Eight pioneering startups, from Japan to Estonia to Israel, have joined the ProVeg Incubator in a cohort with a strong focus on emerging food technologies and unique ingredients for the alternative-protein sector.
The companies are developing a range of innovative products, including the world’s first milk made from sprouted millets, functional mung-bean protein, mycoprotein-based chicken and fish, and a fat ingredient made from oleaginous yeast for use by the alt-dairy industry.
This latest round of the ProVeg Incubator accelerator programme kicked off on Monday, 20 September, and will run online for 12 weeks.
The Berlin-based ProVeg Incubator is one of the world’s leading alt-protein accelerators, exclusively supporting companies that are transforming the global food system.
Startups that join the ProVeg Incubator are supported with a tailor-made accelerator programme, one-on-one expert mentoring, access to the Incubator’s extensive networks of industry contacts, and up to €250,000 in funding and in-kind services.
Let’s meet the startups:
- Altein Ingredients (India) is developing a functional mung-bean protein that aims to be the nucleus of plant-powered food. The resulting ingredient can be used to create soya-free, animal-free, and gluten-free plant-based products.
- Meet Future (Estonia) is a food-tech company developing the next generation of mycoprotein-based chicken and fish alternatives.
- Plant-based Japan (Japan) uses unique Japanese ingredients to develop plant-based egg and meat alternatives.
- Cultivated Biosciences (Netherlands) uses fermentation to develop a fat ingredient from oleaginous yeast, which offers the creaminess needed for plant-based dairy products.
- ProProtein (Estonia) is developing a scalable precision-fermentation technology for producing dairy proteins from yeast, without the need for cattle farming.
- Genesea (Israel) is a B2B food-ingredients company with a mission to produce protein isolates and other ingredients developed from offshore-grown marine macroalgae.
- Alt Foods (India) is developing the world’s first plant-based milk made from a unique mix of grains and sprouted millets.
- Brain Foods (Bulgaria) produces and sells healthy, sweet-and-savoury plant-based snacks that nourish both mind and body.
Albrecht Wolfmeyer, Head of the ProVeg Incubator, said: “With its seventh cohort, the ProVeg Incubator once again brings together outstanding talent and innovative power in food-tech from all over the world. These startups all share ProVeg’s mission: to take animals out of the food equation and make our food system more sustainable.
“These eight promising startups are working on a new generation of functional ingredients and foods, using scalable technology – particularly fermentation – that will take the transformation of the food industry to the next level. Globally, there is a fast-growing demand for better and more accessible plant-based products. Our startups are addressing these demands with solutions for both the industry and consumers.”
Since its launch in 2018, the ProVeg Incubator has worked with over 55 startups from around the world. Collectively, those companies have raised more than €100 million and are stocked in over 15,000 stores.
Startup founders who are interested in joining a future cohort at the ProVeg Incubator can apply online. To stay up to date with all the latest news about the ProVeg Incubator, please go to our website or follow us @provegincubator on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.
Notes:
- For more information on the ProVeg Incubator, check out www.provegincubator.com
- ProVeg Incubator is part of ProVeg, a leading food awareness organisation working across four continents. More information can be found at www.proveg.com
- The ProVeg Incubator works with strategic partners Blue Horizon Ventures and M-Industry, as well as a number of other investors and partners, including the Association of Alternative Food Producers, Atlantic Food Labs, Beyond Advisors, the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, Good Seed Ventures, Katjesgreenfood, New Crop Capital, NX-Food, Purple Orange Ventures, Veg Capital, and VegInvest.
