Exploring the world of Incubators and Accelerators

A dive into the alternative protein growth opportunities

Over the past two years, many new product were launches by companies producing foods such as meat, eggs and plant-based dairy products. Riding the wave of demand for plant-based products, entrepreneurs have played an important role in promoting and growing start-ups operating in the plant-based and alternative proteins sector, boosting further the development of this sector during 2020, an important year for investments in the entire market of plant-based proteins obtained through extraction or fermentation technologies. According to the â€œ2020 State of Industry report: Plant-based meat, eggs and dairyâ€ drawn up by the Good Food Institute, companies operating in this sector received about $2.15 billion in investment in 2020, which is about three times as much as the previous year, resulting in a total of $4.43 billion in investment from 1980 to 2020.

Major investors operate in the form of Venture Capital (VC), a financing system that invests risk capital to promote the start-up or growth of well established businesses with strong potential for development and innovation. In addition, even large companies and multinationals can act as Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) by investing internal funds directly in external companies or start-ups they believe are interesting for future development.

Besides Venture Capital and Corporate Venture Capital investors, there have been other institutions that have played and are still playing a key role in the development of new alternative and plant-based protein companies, and these are the incubators and accelerators. An incubator acts through a time-varying program created to accelerate the development of startups, supporting them through networking, facilities and training to help young companies with innovative ideas get started. On the other hand, accelerators are fixed-term programs, generally between 3 and 6 months, that help startups grow through private or public funding, networking, training, and shared spaces in order to develop and conquer the market. Usually incubators are addressed to early stage start-ups, while accelerators are designed for already established start-ups that need help to consolidate or to find funding.

As previously mentioned, there are many incubators and accelerators that are getting interested in the companies producing vegetable and alternative proteins, here we name a few:

StartLife is an incubator founded in 2011 and based in the Netherlands at the Wageningen Campus of the Wageningen University Research Center. StartLife has already supported and funded 120 startups with ideas for technological innovation in the agricultural, food or bio-based sectors. The program offers facilities, tools, loans, coaching and mentoring to bring new ventures to life, creating a connection between start-ups and investors in a 3-month period of time.

The ProVeg incubator is supported by the non-profit association ProVeg International, and aims to promote the development of startups producing plant-based and alternative foods and ingredients. Startups can benefit from having access to the network of industrial partners, market researchers and international investors, as well as take advantage of spaces and services provided by the program. The project lasts about 4-6 months and provides access to workshops, exhibitions and beta-tester activities.

Founded in 2011, Brinc is an accelerator that promotes the growth of different businesses from IoT and robotics to food innovation. The “Alternative Protein Accelerator” program is dedicated to companies and startups working to develop plant-based substitutes to dairy, meat and fish, offering facilities, tools, training and the opportunity to get investment.

Shakeup Factory was founded in 2016 and is based in France, and offers the possibility to create connections with the French ecosystem in the foodtech innovation sector, helping start-ups to develop their proposal and the business alliances needed to scale-up within a 6-month period, offering the necessary facilities, tools, knowledge and training.

Once a year the Foodtech Accelerator based in Milan (Italy) selects 10 start-ups worldwide to promote innovation in the food sector. The acceleration program is structured in 15 weeks. In this time the start-ups work together with industrial partners to create and strengthen an industrial pilot for creating their project. In particular, startups will be guided in the process of consolidating the business model to the validation and prototyping of their product or service, with the goal of achieving success in fundraising and Go-to-Market.

Future Food promotes open innovation by acting as a connection between startups and the global food ecosystem. Located in Bologna, Italy, the program includes the opportunity to join classes, a free co-working space, and operational support from the team, including access to their facilities to implement product testing, with additional access to their specialized food crowdfunding platform, based in London, as well as access to their investor network. The Future Food Bootcamp program lasts approximately 1-3 months.

These are just a few of the many incubators and accelerators operating in the food industry, especially plant-based and alternative proteins. In addition, some accelerators are created as internal acceleration and open innovation programs of large companies, such as PepsiCo’s GreenHouse Accelerator or Strauss Group’s The Kitchen Foodtech incubator. To learn more about the world of incubators and accelerators in the footech world, you can consult several portals, including the Map of accelerators and incubators of the Good Food Institute, and the New Protein Map, which also includes the different players acting in this sector, from companies to investors, research organizations and non-profit institutions.