On March 17th, 2021, we held a fascinating webinar with some of the most inspiring minds working in the field of alternative proteins. Our brilliant guests shared with us the journey that led them to build and develop leading FoodTech companies and provided their visions for the future of our food system.

The Event

The event started with a brief overview of the global alternative protein landscape by our very own Alix Chausson, Senior Consultant at Forward Fooding. She introduced some of the key trends that are at today’s forefront of alternative proteins, provided an overview of the investment landscape before deep-diving into the fastest growing verticals in terms of investments, and presenting key investment stats.  As a matter of fact, according to the latest data from the FoodTech Data Navigator over €2.4 billion were raised in the alternative protein sector in 2020 alone compared to €1.5 billion in 2019, representing a 60% increase on Year-on-Year and an 81% CAGR since 2018 – we think these data points are very indicative of the exponential growth in funding that the alternative protein sector has enjoyed in the past couple of years.

As we know the data about private companies in the FoodTech sector is very scattered and incomplete, we were indeed really happy to see that these figures match the ones from the Good Food Institute latest report, which states that the alternative protein sector raised $3.1 billion (approximately €2.6B) in investments in 2020—three times more than in any single year in the industry’s history.

The webinar was moderated by Michel van Deursen, founder of Capital V and former tech entrepreneur. His first endeavor was creating the largest classifieds internet platform in Belgium. He then went onto founding several other successful companies, including an Amsterdam-based internet agency and a tech incubator. However, his passion for healthy plant-based living, and the impact that the latter has on the planet, have led him to become a successful vegan investor. Thus, we could not be more honored to have him chairing this session.

He started off by asking each of our speakers to introduce themselves and their companies. Thus, we went on to discover our panelists and the journeys that led them to build their businesses through some of the personal stories they shared with us. In the following paragraphs, we share how Marc, Sadrah, Ram and Michelle got into Food Tech and some of the words of wisdom they shared during the panel.

Marc Coloma, CEO & Co-founder at Heura (#25 of the 2020 FoodTech 500)

Born in Barcelona in 1991, Marc Coloma has been involved in social activism since he was just 16 years old. In 2015 he decided to take part in an entrepreneurship program to create solutions to the problems in the current food system. His aim was, and still remains, to bring attractive solutions which can make livestock obsolete. In 2017, after extensive research, Heura was created and launched into the Spanish Market. A second generation of plant-based meat, proudly born in the Mediterranean. In 2018, Marc was awarded with the CVC Young Innovator Award and in 2019 he was recognised by Forbes as one of the ‘100 most creative people in business. In 2020 Marc has been recognized as the best entrepreneur of the year by the magazine Emprendedores and AIJEC. In 2021 Marc and Bernat were on the “100 other fortunes” of Forbes for their positive impact on the world.

Thus, Heura was born out of activism and with a clear mission: to accelerate the protein transition, to achieve a food system in which we stop using animals as intermediaries to feed ourselves. They achieve this by making society aware that there is a better way to eat and by offering holistic solutions: delicious, healthy, ethical and sustainable products.

They state that plant-based brands have to achieve three major things. Creating products that people want to eat every day, but also that can eat and afford every day. And now, with Heura, they are at the forefront of this second generation where they have ‘hacked’ lipids structures to produce healthier plant-based meat.

“We are giving freedom and empowerment to chefs for replicate the recipies they want, but with a positive impact”.

Sadrah Schadel, Co-founder at No Evil Foods (#49 of the 2020 FoodTech 500)

 

Sadrah Schadel is the co-founder and chief creative officer of  No Evil Foods. She pours her 15+ years of food experience and a lifetime of plant-based expertise into her company and fuels the movement toward a better food system. Under Sadrah’s leadership, she has successfully scaled recipe concepts created in her home kitchen and grown her company from the farmers market to a national brand that pushes the boundaries of what it means to be a purpose-driven, sustainable company.

