It's a good day to own Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) shares for fans of both start-ups and supermarket giants.
The company's venture capital leg W23 – which works to partner with start-ups to grow their brands – has welcomed a new face. Enter, plant-based meat producer All G Foods.
At the time of writing, the Woolworths share price is $33.64, 1.55% lower than its previous close.
For context, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is down 1.06% right now.
Let's take a closer look at Woolworths' latest multimillion-dollar investment.
Here's Woolworths' latest investment
Today's news from the Australian Financial Review (AFR), later shared on W23's website, details the supermarket's second investment into plant-based meat.
Woolworths' W23 also backs Harvest B. Harvest B works to supply plant-based meat producers with ingredients to create their products.
That's a short hop, skip, and jump from All G Foods' business. The company is behind plant-based meat brand Love BUDS.
Additionally, its website states it's working to use precision fermentation to produce animal proteins, therefore creating milk "without the cow".
All G Foods' founder and CEO Jan Pacas is also a co-founder of pet services business Mad Paws Holdings Ltd (ASX: MPA), which floated on the ASX in March 2021.
It welcomed Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN) and Airtasker Ltd's (ASX: ART) founder as pre-IPO investors.
Pacas also co-founded unlisted tech company Flare.
It's not public how much funding Woolworths has provided All G Foods. However, the AFR reported All G Foods' seed funding round raised $16 million last year.
"There's a great attraction to work with Woolies because they're an innovative company with great distribution capabilities," Pacas was quoted as saying today. "They're the dream partner."
"I want to make this bigger than A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX: A2M) was at its peak."
Woolworths share price snapshot
This year so far has been tough on the Woolworths share price.
It has fallen 12% year to date, leaving it 3% lower than it was 12 months ago.
