Bühler and Big Idea Ventures have joined forces to accelerate the journey of start-ups creating great tasting alternatives to animal-derived protein products. As the global venture capital fund, Big Idea Ventures currently has four accelerator programmes annually in New York and Singapore, and has recently launched the New Protein Fund, which will invest in and accelerate plant- and cell-based companies globally.
Andrew D. Ive, founder of Big Idea Ventures, said: “We are glad to have Bühler join Tyson Ventures, Temasek and our other strategic investors in the Big idea Ventures’ New Protein Fund. Together, we can support the growth of the new generation of 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.”
Bühler plays a role in serving the fast-growing plant-based meat and dairy replacements sector, with value chain coverage from primary processing of pulses, peas and lentils, soy, oats, quinoa, as well as traditional grains, through the shaping, forming, texturing, fibre formation and cooling of meat analogues, be they dry or high moisture.
Johannes Wick, CEO, grains, and food, Bühler, added: “This partnership benefits from our global network of Food Application Centres across Europe, Asia and the US. However, it is particularly timely, given that we are opening our Food Application Centre in Minneapolis on Jun 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 new Food Application Centre in Minneapolis provides a platform for developing new ways to transform peas, beans, corn, pulses, oats, ancient grains, and many other crops into new food solutions such as flours, snacks, pasta, cereals, and a myriad of extruded products, including plant-based meat analogues.
The joint Givaudan Bühler innovation facility in Singapore focuses on sustainable protein-based products. Combining the flavour and formulation expertise of Givaudan with the process and technological capabilities of Bühler, it provides a one-stop shop for development and first scale up of new products for market test.