Antler invests in Passionfruit

Antler invests in Passionfruit: Make ESG, Quality and Safety compliance communication seamless for over 10.000 consumer goods companies.

[Amsterdam, Date] – Antler, the global leader in early-stage venture capital, has invested €100K in Benelux start-up Passionfruit. The knowledge and compliance management platform releases a heavy burden for many consumer goods companies by automating up to 90% of the time-consuming and highly frustrating work involved in handling ESG, Quality, and Food Safety requests from B2B customers and auditors. Passionfruit simplifies a traditional complex process, saving operational teams hours each week whilst delivering them valuable insights into key data gaps that need attention. Passionfruit also received a €150K Rabobank Innovation Loan to continue growing their platform.

Founded by good friends and industry veterans, Maikel Fontein and Lars Kuijpers, Passionfruit brings together deep expertise from both the consumer goods industry as well as product tech side. Maikel, who has a background in marketing, business and supply chain at Unilever, knows firsthand the headaches of compliance work, so he’s shaped Passionfruit to really meet the needs of the users. Lars, a highly skilled product designer and software engineer ensures that the platform is not only powerful but also user-friendly, making compliance communication seamless for companies of all sizes

“For a sustainable future, transparency is non-negotiable, but it comes with a flood of complicated requests,” says Maikel Fontein, co-founder of Passionfruit. "Handling this manually is an option, but it’s a really time-consuming, exhausting, and frustrating one,” adds Lars Kuijpers, Co-Founder. “No one wants to spend 30% of their time filling out questionnaires or reviewing contracts, but it's reality for many sustainability and quality teams out there. Our platform uses AI and easy-workflows to simplify this, so teams can focus their time on creating real impact.”

Passionfruit has rapidly gained traction, with a growing customer base, including industry leader Friesland Campina. “With Passionfruit we can serve our customers with faster and more consistent responses to the growing amount of ESG requests” says Simone Hillhorst, Sustainability Data Lead at Friesland Campina. As regulations like CSRD, CSDD, and EUDR ramp up, the demand for information sharing will explode. Passionfruit provides a scalable and reliable way to keep up with these demands.

Ronald Jan Schuurs, partner at Antler, shares his enthusiasm: "We’re incredibly excited about Passionfruit because it directly addresses a critical issue faced by almost every consumer goods company today. With their unique combination of industry experience and technical skill, the team is perfectly positioned to lead in this space. Their platform not only meets today’s needs but also prepares businesses for long-term success as compliance requirements evolve."

About Passionfruit
Passionfruit’s mission is to make compliance communication seamless and prepare over 10.000 consumer goods companies for a new era of transparency.

The platform automates the handling of external ESG, Quality, and Safety requests, making it easier for consumer goods companies to consistently manage the information flow while identifying impact areas that need attention.

About Antler

Antler is the investor backing the world’s most driven founders, from day zero to greatness. Founded on the belief that people innovating is the key to building a better future, we partner with people across six continents to launch and scale high-potential startups that address meaningful opportunities and challenges. Knowing that exceptional founders can come from anywhere with any background, we have offices in 27 locations, including Austin, New York, London, Berlin, Stockholm, Bangalore, Jakarta, Singapore, Seoul, Tokyo, and Sydney. Our global community backs people from the beginning with co-founder matching, deep business model validation, initial capital, expansion support, and follow-on funding. Fueled by a personal passion that goes beyond traditional investing, we have helped create and invested in more than 1,200 startups across a wide range of industries and technologies, with the goal of backing more than 6,000 by 2030.

‍

‍