Global food market set to reach US$10.tn in 2024
Aggregate global venture capital (VC) funding to food-related companies has increased approximately 1.5 times from US$95bn to US$226bn in the past five years compared to the preceding period (2014-2018), says Savills, with the core food-related sub-sectors receiving 5% (US$18bn) of all global VC raised in the year to mid-October 2024, driving an uptick in demand for real estate to service the industry.
Savills says that the value of the global food market is on track to reach US$10tn this year and to grow by a compound annual growth rate of 5%. Significant VC investment into the food category is segmented into five key sectors; agriculture, food and beverage, containers and packaging, agtech, and foodtech, but the international real estate advisor says that it is the growth of the ‘tech’ components that is likely to create most new companies and generate the largest new real estate requirements in the near future.
Steve Lang, director, Savills Research, comments: “Globally, there’s a recognition of the importance and the responsibility of enhancing and ensuring the sustainability of the food ecosystem. This is reflected in significant investments being made across all continents, which supports the system in which the VC-invested companies will be located. While the agriculture, packaging, and food & beverage sub-sectors are fairly well-established and served by different types of real estate – although it’s clear that their requirements will continue to evolve – the growth in agtech and foodtech is breeding a brand new group of occupiers that will need new office, lab and warehouse spaces around the world. While some food parks and specialist real estate ecosystems already exist or are planned, based on the VC investment trends, we see the need for more emerging in the near future.”
Where is investment into food going?
Savills says that with over 878 million acres of farmland area, the United States accounts for over half of global VC investment into foodtech and agtech. However, Savills notes, that as well as subsidising domestic production to support food security, the US Department of Agriculture has announced a US$466.5 million investment plan to strengthen the world’s food security, illustrating how critical foreign direct investment (FDI) is within the market.
China, with approximately 20% of the world’s population yet only 10% of global arable land and 6% of water resources, is investing heavily in food as a key policy area, and is recorded as the highest provider of agricultural FDI from 2018 to 2022 (US$1.71bn on average annually). Europe has many examples of food research and investment, and several pre-existing real estate schemes targeted at the industry, for example Netherland’s Food Valley, focused on food R&D, and Agro Food Park in Denmark, which is home to over 85 companies employing over 1,300 people, with a Berlin Food Campus also proposed in Germany.
Tara Patel, strategic advisory EMEA, Savills, says: “The amount of money targeted at the food sector is projected to continue as venture capitalists recognise the quality of investible companies and the critical problems that they are looking to solve, including human and planetary health. VC investors are looking for opportunities to invest in companies, from start-up to scale-ups, that are capable of addressing the challenges and reducing complexities for producers, consumers and the supply chain players in between.”
