Tag Archives: Rival Foods

Rival Foods Partners Up to Develop Juicy Whole-cut Plant-based Chicken

10 February 2021Archief, NewsAlumni, Rival FoodsBram van Beek

Rival Foods, a Dutch gastronomy startup that produces whole-cuts of plant-based meat, announced a partnership with LIVEKINDLY Collective that aims to fasten the development of a perfect plant-based chicken, bringing a tasty and sustainable alternative for mindful consumers.

Rival Foods, a StartLife startup alumnus, has developed and commercialized a production process to transform plant-based ingredients into high-quality textured protein foods with an unparalleled fibrous texture, rich mouthfeel and juiciness, using very few clean-label ingredients. They have now partnered up with LIVEKINDLY Collective, a collection of heritage and startup brands on track to become one of the world’s largest plant-based food companies. The partnership is to leverage their complementary knowledge and resources, providing a new model for rapid product innovation.

Compelling in taste and texture

“The key to convincing consumers to change their eating habits is to create delicious plant-based options that are compelling in taste and texture and can truly replace animal products,” said Birgit Dekkers, co-founder of Rival Foods. “One challenge is the fibrous texture of whole plant-based meats and we are able to optimize this requirement and ensure sensory superiority within the plant-based product category.”

Rapid scaling

“Our plant-based food platform is uniquely positioned to scale rapidly and transform the current global food system,” said Kees Kruythoff, CEO and Chairman of LIVEKINDLY Collective. “Through this open innovation model with Rival Foods, we will be able to develop a new generation of innovative, delicious, and nutritious plant-based products that meet the growing global demand for animal-free food.”

StartLife Alumni Updates: March 2020

12 March 2020Archief, NewsAlumni, EzCol, Greencovery, Mylium, Rival FoodsBram van Beek

Brief updates from StartLife Alumni and Community members

1) EzCOL B.V. takes major steps forward with cholesterol reduction technology

StartLife alumni / community member

EzCOL, a spin-off from the European Space Agency research program ‘MELiSSA’, has been working on the development of innovative highly effective cholesterol lowering technology. The technology has shown LDL reductions of up to 90% without adverse effects and could be a game-changer in a highly competitive market. They successfully completed a first-in-man phase I/IIa clinical trial and received approval from the METC to perform a second clinical trial. The company also completed a financing round recently. The funding enables EzCol to expand its team and complete ongoing research activities to further broaden its IP position.

2) Mylium opens laboratory on Agro Business Parc

StartLife community member

To enhance and speed up their product development Mylium has just opened a small dedicated laboratory on Agro Business Parc in Wageningen. Mylium is an early-stage startup that uses the roots of mushrooms, known as mycelium, to create leather-like sheets that can be used in the fashion industry. Mycelium leather is vegan, free of chromium, lightweight and produced in a convenient shape. The co-founders Iris Houthoff, lecturer bioprocess technology at WUR, and Eric van de Zilver, fermentation & upscaling expert, believe that mycelium technology will play an important role in the transition to a circular and biobased economy. The founders expect that with all necessary facilities installed, they are able to produce a first bag prototype by the end of this year.

3) Finalists AtlasInvest Entrepreneurship Grant (AIEG)

StartLife Alumni Rival Foods, Greencovery and Mylium are three of the five finalists for the AtlasInvest Entrepreneurship Grant (AIEG). The other nominees are Vegger and Scope Biosciences. The grant supports student-entrepreneurs with impactful ideas. Two grants are awarded yearly: the Impact Award (€15.000) for ideas with maximum sustainable impact, and the StartUp Award (€35.000) for commercially promising ideas for global challenges. On May 13th the nominees will contend in the finals.

Nine promising food & agri startups join the new StartLife Accelerate program

17 September 2018ArchiefAgriGripping, Beterschappen, Bird's AI, Burgs Foods, Eden, Greencovery, Rival Foods, Sponsh, StartLife Accelerate, Zero FoodWasteFlora de Ruiter

StartLife Accelerate supports promising food & agri startups as they develop their product, business model and team. For the first time, nine startups join together in one cohort. For three months they can learn and work together to validate their business with potential customers and pitch to investors. As of September 17^th, the 9 startups will participate in this new StartLife Accelerate program which takes place on Wageningen Campus.

Program

StartLife offers a unique curriculum to the cohort that includes tailored support and trainings from StartLife coaches and leading experts from the industry. Entrepreneurs, coaches and partners work together to ensure a sustainable success of the businesses. After three months the startups are ready to pitch for the StartLife Review Board who can award funding. The program offers trainings on market validation, team development, financial modelling and more. In the last ten years StartLife has learned that these are crucial elements for startups to be succesful.

Thomas van den Boezem, program director StartLife: “This is the first time StartLife invites multiple startups to join together in a program. We have experienced there is tremendous value in working with a cohort of multiple startups, who can exchange knowledge, experience and network with each other during the program”

Network

To maximize the value of the program, StartLife works with many partners that offer specific expertise. These partners include BDO, Rabobank, Wageningen University & Research, OostNL, SHIFT Invest and HighTechXL. A great network of mentors will be available for the intensive support of the starters. The startups Plant Meat Makers and Agri Gripping participating in the program originate from the Wageningen University & Research. The cohort further exists of the startups Burgs Foods, Sponsh, Eden Advanced Technologies, GreenCovery, Bird’s AI, beterschappen, and zero foodwaste.