S2G Ventures, one of the biggest venture capital funds focused on making the food system healthier and more sustainable, has invested in more than 60 companies, from Beyond Meat to Sweetgreen, since it launched in 2014. But the money behind it has always been clouded in mystery. That’s because its biggest funder wasn’t public until now: Lukas Walton, a 35-year-old billionaire grandson of Walmart founder Sam Walton.Walton is intensely private about his life and, until now, hasn’t talked about his work. But for the last several years, Walton has been quietly helping create a new platform that he says is designed to tackle systemic social challenges. The platform, which publicly launched today as Builders Vision, combines philanthropy, direct investment—including S2G Ventures—and advocacy. “Philanthropy itself wasn’t necessarily addressing where and how the ladder of innovation to scale companies …. was happening,” Walton says.When S2G Ventures first launched, few investors were looking at the food system. “Food wasn’t sexy,” he says. “Neither was agriculture.” Walton’s interest in the food system is lifelong: As a toddler diagnosed with a rare form of kidney cancer, his parents attributed his recovery in part to a shift to healthier food. His parents (his father is Walton’s son, John T. Walton, who died in 2005; his mother is Christy Walton) later started a community education center focused on nutrition and gardening.
