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© Ayana Bio

Plant Cell Culture Company Ayana Bio Appoints Jill Zullo, Formerly of Cargill, to Board of Directors

Plant cell culture technology company Ayana Bio announces the appointment of Jill Zullo, PhD, described as “an experienced commercial leader with deep technical roots in biotechnology”, to the company’s Board of Directors. Zullo is the former president and CEO of NatureWorks and Global Managing Director Biointermediates at Cargill. According to the company, the appointment “further underscores the focus on establishing Ayana Bio as a leader in the plant cell culture space and assembling a board of directors with diverse backgrounds of expertise to guide the company to commercial success.” Ayana Bio uses plant cell cultivation to grow plant materials, with a focus on creating ingredients that leverage plant bioactives for health and wellness products. A spinoff from Boston’s Ginkgo Bioworks, Ayana recently partnered with Wooree …

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David Weiner, Cauldron Ferm's newly appointed CTO

David Weiner - Image courtesy of Cauldron Ferm

Cauldron Appoints Biotech Veteran to Spearhead Hyper-Fermentation Solution for Alternative Proteins

Contract manufacturer organization Cauldron Ferm announces the appointment of Solugen and BASF industry veteran David Weiner as new chief technology officer. Drawing on his extensive experience in product development and scaling innovative biotech solutions, Weiner will oversee the company’s technology R&D pipeline as the Australian company embarks on its next phase of global expansion. Cauldron, founded in 2022 in Borenore, New South Wales, has developed a precision fermentation technology that promises to reach price parity — or even cheaper — with current goods such as dairy, egg, and silk proteins and widely used petrochemicals. The company recently closed a Series A funding round of over $6.25 million with investors including SOSV, In-Q-Tel, Main Sequence, and Horizons Ventures. “David brings a distinguished career leading R&D programs that …

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Jukka Kajan of Plant Based Foods Finland

Jukka Kajan. © Plant Based Foods Finland

Plant Based Foods Finland Appoints First Executive Director to Strengthen Advocacy Efforts

Industry association Plant Based Foods Finland (Pro Vege in Finnish) has appointed its first executive director, Jukka Kajan. Previously, Kajan has worked as a food industry consultant and Public Affairs Manager at Raisio Group. Niklas Kaskeala, Chairman of the Board at Plant Based Foods Finland, says Kajan’s leadership will help to strengthen the association’s advocacy efforts. “We look forward to Nordic and European cooperation led by Jukka, who brings extensive knowledge of plant-based food value chains and is a well-connected and active advocate for food system transformation,” he says. In its first year, Plant Based Foods Finland has amassed 27 members, including all major retail chains in the country and participants from the restaurant sector, research institutions, and cellular agriculture. Kajan describes the number of …

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Heather Mills in blue suit

© Heather Mills

Heather Mills Acquires Alternative Stores to Create a Central Hub of ‘Hero’ Plant-Based Products in the UK

Heather Mills, owner and founder of VBites who was recently recognised as ‘Vegan Woman of the Year‘ at the 2024 Vegan Women’s Summit in Los Angeles, announces the acquisition of the award-winning online plant-based store Alternative Stores. This latest addition to Mills’ vegan portfolio aims to offer support to hundreds of family businesses and assist with the launch of their own brands, and follows last year’s acquisition of the Plant & Bean manufacturing facility in Boston, UK, which was facing administration. Alternative Stores lists a wide variety of notable plant-based brands including UK egg alternative producer Sinless Food; Naturli butter; LoveRaw confectionery; Violife cheese; Mummy Meegz chocolate and treats; and of course, VBites, in addition to other categories such as footwear, household, pet food, and …

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KoRo founders with Toni Petersson

LTR: KoRo founder Constantinos Calios, CEO Florian Schwenkert, Advisory Board member Toni Petersson and CFO Dr Daniel Kundt © KoRo Handels GmbH

Ex Oatly CEO Toni Petersson Joins KoRo Advisory Board to Lead Europe’s Better-for-You Snack Category

Toni Petersson, former CEO and current co-chairman of the Board of Directors of Oatly, is set to join the Advisory Board of Berlin-based better-for-you food brand KoRo, an online store offering non-perishable goods and superfoods in bulk, to lead the brand into its next phase of growth. Headed by CEO Florian Schwenkert and known for clean-label snacks, nut butters and breakfast products as well as functional foods, KoRo has enjoyed significant growth since its foundation in 2014. Despite a downward sales trend in German e-commerce, KoRo has recorded high growth rates and has been frequently ranked by the FT as one of the 1000 fastest-growing companies in Europe (148.9 % CAGR 2019 – 2022). KoRo says it has 1.7 million customers across Europe and around …

