Startups, Accelerators & Incubators – vegconomist

Amazon Rainforest in Anavilhanas National Park, Amazonas - Brazil

ProVeg International Expands to Brazil With First-Ever Office in South America

October 28, 2024

ProVeg International, a food awareness organization aiming to replace 50% of animal products globally with plant-based and cultivated foods by 2040, has expanded its global presence by opening its first office in South America: ProVeg Brazil. Led by journalist Aline Baroni, the Brazilian team will promote plant-forward public policies and work with the Brazilian government to highlight “food systems” as a central theme during the 2025 UN Climate Summit, COP30, which will take place in the Amazonian city of Belém. [perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”The team has a huge but exciting challenge to promote plant-based diets in Brazil”[/perfectpullquote] With this addition, the organization now operates in 14 countries, broadening its reach and influence in promoting the health and environmental benefits of plant-based …

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Future of Foods Interviews

Future of Foods Podcast: Marie Brueser of EIT Food on Exciting Technologies and Innovation in the Space

October 28, 2024

Alex Crisp, writer and host of Future of Foods Interviews speaks to Marie Brueser from EIT Food on this latest podcast episode. EIT Food is charged with accelerating and driving innovation in the EU by using all the means at its disposal – including significant early-stage investment, and is described as a pan-European organization dedicated to driving innovation and entrepreneurship across the food sector to create a more sustainable and healthy food system. Supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), EIT Food brings together stakeholders from across the entire food value chain—including agritech startups, industry giants, research institutions, and universities. Brueser highlights exciting areas including generative AI for food data applications, advancements in plant genetics for faster breeding, and precision fermentation, notably …

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Switzerland’s Catchfree Develops Shrimp Alternative Made From Microalgae and Plant Proteins

October 29, 2024October 23, 2024

Catchfree is a food tech startup that has emerged from the Swiss Technical Institute of Technology (ETH). The company is developing sustainable, nutrient-rich plant-based seafood, starting with a microalgae-based shrimp alternative. Made using a proprietary process, the plant-based shrimp combines microalgae with other plant proteins to replicate the taste, texture, and nutritional value of conventional shrimp. The product has been made possible by the increasing availability of non-pigmented microalgae, which provides a rich source of protein and fatty acids without undesirable colours or flavours. Paprika is used to give the plant-based shrimp an authentic colour without the need for artificial additives. Catchfree was founded by food scientists Eduard Müller and Severin Eder to address overfishing and the environmental issues associated with aquaculture. “We’re focusing on …

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Mylkcubator: More Than Mylk, a program focusing on alternative food ingredients made with cellular agriculture technologies has introduced the next cohort of the program's third edition.

Pascual Innoventures Invests $2M in Mylkcubator, Third Edition Launches Beyond Alt-Milk

September 30, 2024

Mylkcubator: More Than Mylk, a program focusing on alternative food ingredients made with cellular agriculture technologies by the Spanish companies Pascual Innoventures and Eatable Adventures, has introduced its next cohort of startups focusing on sustainable ingredients. Pascual Innoventures has invested over $2 million in the Mylkcubator program across all three editions, including a recent investment in the precision fermentation startup Onego Bio. According to the firm, the Mylkcubator ecosystem has generated a total value of $305 million and raised $104.5 million, “underscoring the success and global significance of the program.” Gabriel Torres Pascual, CEO of Pascual Innoventures, commented, “Our goal is to continue identifying and supporting innovative companies that can offer sustainable solutions to the current challenges in the food sector while strengthening an ecosystem …

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Biotope Unveils Fifth Cohort Focused on Solutions for Leather, Food Waste, and Natural Colors

September 23, 2024

Biotope, a Belgian biotech incubator and early-stage investor, has revealed the three startups selected to be part of its fifth and latest cohort: Corium Biotech, I-Challenge, and Lantana Bio. Launched by the Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie (VIB), Biotope aims to bring agrifood startups to seed-stage readiness within 18 months, de-risking biotechnology investments to drive innovation in the biotech space. Annick Verween, Head of Biotope, shared: “Biotope focuses on potentially impactful solutions which can benefit from a dedicated biotech ecosystem to support them. Our new, fifth cohort is a perfect reflection of this mission – all of the startups represented are passionate entrepreneurs with groundbreaking biotech solutions that have the power to create lasting change for people and the planet.” Leather, food shelf life, and natural …

