Valley partner, FoodYoung, a full-stack innovation lab and venture studio dedicated to transforming the food industry has officially opened its new state-of-the-art facility in Balerna, Switzerland. Combining cutting-edge food science, advanced food technology, and culinary excellence, the new facility is set to accelerate the development and production of sustainable, health-focused, and exceptional-tasting food products.

Located in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland with close proximity to Italy’s renowned culinary culture, the Balerna facility offers end-to-end product development solutions under one roof. FoodYoung can develop, prototype, and scale products in just one to three months—far faster than the industry norm.

A New Era of Food Innovation

“Our new facility in Balerna is more than just a lab; it’s a platform for innovation where food science meets technology and culinary expertise,” shared Abouzar Rahmani, Founder and CEO of FoodYoung. “We believe that the future of food needs to be co-created, and this facility allows us to collaborate with startups, established companies, and entrepreneurs to create marketable solutions that are healthier, more sustainable, and taste exceptional.”

Pioneering a One-Stop Solution for Food Industry Challenges

The Balerna facility is equipped to develop and produce a wide range of products across six categories, including frozen products such as ice cream and meals, baked goods, bars, various types of snacks, chocolates and spreads. FoodYoung is able to develop 1000+ prototypes per year and has a production capacity of 14+ million packs and 800+ tons of finished food products annually. Its comprehensive capabilities enable FoodYoung to serve not only its own portfolio ventures but also provide services to partners looking for faster, more agile product development processes.

FoodYoung stands out for its collaborative approach. The company partners with renowned retailers, influencers, and other innovators to co- create food ventures. By combining cutting-edge food science and technology with culinary mastery, FoodYoung is positioned to solve the food industry’s challenges collectively, rather than individually.

Leadership Driving Innovation

Founded by Abouzar Rahmani, a serial entrepreneur with deep roots in the agri-food industry, FoodYoung is supported by a highly skilled leadership team. Funda Dilmaghanian, Co-founder and Chief Operations Officer leads operational excellence, while Julia Rahmani as Co-founder and Chief Sustainability Officer heads sustainability initiatives, ensuring that the company’s practices align with its core values of health, taste, and sustainability.

“Our goal is to push the boundaries of what’s possible in food innovation,” added Rahmani. “We are not just creating products; we are reshaping the industry.”

A Hub for Innovation and Collaboration

The new Balerna facility encapsulates FoodYoung’s mission: to be a one stop shop where food innovation happens at record speed. From formulation and prototyping to pilot production and commercialization, the facility’s streamlined processes are designed to bring new products to market faster than traditional methods, run by an agile and forward- thinking team.

About FoodYoung

FoodYoung is a full-stack innovation lab and venture studio that combines food science, technology, and culinary expertise to create the next generation of sustainable, health-focused food products. Based in Balerna, Switzerland, FoodYoung offers end-to-end solutions, from formulation to scale production, across six product categories. With a commitment to collaboration, co-creation, and innovation, FoodYoung partners with startups, entrepreneurs, and established companies to bring breakthrough food products to market.

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Valley partner, Givaudan has launched a Plant Attitude Challenge, inviting start-ups to show how to decrease costs of one of their alt-protein recipes, while ensuring a delicious consumer experience. The contest brings to life 10 pathways to more affordable, sustainable alt-protein products from recent white paper developed together with UC Berkeley.

Five alternative protein start-ups from around the world will join Givaudan’s ‘Plant Attitude Challenge’ on April 17th and pitch how their solutions can decrease costs on one of their standard recipes by up to 20% while still ensuring a delicious and nutritious consumer experience.

Start-ups taking part in the Challenge will also articulate how they address the insights from Givaudan’s recent white paper with UC Berkeley: ‘10 Alternative Protein Pathways: Opportunities for Greater Efficiency.’

Challenge finalists include Eat Typcal (Brazil), Meatless Kingdom (Indonesia), Eternal (U.S.), Juicy Marbles (Slovenia), and BVeg Foods (India). These five companies will present their pitches at a live virtual event on April 17^th, with both public and jury voting, and the winner will go on to collaborate with Givaudan on their innovation idea.

Flavio Garofalo, Global Director, Culinary & Plant Attitude, Givaudan, said: “We created the Plant Attitude Challenge to inspire companies to translate the 10 pathways from our recent white paper into cost effective alt-protein innovations that don’t compromise on all the things that delight consumers—including taste, mouthfeel, visual appeal and nutrition. We strongly believe that collaboration and strategic partnerships are key to success in alt-protein, and by teaming up to share knowledge, expertise and resources, we can innovate and get products to market more quickly.”

The winning start-up will collaborate with Givaudan, which offers a global ecosystem of protein hubs and alt-protein experts, as well as state-of-the art digital technologies and an integrated portfolio of solutions.

Expert jury members will include:

• Flavio Garofalo, Global Director Culinary & Plant Attitude, Givaudan
• Sudhir Joshi, Professor, University of California Berkeley
• Beatriz Jacoste Lozano, Director KM ZERO Food Innovation Hub
• Jolene Lum, Head Business Development, Nurasa

The live Plant Attitude Challenge event on April 17th is open to the public, and every participant will have an opportunity to vote for their favourite start-up innovation. Registerhere and download the white paper, ‘10 Alternative Protein Pathways: Opportunities for Greater Efficiency’ here. 

