Nestlé has announced that it is exploring emerging technologies for the development of animal-free dairy protein-based products. Its novel product – developed by Nestlé R&D teams in Switzerland – will be piloted in the US market later this year as a test-and-learn.

Piloting a novel product

Nestlé announced yesterday that it is exploring emerging technologies for the development of animal-free dairy protein-based products. This move complements investments the company has made in plant-based meat and dairy alternative offerings over the years to meet the growing consumer demand for nutritious, more environmentally friendly diets.

Nestlé will pilot a novel product through the company’s newly established U.S. R+D Accelerator, bringing it to the U.S. market later this year as a test-and-learn. The product is made with animal-free protein from Perfect Day, a food technology startup company based in Berkeley, California. According to Perfect Day, the protein, made through precision fermentation, is identical to the whey protein found in cow’s milk but is lactose free and suitable for vegans.

A Swiss innovation

The product was developed by Nestlé R&D teams based in Switzerland. With expertise in both great-tasting nutritious dairy and plant-based dairy alternatives, Nestlé is well-equipped to deliver a relevant consumer solution in this emerging space, in collaboration with start-ups and other ecosystem actors.

Heike Steiling, Head of Nestlé’s Development Center for dairy products: “As the world’s largest food and beverage company, delivering foods and beverages that are good for people and the planet is a priority. We are exploring emerging technologies that can lead to animal-friendly alternatives that are nutritious and sustainable, without compromising on taste, flavor, and texture. Bringing together our unmatched R&D expertise, innovation capabilities and scale, we are working to develop and test novel animal-free dairy protein-based products to complement our wide-ranging portfolio of plant-based alternatives.”

Rapid US market entry

The recently created U.S. R+D Accelerator is focused on identifying opportunities and aims to bring highly differentiated product concepts to the market in just six months.

“We are excited to pilot Nestlé’s first animal-free dairy protein-based products through our U.S. R+D Accelerator,” said Joanna Yarbrough, head of the R+D Accelerator. “While this category is still very young, we know consumers are looking for products that have a reduced environmental footprint, and we are evaluating this avenue as a future growth opportunity for our business.”

Through investing in initiatives to reduce the carbon footprint of dairy, launching more plant-based dairy alternatives, while exploring emerging technologies for animal-free dairy proteins, Nestlé aims to to transform its dairy product portfolio as a part of its broader commitment to provide food that’s good for people and the planet.

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Cultivated Biosciences, an innovative ingredient company founded by Swiss entrepreneurs Tomas Turner and Dimitri Zogg, has just raised a $1.5M pre-seed round. The funding will enable the growing team to further optimize its production processes, research food applications and start product development with their first clients.

Tackling the next frontier in animal-free food

The company’s financing round was led by leading Swiss venture fund Wingman Ventures and involved other leading foodtech venture capital investors such as Big Idea Ventures, Blue Horizon, Proveg International and the FoodHack syndicate. The round is also supported by other founders in the alternative protein space such as the CEO & Co-Founder of US-based foodtech forerunner EVERY Company, Arturo Elizondo and Lukas Böni, Co-Founder of Planted who are both acting as advisors to the company.

“Fats are the next frontier in accelerating the world’s transition to an animal-free food system, and I’m thrilled to be personally backing Cultivated Biosciences and their approach”, said Arturo Elizondo, CEO & Co-Founder of EVERY.

Creamy, clean label dairy alternatives

From their laboratories in Zurich, Cultivated Biosciences are developing a creamy ingredient from GMO-free yeast which offers the mouthfeel needed to make plant-based dairy an alternative for average consumers. The ingredient is clean label and has a sustainable production process. This way, Cultivated ensures that in the future all consumers will be able to enjoy a delicious creamy experience in a kind, sustainable and affordable way. “We are beyond excited to build a solution that will elevate the mouthfeel of the plant-based dairy category and ensure that it’s simply better and cheaper than its factory farmed equivalent,” adds Tomas Turner, CEO & Co-Founder.

Arman Anatürk from FoodHack syndicate commented “I’ve been lucky to watch Tomas and the team develop Cultivated Biosciences since their early days, and the progress they’ve made in such a short time is what really convinced us. We all want to reduce our carbon footprint and eat more plant-based dairy, and Cultivated Biosciences are there to make this future possible – and tasty.”

Next steps

In 2023 the company will start testing its creamy ingredient with selected clients for high-value savoury applications and is open to working with partners, especially from the Swiss gastronomy sector and the European and US FoodTech ecosystem. 