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MISTA Growth Hack Selects Biomass Fermentation as Key Theme for 2024

September 13, 2024

A unique collaboration of 14 early-stage food tech startups, eight leading global food companies, and key partners, including Accenture, the Good Food Institute, and SOSV, will be part of the 2024 MISTA Growth Hack. MISTA, a food innovation platform, and a Givaudan entity, aims to bring new sustainable ingredients and technologies to life to feed the planet. This year’s Growth Hack aims to develop integrated, nutritious, affordable, and sustainable foods, beverages, and snacks by enhancing biomass fermentation. This technology grows nutrient-dense microbial cells that can improve the nutritional and sensory performance of foods and beverages. [perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”The food system needs new solutions to feed the 8.5 billion people that will populate the Earth in 2030″[/perfectpullquote] “The food system needs …

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Fi Europe Startup Challenge: Plant-Based Innovation is Driving the Transition to a More Sustainable Food System

September 4, 2024September 4, 2024

The Fi Europe Startup Challenge has become an important platform for advancing potentially transformational solutions from young companies. Although it is built around an awards programme, the Challenge does more than recognise innovation. It nurtures startups by giving them business support, constructive feedback, industry exposure and an opportunity to make the connections they need to scale up and grow. [perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”The Challenge offers a front-row seat to witness the cutting-edge ideas […] shaping the future of the food industry”[/perfectpullquote] The Challenge was the brainchild of nutrition consultant and food industry expert Sandra Einerhand, who worked with the team at Fi Europe to make it a reality. Since then, the programme has gone from strength to strength, and is now …

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Sproudz, a Flexible Production Hub for Swiss Food Startups

June 20, 2024

Sproudz is set to advance plant-based food innovation in the Bern district of Switzerland. This unique hub will offer startups from the food industry rental space and facilities to produce their innovative plant-based products in the Swiss Municipality of Zollikofen. Additionally, Sproudz will provide joint services in procurement, quality management, logistics, and human resources. This initiative will enable startups to scale their business models cost-efficiently. The fenaco cooperative supplies the infrastructure, aiming to promote Swiss agricultural raw materials and optimize by-product refinement from its processing plants. Two startups from the Bern region have already committed to relocating their production operations to Zollikofen by late 2024. BakeryBakery AG, Switzerland’s first vegan bakery with a growing branch network, and Outlawz Food AG, a producer of plant-based meats, …

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AI Protein team, image courtesy of ProVeg International

5 Startups Transforming the Landscape of Food Production

June 17, 2024

The alternative protein industry is teeming with innovation, and the latest group of startups from ProVeg Incubator demonstrates the remarkable developments that are ahead. This year, five promising food-tech companies working on breakthroughs from cultivated seafood to cutting-edge ingredient encapsulation are poised to revolutionise our perspectives on food production and consumption. In its recent New Food Hub article, ProVeg International looks at what sets these companies apart. Here’s a preview of what’s to come. Food-tech startups for your radar Atlantic Fish Co: Founders Doug Grant and Trevor Ham established Atlantic Fish Co in 2022 to develop cultivated seafood with a focus on wild-caught marine white fish. In April 2024, they unveiled the ‘world’s first’ cultivated black sea bass. Optimized Foods: Founders Minami O. Maja Segerman …

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RisingFoodStars Programme Lead Narjis Chakir. Image supplied.

RisingFoodStars Reveals Cohort of 14 Scaleups Addressing European Food Sustainability

June 12, 2024

EIT Food RisingFoodStars, a non-profit organisation funded by the EU and the agri-food tech community, has revealed the 14 scaleups selected for the latest cohort of its three-year program. RisingFoodStars aims to solve environmental and social challenges such as reducing net emissions by 90% by 2040, halving food waste, achieving food self-sufficiency, and improving the availability of healthy, nutritious foods. Selected startups have access to a network of over 50 investors and 160 industry leaders, along with workshops, coaching, and mentorship. The new cohort features: SeedForward GmbH — a German startup substituting synthetic agrochemicals with biobased alternatives, with an emphasis on seed treatments, biostimulants, and plant protection. The aim is to facilitate the transition towards regenerative agriculture. Notpla — a UK-based sustainable packaging producer that …

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Biotech startup Atlantic Fish Co., headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, leverages cellular agriculture to create seafood free of plastics, mercury, antibiotics, and animal suffering.