About Givaudan

Givaudan is a global leader in Fragrance & Beauty and Taste & Wellbeing. We celebrate the beauty of human experience by creating for happier, healthier lives with love for nature. Together with our customers we deliver food experiences, craft inspired fragrances and develop beauty and wellbeing solutions that make people look and feel good. In 2023, Givaudan employed 16,260 people worldwide and achieved CHF 6.9 billion in sales with a free cash flow of 13.3%. With a heritage that stretches back over 250 years, we are committed to driving long-term, purpose-led growth by improving people’s health and happiness and increasing our positive impact on nature. This is Givaudan. Human by nature. Discover more at www.givaudan.com

About Givaudan Taste & Wellbeing

Powered by innovation and creativity, Givaudan Taste & Wellbeing aims to shape the future of food by becoming the co-creation partner of choice to its customers. Built on its global leadership position in flavours and taste, the Company goes beyond to create food experiences that do good and feel good, for body, mind and planet. With an expanded portfolio of products across flavours, taste, functional and nutritional solutions and a deep knowledge of the food ecosystem, Givaudan’s passion is to collaborate with customers and partners to develop game changing innovations in food and beverage. This is Givaudan. Human by nature. Learn more about how we are shaping the future of food at www.givaudan.com/taste-wellbeing

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Valley partner Cultivated Biosciences, a pioneering Swiss biotech food startup, has announce the successful closing of its seed funding round, securing $5 million to fuel its ambitious growth plans. This significant financial injection will accelerate both the development of their yeast cream in collaboration with the food industry and preparation for the market launch in 2025.

The dairy-free sector has experienced considerable growth and innovation recently. Still, the products fail to convince consumers as the various attempts of mixing plant-based proteins with vegetable oils and additives like emulsifiers and texturizers still don’t exactly replicate the dairy experience. They also don’t meet expectations in terms of health and sustainability, as additives and exotic oils are used. Cultivated Biosciences offers a sustainable and healthy solution with its yeast-derived cream, a critical ingredient for mimicking the creaminess, functionality, and color of traditional dairy cream. This ingredient improves the texture and stability of dairy-free products, replaces additives, and doesn’t affect taste. 

The yeast cream is a natural emulsion, just as dairy cream is a natural emulsion, but derived from a specific type of oleaginous yeast. Cultivated Biosciences has developed unique and proprietary technologies, and the yeast cream is patented. The production process involves yeast biomass fermentation, a method distinct from precision fermentation as it is non-GMO, cheaper and more easily scalable. It does not aim to replicate dairy cream on a molecular level. Instead, it achieves functional and sensory parity. The yeast cream contains fats, proteins, and fibers, all from the yeast, featuring a microstructure of yeast lipid droplets that resemble milk fat droplets. This ingredient is designed for integration into final consumer products, with Cultivated Biosciences planning to supply it to the food industry and gastronomy sectors through a B2B model. The company has already validated its application in products like coffee creamers, milk, and ice cream with its clients and is exploring further uses.

The funding round drew a strategic group of investors, highlighting widespread support for Cultivated Biosciences’ mission to narrow the gap between dairy alternatives and traditional dairy with its fermentation-derived creamy ingredient. Navus Ventures, a Dutch venture capital firm dedicated to promoting sustainable food and energy systems, led the investment round. Founderful (previously known as Wingman Ventures), a Swiss tech venture capital firm and an early investor in Cultivated Biosciences, demonstrated their continued trust in the company by significantly contributing in this round, along with other early investors like HackCapital and Lukas Böni, the founder of Planted. The round also introduced new investors, including US-based Joyful VC, Mandi Ventures, and Zürcher Kantonalbank, all persuaded by the company’s significant progress since its $1.5 million pre-seed round in September 2022.

Reflecting on the successful funding round, Cultivated Biosciences’ CEO Tomas Turner shared his gratitude and optimism for the future. He stated, “This funding validates our innovative approach and enables us to introduce our revolutionary yeast cream to the market. We aim to make alternative dairy products appealing to traditional dairy consumers, not just to reduce CO2 emissions from dairy production but also to tap into a multi-billion dollar market opportunity.”

Eduard Meijer, Managing Director of Navus Ventures, added: “This dairy-free cream with great taste, mouthfeel, versatility, and functionality can significantly improve alternative dairy, with a technology that has the potential to scale economically. We are excited to team up to help them make these products commonplace, catering to diverse consumer preferences” The 15-member team is now focused on scaling up production and collaborating closely with the food industry and gastronomy to introduce their ingredient to consumer markets by 2025.

About Cultivated Biosciences

Cultivated Biosciences is turning animal-free dairy into the better choice for everyone thanks to its patented yeast cream produced with fermentation.

Dairy production contributes to 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Meanwhile, the market for dairy alternatives is expanding worldwide, valued at $12 billion in 2023 and projected to reach $34 billion by 2033. These alternatives increasingly appeal to health- and environmentally-conscious consumers, although two-thirds of these consumers cite texture and the desire for a clean label as obstacles to consumption.

Founded in 2021 in Zurich, Switzerland, Cultivated Biosciences’ 15-member team is transitioning from the research and development stage to the market entry phase. The company plans to introduce its cream to the US market in 2025 and to the European market in 2026, pending regulatory approval for consumption.

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