Rabobank, a global food and agribusiness bank, announced the expansion of its Food and Agribusiness (F&A) Innovation team in North America as part of its commitment to strengthening client relationships and contributing to the F&A industry of the future. The company announced the appointment of Anne Greven as the Global Co-Head of F&A Innovation and welcomes new additions to the team.

The F&A Innovation team is a critical part of Rabobank’s Banking for Food mission to feed the global population more sustainably by 2050. Its two platforms, FoodBytes!, a next generation pitch competition and discovery platform for sustainable F&A innovation, and TERRA, Rabobank’s global innovation accelerator, catapult major breakthroughs into scalable solutions by pairing emerging growth companies with established multinationals.

“We pitched at FoodBytes! Boulder in 2016 and had an incredible experience with peers, mentors, and industry stakeholders. To this day, some of the connections we made there are in our inner circle,” said Dan Kurzrock, co-founder of ReGrained. “Then, we were selected for TERRA Cohort II in 2018 and conducted two incredible pilots. Taking this to the next level, one of our corporate collaborators is now a key strategic partner and investor. We're very proud and grateful to be a part of this community!”

Within the robust F&A innovation ecosystem, Rabobank’s platforms are connecting the dots between startups, corporates and investors and making a scalable impact. Since launching in 2015, over 1,700 startups from 59 countries have applied to pitch at FoodBytes!, and the 250 alumni of the platform have raised a collective $500M in funding. TERRA has selected 66 startups that have collaborated with 10 leading F&A companies on 48 pilots, many of which have turned into continued partnerships.

A growing team with more than 50 years’ combined experience, not just in banking but in creating pioneering initiatives and experiences, Rabobank’s F&A Innovation team is charged with no small feat: to identify, select and develop the most promising F&A startups in the market and make them part of Rabobank’s worldwide community.

The F&A Innovation North America Team is powered by:

• Anne Greven is a Rabobank veteran, having spent 15 years at the New York-based corporate bank building and leading key client-facing businesses for the bank. She has also been a mentor to startups participating in FoodBytes!, helping them explain their business models and fine-tune their pitch presentations prior to the events. Ms. Greven drives the strategy for Rabobank's FoodBytes! and TERRA programs in North America, taking a keen look at further integrating Rabobank’s innovation programs with the bank’s overall goals and strategies, developing the best and brightest startups and entrepreneurs in food and agriculture, and bringing innovative ideas to major F&A companies.

• Nathalie Gibson has been with Rabobank almost eight years and held marketing and communications roles in Australia and North America. She is the Head of FoodBytes! in North America and provides strategic direction for FoodBytes! launches in new regions.

• Eline Boot is Head of TERRA and is responsible for the TERRA accelerator. She has nine years of experience with Rabobank in Corporate Finance evaluating high growth business models for Private Equity clients in New York, London, Frankfurt and the Netherlands, and led Innovation Strategy projects in Corporate Innovation and Startup Financial Products.

• Nina Meijers, Relationship Manager - Startups, manages startup relationships, content, communications and the community engagement strategy.

• Victoria Prowse, Relationship Manager - Partnerships, grows the FoodBytes! sponsorship and programming strategies and identifies new revenue and client engagement opportunities.

• Jillian Rago, Brand Associate, manages the FoodBytes! brand identity and supports internal and external marketing and communications for the platform.