Lukas Walton’s passion for nature, health and food started at the young age of 3 when he was diagnosed with a rare cancer. After rounds of chemotherapy and treatment, Lukas’ mother fed him an all-natural diet that had a profound impact on curing his disease. Food literally helped save his life.

After his recovery from cancer, Lukas watched his mother and father start Olivewood Gardens and Learning Center, which included donating his childhood home and garden in National City, a diverse community outside of San Diego. Today, the center serves as an interactive, indoor-outdoor classroom that connects and motivates youth, adults, and families through organic gardening, environmental stewardship, and nutrition education, inspiring them to be healthy and active.

Through these experiences a seed was planted with Lukas, giving him a lifelong sense of humility and respect for the power of food and how it is grown.

In 2014, Lukas started S2G Ventures with a vision to invest in entrepreneurs building solutions for a healthier and more sustainable food system. The founding team began with a focus on food and agriculture, working out of a former warehouse garage in Chicago’s West Loop.

The resulting S2G Ventures’ strategy is based on a systems investing approach aimed at holistically rebuilding the food system. It is rooted in a deep understanding of the complex processes, infrastructure and organizations involved at each stage of the value chain and focuses on the entire supply chain from how products are grown, to the ingredients in our food, to how consumer behaviors are changing.

With over $1 billion in capital, the S2G team has invested in over 60 portfolio companies across all stages of the supply chain, including sweetgreen, Beyond Meat, Benson Hill, MycoTechnologies, and GreenLight Biosciences. S2G is now one of the most active multi-stage venture funds focused on food and agriculture investments in the world.

Beyond financing, the team partners with their portfolio company leaders by providing mentorship and resources to help them succeed in the market. The S2G team believes that entrepreneurs are critical catalysts for change, and you have to take risks – and sometimes fail – to learn and eventually increase market confidence in these important innovations. The team challenges themselves to learn new approaches to building companies, find ways to support our entrepreneurs and build an ecosystem of like- minded industry leaders.

Building on S2G’s success in food and agriculture, Lukas is increasing his commitments, giving the team a broader platform to invest in climate and energy solutions. For example, the recent S2G Ventures $100 million Oceans and Seafood Fund that launched with a mission to invest in entrepreneurs building sustainable seafood production and healthier ocean ecosystems.

The broader platform also means that S2G is now part of Builders Private Capital (BPC), the direct investing team of Builders Vision. BPC and S2G Ventures will be led by Managing Directors Sanjeev Krishnan, Chuck Templeton and Aaron Rudberg. The collective investment strategies are all aligned around the principle that successful businesses must focus on positive impact as well as financial results.

​​As the BPC team grows, they remain focused on building a culture of inclusion, collaboration, humility, and entrepreneurship. They know that to help entrepreneurs and organizations achieve positive impact they must inspire others to join them.