On 25th May 2022, we were super excited to host our second FoodTech Meetup in our Milan Hub, in partnership with Talent Garden. After our first event dedicated to celebrating the unveiling of the 2021 FoodTech 500, this time we focused on Alternative Protein and in particular on the challenges and opportunities ahead in the Italian market.

Check out a few pictures of the event here

We brought together a mix of alternative protein companies, investors and experts to deep dive on the topic and we had a great turnout of over 150+ people coming from all over Italy and beyond. We absolutely enjoyed sharing, learning, and enabling meaningful connections among like-minded people who want to create a positive impact on our food system.

The alternative protein space overview

According to our FoodTech Data Navigator database, there are more than 730+ companies active in the alternative protein space globally (excluding insects and focusing solely on meat, fish, dairy, egg alternatives & specialty ingredients), which represent 10% of the global AgriFoodTech ecosystem in a number of companies. 

71% of these companies were founded in the last 5 years, compared to 47% if we look at the rest of the ecosystem. They have cumulately raised almost $9.8B in capital since 2012, which represents 6% of the AgriFoodTech sector’s total funding to date.

Finally, Italy ranks 7th in AgriFoodTech in numbers of companies but 21st only when it comes to alternative protein. While the main focus of the event was to discuss the future of the sector from a global perspective, the objective was also to discuss how we can foster alternative protein innovation and investment in a country like Italy, and what are the challenges ahead.

 

The speakers

 

Tayfun Tobias Hazerli, Commercial Head PBM CSM Ingredients at Hi-Food

Tayfun Hazerli is the commercial head of plant-based meat for CSM Ingredients. With his scientific background in metabolism and performance, he speaks about longevity and public health from a nutritional standpoint. Within CSM, he has covered various roles in sales and marketing and recently initiated a new product platform for healthy and nutritious bread. Since the acquisition of Hi-Food, Tayfun leads the commercial side of plant-based meat connecting the dots between the startup and the corporation.

About Hi Food

Acquired by CSM Ingredients in February 2022, Hi-Food specialises in the research, development and production of innovative, plant-based, clean label, functional ingredients for conventional and disruptive food industries. 

 

Guido Mercati, CSO of PROTe-IN

Guido is an Impact Entrepreneur, Business Strategy and Innovation Advisor and Board Member for ESG-driven startups, former WPP, Publicis and Accenture regional Leadership roles, last post at Accenture Interactive as Lead for Italy, Central Europe and Greece for Automotive, Travel and Industrial industries.

About PROTe-IN

They are revolutionising microbial protein ingredients by developing a next-gen continuous C02 fermentation technology, the only microbial alternative protein startup in Italy and the only one in the world that will deliver continuous fermentation with C02, with a 3x efficiency in terms of outcome compared to fermentation in batch. Compared to any plant-based or cultivated meat alt protein alternative, their proteins are 100% GMO, chemicals and allergens free.

 

Stefano Lattanzi, CEO at Bruno Cell

Born in Rome, Stefano has a Master’s Degree in linguistics and social studies from La Sapienza University and Executive MBA at LUISS University. He is a serial entrepreneur focused on the food industry with 20 years of experience and in the cultured meat sector since the very beginning, through cooperation with New Harvest in 2009.

About Bruno Cell

A research company in cultivated meat, was born in 2019 from the collaboration between academics from the University of Trento, the Trentino Innovation Centre and a private investor from the food industry. Bruno Cell is the first Italian company focused entirely on cultured meat. Its main goal is to ensure that cultured meat becomes an economically sustainable resource, reducing the high costs of cell proliferation.

 

Kimberly Khoo, Regional director of Singapore Economic Development Board

Based in London, Kimberly is responsible for promoting Singapore as an investment location for European companies in the Agri-food, Consumer, Healthcare and Professional Services sectors. She also covers Italy across all industry sectors. Kimberly works closely with key clients to identify business opportunities in Asia and shape the role that Singapore can play in their roadmap. This involves providing hands-on assistance in areas such as site selection, talent needs, guidance on the business environment and available government incentives.

About EDB

EDB is the government agency under Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry, responsible for strategies that enhance Singapore’s position as a global centre for business, innovation and talent. Singapore’s ambition to become one of the leading global hubs for sustainable Agri-Food technology solutions is paving the way for many companies willing to explore the space. Also, Singapore became the first country to regulate cultured meat and has one of the largest Alternative Protein startup ecosystems in the world. 

 

Giancarlo Addario, Principal at Five Seasons Ventures

Giancarlo is a full-time Principal at Five Seasons Ventures. He has spent most of his professional career working 21 years at leading pasta and bakery goods Barilla, covering various roles from Quality Assurance/Food Safety to Research & Development across several product categories both in Italy and internationally.

In the area of Open Innovation, he led various collaborative projects with research institutes, enterprises and startups worldwide, also providing valuable mentorship to food accelerators and incubation programmes to the likes of StartupbootcampFoodTech, MassChallenge, H-Farm, and Future Food Accelerator. Giancarlo has a BSc in Food Science and Technology and Master in Quality Management.

About Five-Season Ventures

Founded in 2016, Five Seasons Ventures is a venture capital firm based in Paris, France. The firm seeks to invest in seed and early-stage technology companies operating in the food and agriculture sectors. They back Food and Ag Tech Entrepreneurs for a healthier, more sustainable and more efficient food system.

