S2G Ventures

S2G Ventures

S2G Ventures was formed in 2014 by Victor Friedberg and Chuck Templeton, with Sanjeev Krishnan joining as Chief Investment Officer. Templeton had previously founded OpenTable, and the team set out to build a dedicated vehicle for transforming the food system, drawing on deep operating and venture experience. The firm is headquartered in Chicago. The firm invests across the food and agriculture spectrum, targeting agtech, foodtech, oceans and clean energy transitions. It operates with a multi-stage mandate, writing early-stage venture checks and providing growth equity to later-stage companies. S2G also structures project finance for infrastructure assets in renewable energy and sustainable agriculture. Named portfolio companies include Beyond Meat, Sweetgreen, and Farmers Business Network. The firm takes a systems-level view, actively connecting agribusiness incumbents with startup portfolio companies to compress commercialization timelines. Since inception, S2G has closed multiple flagship venture funds alongside dedicated oceans and special opportunities vehicles. The firm has deployed capital in North America, Europe, and Asia, sourcing opportunities through deep relationships with academic institutions, family-run farming operations, and corporate R&D pipelines. In May 2024, S2G closed its fifth flagship fund, continuing to scale its thesis as institutional appetite for climate-resilient food infrastructure grows (per the firm, May 2024). S2G’s structure blends a traditional venture capital partnership with a strategic, thematic approach typically associated with permanent capital vehicles. The firm’s influence extends beyond fund commitments, with the co-founders actively shaping industry coalitions around regenerative agriculture standards and climate-smart commodities. This hybrid posture allows S2G to position itself as a long-term infrastructure builder for a sector that conventional venture historically found too fragmented and slow to exit.