Israel: Former Nestlé executive joins PeakBridge

Frank Lehmann joins the venture capital firm after a 17-year tenure with the CPG food giant

PeakBridge, the Israeli venture capital firm that invests in foodtech across Europe, has appointed Frank Lehmann as its venture partner and head of collaboration with the industry.

Lehmann joins PeakBridge after a 17-year tenure at Nestlé where he last served as global head open innovation and venturing. He also holds board advisory positions at organisations including Venture Incubator, a Swiss-based tech venture fund. Lehmann is a board member of FluidSolid, a sustainability start-up developing fully compostable plastic replacement.

Commenting on the appointment, Nadav Berger, founder and managing director of PeakBridge, said: “We always try to get the best people to work with as we believe we still have so much to learn. We are thrilled to have Frank Lehmann joining us as our venture partner and head of collaboration with the industry.”

Berger highlighted that Lehmann has set up the next generation corporate venture fund for Nestlé, and was responsible for the implementation of the company’s digital nutrition.

“As always, we try to get people with experience to enrich and help our portfolio companies to get to the Peak,” Nadav concluded.

PeakBridge manages multiple foodtech funds, including EIT Food’s FoodSparks, an early-stage venture fund investing in European and Israeli start-ups developing new food technologies, and NEWtrition, a growth fund investing globally in food technologies post proof of concept – Series A and onward.

The firm also offers limited partners co-investment opportunities in PeakBridge portfolio companies.

PeakBrigde portfolio companies include plant-based ice cream brand Nicks, food-as-medicine start-up Ukko, AI-driven food innovation platform Tastewise, algae-based food producer iwi, portable drinking water brand Be WTR, and prebiotics company Prenexos.