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Chicago is quickly becoming a hotbed of investment for startups in the food industry, befitting the city's legacy of being the world's hog butcher and stacker of wheat.

Kraft Heinz recently hired a Lightbank veteran to run its new $100 million Evolv Ventures fund, joining Tyson Foods, which created a $150 million investment fund after it bought Sara Lee's Hillshire Brands. Mondelez International, which emerged from the Kraft breakup in 2012, is trying to hire a venture-capital director at its Deerfield headquarters. In the agriculture space, Archer Daniels Midland also has a corporate fund that launched two years ago.

Conagra Brands has teamed with Kellogg, meantime, to help finance a food business incubator, the Hatchery, that is scheduled to open on the West Side next month.

Evolv Ventures' Bill Pescatello notes that Kraft Heinz is the fifth-largest packaged-food and beverage company in the world. The venture fund, he says, "is about how can we be smarter, connect with startups and get a first look at emerging technologies. The distribution channels are being absolutely disrupted, with Amazon selling direct to consumers and doing delivery, along with Instacart. We'll be heavily involved in investing in those areas."