About Cultivated Biosciences

SA Cultivated is a food and biotech startup solving the problem of texture in plant-based dairy. It is developing an ingredient from GMO-free yeast, which offers the creaminess needed for plant-based dairy to appeal to flexitarian consumers. This ingredient has the same texture and color as dairy products, low lipid oxidation and natural emulsification properties. The team has been backed by leading investors in the field and won several grants and awards in Switzerland and Europe. Featured in several reports from the Good Food Industry, Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute and articles from food magazines, the solution has driven huge excitement from food producers. 

Find out more on the the Cultivated Biosciences website.

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Swiss Foodtech startup Planted, known for its clean-label biostructured meat, successfully closed its series B financing round of CHF 70 million. The round was led by L Catterton, the largest global consumer-focused private equity firm. Planted will use the funds to launch its new whole-cut line of products including its chicken breast, further its international expansion, and increase production capacity.

Europe’s fastest growing alternative protein company

Founded in July 2019, Planted, the ETH Zurich spin-off produces delicious meat from alternative proteins such as peas, oats, and sunflowers. Planted focuses on creating the perfect bite with clean-label ingredients through its novel biostructuring approach, which combines protein structuring and fermentation. L Catterton is joined by existing investors such as Vorwerk Ventures, Gullspång re:food, Movendo, Be8 Ventures, ACE, ETH Zürich Foundation, Joyance, Yann Sommer, as well as new investor Tengelmann Ventures.

For Planted’s Co-Founder Christoph Jenny, the Series B investment reflects the traction the company sees in the market and with investors. “We are proud to be Europe’s fastest growing alternative protein company, with a strong track record, despite our nascency, in established markets like Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and France, and early traction in new markets like the UK and Italy. With the additional capital, we will further accelerate our international growth, expand our product range with a line of whole-cut products, and build an additional production site.”

Jenny added, “Current plant-based meat technologies and solutions are not able to replace more than 1-3% of meat consumption, and therefore are not having the required impact on our food system. Consumers argue that this is due to a lack of taste, an overall unattractive price, and questionable ingredients. For meat-eaters to make a switch, it is crucial that we create ‘better meat than animals’ – meaning better taste, price, lower environmental impact, good ingredients, and healthiness. It is these parameters that are always at our focus”.

Contributing to healthier, more sustainable food systems

A Managing Partner in the Growth Fund of L Catterton said “It is an honor to partner with Planted in its mission to revolutionize the way meat and protein-rich foods are consumed globally. Not only are their products inspired by nature, but they are also free of unnatural ingredients, scalable, and able to be easily incorporated into consumers’ daily lives. With food as a strong lever to promote human health and environmental stability, Planted directly contributes to creating a healthier and more sustainable food system. We have strong conviction in the company’s continued growth, as more people across the globe continue to adopt alternative proteins into their lives.”

Launching whole cuts

Powered by its unique biostructuring process that combines protein structuring and biotechnology, Planted is launching its whole-cut product range. This proprietary technology allows Planted to design and produce larger pieces of meat with complex structure, texture, juiciness, and tenderness. Planted is convinced that biostructured proteins will outperform animal meat in the future in terms of taste, sustainability, health, efficiency, and price.  

“We are currently in the final phase of launching various whole-cut products such as our chicken tenders, chicken patties, and chicken breasts. These are the first larger cuts of meat on the market without additives. We are aiming to launch these products in foodservice first with retail distribution following shortly thereafter. As such, our chicken breast launch is being kicked off in collaboration with Michelin star chef Tim Raue and will be available to guests in his restaurant in Berlin as of 15th September 2022, followed by further launches in the foodservice sector,” says Christoph.  

Additionally, more than 65 employees who work in Planted’s science, engineering and product development departments have been developing several other promising prototypes. “Now we need to test these prototypes with consumers, fine-tune them, and scale them. Strong backing by investors gives us the ability to fast-track testing and put substantial resources behind scaling the products to enable successful launches across our various sales channels within the coming months,” Christoph continues. 

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The “Knorri” factory in Thayngen will be transformed into a unique innovation campus that will promote collaboration between startups and established companies, universities, investors, and innovation facilitators – helping new agrifood technologies to scale up and reducing time to market.

Promoting collaboration

Unilever Switzerland and Alphorn Venture Partners (AVP) are joining forces for this ambitious project. Unilever will contribute its expertise in nutrition and food processing, while Alphorn Venture Partners – a FoodTech venture studio – will provide access to its network of startups and scaleups working on new, disruptive technologies, such as precision fermentation and cultured food.

The campus will be designed to drive collaboration between established companies and startups, universities, investors, and innovation facilitators. ETH Zurich, KitchenTown and the economic promotion department of the Canton of Schaffhausen are also involved in the project. 