 

Giacomo Fanin, Managing Partner at GreySilo Ventures

Giacomo Fanin is the business development manager at Cereal Docks. He resides on the board of the family business. After studying at the University of Padua in Political Science, he joined Cereal Docks in 2016. He then went through several training periods carried out in different areas of the company. He holds the role of advisor with responsibility for innovation in the Young Entrepreneurs group of Federalimentare. Since 2018, he has been one of the founding partners of the FoodTech Accelerator, a Corporate Accelerator dedicated to AgriTech and FoodTech startups.

About Grey Silo

Grey Silo Ventures is the venture arm of Cereal Docks Group with the mission to build a better future for the food ingredients industry. With the aim to empower innovation and sustainability, we invest in and partner with promising startups, visionary innovators and entrepreneurs inspired by curiosity and passion.

 

 

The event

The event started off with a brief overview of the global alternative protein landscape from the moderator Max Leveau, COO & Co-Founder of Forward Fooding. Afterwards, each speaker presented their own company and was asked to share with us some insights regarding the Alternative Protein sector. 

Despite high amounts of capital being invested in the sector, alternative protein companies face multiple challenges. As the sector keeps growing and new technologies are emerging, it is also becoming more and more competitive. 

During the event, we dived into some of the main issues, including price, scalability, distribution, product, costs competitiveness, regulatory challenges, consumer acceptance and much more. 

Regarding scalability and cost, Tayfun shared: 

“The focus of cost is on raw materials, which are crucial to ensure the same quality of the final product over time. At the moment, we are operating with different suppliers but this entails risks in the long run. I think that vertical integration of the supply chain is the best strategy to aim for.”

As we feel it is important to bring in learnings from other regions, we also got valuable insights into the Singapore ecosystem thanks to Kimberly. She shared with us Singapore’s recipe to becoming a leader in the FoodTech space and overcoming obstacles when it comes to alternative protein: 

“There are 3 main areas: R&D and Co-Innovation, Production Supply Chain and Product Launch & Market Access. Currently, Singapore’s regulation is the real differentiator. It encourages both local and international companies to look for opportunities, and to use Singapore as a market for launch.” Also in terms of consumer behaviour, she recognized that “The younger population in Singapore is more open to trying alternative proteins. We really worked on amplifying and creating a buzz around it and right now it’s doing pretty well.” 

Building on this, captivating consumers through the creation of innovative and original alternative protein products is a big focus area for Guido:

 “We need to create new flavours, new textures and new names. Our product is flavourless, hence we provide a palette to create something new. Also, we have to offer a better nutritional value compared to beef, with better digestibility and alternative materials. There is definitely major potential in this industry.” 

Giancarlo also highlighted the importance of engaging with consumers early on, meaning that alternative protein startups should be as fast as possible in presenting a ready-to-consume product: 

“Something missing from B2B companies is creating a prototype. That should be a must for each of you. The sooner you can put something in the consumer’s mouth, the better it is. Only then you find your trajectory. It is not only about the ingredients, you need to sell a solution.“

About the regulatory situation on cellular agriculture, Stefano shared his thoughts regarding the difficult scenario in Italy and Europe: 

 “We hope that the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) will proceed soon to approve cell cultivated meat regulation, in line with countries like the United States and Singapore.”

Regarding business models, Giancarlo and Giacomo shared very clear views on what choices startups in the space should make and what the ideal scenario would look like in the next few years. 

According to Giacomo: 

“B2B is the main business model for ingredient producers. There are already a lot of B2C companies in the alternative protein space, so now we think it’s the time to build the infrastructure behind the final product. Now it’s the time to develop more types of ingredients that will be more suitable for the next generation of consumers.”

Giancarlo embraces this view while maintaining a stronger focus on B2C: 

”B2B is about enablers. It is true that to create the next generation of products it is essential to work on the upstream part of the supply chain. On the other hand, we need consumer behaviour to shift towards alternative protein, because that’s the first step of the roadmap.” 

They also agree that the Italian market still has a long way to go and that alternative protein startups in the country need to eye the European market to reach more consumers.

 

At the end of the event, we had the chance to mingle with all the attendees for an ‘aperitivo’ provided by startups from our network: plant-based meat maker Heura, Orapesce, that offers fresh fish from our seas directly to your home, Biova Project, a startup brewing beer from bread surplus, and Fucibo, a company offering snack made with insect protein.

A big thanks go to our partner-in-crime Talent Garden for hosting us as we build and foster Milan’s FoodTech community. And, last but clearly not least, thank you to all the participants who made this event so amazing and fun. The incredible entrepreneurial talent who came together during this occasion is a testament to the vibrant FoodTech community that Italy has to offer!

We hope to see you at our next event in Barcelona soon!

 

About our Milan FoodTech Innovation Hub

Hosted in the heart of Milan in the vibrant Isola area, The Food & FoodTech Innovation Hub is Italy’s first shared workspace dedicated to AgriFoodTech innovation. Powered by Forward Fooding in partnership with Talent Garden, the Milan Hub is the ideal destination for startups and scaleups looking to connect with like-minded entrepreneurs and the go-to-place where collaborations between established organisations and startup companies spark.

 

Want to learn more about our work at Forward Fooding? Get in touch to learn more!