Rubio Impact Ventures’ Post

Real cause for optimism here. Palm oil represents a huge risk and driver of deforestation. I've spoken with people in the past working to reduce the monoculture natures of plantations, bringing communities back to the regions where it's grown intensively and that is all well and good. But for such a ubiquitous substance used in so many products across different sectors, diversifying monocultures will only get us so far, as demand will outstrip available space. If you can make a comparable product using 99% less space and 90% less inputs (energy or materials), that's a top tier win. #PalmOil

Nerd Alert! 🙋♂ People close to me know I have always been a bit of a nerd for nature 🤓. Biodiversity is also one of the planetary boundaries that is heavily transgressed, and, unfortunately, one of the hardest topics to find suitable VC investment cases for. Today is a great day as I am happy to share that Rubio Impact Ventures has invested in NoPalm Ingredients. 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗶𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀: At scale, NoPalm can curb the immense pressure on our rainforests. Despite all good efforts for certified palm oil, the real systemic change comes from not producing palm oil in these very vulnerable places on earth. Palm oil-driven land use change threatens catastrophic loss of richly biodiverse equatorial rainforests and is responsible for more emissions every year than the entire airline industry. 🙉 🙊 🙈 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗲 𝗮 𝗩𝗖 𝗰𝗮𝘀𝗲?  Compete with a dirt-cheap commodity where, to date, social and environmental costs are not factored in? - 𝙇𝙤𝙬 𝘾𝘼𝙋𝙀𝙓: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘵-𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. - 𝙇𝙤𝙬 𝙊𝙋𝙀𝙓: 𝙏𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 (𝘷𝘪𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘯) 𝘴𝘶𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘴. - 𝘿𝙧𝙤𝙥-𝙞𝙣 𝙍𝙚𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘪𝘭 𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘢𝘭𝘮 𝘰𝘪𝘭. - 𝙍𝙚𝙜𝙪𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣: 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘌𝘜 𝘙𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯-𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳 Lars Langhout, Jeroen Blansjaar, Jeroen Hugenholtz we are thrilled to be part of this journey towards a sustainable future together with Oost NL, Fairtree and Willow Capital🌍🌿! #Biodiversity #Sustainability #VentureCapital #NoPalmIngredients #RubioImpactVentures

Let's explore the latest developments in the European circular economy for September! 🔄 We'll delve into the exciting updates together!♻️🧐 This month we added a new company to our portfolio! In September, we shared our latest investment in REDUCED, a Copenhagen-based pioneer in upcycled food ingredients. With this strategic boost, REDUCED's #SeriesA funding round now totals €8 million, empowering their expansion across the DACH region and beyond. 🚀   REDUCED is transforming the food industry by turning side streams into premium umami flavors, helping to reduce #CO2emissions by up to 80%. This aligns perfectly with ECBF's mission to drive the circular bioeconomy forward. We look forward to supporting REDUCED's journey of innovation and sustainable growth. 💪 ÄIO, a biotech startup from Tallinn, has raised €6.1 million to scale its sustainable oil and fat production. Using yeast fermentation, the company transforms wood and agricultural residues into eco-friendly alternatives to palm oil and coconut oil. ÄIO has developed a unique method that enables the food industry to reduce its reliance on environmentally harmful animal fats, palm oil and other vegetable oils. ÄIO’s solution uses specialised yeast to transform by-products from wood and agricultural processes, such as sugars extracted from sawdust, into food-grade fats and oils. 🌴🥥 Mishkay Biotech, a Lithuanian startup specializing in medicinal and edible mushrooms, has secured a substantial increase in funding from Tesonet, which has tripled its initial investment. This funding will help MISHKAY complete its R&D laboratory and expand production capabilities for its mushroom-based products. The company aims to tackle the issue of low-quality and counterfeit mushroom supplements by developing scientifically-backed, high-quality products.🍄 #venturecapital #sustainability #circularbioeconomy

