Andrew Ive is the Founder & Managing General Partner at Big Idea Ventures. Big Idea Ventures is a hybrid venture firm with a VC arm and accelerator program. It runs the $50M New Protein Fund, which is the world’s first and largest plant-based accelerator fund. The fund is backed by giants like Tyson Foods and Temasek, the Singaporean government’s VC arm. They focus heavily on plant-based protein startups and 10 percent of their money is allocated for cell-based endeavors. They have launched physical accelerator programs in New York City and Singapore. They aim to back over 100 companies.
Their first investment was the cultured shrimp company Shiok Meats. Shiok Meats is based in Singapore and has already done successful taste tests of its minced alternative “shrimp” in dumpling form. They have been featured on The Economist, the World Economic Forum and Techcrunch.
Andrew is focused on supporting entrepreneurs to solve the world’s biggest challenges. He formerly launched and grew businesses at Procter & Gamble. While in his dorm room at Harvard Business School, he took a new product idea, raised angel funds, established a manufacturing facility in China as well as a sales force to sell his first solo product line into major US retailers. In his second Silicon Valley based company Open Shelf, Andrew raised $20M+ from VCs to focus on the data challenge between retailers and their vendors. That company was also acquired.
Andrew has focused on innovation, developing high-growth business opportunities and serving as a business advisor in multiple verticals. He served on the Board of the Small Business Council of the Department of Trade and Industry advising the UK Government on entrepreneurship and high growth companies, the National Science Foundation on startup grant awards, the Investment Task Force and the Center for Policy Studies, and the UK think tank Small Business Council. He also served on the board of Tufts University’s School of Nutrition.
Andrew is also an author and currently has a bestselling book, ‘Choose Your Startup: Funding Your Company’ in the startups and entrepreneurial categories on Amazon. He holds a BSc from the University of London and an MBA from Harvard Business School. His first product design, the X-IT Ladder, is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
He is passionate about climate change, animal welfare and sustainability. His favorite hobby is writing and has ten books that he’s working on. You can find him on Twitter @TheFundingGuru
Shownotes at: www.jeremyau.com/blog/andrew-ive