Eager to embark on a journey in the Swiss food innovation ecosystem, but worried about getting lost in the mountains?

Switzerland boasts a wealth of foodtech startups, research institutions, accelerators, and industry leaders. While this diversity fosters innovation, it can also be challenging for newcomers to know how to connect with the right stakeholders. 

Guiding innovators through the Swiss food ecosystem

The SFNV Navigator is an interactive, user-friendly digital tool that guides international innovators through Switzerland’s dynamic food innovation ecosystem. It connects them with a multitude of resources, partners, and opportunities – so they can get where they’re headed faster. 

Whether you’re a startup looking for funding, a researcher seeking collaboration, or a company aiming to expand in Europe, the Navigator will help you to identify and connect with the most relevant partners and resources.

Key features include:

• Comprehensive listings: Learn more about Swiss food ecosystem players
• Search feature: Filter and search based on your specific needs, whether that’s  funding opportunities, research collaborations, or market growth.
• Targeted filters: Find resources by location and company stage.
  

Addressing real-world challenges

The Navigator is a response to the real challenges faced by innovators entering the Swiss market. As Matthew Hoffer, Managing Director Europe & Middle East at OneAgrix AG, explains: “As a company with roots in Singapore, our attraction to Switzerland stems from its pivotal role as a gateway for our growth and expansion into Europe. Switzerland offers an exceptional business environment, unparalleled innovations, and a proactive ‘can-do’ attitude that enhances the resilience of food value chains. It’s essential for new entrants to have a clear view of the ecosystem’s many actors and entry points to make the most of its potential.”

On a similar note, Cedric Verstraeten, CEO of revyve, shared: “Switzerland’s reputation as a hub for cutting-edge technology and forward-thinking business practices perfectly complements our mission at revyve. Our partnership with Swiss food and ingredients manufacturers allows us to enhance our ability to deliver natural, animal-free, and high-performing texturising ingredients to consumers worldwide. For companies like ours, understanding and navigating this environment quickly and efficiently is vital to building meaningful collaborations and scaling innovations.”

Whether you’re in the early stages of your venture or looking to expand your existing operations, the SFNV Navigator can help understand what support is available. 

Explore the SFNV Navigator

Never miss a Swiss food innovation morsel.

Latest News

Want an example of successful collaboration between Valley Partners? Look no further than Luya and the ZFV Group. Find out why the ZFV Group selected Luya as an ingredient for their vegan dishes, how the partnership is progressing, and what makes this foodtech start-up so special in terms of innovation. 

A different kind of vegan alternative

Let’s start with two questions. Do vegan alternatives always have a long list of ingredients? And why are they still called “nuggets” or similar, as if they’re meat? These are two questions that Valley food service partner ZFV can answer easily thanks to Luya. 

In answer to the first question: No, they don’t. There are just six ingredients on Luya’s product list – 98% of its contents are chickpeas and okara. And additives? Zero.The foodtech start-up’s motto is back to nature and natural ingredients, a return to traditional production methods. It’s this that so impressed ZFV’s kitchen teams and why Luya regularly features on vegan menus across their 200 locations. But what exactly makes Luya so special?

Okara – a valuable by-product

Cutting-edge fermentation cabinets are busy whirring away at Luya’s production facility, located in a former chocolate factory. This traditional production method, familiar to many from their mother or grandmother’s kitchen, is being brought into the modern age. To further develop this method, Luya has invested heavily in research and technology. It’s not just about using natural ingredients and traditional techniques, but also about fighting food waste. Luya uses okara, a by-product of tofu production. Rich in nutrients and valuable components, okara is usually processed into biogas – quite literally burned. At Luya, it now enjoys a second life as a star ingredient. And this is just the beginning – many similar by-products still suffer the same fate. Co-founder Nina Schaller says the Luya team already has several new ideas in the pipeline. We’re very curious to see what else might end up on our plates in the future. Which raises the question…

Why are vegan products still called “stroganoff”, “nuggets”, and the like? 

Natural, vegan, and free from additives – Luya products bring variety to plant-based cuisine. But why do they still carry names like “burger”, “stroganoff” or “nuggets”? The answer is a simple one: we buy, cook, and eat what we know. When someone reads “stroganoff” – even if it’s made from okara and chickpeas instead of meat – they already have an idea of how to prepare it and what might go well with it. Luya’s goal is to inspire as many people as possible to try healthy, plant-based products. That’s easier to achieve if people feel confident enough to give it a go. So the naming can be seen as a kind of “user manual”.

Nina Schaller, Luya co-founder, explains: “We deliberately sought out natural, nutrient-rich products and analysed by-product streams. We didn’t shy away from research or the development of technical solutions and processes. One thing became clear: the system needs to change so that by-products don’t just end up in the bin for the sake of convenience. There’s still a lot of potential, and we’ll keep working on it.”

Luya x ZFV – two Valley Partners join forces

Reto Zuberbühler, F&B developer in product management at ZFV, has been busy creating dishes with Luya – for example, the “Luya Korma” with a side of tomato-coconut chutney. The spicy South Asian curry was part of the Veganuary 2025 menu. The ZFV team had their eye on Luya for some time and were all the more excited to finally get it into the pan and onto the plate. With Reto a big fan of fermentation and natural ingredients, he was just as impressed by the ingredients list as he was by the taste.

