Polina Chebotareva is a co-founder of Cambridge Companies SPG, a social mission-oriented VC firm on fixing nutrition, farming, and health worldwide. Prior to Cambridge, Polina was an Executive VP and Partner at a real estate investment firm with $350M Equity AUM.

She is a Board Member for The Laguna Art Museum, helps raise awareness and funding for environmental issues and has devoted her time and resources to The Village of Hope Rescue Mission which helps struggling parents restore stability in their lives and the lives of their children.

Filipp Chebotarev is COO and Managing Partner of Cambridge Companies SPG. After working with California Congressman Ed Royce to manage the relationship between business, government, community, and other constituencies, Filipp went on to corporate, later finding impact investing

Filipp is a major donor to Harvesters – Food Bank in Orange County, the JNF, and Actively Involved with Shoes That Fit, a 501C3 empowering children in low-income areas.

The pair emigrated to the US after the USSR’s collapse, and their fund is now investors in the likes of organic and health food/product companies: Once Upon a Farm, Wild Friends Foods, Matchabar, and dozens of others.

In today’s episode we discuss:
- How health-focused food and beverage companies are creating a better world
- Why GMOs (specifically the pesticides they enable) are ruining our health
- The future of foodtech and clean meat
- Ways to increase access to organic and quality food
- Why we’re all excited about lab-grown meat
- How impact investing changes the world and drives returns
- The challenges and realities of immigrating to the US, without speaking English
- What tech trends Filipp and Polina are most excited about
- Why IPOs and acquisitions aren’t necessarily the endgame for consumer companies
- The importance of founder-investor alignment
- Why Filipp’s not worried about 23andme or genetic privacy
- The reason there’s not enough money invested in foodtech
- Why millennial consumers are driving better company practices
- What’s the future of e-commerce and it’s relation to retail