Vevolution’s Pitch & Plant is the first global pitch competition in the plant-based space. A week since launch and startups from 25 different countries have already applied.

Blue Horizon Corp., one of the most successful names in the alternative protein venture capital space have today announced they will participate in the global investment competition – Vevolution’s Pitch & Plant 2020.

Investing in the next business unicorns is what Blue Horizon Corp. have become renowned for, they were an early investor in Beyond Meat and are invested in game changing plant-based companies and platforms such as the LiveKindly collective, Impossible Foods and JUST.

Startups creating replacements for animal-farmed food, clothes, chemicals and cosmetics have raised a huge $1.5 billion through the first half of 2020 and this is only expected to grow in the coming years.

The momentum behind the plant-based and cell-based movement is unstoppable.

Blue Horizon Corp. will join a group of leading investors from across the globe, like Capital V, Veg Capital and Kale United. They are joining together to look for the next plant-based and cell-based game changers on the new Vevolution platform. The new platform has been created by the London-based company Vevolution to bring together key investors and high potential startups in the plant-based space from across the world.

A minimum total of $180,000 USD is on offer to finalists of the Pitch & Plant 2020 competition. All startups that apply will also be offered to select a group of angel investors, funds and VC’s on the new Vevolution platform when it launches this November. 

Blue Horizon Corp.’s Program Director Robert Boer said: “Vevolution plays an instrumental part in educating, motivating and inspiring a community of entrepreneurs to harness the power of plants for solving some of the world’s biggest challenges. Being responsible for our seed investments, the Pitch & Plant competition is a great way for me to identify early stage teams and technologies together with mission-aligned investors.” 

Co-Founder of Vevolution Damien Clarkson added: “When startup founders tell me about their dream investors, Blue Horizon is always right at the top of the list. Because from the very top and throughout the organisation they are mission driven in everything they do. They don’t only look for great financial investments but businesses that make a true impact in creating a better planet.”

Michiel van Deursen of Capital V, Partner in Vevolution and Investment Partner in Blue Horizon added: “I could not be more excited for Blue Horizon to join the competition. As they’re both European-based investors with a global focus, I highly enjoy working together with them. They are one of the most sought after investors to have on your cap table as a startup. We are happy we can offer this now to startups that join the Pitch & Plant competition.”

About Blue Horizon Corporation
Blue Horizon Corporation has shaped the growth of the market for alternative proteins since the beginning and accelerates it through targeted investments as a pure play industry pioneer. The company aims to sustainably transform the global food industry through investments into companies who are replacing animal proteins with healthy, alternative protein sources across the global supply chain. Blue Horizon was founded in 2016 and is based in Zurich and Los Angeles. The company launched its first venture fund in 2018. Since then, it has completed over 50 seed and venture capital investments in the alternative protein food tech sector and raised more than CHF 350 million. Its business model offers a unique market access from Seed to Consolidation via funds and direct investment platforms throughout all stages of asset lifecycles. More on www.bluehorizon.com

Media contacts
Robert Boer, Blue Horizon
robert@bluehorizon.com

Damien Clarkson, Vevolution
damien@vevolution.co

Latest Members

The Swiss Food Research and ETH Zürich MAKEit MEAT is a MAKEathon in Zurich following the design-thinking approach combined with expert inputs to foster innovation in one of the most pressing challenges the world food system is facing: our meat consumerism. The participants will work in preformed teams to create new business ideas that would help reduce meat consumption and will present them to expert judges at the end of the event.

We would like to offer you the opportunity of taking part in this specially designed MAKEathon by Swiss Food Research and ETH Zürich supported and co-organised with EIT Food.

When: 23 – 25 October 2020

Where: The Valley, Kemptthal Zurich

Application Deadline: 14 October 2020

Two main areas of challenge

This MAKEathon will tackle a world with less meat from two different viewpoints – the social and psychological dimension, and what solutions for meat alternatives can be offered.

1. Main Challenge – Social & cultural dimension

Eating and diets have a strong socio-cultural and psychological link – Taking this into account, what can help to successfully rethink meat consumption habits?

2. Main Challenge – Technology & product dimension

What product and technology solutions can be offered that help rethinking meat consumption?

Taking the participants’ preferences into account, the two challenges will be allocated to the teams.

Apply now

This is a fantastic opportunity to share your ideas and expertise, help solve real problems AND try out your skills in a unique environment. The application is open now! Places are limited, so apply early to avoid disappointment.

Click here to apply!

Contact

In case of any further questions, please send an email to aline.candrian@swissfoodresearch.ch

MAKEit MEAT is part of a series of MAKEathons delivered by the MAKEit Project under the consortium of EIT Food, partially funded by EIT. MAKEit tackles problems in various food supply chains, including fruit & vegetable, sugar, cocoa, dairy, meat, bread & bakery, and seafood. 