Never miss a Swiss food innovation morsel.

Latest News

Valley partner Planted has opened a new state of the art facility for producing its plant-based whole-muscle meat in Memmingen, southern Germany. The Swiss FoodTech pioneer is already regarded as a trailblazer in the field of clean meat and the new premises mark a major milestone in the expansion of its production capabilities. 

A home for Planted’ s whole-muscle platform

The focus of the new production facility in Memmingen will be on scaling and further developing the group of products that relies on Planted’s proprietary complete meat muscle. The muscle grows through proprietary fermentation processes and can be further processed into a variety of meat cuts. The planted.steak based on this advanced technology was launched in 2024 and has triggered strong demand from consumers and restaurants – demonstrating the potential of alternative proteins in terms of flavour, health benefits and sustainability. The opening in Memmingen was announced in late 2024 as an answer to this increased demand. 

Doubled production capacity 

The new plant in Memmingen marks itself out as Europe’s most modern production facility for biostructured proteins and will make it possible to produce over 20 tonnes per day in the mid-term, the same amount as the current capacity of the site in Kemptthal, Switzerland – therefore doubling the company’s overall capacity. 

The facility will produce products for sale in Germany as well as other European markets, including the UK – creating over 50 new jobs in the medium term. Lukas Böni, co-founder and member of the management board of Planted, told us: ‘With an export share of 75% and Germany as our biggest export country, expansion into our largest EU market was an obvious choice. The new proximity to key target markets, combined with a state-of-the-art production facility, allows for more sustainable and efficient logistics and production, helping Planted meet growing demand and stay closer to our international customers. The Kemptthal site remains a central pillar of our production for the Swiss market.’

Sustainability as a central element

Sustainability is a guiding principle at the new production facility, as you would expect from the B-Corp certified company. Together with the local Alois Muller Group, an expert in sustainable energy concepts, the plant has been designed to be environmentally friendly and energy-efficient, so that it can work towards CO2 neutrality. Planted relies on groundwater cooling and the heat supply is provided by a sustainable energy system. The production of a planted.steak causes 97% less CO2 emissions and requires 81% less water compared to conventional beef. 

In a further achievement for the planted.steak, further significant national retail listings have been made at REWE and Kaufland in Germany, Tesco in the UK, Carrefour in France, Albert Heijn in Holland and Migros in Switzerland in recent weeks. To coincide with the BBQ season, Planted has also newly expanded its range with a paprika flavour way produced using the same innovative fermentation technology. Further products in the steak group are also under development and set to launch later this year.

‘Our biotechnological expertise enables us to bring new innovative products to market faster and more efficiently – and even closer to our customers in the retail and gastronomy sectors,’ explains Judith Wemmer, co-founder of Planted and operational lead for both production sites. The company is convinced that alternative proteins will surpass animal meat in terms of flavour, sustainability, health, productivity and price in future as the demand for environmentally friendly food continues to grow.  

Never miss a Swiss food innovation morsel.

Latest News

Nescafé, Valley partner Nestlé’s largest coffee brand, sourced 32% of its coffee from farmers implementing regenerative agriculture practices in 2024. This achievement surpasses Nescafé’s 2025 goal of 20%, reflecting the strong traction that regenerative agriculture is gaining within coffee farmers, according to the latest Nescafé Plan 2030 Progress Report, released on Wednesday, 11 June.

Nescafé is supporting coffee farmers’ transition to practices like optimized fertilization, soil cover, mulching and composting, with the aim of improving productivity and lowering their costs. The adoption of these practices is also helping reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in coffee. In 2024, participants of the Nescafé Plan achieved a reduction ranging from 20% to 40% of GHG emissions per kilogram of green coffee. 

Need for resilient supply chains

The challenges posed by climate change were acutely felt in the coffee sector this past year, across several coffee-producing countries, where farmers experienced adverse weather conditions. This has resulted in record-high global prices for both arabica and robusta coffee and less coffee available, underscoring the urgent need for more resilient coffee supply chains.

Axel Touzet, Head of Nestlé’s Coffee Brands Strategic Business Unit, said: “Regenerative agriculture is at the heart of the Nescafé Plan and our efforts to build resilience in our coffee supply chain. This third Progress Report shows that farmers are becoming increasingly aware of the benefits of these practices, as shown by the increased adoption rates. This encourages us to continue the work we do with our partners, suppliers and farmers in the regions where we source our coffee.”

As coffee trees age, they naturally become less productive and more susceptible to the effects of climate change, which can further diminish yields. Renovating and rejuvenating coffee farms is essential to maintain productivity, and in 2024, the Nescafé Plan continued its longstanding coffee plantlet program by distributing 21 million coffee plantlets to support improved yields and climate adaptation.

The Nescafé Plan currently covers more than 400 000 hectares of coffee farmlands. In 2024, over 1 400 of the Plan’s field staff and agronomists trained more than 200 000 coffee farmers in 16 countries in regenerative agriculture. These experts are actively assisting farmers with topics, such as soil erosion and runoff, organic matter management and optimized fertilization.

Through the Nescafé Plan, Nestlé and its partners continue to support farmers to help create a strong and resilient coffee supply chain for the future.

Never miss a Swiss food innovation morsel.

Latest News