Valley partner Yumame Foods specialises in creating minimally processed, fungi-based products through natural fermentation. In 2023, they teamed up with fellow Valley partner Agilery to support their first production scale-up and introduce their innovative products to prospective customers. Just two years later, Yumame’s creations have been served in restaurants across Switzerland and landed on the shelves of Coop, the country’s largest retailer. Here’s how this early collaboration helped to get there.

The challenge: Making meat alternatives the star of the plate

The global plant-based market is growing steadily, fuelled not only by sustainability concerns but also by shifting consumer expectations. Taste remains the number-one purchase driver for 67% of consumers, far ahead of health or environmental claims. As 53% of consumers say they want to eat more plant-based foods, demand for products that deliver on taste, texture, and nutrition has never been higher.

Yumame Foods saw an opportunity to create products that don’t simply imitate meat, but instead establish a new category of centre-of-the-plate fermented foods — rich in flavour, nutritionally balanced, and highly sustainable.

To meet rising demand, the team needed to scale their flagship recipes from small-batch production to a pilot-scale environment, without compromising quality, flavour complexity, or the integrity of their minimally processed fermentation techniques.

Founder Eliana Zamprogna, an experienced  innovation manager and chemical engineer with deep knowledge  in the food industry, recognised fermentation as a powerful tool for creating clean-label products with naturally developed flavours. But the challenge was twofold:

• Scale up from small-scale to pilot-scale production while preserving product quality.
• Protect proprietary fermentation know-how, all while building local, sustainable supply chains.

This is where collaboration became essential.

The results: A facility, process optimisation and consumer validation

Working closely together, Valley partners Yumame Foods and Agilery delivered three tangible achievements that were strategic for Yumame’s future growth.

1. State-of-the-art fermentation facility
Agilery supported Yumame in designing and setting up a pilot-scale facility tailored to their proprietary fermentation process. This meant translating a lab-scale process into a robust, scalable production environment while ensuring food safety, consistency, and efficient daily operations.

2. Continuous optimisation of processes and supply chains
Together, the teams streamlined procurement, production workflows, and cost structures. This optimisation allowed Yumame to improve batch consistency, reduce production costs, and prepare the groundwork for commercial-scale operations.

3. Consumer validation support
Agilery helped Yumame prepare and execute early-stage tastings and sampling sessions. These insights enabled the team to refine their recipes and confirm market demand well before launch. 

The solution: A collaborative journey toward scale

Throughout the ramp-up phase, Agilery provided operational and technical support, including logistics, shelf-life testing, certification, and staffing. Yumame leveraged Agilery’s in-house experts to ensure all processes met high-quality standards and regulatory requirements.

This early collaboration helped to build the foundation for Yumame’s next growth phase. The company has since established a larger scale facility, strengthened its supply chain, and prepared for broader market entry.

Today, Yumame products are available in Swiss restaurants and on the shelves of Coop, marking a major milestone for the startup and a testament to the power of ecosystem collaboration.

The success factors: A lean, adaptable and collaborative approach 

Both teams highlighted three elements that made the partnership successful:

1. Collaborative Partnership
The close collaboration between Yumame Foods and Agilery created a shared vision and clear understanding of project goals. 

2. Lean Approach
Agilery and Yumame’s aligned, efficiency-focused methodology enabled the company to scale up at higher speed and maintain maximum autonomy.

3. Adaptability and Innovation
Agilery adapted to Yumame’s unique production requirements, ensuring all sustainability and quality objectives were met across every step of the process.

Share your story

Are you a Valley partner with a collaborative success story to share? Tell us about it.

Sign up to receive the Valley’s quarterly newsletter 

Latest News

Valley partner FOOD2050 has partnered with PAN International to help canteens, hospitals, and universities make meals more sustainable and healthier.

FOOD2050’s innovative software enables food-service teams to plan, monitor, and communicate the climate and nutritional impact of every meal. Grounded in the principles of the Planetary Health Diet, the platform already tracks sustainability and meal balance across more than 170 operations in Switzerland, with plans to expand globally.

Through this partnership, PAN International will contribute its medical and nutritional expertise to strengthen FOOD2050’s evolving health-impact model, ensuring dietary data is scientifically validated and aligned with evidence-based nutrition frameworks. Together, the partners aim to make healthy, climate-friendly food choices the easy and transparent option in institutional kitchens worldwide.

“We share a vision of empowering kitchens and consumers with data-driven insights that benefits both people and the planet,” says Kerstin Plehwe, President and CEO of PAN International. “By combining FOOD2050’s innovative technology with PAN’s medical expertise, we can help transform the way health and sustainability are measured and communicated across food systems.”

This shared purpose forms the foundation of the partnership, uniting technology and medical science to make the Planetary Health Diet practical and measurable at scale.