Learn more: https://www.eitfood.eu/projects/make-it

Latest News

Nestlé today inaugurated a new R&D Accelerator to drive innovation and speed-to-market of sustainable dairy products, as well as plant-based dairy alternatives.

Located at Nestlé’s R&D center in Konolfingen, Switzerland, the R&D Accelerator provides a world-class platform for start-ups, students and scientists to leverage Nestlé’s unique dairy and plant protein expertise to quickly bring products from ideation to commercialization.

Nestlé R&D Konolfingen is an integral part of the Swiss innovation ecosystem. It is the company’s largest research and development center for dairy products and plant-based dairy alternatives. The R&D center develops new product concepts for Nestlé’s dairy and infant nutrition businesses before they are introduced to consumers around the world.

Speaking at the inauguration, Mark Schneider, Nestlé CEO, said, “Innovation in milk products and plant-based dairy alternatives is core to Nestlé’s portfolio strategy, as well as our sustainability agenda. As a company, we have set ambitious climate goals. This is part of our promise to develop products that are good for you and good for the planet.”

The R&D Accelerator in Konolfingen features a fully equipped test kitchen, as well as a co-working office space. Internal, external and mixed teams will leverage Nestlé’s capabilities to bring novel ideas from concept to test shop in only six months. They will have access to Nestlé expertise and key equipment such as small to medium scale production equipment to facilitate the rapid upscaling of products for a test launch in a retail environment.

Thomas Hauser, Head of Global Product and Technology Development at Nestlé said, “Our goal is to provide start-ups, students and Nestlé scientists with key resources to quickly explore new ideas through a 6-month test and learn approach. By tapping into our expertise in food science, food safety, regulatory, manufacturing processes, and packaging, they can rapidly upscale and test new products in real market conditions.”

The R&D Accelerator in Konolfingen is part of Nestlé’s global R&D Accelerator initiative which was first launched at Nestlé Research in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Read the full press release in French and German

View related images on Flickr

Media contact:
Melanie Kohli, R&D Communications
Tel.: +41 21 785 9515

Latest News

Big players across industry and academia have come together to boost Switzerland’s reputation as a powerhouse for food and nutrition innovation.

Feeding 9 billion people with healthy and sustainable food: that’s the colossal challenge for humanity in the next few decades. With its 8 million inhabitants and an agriculture sector that occupies less than 1% of Gross Domestic Product, Switzerland looks like a dwarf in the face of big agriculture players like the United States, China, Brazil and Germany.

However, it has considerable assets on its side in the field of agri-food technologies. “Switzerland is home to a unique innovation ecosystem in food and nutrition,” argues Fathi Derder, the coordinator of the Swiss Food & Nutrition Valley, a project launched on the occasion of the most recent World Economic Forum. The project is backed by Nestlé, canton Vaud in western Switzerland, the School of Hospitality and the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL). 

Attracting the best talent

In addition to big well-known agribusiness multinationals (Nestlé, Syngenta, Firmenich, Givaudan, etc.), Switzerland has also seen the emergence of dozens of start-ups in fields like precision agriculture (drones, robots, etc), new packaging techniques and vegetable protein development.

This flourishing private sector has the advantage of drawing on a wide-range of expertise from the federal institutes of technology but also other universities and government-supported agronomy research centres.

These different groups have been collaborating for many years. “But in the face of international competition, especially from North America and Asia, Switzerland must reinforce its leadership position particularly so it can attract the best talent,” underlines Derder.

Some of the main players in the food and nutrition ecosystem in Switzerland:

Common interests

While big heavyweights like Nestlé and EPFL are the driving forces, the initiative is also being embraced by smaller players in the “Swiss Made” industry. “The creation of the Swiss Food and Nutrition Valley will help reinforce the entire agri-food business in Switzerland,” says Olga Dubey, founder of the start-up AgroSustain, specialised in the natural treatment of gray mould present in numerous fruit and vegetables.

Today, food production is responsible for around 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Bringing effective and sustainable solutions to reduce the environmental impact requires “collaboration between well-established companies in the agri-business field with highly innovative, young companies,” argues Dubey.

Despite sometimes diverging interests, all the actors in the field are interested in advancing the sector, says Derder. Cantons, start-ups, universities and organisations are invited to join the association that will be set up in the coming weeks.

In partnership with the Swiss government and Presence Switzerland, which is responsible for promoting Switzerland’s image abroad, the project will be holding a series of events this year. “This international presence is essential. The advantage is we don’t need to toot our own horn as no other region in the world has such a density of excellence in the field,” explains Derder.

Not inclusive enough?

An attractive concept, largely inspired by the model of “Silicon Valley” which has a good chance of being a success, according to Hugues Jeannerat, a professor specializing in innovation at the University of Neuchâtel. “It’s a relevant and fashionable idea but it is not particularly revolutionary. It is a well-known recipe, which has also been applied, for example, in the medical sector with the promotion of a Swiss “Health Valley”.   