Like Marc, she is an activist by background and she has a very entrepreneurial mindset. Thus, she uses food as a way to continue to bring a positive impact on the world. No Evil Food’s priority is not only the sustainability of the products they make but also taking into account the packaging materials they use and their life cycle. As an advocate for sustainability, social justice and helping people and animals, Sadrah drove No Evil Foods to become the first plastic-negative plant-based meat brand, as well as a Certified Fair Chance Business, and regularly speaks at engagements and summits around the country.

The human connection is one of the most special things they have. They don’t use ingredients that people don’t understand and, rather than creating a barrier, they believe it creates opportunities for innovation and creativity that other companies overlook. When they think about the health of people they don’t just look at the nutritional aspects, they also think about health in terms of who has access to food and who doesn’t.

“We didn’t get into this to sell something, we got into this to do something”.

Ram Nair, Founder & CEO at  Mycorena (#209 of the 2020 FoodTech 500)

 

Ram Nair is the founder and CEO of Mycorena, a Swedish start-up developing innovative mycoprotein ingredient, Promyc, for vegan food products. Ram holds a PhD in industrial biotechnology with over 10 years of expertise in filamentous fungi and mycoprotein research. As a matter of fact, in 2017 he swapped his researcher’s hat for the entrepreneur one, which back then was something completely new to him. He started developing fungi-based products with the aim of creating a big impact on global sustainability challenges through more efficient and sustainable use of resources. He now leads the mission of building Mycorena into a global innovation-driven brand for edible fungi-based products.

The company envisions Promyc to become the protein ingredient of choice for food producers who want more than what the traditional plant-based proteins can offer whilst creating a positive impact on the environment.

This year, Mycorena opened its new pilot production plant in Gamlestaden, Gothenburg. The new facility, named MIND (Mycorena Innovation and Development Centre), marks a big step in the company’s journey towards becoming Europe’s largest supplier of mycoproteins by 2025. It is the first of its kind in Scandinavia and, at an annual production capacity starting at 10 tons, it is one of the largest pilot and test facilities to produce Mycoprotein in Europe.

Michelle Egger, Co-founder & CEO at Biomilq (#233 of the 2020 FoodTech 500)

Michelle Egger, is a diversely experienced food scientist with an eye to global food systems change. She looks to combat global food security and malnutrition in everything she does. Inspired by upstream solutions for infant nutrition at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, she became obsessed with advancing human nutrition through better infant feeding options. Michelle seeks to harness the capacity to drive environmental and social change through creative food solutions with a consumer-first design. Her entrepreneurial expertise in social impact and sustainable business models drives her commitment to seeking mission-aligned partners. Michelle believes that providing all infants with optimal nutrition in their first 1,000 days of life should be a human right for every parent on the planet.

At Biomilq, they leverage cellular technology to produce infant nutrition by creating quality products that combat the bovine-based infant formulas that are contributing to the global climate change. They empower women and parents to make better choices about themselves, their bodies and their children.

More than 4 out of 5 mothers have to stop breastfeeding before the recommended six months. This means that the vast majority of women are turning to dairy formula, which lacks the critical nutrients of breastmilk and carries a heavy environmental burden. Biomilq is making it possible to create sustainable dairy formulas capable of providing the nutrients necessary for children’s health.

“I get excited to think about the evolution of this diferent technologies that all lace together to be a better set of alternatives for people that we have today. And give the consumer choice to make active decisions of what they acutally like and want to eat”

 

We then wrapped up the event by opening the floor to our attendees for a Q&A session with our panelists.

At Forward Fooding, we are incredibly proud to have hosted the Alternative Proteins webinar. We loved hearing more about the entrepreneurial journeys and the inspiring stories from some of the incredible entrepreneurs from the ‘2020 FoodTech 500’s pack’ who are leading the charge in the alternative protein sector!

A big thanks go to all our speakers,  for taking the time to share their words of wisdom and inspire other entrepreneurs to enter this space. Another huge thank you to all the attendants who came along and joined us to celebrate this amazing pack of entrepreneurs who are bettering our food system every day with their inspiring work!

Last but not least, a very special thanks goes to Michiel van Deursen, for agreeing to chair our event and being an amazing moderator for this session!

If you’ve missed this event, fear not,  you can watch the video below!