Five new start-ups have joined the ProVeg Incubator for the 12th edition of its accelerator programme for alt-protein start-ups driving food system transformation.
The five start-ups selected by ProVeg are developing a range of products and solutions, including cell-based wild-caught marine white fish, a novel mycelium-delivery platform, enabling technologies for the cultivated meat and seafood industry, pet food featuring cultured ingredients and B2B protein ingredients made with microalgae and water lentils.
The incubator has revamped its programme this year to give participants more support, mentoring and opportunities to take their businesses to the next level. Additionally, the programme has been extended from 12 weeks to 20 weeks and now features a kick-off week in Berlin for the founders to meet and attend workshops and events in-person.
Antje Räuscher, co-head at the ProVeg Incubator, said: “We’re delighted to introduce this new-look programme for our 12th cohort. The new approach allows us to spend more time working with each start-up and really leverage our resources to bring more value to each of them. The companies will also have more time to apply their learnings and build relationships with their mentors and the incubator's network."
She continued: “We've been continuously improving and evolving the programme over the past five years. These changes further underpin our commitment to offering the best experience for our start-ups.”
Meet the start-ups
Atlantic Fish Co (US): Established in 2022 to develop cell-based seafood with a focus on wild-caught marine white fish such as sea bass, snapper, flounder and grouper. In April this year, Atlantic Fish Co unveiled the ‘world’s first’ cultivated black sea bass.
Fisheroo (Singapore): Founded in 2021 to develop enabling technologies for manufacturing companies to cultivate meat and seafood from cells in a more efficient and economical way.
Friends & Family Pet Food Company (US): Founded in 2018 to develop a new generation of pet food using yeast and cultivated ingredients. With an emphasis on nutrition, the products are designed to meet the protein requirements for both cats and dogs, containing essential amino acids and other benefits.
Optimized Foods (US): Established in 2021, Optimized Foods has developed a proprietary platform for mycelium-based ingredient encapsulation and stabilisation. This allows it to tune the texture, taste and nutritional value of alt-protein products by encapsulating fats, flavours and nutrients.
AlProtein (Egypt/US): Founded in 2022 to develop protein ingredients using microalgae and water lentils, for use by plant-based meat and cheese manufacturers. Its AI-powered biomanufacturing technology produces high-quality proteins at scale, replacing synthetic additives and binders, without using any fresh water or arable land.
The programme will see the start-ups take part in a series of workshops, fireside chats and speaker-led sessions throughout the course of the 20-week programme. It will culminate in an investor-focused demo day on 3 September 2024, at ProVeg International’s annual New Food Conference in Berlin, Germany.
The start-ups will pitch on stage to an audience of investors, media, retailers, distributors and other food-tech industry professionals from all over the world.
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