Tag Archives: Zero FoodWaste

StartLife Alumni Updates: January 2020

29 January 2020Archief, NewsAlumni, GreenFood50, Premal, Zero FoodWasteBram van Beek

Greats news about alumni and community members of StartLife.

1) PreMal Introduces New Mosquito Trap Model

alumnus of StartLife’s Spring 2019 cohort

Malaria prevention and control company PreMal has introduced a new variant of their proprietary MTego mosquito trap – The MTego Pot. The core competence and functionality is the same for both products; both traps use close-range host cues to attract human-biting mosquitoes. The major difference is that the original trap is designed to be hung and the Mtego Pot is a standing trap that can easily be placed on any floor. The new product has been developed in response to feedback from some hospitality companies, like hotels and restaurants, who were interested in a trap that is less visible and (even more) easily placed on their terraces. The MTego Pot is also slightly cheaper which makes it more attractive to budget-minded customers.

2) Zero FoodWaste Launches Finished Food Waste Monitor

alumnus of StartLife’s Fall 2018 cohort

Zero FoodWaste is on a roll. At the closure of 2019 they raised €250,000 revenue-based capital. Just a few weeks later they officially launched the final version of their fully automated food waste monitor at Horecava in Amsterdam. In 2019 the company ran pilot projects with a prototype monitor to measure waste streams at various catering companies like Novotol, Albron*, Vermaat and Ramada. The large number of data that were gathered from these pilot projects helped fine-tuning the artificial intelligence software that identifies the type and amount (weight) of ingredients being thrown away. The raised capital will be used to hit the market, thus another exciting year ahead for Zero FoodWaste.

*Click here to view a short video about the cooperation between Albron and Zero Foodwaste (in Dutch).

3) Greenfood50 Acquires Dutch Quinoa Group Activities From the Quinoa Company

StartLife community member since 2014

GreenFood50 has acquired the cultivation, production and sales activities of the former Dutch Quinoa Group of the Quinoa Company. The B2B sales activities include a range of basic quinoa ingredients in bulk packaging. In the Dutch food service and retail markets these products are sold under the Lola Quinoa brand. The acquisition will further strengthen GreenFood50’s position as market leader in innovative quinoa ingredients.

StartLife Alumni Updates – December 2019

16 December 2019ArchiefAlumni, FUMI Ingredients, funding, Sundew, Van Boven, Zero FoodWasteBram van Beek

Greats news about alumni and community members of StartLife,

1) Zero FoodWaste First to Raise Revenue-based Capital

alumnus of StartLife’s Fall 2018 cohort

Photo: Non-Dilutive Capital

Zero FoodWaste, developers of the world’s first fully automated food waste monitor, is the first startup in the Netherlands to raise funding from an investor on revenue-based terms, rather than shares. Non-Dilutive Capital invested €250,000 in return for a future share in revenues. Read the full article on Sprout (in Dutch).

2) Sundew Receives €780,000 Grant of Danish Government

alumnus of StartLife’s Fall 2019 cohort

They only just finished the accelerate program at StartLife when the Danish aqua biologicals startup Sundew was awarded a grant of €780,000 from the Danish Government. One of the reasons for Sundew to join StartLife was to prepare themselves to raise its first funding. Mission accomplished!

3) FUMI Ingredients Reaches Innovation Award Hattrick

alumnus of StartLife’s Spring 2019 cohort

FUMI Ingredients, producer-to-be of egg-white replacer made from natural micro-organisms, is gaining lots of news momentum by collecting several innovation awards. Last September they won the Rabobank Sustainable Innovation Award 2019. This month they became award winner of the category ‘Most Innovative Alternative Food or Beverage Ingredient Award’ at the FI Global Startup Innovation Challenge 2019, as well as the overall winner of the ‘EIT Food Prize’. As 2019 is just their starting up year, co-founders Edgar Suarez and Corjan van den Berg are already looking forward to 2020.

4) Van Boven Raises €400,000 Proof-Of-Concept Funding

member of StartLife community since 2019

Van Boven has raised their first investment deal of €400,000 from regional development company Horizon. Van Boven collects crop data in the field with drones and uses smart algorithms to monitor each individual plant, head and crop in order to forecast the size of the harvest and optimum moment of harvesting. The investment is to aid in delivering proof-of-concept of their software. Read the full press release on the website of Horizon (Dutch only).

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.