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Investment Climate Podcast: Rob Leclerc of AgFunder – How to Get Funded in 2024

In this podcast series, co-produced by vegconomist, Alex Shandrovsky interviews investors about benchmarks for funding Alt Proteins in 2024 and uncovers the investment playbooks of successful Climate Tech CEOs and Leading VCs. Podcast Host Alex Shandrovksy is a strategic advisor to numerous global food tech accelerators and companies, including alternative proteins and cellular agriculture leaders. His focus is on investor relations and post-raise scale for agrifood tech companies. Episode one can be found here, the second is here, and part three is here. Episode 04: AgFunder’s Rob Leclerc In this episode, Alex talks to Rob Leclerc, founding partner of AgFunder which has about $200 million in assets under management. Rob talks about how investors are looking into companies nowadays and their expectations. He also discussed …

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© Future of Foods

Future of Foods Podcast: Mark Warner, CEO of Liberation Labs

Alex Crisp, Host of Future of Foods Interviews, talks to Mark Warner CEO of Liberation Labs about building massive capacity for producing ‘hero’ proteins without using animals. Going forward much of our milk and eggs could come from precision fermentation facilities such as those being constructed by Liberation Labs. The Indiana-based biomanufacturing firm says that it “works with biotechnology’s visionaries to commercialize the bioproducts of the future – foods, materials, and yet to be discovered breakthroughs that will make all of our lives better.” Liberation Labs received $10 million from Agronomics this April for its previously announced commercial-scale biomanufacturing facility in the Midwest Industrial Park in Richmond, Indiana. The plant is due to be fully completed by the end of this year, explains Warner, who …

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Heather Mills at Vegan Women Summit

© Vegan Women Summit

“Woman of the Year” Heather Mills to Call for Plant Based Treaty at Bonn Climate Conference

Vegan entrepreneur and charity campaigner Heather Mills is set to appear at the Bonn Climate Conference in Germany this week to call for a global Plant Based Treaty. Advocates for the treaty will set up a food truck at the entrance to the conference, giving out 2000 free hotdogs donated by Mills and her plant-based food company, VBites. At the conference, Mills will urge world leaders to make policy changes such as shifting subsidies from animal agriculture to the plant-based sector. She will also meet the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to discuss a pathway to 100% plant-based catering at future climate conferences such as COP29. 18,000 people have already signed the Plant Based Treaty’s petition calling for all food served at …

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Investment Climate Podcast: Robert Boer of Blue Horizon – How to Get Funded in 2024

In this new podcast series, co-produced by vegconomist, Alex Shandrovksy interviews investors about benchmarks for funding alt proteins in 2024 and uncovers the investment playbooks of successful Climate Tech CEOs and Leading VCs. Podcast Host Alex Shandrovksy is a strategic advisor to numerous global food tech accelerators and companies, including leaders in alternative protein and cellular agriculture. His focus is on investor relations and post-raise scale for agrifood tech companies. Episode one from last month can be found here. Episode 02: Blue Horizon’s Robert Boer In this episode, Alex talks to Robert Boer, director at Blue Horizon Corporation, a leading investment fund in alternative proteins. During the conversation, Robert shared the top mistakes founders make when approaching the fund and best practices for getting funded. Key …

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Israel's InnovoPro, a leading provider of chickpea protein solutions, has appointed Greg Belt as its new CEO.

Greg Belt, image supplied

InnovoPro Appoints Gregory Belt as CEO to Drive Expansion of Chickpea Proteins in F&B

InnovoPro, a leading provider of chickpea protein solutions, has announced the appointment of Gregory Belt as its new CEO. Based in the USA, Belt will spearhead the company’s strategic expansion into the food and beverage market. Belt has a proven track record and deep expertise in building new ventures and strategic planning for innovation-driven growth. His experience, gained from companies like AB InBev, has allowed him to gain commercial traction, particularly in the dynamic landscape of North America. With a ‘wealth of experience’ and a fresh perspective, Belt is poised to lead InnovoPro into its next phase of growth and expansion, focusing on clean-label products and natural emulsifiers. After seven years of leadership as co-founder and first CEO, Taly Nechushtan will transition to the role …