12th ProVeg Incubator Cohort Features Mycelium Tech, Next Gen Pet Food, and Cultivated Sea Bass

June 6, 2024

Berlin-based ProVeg Incubator today reveals the five impact-driven startups that have been selected for the 12th cohort of its accelerator programme, designed for alt-protein startups driving food system transformation. This year’s programme has been revised and improved in order to create more opportunities for the participants to take their business to the next level. With an extension from 12 weeks to 20 weeks, the incubator now offers a kick-off week in Berlin for the founders to meet and attend workshops and events in-person, as well as additional mentoring and business support. The startups will take part in a series of workshops, fireside chats, and speaker-led sessions throughout the 20-week programme. ProVeg Incubator alumni that have gone on to succeed in their respective fields include Better Nature …

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TASTE LIKE, Famous from Appearance on Germany’s Shark Tank, Seeks Investors

May 30, 2024

German startup TASTE LIKE, seen on the TV programme Die Höhle der Löwen (The Lion’s Den, similar format to Shark Tank and Dragon’s Den), known for its vegan herring salads, is seeking new investors and experienced partners for a successful launch in the food retail sector Martina Kühn and Alexander Jens have been producing vegan specialities for the benefit of animals, people and the environment since 2017 under the brand name ‘MAKÜ’. According to the small family business from North Friesland, the flagship products in its range are the vegan herring salads, which are in no way inferior to the original in terms of flavour, consistency and mouthfeel. As a substitute for herring, TASTE LIKE uses aubergines, which are processed using a specially developed method, …

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omami sweet chilli flavour chickpea tofu

New Berlin Startup omami Debuts with Tofu Made from Chickpeas

April 30, 2024

omami, a young startup from Berlin not, of course, to be confused with Umiami, Umami Bio, Umaro, Yamami, or any other Oms or Ums, debuts with a chickpea tofu product in four varieties. Founded by Christina Hammerschmid in October 2023, omami tofu is made with carefully selected ingredients sourced exclusively from Europe. The products are produced in the company’s own production facility and the company guarantees short supply chains. Chickpea-based tofu caters to consumers with allergies and unable or unwilling to consume soy products, or are simply interested in a novel protein, and has become a popular solution in recent years. Other chickpea-based tofus currently available on the market include products from Big Mountain in Canada; Franklin Farms in the US; Moonbeans of Illinois; Bronhill …

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Startup to Watch: The Mushroom Angel Company – Collecting Awards & Retail Listings Across Midwest USA

April 26, 2024

The Mushroom Angel Company is a Detroit-based startup specializing in whole food products made from mushrooms. The company’s flagship offering, the Cruz Burger, is described by the company as an “old school veggie burger with new school flavor.” This mushroom-based burger is designed to replicate the texture and mouthfeel of meat while maintaining a distinctive vegetable flavor. The company was founded by Wendy (W.E.) and Dominique DaCruz, who moved to Detroit in 2016 and subsequently built successful business careers. Their inspiration to create meat-free burgers came after a trip to Malawi, where W.E. sampled a delicious chickpea meatball dish. This experience, coupled with the onset of the pandemic, motivated the DaCruzes to develop a wholefood mushroom burger patty, leading to the creation of the Cruz …

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Europe’s Largest Fishing Port is Home to Yanten Vegan Food, the “Evolution of Fishing”

April 29, 2024April 25, 2024

In the Spanish city of Vigo, home to Europe’s largest fishing port and described as “the most important port for the commercialization of fish for human consumption on the continent, and a central point for trading in fish at European and world level”, Gabriel López Pose founded the startup Yantén Vegan Food. Using the tagline “The future of the sea,” Yantén’s products are said to mimic the taste and texture of seafood offering sustainable food products at competitive prices. “We want to reduce the stress on the world’s oceans through overfishing. According to the FAO, 90% of fish stocks are fully exploited or overfished, which means we are already taking all we can from the oceans (and in some cases, more) while demand for seafood continues to …