While Jeannerat welcomes the project, he regrets that it is largely centered around technological solutions. “The real food and nutrition challenges go far beyond the development of new products and production processes. Supply chains, consumption practices and lifestyles must also be reinvented,” he argues.

The sociologist and innovation expert hopes that the project will also create a dedicated space for consumers, farmers and civil society to be a part of the innovation ecosystem. “It would help address the challenges more fully by thinking about change in concert with the economy and society.”

Clare O’Dea, Skizzomat (Illustration)

The challenges faced by agriculture today are immense. The sector is at the frontline of the climate emergency while under pressure to produce more to meet rising global demand. Used equitably, technological innovation offers a way forward.

Integrating information and communication technologies into farm management – smart farming – is already helping farmers to optimise returns while reducing environmental impact. With early and more sophisticated information, they know exactly which patch in a field needs spraying or which cow needs attention.

But data harvesting is only part of a broad wave of innovation that covers the whole agri-food system, from enhanced seed breeding to the development of new foods to market access.

Switzerland is a nation of some 50,000 small farmers, whose production meets just over half of the national demand for food, when imported animal feed is taken into account.

Though Switzerland is a minnow in comparison to agricultural giants like the United States, Brazil, China and Germany, family farmers produce over 80% of the world’s food. Agri-food technologies have to work for them too.

Building a hub

Swiss farming can draw on a wide-range of expertise from the federal institutes of technology, other universities and the agronomy research centres run by the federal body Agroscope.

The beginning of this year saw the launch of a new initiative to bring these players, along with the flourishing private sector, together to boost the country’s role as a research hub. The Swiss Food and Nutrition Valley was launched at the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos.

The aim of the project is to “attract talent, start-ups and investors, while connecting the existing ecosystem, contributing to their visibility, and to develop sustainable solutions for quality food and nutrition”.

Planting the seeds

As mentioned, plant breeding, using both long-standing and cutting-edge technology, is one area of innovation where a significant contribution can be made towards more sustainable agriculture.

With the global population predicted to reach or exceed 10 billion by 2050, and a third of agricultural land classified as degraded, the stakes are high.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has stated that innovation in general and particularly in agriculture “is the central driving force for achieving a world without hunger or malnutrition”.

Switzerland has a good track record in breeding for disease resistance in the lab and on the ground. Recently, Agroscope and the federal technology institute ETH Zurich have been concentrating on genomic selection, which counts as a conventional breeding technique.

The fruit of all these efforts is that farmers in Switzerland and around the world have access to good-quality seeds which are as resistant as possible to disease, pests and adverse weather conditions.

Organic calculations

And where does organic farming – 15% of Swiss farms – fit in with all this talk of innovation? Certainly, some of the new technologies will help with early intervention against pests and disease for farmers avoiding pesticides and fungicides. But organic farming methods still produce lower yields.

A food waste study carried out by ETH Zurich recorded 2.8 million tonnes of food waste in the Swiss food chain in 2017. That amounts to a shocking 37% of all agricultural production at home and abroad.  

Reimagining food

Apart from optimising yields and quality in the field, Swiss researchers are also in the vanguard of developing new foods and production methods in indoor settings. 

The need couldn’t be more pressing. While livestock products are responsible for 14.5% of global manmade greenhouse gas emissions, they are a cornerstone of our diet. Meat, milk and eggs provide a third of the protein consumed globally.

There is a growing appetite for guilt-free substitute meats, which are set to capture 10% of the global meat market by the end of this decade. Some products will be lab-grown while others are based on plant proteins.

In a context where consumers are taking great care in deciding what to eat, foods that tick the right health, ethical and environmental boxes have great appeal. One Swiss start-up, Planted AG, has developed a chicken substitute based on pea protein.

In this report on alternative foods and growing methods, we visit Planted and another Zurich start-up which is developing the commercial potential of duckweed protein.

Swiss niches

When it comes to smart farming, integrating advanced technologies such as remote sensing, big data, artificial intelligence and robotics into everyday farm management, Swiss companies are finding niches.

Drones have become a popular tool for farmers to survey their lands and generate crop data with the help of agritech companies, especially in large-scale farming countries like Brazil and the United States.

Based in Morges on Lake Geneva, the EPFL spin-off Gamaya specialises in hyperspectral imaging, using special sensors and a camera which has been specifically designed for use in agriculture.

In this final story, we speak to Gamaya about their activities in India and Brazil and profile another Swiss start-up, Vivent in canton Vaud, which produces a sensor which can monitor and interpret plant biosignals.

The digital transformation taking place in agriculture is here to stay, and the benefits are already visible. However, the FAO warns that there are potential drawbacks, including “cybersecurity and data protection, labour replacement and re-education, digital divide and the risk of increasing the concentration in the private sector”.

As long as food security for all is the goal, a global effort will be required to overcome these cross-border problems.