Lever VC's team of
Sector
Experts
Who we are
Global experts on the future of protein
Global experts on the future of protein
Lever VC’s team is made up of diverse expert investors, operators, and scientists with complementary skills and a collective commitment to shaping a sustainable food and agriculture future.
Key members of Lever VC’s investment team have been active investors in the food and agriculture field, since 2014. Members of Lever VC’s investment team have deployed over $500 million and executed over 100 deals (including follow-ons), with stellar multiples on invested capital and exits over the past ten years.
Key members of Lever VC’s investment team have also advised leading companies operating through the value chain, leveraging their expertise in the global food industry.
Lever’s in-house SciTech team has previous commercial and research-based experience in the food tech, bioengineering, materials science, and synthetic biology landscape. This is a key differentiator, enabling deeper company diligence and value add to portfolio companies.
Lever VC's team
Investment Team
Nick Cooney
Managing Partner
Nick is also the Co-Founder and former Board Chair of the Good Food Institute, the world’s largest non-governmental organization working to grow the alternative protein space. Prior to investing in the category, Nick oversaw teams promoting alternative protein products to consumers and worked with leading food companies on adding more alternative proteins to their offerings. He is based in the greater New York City region.
Thomas Chen
Senior Associate
Prior to that, he was a former investment analyst at Fosun, a large global investment conglomerate with a focus on consumer, healthcare, and financial services sectors. At Fosun he focused on direct investment opportunities in high-technology sectors and was responsible for deal execution.
He holds a M.Sc. in Finance from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and is a CFA charter holder.
Yaqi Gao Grover
Partner
Dr Jonathan Avesar
Scientific Lead
Previously, he served as the technical co-founder, Inventor, and Scientist for the biomedical company, Nanosynex, where he continues to provide scientific advisement and R&D input.
He received his Ph.D. from the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology under the advisement of Professor Shulamit Levenberg and co-advisement of associate professor Moran Bercovici. His doctoral research took place in a stem cell and tissue engineering lab with a primary focus on angiogenesis; the same lab that hosted the first cultivated meat research project in Israel. During his research, Jonathan also spent a year in Boston as a visiting scientist at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University.
James Caffyn
Partner
He has been involved in the alternative protein space for the last seven years, primarily working with major meat and dairy companies on their expansion into the space, focusing on category selection, R&D and partnership development, GTM strategy, and prospective investment opportunities. James has also worked with several government and legislative bodies on the potential positioning of alternative meat and dairy products in the category and legislation.
James has worked with a number of the leading accelerator programs including IndieBio and Food X, mentoring portfolio companies and assisting them on their expansion strategy, R&D, product development and market selection, as well as giving lectures on topics such as growth strategies and market sizing to start-ups in the food-tech, biotech and ag-tech space.
He has led a number of Lever VC investments, and holds board and chair positions for portfolio companies.
Jasmin Kern
Senior Associate
Prior to joining Lever VC, Jasmin spent 8 months working as Tender Foods’ 1st employee to help set up their proprietary fiber spinning technologies and R&D practices. She also spent a summer working in the materials and texture R&D team at Impossible Foods, where she developed an analytical framework for identifying the binding capabilities of textured proteins.
She is the founder and executive director of Nucleate Cultivate, a non-profit student-run organization focused on providing immersive learning experiences for students interested in the alt-protein sector. She hosted the first nationwide cellular agriculture-focused hackathon, Cultivate Tomorrow, for 120 students in 2021. Originally from Frankfurt, she is now based in Boston, MA.
Lawrence Chu
Partner
In his role at BlackPine, Mr. Chu has invested in prominent Chinese companies such as Lufax, C2F0, WH Group, Evergrande and GCL Polysilicon. He previously worked as a portfolio manager at UBS O’Connor in Hong Kong focusing on Asian investments in real estate, financial institutions and consumer companies. Prior to UBS O’Connor, he was a strategy executive in the Chairman’s office of EMI Music in London. He began his career at UBS Warburg in the technology and M&A investment banking groups in London and Hong Kong.
Mr. Chu is a member of the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce and the Hong Kong Private Equity and Venture Capital Association, where he serves on the Venture Committee. He was formerly a non-executive director of AMTD Group Limited, an affiliate of Morgan Stanley and CK Hutchison Holdings, and non-executive director of Quali-Smart Holdings Limited.
