Buhler promotes plant nutrition with venture capital
The Buhler Group, which is active in process engineering, has agreed to cooperate with the venture capital fund Big Idea Ventures. Together, the two want to promote sustainable proteins and thus a plant-based diet.
Bühler is a family-owned company that has been providing processing solutions worldwide for 160 years and plays a critical role in global food value chains. "Providing safe, nutritious, enjoyable and affordable food for a population of 10 billion people by 2050 - within the planet's resources - is a huge challenge," explains Ian Roberts, CTO of Bühler.
Big Idea Ventures wants to invest in 100 international companies that are active in the field of plant- and cell-based foods. In this project, the internationally active venture capital fund is now working together with Bühler Group, according to a media release from the Uzwil-based company.
"Together, we can support the growth of the new generation of leading plant-based food companies in North America, Asia and around the world," Andrew D. Ive, founder of Big Idea Ventures, is quoted as saying in the release. "Bühler and Big Idea Ventures are working together to build companies that respond to consumer demand for tasty foods that are good for them and good for the planet."
International partnerships
Big Idea Ventures runs four accelerator programs a year in New York and Singapore as part of the project. The partnership is thus "ideally timed as we open our food application center in Minneapolis on June 19 and introduce new technologies such as the Filtrex solution specifically for this sector," says Johannes Wick, CEO Grains and Food at Bühler Group.
"Also later this year, we will open our joint innovation facility with Givaudan in Singapore."
Under the partnership between Bühler and Big Idea Ventures, start-up companies will be able to use Bühler's facilities and thus benefit from the company's knowledge. In this way, Bühler wants to participate in the promotion of a sustainable food supply for the future, as Chief Technology Officer Ian Roberts says.
The joint innovation center of Givaudan and Buhler in Singapore focuses on sustainable protein-based products.
