FOOD FOUNDERS raises €4 million to build two foodtech startups

Swiss venture studio FOOD FOUNDERS Studio has raised €4 million in an oversubscribed funding round to develop its next two foodtech startups, with a strategy centered on identifying specific problems faced by food manufacturers before building companies to solve them. The capital came from family offices and angel investors, according to AgFunderNews.

Unlike models that begin with a technology and then search for a market, FOOD FOUNDERS first identifies industrial and commercial challenges and evaluates technologies that could address them. Only after defining the opportunity does the studio create a company and recruit founders and CEOs to lead it.

“We build startups for the purpose of bringing that technology to the market,” cofounder Giacomo Cattaneo told AgFunderNews. “We do all of this problem definition upfront, and we keep the corporates engaged in our process of venture building. Once we build the company, the customer is already there.”

The studio’s first company, SentiaNova, illustrates that approach. The startup was created to address unwanted flavors frequently found in pulse proteins and has developed patented technology designed to remove those flavors while improving the functionality of the proteins.

SentiaNova has already recruited a CEO and is now moving toward commercial production while preparing its own financing round.

FOOD FOUNDERS initially looked primarily to academic research for technologies with commercial potential. Its strategy is now expanding to include corporate research and development teams as well as startups with promising intellectual property that has not yet found the right market.

The shift comes as large food companies face changes in their internal research and development strategies. Cattaneo argues that this creates opportunities for external innovation platforms capable of connecting technologies with concrete industry needs.

“These large companies have to source their competitive edge from somewhere, and if it’s not coming from internal R&D anymore, it’s going to have to come from the outside,” he said.

The studio plans to evaluate technologies originating from universities, companies and startups using the same industrial, technical and commercial criteria.

Its current focus is primarily on B2B foodtech, particularly technologies capable of improving the taste, texture, affordability and nutritional composition of food products. Proteins, fibers and fats are among the areas the studio sees as potential opportunities.

FOOD FOUNDERS describes its selection process as technology agnostic, although it is currently avoiding areas that require large capital expenditures or lengthy regulatory processes, such as fermentation and cultivated meat.

“We want to be fast. We want to work with what the industry needs right now,” Cattaneo said.

The newly raised €4 million will provide the resources to build the studio’s next two startups. FOOD FOUNDERS is already searching for founders and CEOs who can take control of those ventures and lead their development.

The strategy seeks to establish the customer relationship early in the company-building process. By involving corporations while defining the problem and evaluating potential solutions, the studio aims to create startups with a clearer path toward commercial adoption.

Beyond the two companies now planned, FOOD FOUNDERS has started evaluating a broader second stage of its model. The potential expansion could include areas such as agriculture, health and longevity, although these possibilities remain at an early stage.

Cattaneo maintains that foodtech will continue to have an important role as the food industry adapts to new production, nutrition and consumer challenges.

“The foodtech market has learned a hard lesson: a promising technology is only the beginning,” he said. “You need a problem the industry cares enough to solve, technology you can build a business around, and the right people to take it into the market.”