Mr. Chu graduated from the University of Chicago with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics. He is a member of the Tate’s Asia-Pacific Acquisitions Committee, a patron of the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art Council in Beijing, a governor of the Smart Museum Board of Governors and served as a governor of the Alumni Board of Governors at the University of Chicago. He also serves on the board of governors of the Chinese International School as the Chairman of the Finance and Development Committee.
Sze Sze Hsu
Fund Administrator
Nick Cooney
Managing Partner
Nick is also the Co-Founder and former Board Chair of the Good Food Institute, the world’s largest non-governmental organization working to grow the alternative protein space. Prior to investing in the category, Nick oversaw teams promoting alternative protein products to consumers and worked with leading food companies on adding more alternative proteins to their offerings. He is based in the greater New York City region.
Yaqi Gao Grover
Partner
James Caffyn
Partner
He has been involved in the alternative protein space for the last seven years, primarily working with major meat and dairy companies on their expansion into the space, focusing on category selection, R&D and partnership development, GTM strategy, and prospective investment opportunities. James has also worked with several government and legislative bodies on the potential positioning of alternative meat and dairy products in the category and legislation.
James has worked with a number of the leading accelerator programs including IndieBio and Food X, mentoring portfolio companies and assisting them on their expansion strategy, R&D, product development and market selection, as well as giving lectures on topics such as growth strategies and market sizing to start-ups in the food-tech, biotech and ag-tech space.
He has led a number of Lever VC investments, and holds board and chair positions for portfolio companies.
Lawrence Chu
Partner
In his role at BlackPine, Mr. Chu has invested in prominent Chinese companies such as Lufax, C2F0, WH Group, Evergrande and GCL Polysilicon. He previously worked as a portfolio manager at UBS O’Connor in Hong Kong focusing on Asian investments in real estate, financial institutions and consumer companies. Prior to UBS O’Connor, he was a strategy executive in the Chairman’s office of EMI Music in London. He began his career at UBS Warburg in the technology and M&A investment banking groups in London and Hong Kong.
Mr. Chu is a member of the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce and the Hong Kong Private Equity and Venture Capital Association, where he serves on the Venture Committee. He was formerly a non-executive director of AMTD Group Limited, an affiliate of Morgan Stanley and CK Hutchison Holdings, and non-executive director of Quali-Smart Holdings Limited.
Mr. Chu graduated from the University of Chicago with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics. He is a member of the Tate’s Asia-Pacific Acquisitions Committee, a patron of the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art Council in Beijing, a governor of the Smart Museum Board of Governors and served as a governor of the Alumni Board of Governors at the University of Chicago. He also serves on the board of governors of the Chinese International School as the Chairman of the Finance and Development Committee.
Dr Jonathan Avesar
Science Lead
Previously, he served as the technical co-founder, Inventor, and Scientist for the biomedical company, Nanosynex, where he continues to provide scientific advisement and R&D input.
He received his Ph.D. from the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology under the advisement of Professor Shulamit Levenberg and co-advisement of associate professor Moran Bercovici. His doctoral research took place in a stem cell and tissue engineering lab with a primary focus on angiogenesis; the same lab that hosted the first cultivated meat research project in Israel. During his research, Jonathan also spent a year in Boston as a visiting scientist at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University.
Jasmin Kern
Science Associate
Jasmin Kern
Science Associate
Prior to joining Lever VC, Jasmin spent 8 months working as Tender Foods’ 1st employee to help set up their proprietary fiber spinning technologies and R&D practices. She also spent a summer working in the materials and texture R&D team at Impossible Foods, where she developed an analytical framework for identifying the binding capabilities of textured proteins.
She is the founder and executive director of Nucleate Cultivate, a non-profit student-run organization focused on providing immersive learning experiences for students interested in the alt-protein sector. She hosted the first nationwide cellular agriculture-focused hackathon, Cultivate Tomorrow, for 120 students in 2021. Originally from Frankfurt, she is now based in Boston, MA.
Sze Sze Hsu
Fund Administrator
Thomas Chen
Associate
Additional Team Members
Venture Partners and Key Advisors
Ramzi Schumann
Venture Partner, GCC
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Ronen Bar
Venture Partner, Israel
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Felipe Krelling
Venture Partner, Brazil
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David Vanhimbergen
Key Advisor
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Nisha Mendelsohn
Key Advisor
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Riddhi Shah
Venture Partner
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Earl Rattray
Key Advisor
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Global team
Lever VC's on-the-ground coverage of key markets
- Investment Team
- Venture Partners and Key Advisers