Erin VanLanduit, head of corporate ventures at Cargill, is one of the 100 leading corporate venturing professionals in our 2026 Powerlist.
Erin VanLanduit is helping leverage corporate venturing to sharpen how agribusiness company Cargill brings emerging technologies into real-world applications across food, agriculture and industrial systems.
Under her leadership, Cargill Ventures has evolved into a strategic capability aligned with the company’s broader innovation priorities – focused on advancing sustainable food systems, strengthening supply chain resilience and enabling digital transformation. Against a backdrop of challenges for the global food system including increasing demand, resource constraints and climate volatility, VanLanduit sees venturing as a unique bridge between external innovation and Cargill’s global operations, aiming to connect new technologies with the scale required to deliver impact.
Though her path to corporate venturing was non-linear, former US Army combat arms officer VanLanduit can see how her various professional experiences have brought her to the present chapter of her career. “Managing P&L businesses at global CPG companies, understanding operations and supply chain, global innovation, M&A commercial integration, and yes, even leading soldiers in highly stressful combat deployments, all give me useful perspective.” explains VanLanduit.
“I have always loved finding new ways to solve problems, then I became even more interested in paths to unlock growth and value for mature businesses while getting my MBA at Chicago Booth, so transitioning to ventures when the opportunity arose just made sense.”
Over the past year, the team has increased its focus on existing portfolio companies to weather the storm of valuation corrections and funding gaps that have impacted foodtech and agtech. New investments have been focused on earlier-stage innovation, engaging with companies where Cargill can both accelerate development and enable pathways to commercial scale.
An investment in Voyage Foods, for example, is enabling a partnership to bring alternative cocoa and chocolate ingredients to market globally. Voyage’s technology coupled with Cargill’s formulation and processing capabilities offer viable ingredient substitutes without the supply constraints, pricing volatility or sustainability concerns customers would normally have in the category.
Externally, Cargill Ventures is increasingly seen as a strategic co-investor rather than a passive capital provider. Where credibility hinges on operational capability as much as funding, Cargill can act as a true partner – bringing deep domain expertise, global supply chain capabilities and customer access to a portfolio spanning areas such as novel food and feed ingredients, alternative proteins, agricultural productivity, sustainability solutions and digital infrastructure.
Cargill Ventures’ portfolio reflects a deliberate, coordinated approach to solving problems for the parent and even industry, but doing so within the constraints of existing systems rather than complete reinvention. This pragmatic lens ensures that innovation is grounded in commercial reality while still enabling long-term advancement.
The GCV Powerlist represents the 100 individuals spearheading the future of the corporate venturing industry.
These individuals excel in terms of their venturing approach and structure, number and quality of portfolio companies and in their contributions to the corporate venturing profession.
Here’s a snapshot of their recent deals:
