Daniel Obasek is investment partner at ZX Ventures, a venture capital unit backed by Belgium-headquartered drinks conglomerate AB InBev, where he leads strategy, investments and resource allocation for the Europe and Africa Beverage Fund.
ZX Ventures’ Beverage Fund aims to build a portfolio of companies that would follow health and wellness trends, disrupt the wines and spirits markets, in premium beer that scales, and in hard seltzers and ready-to-drink products.
Its portfolio companies include Black Crown, beer company Hoegaarden, energy drink brand Ghost Energy, alcoholic sparkling water provider Mike’s Hard Seltzer, fruit soft drink brand Wave Soda, brewery Kona, coffee producer Super Coffee, wine maker Bbae Wine and craft cocktail company Five.
Before joining the unit in March 2021, Obaseki was managing partner at Elevation Food Partners, an investment company he also founded, focused on food and beverage companies in Africa, from 2017. Prior to that, he had a three-year stint as vice-president at Proterra Investment Partners, a private equity firm investing in food, beverages, agriculture, metals and mining, from 2014 to 2017.
He has also held numerous board seats, including at Grand Cereals, Livestock Feeds, Stawi Foods and Fruits, Valentine Chickens and Country Bird Holdings.
Obaseki earned an MBA in entrepreneurship and innovation from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor of arts in philosophy from Dartmouth College.
