Marie Leroux

Marie Leroux is a Sprout Venture Associate based in Christchurch. She specialises in identifying and evaluating promising agritech and foodtech startups for investment and acceleration. She is passionate about fostering innovation and supporting startups in achieving their full potential.

Marie has held global roles at Nestle R&D, based in France and Switzerland. Her last role was as a Consumer and Market Insights Specialist for the Dairy business, where she guided product development for major brands such as Milo, Nido, Nesquik, La Laitiere, LC1, and innovative concepts like nesQino™. She participated in the Accelerator powered by Nestlé R+D, focusing on sustainable dairy product delivery. Throughout her career, she has successfully linked fundamental science with consumer insights and business needs to ensure consumer-centric product development across the whole product development lifecycle.

Since joining Sprout in May 2023, Marie has contributed to the acceleration of more than 15 startups, supporting them in their growth and investment readiness. She has also been instrumental in the rollout of the Germinate program, providing a commercial lens to CRI and university projects.

Marie believes that collaboration and teamwork drive significant progress. She is dedicated to supporting the startup ecosystem in New Zealand and beyond, aiming for a sustainable future. 

Marie enjoys being outdoors and exploring all parts of New Zealand. She co-founded the PechaKucha association in Lausanne (Switzerland) to promote local initiatives through storytelling events.

Marie holds a Bachelor's degree in Chemistry from Université de Caen Basse Normandie (France) and a Master's degree in Organic Chemistry, Food Flavor, Consumer Insights, and Sensory Analysis from ISIPCA Versailles (France).