💼🚀 This week's highlights in Funding, Acquisition, and Finance: C16 Biosciences' Palm Oil Alternative Boost: New York's C16 Biosciences garners $4.5M, including a $3.5M grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to advance its Palmless platform towards regulatory approval and sustainability. 🌴🚫💸 Infinite Roots' Record Funding Round: German biotech Infinite Roots secures a monumental $58M in Series B funding, marking Europe's largest investment in mycelium technology for sustainable food solutions. 🍄💰🇪🇺 Elo Life Systems' Series A2 Success: Elo Life Systems raises $20.5m to fast-track the development of natural sweeteners and disease-resistant bananas, demonstrating the potential of biotech in agriculture. 🍌🧬💡 Tyson's High-tech Bacon Plant: Tyson Foods opens a $355M automated bacon processing facility in Kentucky, underscoring innovation and expansion in the meat industry. 🥓🏭💥 Voyage Foods' Sustainable Funding and LCA: Voyage Foods raises $22M and reveals its cocoa-free chocolate's life-cycle assessment, highlighting eco-friendly innovation with lower GHG emissions. 🍫🌎🌱

🌱 Big news! Our Alumni NoPalm Ingredients just secured a €5M investment to revolutionize the global palm oil market. 🚀 Led by Rubio Impact Ventures and supported by notable investors like our partner Oost NL, this funding round propels NoPalm Ingredients, a biotech innovator based in Wageningen, towards a greener future. NoPalm is tackling the environmental impact of traditional palm oil. 🌿 Employing a unique fermentation process, the company transforms local agricultural by-products, like potato peels and whey permeate, into sustainable yeast oils. These oils serve as a direct substitute for palm oil, matching its price and functionality without needing any recipe changes. This breakthrough offers a 90% reduction in CO2 emissions and a 99% decrease in land use compared to conventional palm oil production. 🗣️ As CEO Lars Langhout states, “This funding allows us to scale our technology to industrial levels of 50m3 and beyond, and preparing for our first Demo factory.” 👏 Congratulations to NoPalm on this remarkable achievement! We look forward to the next steps. Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/eXk3hXKF #Sustainability #Biotechnology #Innovation #Foodtech #PalmOilAlternative #ImpactInvesting

I'm excited to share the newly released report, "Enhancing the Ecosystem for Alternative Protein Innovation: Strategies for Scaling Success," developed with Invest-NL and Foodvalley NL. The Netherlands is at the forefront of the alternative protein revolution, with the market expected to reach €10 billion by 2030. However, scaling up remains challenging due to limited access to facilities, high operational costs, and complex regulations. Our report provides key recommendations to overcome these barriers: -National Strategy and Ecosystem Collaboration: Foster innovation clusters and streamline regulatory processes. -Investment in Shared Facilities: Develop regional hubs with advanced shared facilities through public-private partnerships. -Innovative Financing Models: Introduce voucher systems, operational subsidies, and other financial support mechanisms. These strategic steps can position the Netherlands as a global leader in food innovation and sustainability. 🌱🚀 Curious about the details? Read more in the full report at https://lnkd.in/eXzDtUBV #SharedFacilities #ProteinTransition #FoodInnovation #AlternativeProteins

We are proud to announce that EIT Food Accelerator Network alumnus Kaffe Bueno secures €6.2 million in Series A Round Led by Global Biorefinery Leader Borregaard with the participation of the European Innovation Council Fund (EIC Fund), Dalgaard Group, EIFO, PINC and The Yield Lab.    Kaffe Bueno, a leading Danish bioscience company renowned for its innovative approach in valorising coffee by-products. Pioneering in upcycling spent coffee grounds, the company transforms by-products into high-performance, natural ingredients, meeting market needs and lowering scope 3 emissions for its customers across industries.    The financial injection, totalling €6.2 million, marks a pivotal moment in Kaffe Bueno's growth trajectory and validates the investors' belief in the company’s vision and technology.    "It is amazing to receive the support of such a strong partner and leader in the refining of biomass. This investment is a clear testament of support for our efficient biorefinery technology and all the different novel applications/products we have developed from coffee side streams. With Borregaard’s expertise in biorefinery operations and access to key markets and customers, our path to a commercial size biorefinery is clearer than ever.” Juan Pablo Medina, CEO of Kaffe Bueno   Congratulations to the Kaffe Bueno team. This investment reflects the importance and urgency for unlocking coffee's potential as a tool to reduce manufacturing's Scope 3 emissions while filling the gap between natural ingredients, performance, quality and profitability. Not only for the sake of the coffee industry, but for the potential it has on society's and our planet's health.   Today, with a freshly inaugurated biorefinery, new industrial partners, a strong global distribution network and supportive investors, there is no stopping the Bueno movement and growth journey! #foodsystemstransformation #startupacceleration #agrifoodtechinnovation

