ZAANDAM, the Netherlands – Five of the world’s leading grocery retailers have come together to establish a pioneering collaborative venture capital (VC) fund, W23 Global. The fund will seek to invest in innovative start-ups and scale-ups that deploy technology to enhance customer experiences, transform the grocery value chain and address the sector’s sustainability challenges, according to the retail investors.

The retailers partners are Ahold Delhaize (US, Europe, Indonesia), Tesco (UK, Irelard, Europe), Woolworths Group (Australia, New Zealand), Empire Company Limited/Sobeys Inc. (Canada) and Shoprite Group (Africa). Each retailer is an equal funder and partner in W23 Global, while their CEO’s will sit on the investment committee.

The new fund will seek to invest $125 million over the next five years in the world’s most innovative start-ups and scale-ups with the potential to transform grocery retail and address the sector’s sustainability challenges, according to the founding partners. W23 Global is led by CEO and Chief Investment Officer (CIO) Ingrid Maes who currently leads Woolworths Group’s innovation fund, W23 Australia.

“As pioneers in retail innovation for more than 150 years, Ahold Delhaize has consistently led the way in investing in the customer value proposition,” Ahold Delhaize CEO Frans Muller said. “We look forward to enhancing our efforts by partnering with other industry leaders and maximizing our collective impact. Together with best-in-class start-ups and scale-ups, we strongly believe we can further drive retail innovation, foster sustainability, and deliver greater value to communities worldwide.”

W23 Global aims to complement its partners’ continuing direct innovation and investment strategies. The fund’s portfolio companies will be free to contract with any customer, whether a W23 Global partner or otherwise, on whatever terms they decide.

“W23 is a potentially game-changing international VC fund with a powerful proposition for both our investors and portfolio companies,” W23 Global CEO and CEI Maes said. “We aim to offer our investors incomparable access to transformative innovation in grocery and sustainability worldwide. W23 Global will work with its investors to identify common unaddressed challenges and support entrepreneurs to develop solutions, offering faster pathways to global scale for portfolio companies. With leading grocery CEOs on our investment committee, founders can rapidly develop ideas based on an accelerated understanding of retailers’ needs.”