16 July 2024
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Trends + Concepts

Chipotle: Doubles Commitment To Cultivate Next Venture Fund

Newport Beach / CA. (cmg) Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. announced it is increasing its commitment to its Cultivate Next venture fund by USD 50 million, which brings the fund’s total investment pool to USD 100 million. Introduced in 2022, Cultivate Next makes early-stage investments into strategically aligned companies that further Chipotle’s mission to Cultivate a Better World and help accelerate the company’s aggressive longer term growth plans to operate 7,000 restaurants in North America.

«Our decision to double our commitment to our Cultivate Next venture fund is a clear indicator that we are investing in the right companies that we can learn from and utilize to improve the human experience of our restaurant teams, farmers, and suppliers,» said Curt Garner, Chief Customer and Technology Officer, Chipotle. «The parallel growth of Chipotle and our partners will continue to further our mission to Cultivate a Better World by increasing access to real food.»

Cultivate Next Investments

To date, Chipotle has invested in a wide range of companies innovating in areas such as farming, supply chain, advanced robotics, and plant-based foods. The new USD 50 million commitment will expand the company’s existing portfolio, which currently features:

  • Local Line: Local Line is a leading local food sourcing platform for regional food systems, serving farms, producers, food hubs, and food buyers. In less than a year, Chipotle’s investment has helped Local Line digitize their operations, increase their retention rate of customers, build their farm database, and expand to serve international farms in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. In tandem, Local Line has been a key partner in enabling Chipotle to meet its local produce sourcing goals. Due to the early successes with the platform, Cultivate Next has made an incremental investment in Local Line. Chipotle will also leverage Local Line to fund grants to local farms within 350 miles of its new restaurants. The company plans to open 285 to 315 new locations in 2024.
  • GreenField Robotics: GreenField Robotics is a company founded with the vision of making regenerative farming more efficient, cost-effective, and sustainable by leveraging the latest advances in AI, robotics, and sensing technologies. The company’s autonomous agricultural robots can weed crops both day and night, while reducing the need for toxic herbicides. With its Cultivate Next investment, GreenField will continue to build out its robotic fleets, which are currently running on farms in several states, and release additional capabilities for the robots including micro-spraying, cover-crop planting, and soil testing.
  • Nitricity: Nitricity is a company seeking to tackle greenhouse gas emissions by creating fertilizer products that are better for fields, farmers, and the environment. Funding from Cultivate Next will be used to scale up Nitricity’s production of nitrogen, build out the company’s infrastructure, and support the launch of its first commercial product within the next two years.
  • Vebu: Vebu is a product development company that works with food industry leaders to co-create intelligent automation and technology solutions. Chipotle is collaborating with Vebu to build and scale Autocado, Vebu’s proprietary avocado processing cobotic (collaborative robot) prototype. Autocado is currently progressing through Chipotle’s stage-gate process and will undergo an operational test in one restaurant this spring.
  • Hyphen: Hyphen is a foodservice platform designed to help restaurant owners, operators, and budding chefs move their business forward by automating kitchen operations. Chipotle is working with Hyphen to build a new digital makeline that uses intelligent automation to build bowls and salads while Chipotle employees operate the top makeline to make burritos, tacos, and quesadillas. In the coming months, Chipotle’s Hyphen digital makeline will debut in a single restaurant location as part of the company’s stage-gate process. Hyphen recently received an additional investment from Chipotle through Cultivate Next.
  • Meati: Meati Foods serves nutrient-dense whole-food products made from MushroomRoot™. Chipotle is continuing to explore opportunities to bring real, fresh vegetables to the center of the plate with menu innovations that uphold its Food with Integrity standards.
  • Zero Acre Farms: Zero Acre Farms is a food company focused on healthy, sustainable oils and fats that is on a mission to end the food industry’s dependence on vegetable oils. The company has introduced a new category of healthy oils and fats made by fermentation that are more environmentally friendly. Chipotle is in the early trials of testing Zero Acre Farms at its Cultivate Center test kitchen in Irvine/CA.

«It is incredible to see the possibilities that exist when we bring the right founders, startups or ventures into collaboration with Chipotle,» said Christian Gammill, Cultivate Next Fund Manager. «Witnessing the progress of our cohorts over the past two years has motivated us to scale our efforts and drive real change in the supply chain, agriculture, restaurant innovation, and automation sectors.»

The Future of Cultivate Next

Chipotle will continue to provide updates on the Cultivate Next venture fund in 2024 and beyond. Companies interested in collaborating with Chipotle through the Cultivate Next venture fund can apply by emailing cultivatenext@chipotle.com.


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