I am very pleased to share that Invest-NL has invested EUR 10m in the EUR 40m funding round as announced today by Mosa Meat. Mosa Meat is a prominent player in the emerging cultered meat sector. This funding round will give them the financial headroom to advance their product and process development. Congratulations to the Mosa team: Maarten Bosch, Mark Post and Peter Verstrate. We are pleased to be part of your exciting journey. We are joined in this funding round by existing investors Lowercarbon Capital and MVentures and new investors LIOF, Limburgs Energie Fonds (LEF) B.V., and Nutreco, to name a few. It was real fun working on this transaction with my colleagues Willemijn van der Elst, Marlou Kortstee, and David de Vries. Why an investment in Mosa Meat? We all know that the current meat industry is simply not sustainable. Cultured meat (real meat, but from a bioreactor) addresses all the issues associated with the current meat industry: it significantly reduces GHG-production, it significantly reduces land use and water use, it eliminates the use of antibiotics, and, last but not least, it significantly improves animal wellfare. Only a few cows are needed for sesame-seed-sized biopsies to run the entire industry. These cows can be pampered. As with all new technologies, this requires hard work, patience, capital, and a developed eco-system. From feedstock (media on which the fat and muscle cells grow), to bioreactor parties, to end-consumers. Last but not least, it requires government and government bodies to approve this cultured meat as a novel food. Unfortunately, the EU is slow in adopting novel foods, with lengthy and unpredictable procedures. Singapore and the US are well ahead from that perspective. We believe Mosa Meat, as one of the pioneers, and with an experienced team, is well positioned to become a successful player in this industry. This investment complements our growing alternative protein portfolio which also includes Meatable. The market finds these types of investments challenging (and they are right). At Invest-NL, we are happy to play our role to mobilize these challenging, but pivotal markets by investing in companies that are at the forefront of the significant transitions we need to make as society.

Bel Group-Backed Standing Ovation Bags €3M from French Government & EU Fund for Animal-Free Casein Standing Ovation aims to help food manufacturers transition towards more sustainable production. A FrenchTech 2030 award winner, the start-up employs what it calls a CASPEX approach, combining the use of capital expenditure (CAPEX) with the production of animal-free proteins. It is this CASPEX project that has attracted funding from the French government and Bpifrance. The former has injected €2M as part of the Agrifood Resilience and Capacity call for projects under the France 2030 Investment Plan, while the latter has granted a €1M seed loan under the InvestEU Green Loan. Read more via Green Queen Media: https://bit.ly/49cvBWr

𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐑𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐢𝐧 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭? The Netherlands is poised to lead a revolution in alternative proteins. This rapidly growing market is expected to reach €10 billion by 2030. Innovative startups and scale-ups are driving this growth but face significant obstacles in scaling up. Today, Foodvalley NL and Invest-NL release the report, ‘Enhancing the Ecosystem for Alternative Protein Innovation: Strategies for Scaling Success’. The report reveals that limited access to facilities, high operational costs, and complex regulations are hindering scaling efforts. With a national strategy, smart investments in shared facilities, and innovative financing models, these barriers can be overcome. The Netherlands can position itself as the leader in food innovation and sustainability. "𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑖𝑛 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑠 𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑓𝑢𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑁𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠," says Michiel Strijland of Invest-NL. "𝑆𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑐 𝑖𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑁𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑖𝑛 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛," adds Emmanuel Anom of Foodvalley. Curious about the report? Read more here: https://lnkd.in/eXzDtUBV Nina Waldhauer, Rik Pantjes, Jochem Groothuismink, Guido Laman #SharedFacilities #ProteinTransition #FoodInnovation #AlternativeProteins