7 international start-ups join the latest ProVeg Incubator accelerator programme

Seven more start-ups from around the world have joined the latest edition of the ProVeg Incubator programme. 

Fledgling companies from Colombia, Germany, Canada and India have been accepted onto the programme, each offering new innovations for the ever-expanding plant-based and alternative protein markets.

In this latest cohort – the eighth since it launched in 2018 – start-ups are focused on everything from animal-free albumin protein, to cultured fat and mushroom products grown from food waste. 

Being a part of the ProVeg incubator offers foodtech start-ups expert mentoring from a custom-matched business advisor, industry networking opportunities, access to bricks and mortar testing facilities and funding up to €250,000. 

So far more than 55 start-ups have benefitted from the support, with €230 million raised between them. 

The start-ups taking part in this round are: 

• Fortortec (Colombia) is developing mushroom-based ingredients for the alt-protein industry using oyster mushrooms grown in vegetable waste. The practice is both scalable and circular and uses upcycled food waste gathered from local businesses. 
• OceanTastes (USA) is aiming to use proprietary cell-line isolation, serum-free media and plant-based scaffolding technologies to produce cultured seafood. 
• EatMyPlants (Germany) is working on microalgae fermentation technology which can be used to product seafood alternatives. The start-up plans to enter the market with a canned tuna alternative. 
• Biofect Innovations (Canada) is ‘teaching’ microbes to produce valuable ingredients using fermentation technology. The start-up can feed its microbes various industrial waste streams to produce high-value ingredients which can boost the authenticity of plant-based meat. For its first product, the team is focusing on heme – an ingredient which mimics iron-binding proteins (IBP). IBP is what gives animal meat its ‘meaty’ taste, colour and texture.
• Cultimate Foods (Germany) is working on a cultured fat ingredient designed to make plant-based meat alternatives taste like the real thing. The fat will also offer a substitute for unsustainable plant oils. 
• Rewild Solutions (India) is planning to minimise animal slaughter within the food chain by producing whole-cut meat alternatives. It says its proprietary technology will be able to produce alt-meat in just two weeks and that the product will be available to commercial and domestic users alike. 
• Fabumin (Israel) is developing a plant-based substitute for albumin, the protein found in egg whites, using aquafaba – the cooking water from legumes. Albumin is a major raw material for the food industry, but comes with several problems such as being allergenic, the price fluctuation of eggs and it’s not cruelty-free.

Over the next 12 weeks, these start-ups will work with the ProVeg team to develop and refine their offerings.