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Meatable sausages

© Meatable

Meat Industry Veteran Jeff Tripician of Perdue Appointed New CEO of Meatable, Former Tyson Foods CEO Joins Board

Meatable, the Dutch producer of cultivated pork meat, announces that, in preparation for US market expansion, CEO and co-founder Krijn de Nood has stepped down from the role and has been succeeded by Jeff (“Trip”) Tripician effective June 17. Concurrently, Dean Banks, former president and CEO of Tyson Foods, joins the Board of Directors. Krijn de Nood will continue to serve on the Board. Meatable is known for its cost-effective production platform using pluripotent stem cells, which it claims takes just four days to develop product “from cell to sausage”, making it the quickest cell-cultivating method in the world. “This process is 60 times faster than traditional pig farming and involves nothing more than pulling a single cell once from a pig without causing harm,” …

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Lorenz Wyss-CEO of the Bell Food Group

© Bell Food Group

Bell Food Group CEO Expects Cultivated Meat Burgers to Hit Swiss Restaurants in 3 Years

Lorenz Wyss, the outgoing CEO of the Swiss meat and convenience food giant Bell Food Group foresees that cultivated burgers will be available in Switzerland in three years. In an interview published on Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ), Wyss predicts that the products will be available first in restaurants rather than in supermarkets; but the burgers could initially contain only cultivated fat. “It is possible that at the beginning you will only cultivate individual ingredients for addition, such as fat,” he said. Investing in cultivated meat Bell Food Group, a leading meat processor selling meat, poultry, charcuterie, seafood, and convenience products, invested €2 million in the Dutch cultivated meat company Mosa Meat in 2018. At the time, the company announced that it would offer cultivated burgers for 10 francs by …

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Andre Weinmann NotCo

© Andre Weinmann

Andre Weinmann Appointed as President of NotCo Brazil

Article amended to reflect the appointment is Brazil-based and not for Global operations. Chilean food technology company NotCo has announced the appointment of Andre Weinmann as new president of its Brazilian operations. Weinmann brings over 30 years of experience in the retail and consumer goods industry, most recently serving in leadership and strategic roles at major corporations, including Mondelez, one of the world’s largest snack companies, Unilever, Nestle, Purina, and BRF. Weinmann’s appointment comes at a time of significant growth for NotCo. The company aims to achieve break-even in the coming years, and Weinmann is tasked with propelling the company towards this strategic goal. Prior to joining NotCo, Weinmann co-founded KotaKi, a platform connecting manufacturers and wholesalers with smaller retailers. During his tenure, he is …

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German cell ag players

© CellAg Deutschland / Wacker Chemie AG / Ada Magdalena Drazek / Cultimate Foods

CEO Statements: Cultivated Meat & Novel Proteins – Threat or Beacon of Hope?

In the seventh part of our series “CEO Statements: What Excites, Moves, Motivates”, in which vegconomist’s German platform regularly interviews CEOs on current topics, we spoke to Fabian Baumann, founder of CellAg Germany; Dr Susanne Leonhartsberger, head of WACKER BIOSOLUTIONS; Florentine Zieglowski, co-founder of RESPECTfarms; and Eugenia Sagué, CEO and co-founder of Cultimate Foods. Each of these companies is developing novel food innovations with which they want to help shape the future of the food industry. The debate surrounding cultivated meat is wide-ranging and is often fuelled by positive expectations. Above all, the potential environmental benefits take centre stage: compared to conventional livestock farming, cultured meat could consume significantly fewer resources and cause lower greenhouse gas emissions. It also opens up the possibility of reducing …

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Sandhya Sriram on Future of Foods podcast

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Future of Foods Podcast: Sandhya Sriram, Co-Founder, Shiok Meats

Alex Crisp of the Future of Foods podcast here interviews Sandhya Sriram, co-founder of Shiok Meats. Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Singapore, Shiok Meats specializes in cell-cultivated shrimp, crab, and lobster, aiming to address the environmental and ethical concerns associated with traditional seafood harvesting. In March of this year, it was announced that Shiok has merged with UMAMI Bioworks, also of Singapore, to establish a combined entity that will bring cultivated seafood closer to commercial viability. In the full podcast, they discuss: regulatory approvals for cultivated meat; promotion of meat-free events; political dynamics and meat consumption; challenges for politicians and entrepreneurs; supportive environment in Singapore; business strategy and government support; resistance from traditional farmers; and collaboration between traditional and cultivated meat producers. This is …