A Swiss center for the future of nutrition

For Unilever, this initiative is another step in their Swiss location strategy. In March this year, the administration of the national company moved into its new home in the center of Schaffhausen.

“Our vision of creating a Swiss centre for the nutrition of the future in Thayngen is gradually becoming a reality. In future, Thayngen will not only be the production site for Knorr products in Switzerland, but also research innovative nutrition concepts under the same roof,” says Thierry Mousseigne, General Manager Unilever Switzerland.

“The location in Thayngen is ideal for closing the scaling gap between product development, small-batch production and industrial manufacturing, and will offer contract development and manufacturing solutions to startups and scaleups,” says Daniel Böhi, Managing Partner of Alphorn Ventures. “Being able to access the know-how and infrastructure of Unilever Switzerland and work together on solutions will enable us to help new agrifood technologies break through more quickly.”

“The cooperation between Unilever and Alphorn Venture Partners creates a unique environment for innovation and collaboration. The direct connection to the production at the site and the expertise of the two partners on site create excellent opportunities for development activities and startups in the fields of nutrition and food production,” says Christoph Schärrer, Delegate for Economic Development of the Canton of Schaffhausen.

“I am pleased with Unilever’s decision to expand the Thayngen site into a center for the nutrition of the future. It strengthens Schaffhausen’s position in food processing. The project exemplifies the efforts of the Canton of Schaffhausen to establish itself as an application region for future-oriented technologies,” explains Government Councillor Dino Tamagni, Head of the Department of Economic Affairs of the Canton of Schaffhausen.

This initiative is part of a series of activities aimed at establishing Switzerland as one of the world’s leading FoodTech nations.

About Unilever

Unilever is a leading international consumer goods manufacturer. The company sells food, personal care products, detergents and household cleaners in over 190 countries and owns some of the world’s best-known brands such as Knorr, Magnum, Dove, Axe, Rexona, Coral, Lusso, The Vegetarian Butcher and Ben & Jerry’s.  

Their vision is to be the world’s leading company in the field of sustainable business and want to show that they achieve outstanding results with their future-oriented business model led by Purpose. Their strategy, the Unilever Compass, sets the way to deliver excellence and achieve sustainable and responsible growth by improving the health of the planet; increaseign people’s health, self-confidence, and well-being, and contributing to a fairer and more inclusive world. Find out more at www.unilever.com and www.unilever.ch.

About Alphorn Venture Partners

AVP is a FoodTech Venture Studio based in Switzerland, Israel, and USA, that aims to scale the future of nutrition and make it accessible and available to as many people as possible. AVP engages and invests primarily into startups/scaleups whose technologies enable “deep space” travel but will apply them to solving current and concrete problems in the global food industry (resource scarcity, sustainability/environmental impact, climate change, obesity, and health, etc.).   

The vision of AlphornVenturePartners is: Future Food. They scale it to make it accessible and available. To change the way we eat on Earth – and beyond.

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As part of its Global Youth Initiative, Nestlé recently launched the Nestlé Youth Entrepreneurship Platform (YEP), a new digital platform for young innovators and entrepreneurs who want to learn new knowledge and skills, test an idea or grow their businesses, in areas ranging from food science and technology to the development of products and services – including regenerative agriculture and sustainable packaging.

 A dedicated program young innovators and entrepreneurs

The YEP brings together all Nestlé’s existing innovation initiatives and programs in one place and gives young innovators access to The Nestlé Entrepreneurship Academy plus dedicated programs to grow knowledge, learn new skills and gain experience. It also offers customized content and resources from specific geographies.

Stefan Palzer, Nestlé CTO said, “At Nestlé we work with startups, entrepreneurs, innovators and researchers to drive innovation, bring good ideas to market fast and provide nutritious,sustainable and affordable products for a growing world population. Our new digital platform supports young people to bring great ideas to life across the food value chain, shaping the future of food!”

Key programs available on Nestlé’s Youth Entrepreneurship Platform include:

• Nestlé R+D Accelerator: entrepreneurs can apply for challenges at one of Nestlé’s 12 Accelerators across the world, to focus on developing disruptive food and beverage innovations and bringing them to market in six months. Participants can work together with Nestlé’s R&D experts from around the world, such as food technologists, nutritionists, regulatory and food safety experts, designers and packaging experts. Each team also receives hands-on support from dedicated innovation coaches and mentoring from Nestlé’s senior management. 
• Purina Unleashed: the first and only pet care program designed to identify and support innovative start-ups, focused on leveraging technology to improve the lives of pets and owners.
• Numerous Nestlé market initiatives. For example, Ignite Ideas (Nestlé Hellas) supports startups and individuals; Reto Culinario (San Salvador), is an entrepreneurial contest and TV show that showcases youth culinary innovation; CEO X Youth Connect (East and South Africa), enables young people to engage with CEOs of large companies active in Nestlé’s Alliance for YOUth.