“At FOOD2050, our goal is to help food-service operators make measurable progress
toward the Planetary Health Diet without compromising on quality or practicality,” adds Christian Kramer, CEO and Co-founder of FOOD2050. “Partnering with PAN allows us to refine our health-impact models and ensure they are grounded in medical science, a key step toward linking sustainability and health in everyday meal decisions.”

This collaboration marks the beginning of an exciting journey to bring science-based nutrition and sustainability insights directly to the places where millions of meals are prepared and served each day.

About PAN International

The Physicians Association for Nutrition (PAN International) is a global medical non-profit organisation advancing nutrition in healthcare and medical education. By promoting evidence-based practices of healthy diets for personal and planetary health, PAN works to reduce millions of diet-related deaths. Learn more by visiting our website pan-int.org.

About FOOD2050

FOOD2050 Ltd. is a Swiss technology company driving the transformation of institutional food systems through data and innovation. Its software platform helps canteens, hospitals, and universities plan, monitor, and communicate the climate and nutritional impact of their meals, making sustainable and health-conscious food choices easier for chefs and consumers alike. Operating across more than 170 sites in Switzerland, FOOD2050 works with major universities, corporations, and catering partners to align real-world menus with the principles of the Planetary Health Diet. www.food2050.ch

Sign up to receive the Valley’s quarterly newsletter 

Latest News

Ingredion Incorporated has announced a strategic partnership with the Swiss-based startup and Valley partner, Cosaic, to accelerate the global rollout of their unique ingredient technology platform.

This collaboration bridges the agility of a young biotech innovator with the global reach and technical depth of an established ingredient powerhouse, a model increasingly defining how breakthrough food technologies reach the market.

Developed through fermentation, Cosaic’s ingredient enables food manufacturers to achieve dairy-like creaminess and stability across a wide range of applications – from functional beverages to sauces, and spirits – without the need for animal-derived ingredients. The technology answers a growing global demand for ingredients that balance sustainability, sensory quality, and manufacturing efficiency. “From improved texture, to taste, to performance, Cosaic leverages a deep knowledge of biotech innovation to develop a novel, multi-functional ingredient platform that will allow us to innovate foods with customers in ways never before imagined,” said Mike Leonard, Chief Innovation Officer at Ingredion.

Cosaic’s flagship ingredient, Cosaic Neo, is a natural yeast-derived emulsion that includes fats, proteins and fibers that combine naturally to offer eight functional and sensory benefits in a single clean label animal-free ingredient. Today’s food products typically blend fats, proteins, and carbohydrates from different sources and rely on additives to bring them together. Cosaic Neo’s unique microstructure naturally integrates these molecules, allowing nutrients to combine in new ways, beyond simple one-to-one replacements and without the need for additives.

“Partnering with Ingredion marks a pivotal moment for Cosaic. It validates the years of research we’ve poured into reimagining what ingredients can do, and how they can do better for people, businesses, and the planet. Together, we’re bringing our yeast-derived emulsion to the world stage, transforming how creamy, delicious, and sustainable foods are made,” said Tomas Turner, co-founder and CEO at Cosaic. “This partnership bridges breakthrough biotech and industrial know-how. With Ingredion’s global reach and technical excellence, we can accelerate commercialization and make clean-label creaminess a scalable reality.”

Ingredion will help Cosaic implement its go-to-market strategy, starting with the US, and co-develop new products to expand the startup’s portfolio, which already includes solutions for performance drinks, meal-replacement shakes, dressings, sauces, and spirits.

About Cosaic

Cosaic is a Swiss biotech and foodtech startup that aims for a world in which good food choices benefit everyone: people, businesses, and the planet. They do this with ingredient solutions that offer greater industry resilience and greater consumer satisfaction. Cosaic Neo is their first ingredient, a unique natural multifunctional emulsion that delivers perfect stability and delicious creaminess, all at once, by itself. It is a patented food ingredient born from yeast fermentation. Its complex microstructure allows for 8 functionalities to reconcile product performance with sensory experience. Cosaic employs 18 people and is in seed stage, preparing for a market entry next year in the US. More info: www.cosaic.bio

About Ingredion

Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE: INGR), headquartered in the suburbs of Chicago, is a leading global ingredient solutions provider serving customers in nearly 120 countries. With 2024 annual net sales of approximately $7.4 billion, the Company turns grains, fruits, vegetables, and other plant-based materials into value-added ingredient solutions for the food, beverage, animal nutrition, brewing and industrial markets. With Ingredion Idea Labs® innovation centers located around the world and more than 11,000 employees, the Company cocreates with customers and fulfills its purpose of bringing the potential of people, nature, and technology together to make life better. Visit ingredion.com for more information and the latest Company news.

Sign up to receive the Valley’s quarterly newsletter 

Latest News