvals and first-to-market entries, such as Upside Foods and Eat Just’s cultivated chicken approvals in the US, Mission Barns‘s cultivated pork approval in the US, Eat Just’s cultivated chicken approval in Singapore, and our portfolio company Gourmey, which is in the approval process for fois gras in seven countries, representing a massive technological and regulatory milestone.
If you could wave a magic wand, how would you fix plant-based meat?
I’d significantly enhance the taste and texture parity with conventional meat, particularly around juiciness, flavour, and cooking experience. This would likely involve breakthroughs in fat formulations, texture scaffolding, and ingredient innovation to dramatically improve consumer adoption.
Like Nosh.bio’s Koji Chunks, addressing all the aforementioned points, with no additives, and now moving from the lab to mainstream shelves. This proves that sustainable, functional alternatives can deliver on taste, scalability, and consumer appeal in real-world markets without a magic wand.
What’s the top trait you look for in a founder?
We look for founders with the potential, both in grit and vision, to redefine an industry.
What do you consider your most successful future food investment so far?
When it comes to future food, impact can come from very different directions, and that’s exactly what we see in both our portfolio companies Gourmey and Nosh.bio. I wouldn’t pick just one because they represent two very different, equally exciting approaches.
Gourmey is redefining high-end cultivated meat with a focus on culinary excellence, while Nosh.bio is building a foundational fermentation platform with broad applications. Both are shaping the future of food, just from very different angles.
What do people misunderstand/get wrong most about VC?
People often think venture capital is just about chasing the next big thing, but after 28 years in this industry, the hype cycles become easier to spot. In reality, it’s about a long-term partnership. Being all in from day one is what we embrace at Earlybird, and that means being a sparring partner before the breakthrough and through the uncertainty so that you might get to celebrate the wins at the end.
What is the most ‘future food’ thing you have eaten this month?
Fois gras in Paris from Gourmey – this was an experience with cultivated meat, where it was even better than the original, also confirmed by Rasmus Munk, who was Chef of the Year 2024 and is now part of Gourmey’s culinary board.
Where is your favourite climate-forward restaurant/dish/place to eat anywhere in the world?
Besides having been catered with Nosh.bio’s products, Cookies Cream in Berlin is still my most favourite climate-forward restaurant, despite not being vegan.
What’s your ‘why’? What motivates you to do what you do?
Being part of the founding journey, from the earliest stage, is what keeps me inspired. There’s something deeply meaningful about being the first to believe in a founding team, sometimes before anyone does. That early conviction can make all the difference.
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