Coke Zero? Coca‑Cola and Bottling Partners Announce Sustainability Innovation Fund aimed at Tackling Coke's Environment Footprint
The Coca‑Cola Company and eight bottling partners from around the world announced the closing of a new, $137.7 million venture capital fund focusing on sustainability investments.
Greycroft, a seed-to-growth venture capital firm, will manage the Greycroft Coca‑Cola System Sustainability Fund, of which reducing Coca‑Cola’s carbon footprint is a major priority.
The Fund’s Coca-Cola activities will focus on five key areas with the most potential impact to start: packaging, heating and cooling, facility decarbonization, distribution, and supply chain.
“This fund offers an opportunity to pioneer innovative solutions and help scale them quickly within the Coca‑Cola system and across the industry,” said John Murphy, President and Chief Financial Officer of The Coca‑Cola Company. “We expect to benefit from getting access to emerging technology and science for sustainability and carbon reduction.”
The fund will seek to invest in companies at the point of commercialization. For Greycroft, partnering with the Coca‑Cola system presents an attractive opportunity to help scale innovations alongside some of the top bottling operations in the world.
“The market for sustainable supply chain and manufacturing technology has continued to grow as consumer brands rise to meet the demands of environmentally conscious customers,” said Dana Settle, Greycroft Co-Founder and Managing Partner. “Greycroft has an ‘invest anywhere’ approach that we believe allows us to identify promising startups with climate tech solutions ready to scale.”
The fund’s $137.7 million in capital comes primarily from $15 million of committed capital from each of the following companies from across the world:
• The Coca‑Cola Company
• Arca Continental
• Coca‑Cola Bottling Co. UNITED
• Coca‑Cola Consolidated
• Coca‑Cola Europacific Partners
• Coca‑Cola FEMSA
• Coca‑Cola HBC
• Reyes Coca‑Cola Bottling
• Swire Coca‑Cola
Together, these bottlers represent nearly half of Coca‑Cola system volume around the world.
Read Coca‑Cola Company’s sustainability report at https://www.coca-colacompany.com/reports/business-and-sustainability-report.