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Vevolution Announces Pitch Event for Fast-Growing “Food as Medicine” Category

April 19, 2024

Agrifoodtech investment platform Vevolution has announced it will be hosting a virtual pitch event with the theme “Food as Medicine”. The category is rapidly gaining investor interest and includes areas such as personalized nutrition, functional ingredients, sugar and salt alternatives, and microbiome health. Five startups will pitch at the event: Sante Science — A Brazilian company using upcycled spent brewer’s grain to produce supplements that reduce chemotherapy side effects, improving cancer patients’ quality of life. Sea & Believe — An Irish startup using native seaweed to produce seafood alternatives and ingredients for the food and skincare industries. The company recently launched its first seaweed farm in the Connemara region. Stove — Described as an “AI dietician”, UK-based Stove simplifies recipe creation for those with diet-related …

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Five Startups Compete to Revolutionize Alt Protein Cost Efficiency in Givaudan Plant Attitude Challenge

April 9, 2024

Five startup finalists — Eat Typcal (Brazil), Meatless Kingdom (Indonesia), Eternal (US), Juicy Marbles (Slovenia), and BVeg Foods (India) — are set to pitch their ideas to reduce the costs of alt-protein recipes by 20% while ensuring a “delicious” consumer experience at Givaudan’s Plant Attitude Challenge on April 17th, 2024. The finalists will also explain how their solutions specifically relate to the findings and recommendations outlined in Givaudan’s recent white paper in collaboration with the University of California Berkeley. The paper discusses various alt protein production methods and opportunities for improving efficiency in the food industry. In addition, it provides ten actionable pathways to help producers address supply chain issues, resource consumption, production scale-up, and competitive pricing to reduce product costs. Flavio Garofalo, Global Director, …

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Image credit: Jan Michalko

Kickstarting for Good Program Seeks Impact Entrepreneurs to Help Make Our Food System Sustainable

April 5, 2024

ProVeg International is searching for mission-driven entrepreneurs to join its Kickstarting for Good accelerator program, which aims to launch and grow nonprofits and impact initiatives working on transforming the food system. Said to be the first accelerator of its kind, Kickstarting for Good is the not-for-profit program of the ProVeg Incubator, which has worked with over 100 food tech startups over the past five years. It consists of an expert-led ten-week program featuring mentoring and networking opportunities. Participants will spend an intensive two weeks in Berlin (a grant is available to cover travel and accommodation costs) and will be teamed up with like-minded co-founders. The program will culminate in a Pitch Day. Idea areas Applicants — which may include individuals, founder teams, or existing organizations …

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Toronto Startups AuX Labs & Genuine Taste Join BioCreate Accelerator to Create Alternatives to Cheese and Beef

March 20, 2024

Two cutting-edge biotech startups from Ontario, Canada — AuX Labs and Genuine Taste — have been selected to join BioCreate, an accelerator program that supports innovative companies in the health, food, agriculture, and cleantech sectors. AuX Lab was founded in 2021 by Ted Jin to create affordable bioidentical animal proteins using precision fermentation and engineered yeasts. The company is working to develop yeast strains with high protein-yielding capabilities and a bioprocess fueled by low-cost feedstocks established in “capital-light” fermentation facilities. [perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”This game-changing innovation is happening right here in Ontario”[/perfectpullquote] AuX Lab’s first protein — milk casein — is used to create animal-free cheese with the same taste and melting and stretching functionalities as dairy cheese. The startup has raised $3 million …

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5 More Small Vegan Businesses You May Not Know That Deserve to Be on Your Radar

February 23, 2024

As a follow-up to Tuesday’s piece listing five small vegan companies that you might not know, here we present another five emerging businesses from around the world that deserve your support. From Canadian cheese to Spanish cakes, these small enterprises are doing great things and are well worth your hard-earned pennies. 1. Freedom Cakes – Madrid, Spain Freedom Cakes of Madrid is an uber cool outfit that entails a cake shop, an American style vegan cafe/diner, and a delivery service in the Spanish capital. The diner concept is described as “The only 100% Plant Based American Diner in Madrid where you can find the best brunch, burgers, sandwiches, milkshakes, pancake towers and our famous cakes and much more!” The cafe concept recently moved to a …

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