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Alex Podcast episode 1

Investment Climate Podcast: Tim Fronzek of Nosh.bio Reveals the Secrets to Fundraising Success

In this new podcast series, co-produced by vegconomist, Alex Shandrovksy interviews investors about benchmarks for funding alt proteins in 2024 and uncovers the investment playbooks of successful Climate Tech CEOs and Leading VCs. Podcast Host Alex Shandrovksy is a strategic advisor to numerous global food tech accelerators and companies, including leaders in alternative proteins and cellular agriculture. His focus is on investor relations and post-raise scale for agrifood tech companies. Episode 01: Tim Fronzek, Nosh bio’s fundraising playbook In this first episode, Alex talks to Tim Fronzek from Nosh.bio to unlock the secrets to weathering the storm of fundraising in a tumultuous investment climate. As our esteemed guest, he unveils the narrative of his company’s gripping quest for seed funding against a backdrop of spiraling …

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Kynda and Revo Foods CEO statements

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CEO Statements: Revo Foods & Kynda Biotech on Mycoprotein, the Vegan Meat of the Forest

In this installment of the series “CEO statements: what excites, moves and motivates“, in which our German language platform interviews CEOs on current topics, vegconomist spoke to Robin Simsa, CEO of Revo Foods, and Daniel MacGowan- von Holstein, CEO of German company Kynda Biotech GmbH. Both companies specialise in alternative products based on mycoproteins and see it as the future of meat alternative products. Mycoprotein is becoming increasingly popular due to its texture similar to meat and its high nutritional value. This protein alternative is often produced through the fermentation of fungal components and offers not only a sustainable source of protein, but also one that is very similar in texture and flavour to conventional meat. This makes mycoprotein an attractive ingredient for the development …

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ProVeg Dr Melanie Speck

Dr Melanie Speck, courtesy of ProVeg International

How to Win Over Flexitarian Consumers in Germany

Germany has emerged as a market leader in the plant-based industry in recent years. With an estimated worth of USD 461.36 million, the German plant-based protein market is predicted to rise to a significant USD 574.93 million by 2029.[1] But what is driving this growth, and more importantly, what must businesses know in order to attract German consumers to the market? In its latest New Food Hub interview, ProVeg International talked with German food industry expert, Dr Melanie Speck to answer this question, gathering her insights on the recent German Smart Protein consumer report. Dr Speck holds the Professorship for Socioeconomics in Household and Business at Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences and is a Senior Researcher at the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy. …

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Christie Lagally Rebellyous Foods

© Rebellyous Foods

Rebellyous Foods’ Christie Lagally Joins Inc. Magazine’s Top Female Founders of 2024

Christie Lagally, the CEO of Seattle-based Rebellyous Foods, has been named as one of Inc. Magazine’s top Female Founders of 2024. This accolade groups her with other notable food tech entrepreneurs like Kimberlie Le of Prime Roots and Magi Richani of Nobell Foods in the Female Founders 250 list, which is compiled from thousands of candidates through three meticulous rounds of evaluation. The selection process focused on a range of both quantitative and qualitative criteria, assessing aspects such as revenue, sales growth, funding, and audience size, as well as social media presence and overall impact. This list exclusively features entrepreneurs at the helm of for-profit entities in the United States. Tackling major industry challenges Lagally, a former aerospace engineer and a senior scientist at the …

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Future of Foods interview Laine Clark

© Future of Foods

Future of Foods Podcast: Laine Clark, Corporate Engagement Manager at the Good Food Institute

Alex Crisp of the Future of Foods podcast here interviews Laine Clark, Innovation and Corporate Engagement Manager at the Good Food Institute about trends in investments across the different sectors of alt protein including precision fermentation, plant-based, and cultivated meat. Laine sees a positive future for the sector, believing that for the sake of the future, “it has to succeed”. She stresses that alternative proteins are a nascent industry, and when asked if this is a bubble, Laine stresses, “No, this is definitely not a blip or a bubble. And the reason it’s not is that we have to shift the food system. It’s just not sustainable. “And the hype around the burst bubble, I think is just that – it’s hype – it makes …

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