Founders from around the world join leading alternative protein programme, including pioneers from Mexico, Nigeria and Ukraine
Thirteen impact-driven startups with innovative animal-free food and ingredient solutions have joined the ProVeg Incubator for the latest edition of its world-renowned alt-protein accelerator programme. The startups include GoGreen, a Ukrainian company with plant-based versions of steak, burger cutlets and cheeses.
“Our new cohort has a strong focus on sustainable, nutritious and clean-label animal-free food solutions and ingredients. They are leveraging exciting ingredients like seaweed and mycoprotein and technologies like 3D-bioprinting to take taste and texture to a new level. The thirteen selected startups cover the most impactful new food categories – from meat to seafood and cheese alternatives. They target nascent markets for alternative proteins like Nigeria and Mexico as well as new audiences, like the growing group of geriatric consumers in Asia”, said Albrecht Wolfmeyer, Head of the ProVeg Incubator.
“It is particularly pleasing to see a startup from Ukraine joining us at a time when the country is struggling under the horrors of war. We are both humbled and delighted to have GoGreen on board and wish them every success,” Wolfmeyer added.
The ninth edition of the ProVeg Incubator accelerator programme kicked off on 26th September and will run online for the next three months. Based in Berlin, the ProVeg Incubator is the world’s first alt-protein accelerator, exclusively supporting companies that are transforming the global food system.
“The cohort unites startup teams from twelve different countries, including for the first time Nigeria, Ukraine and New Zealand. Through our collaboration with AEVM, the Mexican Association of Vegan Entrepreneurs, we are increasing our reach in Latin America, a high-impact region we will put a focus on in the future,” said Antje Räuscher, Senior Innovation and Partnerships Manager / Co-Head at the ProVeg Incubator.
Getting to know the startups:
- GreenGo (Ukraine) has a mission of making plant-based products diverse, tasty and accessible to more consumers. The startup’s product line includes plant-based versions of steaks, burger cutlets, and cheeses, among others.
- Sunday Supper (USA) develops plant-based and premium ready-to-eat meals which are based on famous Italian recipes. In March 2021, Sunday Supper launched their signature dish, a delicious plant-based, chef-made Italian lasagna.
- Plant Revolt (Hungary) is working towards creating a more sustainable future by producing clean, fibre- and protein-rich meat alternatives. Currently, their focus is on seafood alternatives based on algae extracts.
- Casa Vegan (Nigeria) aims to be the go-to African brand for plant-based alternatives. Their products are made with local and upcycled ingredients. Their current portfolio consists of plant-based mince, chunks and burgers.
- Seaspire (India and New Zealand) wants to be a facilitator in the consumer’s transition to seafood alternatives through cutting-edge and accessible technology.
- Bluana (Romania) is a food-tech startup creating seafood alternative products. The company aims to satisfy vegans and flexitarians while reducing the pressure on ocean’s overfishing.
- Vitality Foods (Singapore) develops plant-based food solutions for the growing silver communities in Asia-Pacific. The startup’s products are focused on conferring health attributes with no compromise on flavour, texture, and taste.
- Raw Bake Station (UK) creates delicious, healthy plant-based snacks. The company’s product line is free of gluten, dairy and refined sugar, tackling the obesity crisis and climate crisis by making healthy snacks more accessible to the everyday consumer.
- BioGNR (Lithuania) has a mission to enable food industry manufacturers to produce healthier and sustainable products from alternative proteins. For that, the startup specialises in fermentation-based technology to produce mycoprotein.
- Jooules (New Zealand) aims to harness the power of microbes and fermentation to produce food without crossing planetary boundaries.
- Leaf Foods (Mexico) is created by vegans whose mission is to offer the best alternatives of plant-based dairy and meat products. The startup focuses on taste, nutrition and a conscious environmental design.
- Quelp (Chile) is a biotech company developing sustainable products based on seaweed. Quelp’s solutions include meat and dairy alternatives, biomaterials, and machine learning systems to develop products based on algae.
- Ser Vegano (Mexico) wants to break stereotypes and overcome barriers, democratising plant-based products by making them more accessible to consumers, without neglecting taste, texture, and nutritional quality.
Since its launch in 2018, the ProVeg Incubator has worked with over 80 startups from around the world. Collectively, those companies have raised more than €250 million and are stocked in over 15,000 stores.
As part of the global food awareness organisation ProVeg International, the Incubator is committed to the mission of reducing the consumption of animals by 50% by the year 2040.
Startups that join the ProVeg Incubator are supported with a tailor-made accelerator programme, one-on-one expert mentoring, access to the Incubator’s extensive networks of industry contacts, and up to €250,000 in funding and in-kind services.
Startup founders who are interested in joining a future cohort at the ProVeg Incubator can apply online at provegincubator.com/application-form/#apply
To stay up to date with all the latest news about the ProVeg Incubator, please go to our website or follow us @provegincubator on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.
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Contact:
For further information, please contact Albrecht Wolfmeyer, Head of the ProVeg Incubator, on [email protected] or Luisa Pereira Goss, Marketing & Communications Officer for the ProVeg Incubator, on [email protected].
Notes:
- For more information on the ProVeg Incubator, check out www.provegincubator.com
- ProVeg Incubator is part of ProVeg, a leading food awareness organisation working across four continents. More information can be found at www.proveg.com
- The ProVeg Incubator works with investors and strategic partners including Unovis, VegInvest, Veg Capital, Good Seed Ventures, Zintinus, Vegconomist, Beyond Advisers, NX-Food, and Humane Society India.
