Swiss plant equipment manufacturer Bühler has partnered with Big Idea Ventures to accelerate its creation of sustainable alternatives to animal-derived protein products.
Bühler has invested in Big Idea Ventures’ New Protein Fund, which will invest in and accelerate up to 100 plant- and cell-based companies worldwide. The venture capital fund runs four accelerator programmes annually in New York and Singapore.
“We are glad to have Bühler join Tyson Ventures, Temasek and our other strategic investors in the Big Idea Ventures’ New Protein Fund,” said Andrew D Ive, founder of Big Idea Ventures.
“Together we can support the growth of the new generation of leading plant-based companies in North America, Asia and ultimately, the planet. Bühler and Big Idea Ventures will work together to build great companies responding to consumer demands for great-tasting food that is good for them and good for the planet.”
Ian Roberts, CTO at Bühler Group commented: “Providing safe, nutritious, pleasurable and affordable food to a population of 10 billion people by 2050 and doing that within the planetary boundaries is a formidable challenge.
“There is an urgent need for wide-scale collaboration if we are to make an impact on the climate and nutrition challenges within the next decade. Academics, start-ups, and established companies need to come together to innovate and find more sustainable ways to produce food.”
He continued: This is why we are partnering with Big Idea Ventures: to accelerate the journey for promising start-ups, to reinforce partnerships and start-up ecosystems in Singapore and the US, and to do this with a clear focus on creating a more sustainable food supply for the future”.
“This new partnership benefits from our global network of Food Application Centers across Europe, Asia, and the US,” said Johannes Wick, CEO grains and food at Bühler Group.
“However, it is particularly timely, given that we are opening our Food Application Center in Minneapolis on June 19 and introducing new technologies, such as the Filtrex solution, specifically for this sector, and will open our joint innovation facility with Givaudan in Singapore later this year.”
The Food Application Center will provide a platform for developing new methods to transform peas, beans, corn, pulses, oats, ancient grains, to name a few, into new food applications, including flours, snacks, pasta, cereals, as well as plant-based meat analogues.
Meanwhile, the joint Givaudan and Bühler innovation facility in Singapore combines the companies’ expertise in order to focus on sustainable protein-based products.
“We will be pleased to welcome Big Idea Ventures start-ups to benefit from our facilities and capabilities,” added Roberts. “We are excited about this partnership and believe that we can advance our goals for a sustainable food system with Andrew and his team.”