Mondelez tweaks SnackFutures remit

The snacks behemoth set up SnackFutures in 2018 to work in three fields: the “invention of new brands and businesses in key strategic areas”; the “reinvention of small-scale Mondelez brands with large-scale potential”; and “venturing with start-up entrepreneurs to seed new businesses”.

Through SnackFutures, Mondelez made a series of investments in smaller brands, including in US snacks business Hu Master Holdings in 2019, which the Lu biscuits owner fully acquired two years later.

The unit subsequently became more directed to VC-style investments and to launching products, which included CaPao snacks and Ruckus & Co., a line of lunchbox smoothies for kids.

In 2021, Mondelez launched an accelerator, CoLab, to work with fledgling businesses in what the Cadbury maker then called “well-being snacks”. CoLab was housed within SnackFutures.

The US giant has decided to give SnackFutures the direct remit of investing in “scale-up” companies and wound down CoLab. It has also given the unit a new name – SnackFutures Ventures.

Just Food