A global youth initiative

According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), two out of every five young people are either unemployed or have a job that keeps them in poverty. For this reason, Nestlé launched Nestlé Needs YOUth in 2013. The company’s Global Youth Initiative helps young people gain the skills they need to thrive in tomorrow’s workplaces. Around the world, it has benefited more than 4 million young people across the three pillars, employability, agripreneurship and entrepreneurship. 

Entrepreneurship can be a positive choice, a means of unlocking innovation, skills and energy to drive economic and social progress. Through the new platform, Nestlé is encouraging this, and is investing in early-stage companies and helping young entrepreneurs to put their ideas into practice. 

“Young entrepreneurs need guidance, support, and above all, opportunities and platforms where their voices can be heard and their ideas realized. This includes building their knowledge and skills, testing their ideas in real-life situations, getting feedback from their audiences and receiving support to take their concept to the next level” said Laurent Freixe, Nestlé’s CEO for Latin America and founder of the Nestlé Needs YOUth initiative. “The Nestlé Youth Entrepreneurship Platform will help equip them with the skills, experience and mindset they need to kick-start their idea and business.” 

Check out the Nestlé Youth Entrepreneurship Platform to find out more and apply for free.

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Growing up as a company is normally meant metaphorically, as startups move from young entrants to more mature businesses. But for YASAI, growing up also has a literal meaning. The Swiss agtech startup is redesigning the way food systems work by integrating vertical farming methods into herb production. Now they’ve launched a crowdinvesting campaign to double their production capacity.

Meet Yasai

YASAI’s Founder and CEO Mark Essam Zahran became interested in vertical farming – the practice of growing crops in vertically stacked layers in a climate-controlled environment – after stumbling upon a book about the method in his twenties. Leaning on his training as an architect, he decided to join forces with an ecological engineer and a banker to tackle one of the most pressing challenges of our time: feeding a growing global population on a planet with shrinking natural resources.

Together, the trio founded YASAI in 2020. Headquartered in Zürich, the company’s mission is to cover the food value chain holistically, from farm to fork, in a hyperlocal and traceable manner. The team has already funded and built their first vertical farm – already in operation as the first automated facility of its kind in Switzerland. Based on 100% renewable energy, their system is both economically and ecologically viable. Now the plan is to replicate this approach by scaling up with further hydroponic, vertical farming facilities. 

The story so far

In 2021, the company was generating a €-1.14m loss pre-revenue. However, YASAI’s initial market launch in January this year proved a great success, with their vertically farmed herbs now available in 80 locations at Switzerland’s largest grocery retailer, Coop.

Today, demand from prospective customers already exceeds the farm’s estimated current maximum output capacity by 2.8 times. In order to continue to offer a robust alternative to food imports in the country and expand to farming leafy greens, the company requires additional funding.

What’s next?

YASAI is crowdfunding to raise the money it needs to scale. Conventionally, investing in startups requires significant funds and is therefore limited to venture capitalists and angel investors, with contributions of six figures and above being the norm. Crowdinvesting allows for more conventional earners to invest in companies they care about. 

“Investing in a start-up shouldn’t be a privilege for only a handful of people. This is why we chose to invite supporters to crowdinvest. Everyone should be able to invest in vertical farming as a contribution to more resilient food systems” – Yasai Founder & CEO Mark Essam Zahran

Vertical farming has the potential to increase yields by up to 200 times per square metre and uses 95% less freshwater – something that is particularly pertinent as much of Europe is afflicted by drought. YASAI hopes that opening up their latest funding round to a wider demographic will allow those who care about the future of farming to put their money where their mouth is.

And the team seems to be right. Pre-registered users got priority access from August 15 and at the time of publication Yasai had secured €1,225,750 from 183 investors – already exceeding their initial €850,000 target. As of August 23, the campaign is public and open to everyone.

Next steps for the company, besides scaling up their farming facilities, include opening a branch office in Singapore and continuing to develop their presence in the European market.

Find out more about Yasai’s crowdinvestment round on Crowdcube.  

About YASAI

YASAI build and manage vertical farms based on a circular economy to transform food systems. Their mission is to contribute to local food production, independent of climate circumstances. They grow more with less fresh water, less fertiliser, and less land. They achieve more yield per square metre with zero pesticides all year round right at your doorstep.

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