Cam Crowder was once a Tim Hortons franchisee. Now, he’s pivoted from powdered donuts to dry powder for his new foodtech fund.
The fund, whose LPs are undisclosed high-net-worth investors, has so far invested in 11 startups, three of which are Canadian.
Redstick Ventures, led by Crowder and fellow general partner Shane Larisey, announced it has closed a $6.5-million CAD ($5 million USD) first fund to invest in early-stage foodtech ventures. With Larisey based in St. Louis, Mo. and Crowder based in Windsor, Ont., Redstick is targeting startups in Canada and the United States (US) developing technologies to boost crop yields, reduce food waste, and automate food production.
“Our grand vision of where we’re investing is that we’re going to have high-quality food that’s very cheap and on demand,” Crowder told BetaKit. “That’s the world that we want to live in.”
Both partners have experience in the food management and supply chain industry. At Tim Hortons, Crowder said he oversaw supply-chain logistics and often worked to adopt new technologies. He’s aiming to bring that logistical expertise to Redstick’s portfolio companies.
The fund, whose limited partners (LPs) are undisclosed high-net-worth investors, has so far invested in 11 startups, three of which are Canadian. Several of them focus on leveraging hardtech and automation to boost food production capacity. Toronto-based Gastronomous manufactures automated grills for fast-food kitchens, while Cambridge, Ont.-based Mirsee makes remote humanoid-robot control software to power industrial operations.
Beyond notching returns, Redstick has a secondary focus: it says it wants to ensure high-quality, affordable food is available even as the food industry’s labour force is affected by an aging population, falling birth rates, and federal policies slowing immigration in Canada and North America more broadly.
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Crowder believes artificial intelligence (AI) and automation, integrated along food processing chains, will advance that mission. Agricultural producers in Canada have said there’s a chronic labour shortage in the country, according to federal consultations. Industry group Food Processing Skills Canada estimates a demand of 92,000 people to fill sector roles by 2030. However, researchers have found that poor wages and working conditions are rampant in the food processing sector.
Crowder said it was difficult raising this fund, especially as a first-time fund manager. Emerging managers in Canada have faced a challenging fundraising environment in recent years. According to an Inovia Capital report, fundraising for emerging managers in Canada dropped from $1.2 billion across 28 funds during the boom of 2022 to $172 million across eight funds in 2024, accounting for only seven percent of VC fundraising overall.
The team considered special purpose vehicle (SVP) investing, Crowder said, but ultimately decided they wanted to show institutional players they could manage capital through a fund.
“We kind of built the plane in the air while we were raising the fund,” Crowder said.
Fund I is now a third deployed, with cheque sizes of $100,000 USD. Redstick plans to start raising a second, larger fund with institutional backers once it hits 50-percent deployment.
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The firm has also partnered with the Canadian Food Innovation Network (CFIN), a foodtech industry organization, on its Food Frontier 25 program to highlight top foodtech entrepreneurs in Canada.
According to a recent CFIN report, Canada’s foodtech funding landscape depends too much on public funding and lags at the scaleup stage. Compared to the US and the United Kingdom, the share of VC-backed investments into AgTech is 20 percent smaller, the report found.
As for current trade tensions between the US and Canada, Crowder said he believes that by the time Redstick’s portfolio companies mature, tariffs won’t be a problem. However, he sees the increased push for supply-chain security as an opportunity, and Redstick’s fund as a vehicle to advance companies looking to boost domestic food production.
“Our investment thesis is that 10 years from now, maybe we can grow an avocado or coffee bean [here] in a greenhouse, just based on technology,” Crowder said.
Feature image courtesy Arno Senoner via Unsplash.