Miller Magazine Issue: 127 July 2020

38 NEWS MILLER / JULY 2020 Bühler and Big Idea Ventures are joining forces to accelerate the success journey of promis- ing start-ups creating great tasting alternatives to animal-derived protein products. Bühler partners with Big Idea Ventures to accelerate sustainable protein revolution Big Idea Ventures, the global venture capital fund focused on solving the world’s greatest challenges by supporting the world’s best entrepreneurs, recently la- unched the New Protein Fund. The Fund will invest in and accelerate up to 100 plant-based and cell-based companies globally. Big Idea Ventures runs four acce- lerator programs annually in New York and Singapore. "We are glad to have Bühler join Tyson Ventures, Temasek and our other strategic investors in the Big Idea Ventures’ New Protein Fund. Together we can support the growth of the new generation of leading plant-based companies in North America, Asia and ul- timately, the planet. Bühler and Big Idea Ventures will work together to build great companies responding to consumer demands for great tasting food that is good for them and good for the planet," says Andrew D. Ive, Founder of Big Idea Ventures. Bühler is a family owned, 160-year-old company, supplying processing solutions globally and playing a critical role in global food value chains. "Providing safe, nutritious, pleasurable and affordable food to a popu- lation of 10 billion people by 2050 and doing that wit- hin the planetary boundaries is a formidable challenge," explains Ian Roberts, CTO at Bühler Group. "There is an urgent need for wide-scale collaboration if we are to make an impact on the climate and nutrition challen- ges within the next decade. Academics, start-ups, and established companies need to come together to inno- vate and find more sustainable ways to produce food. This is why we are partnering with Big Idea Ventures: to accelerate the journey for promising start-ups, to reinforce partnerships and start-up ecosystems in Sin- gapore and the US, and to do this with a clear focus on creating a more sustainable food supply for the future." Bühler plays a key role in serving the fast-growing plant-based meat and dairy replacements sector, with value chain coverage from primary processing of pul- ses, peas and lentils, soy, oats, quinoa and, of cour- se, traditional grains, through to the shaping, forming, texturing, fiber formation and cooling of meat analo- gues, be they dry or high moisture. "This new partner- ship benefits from our global network of Food Appli- cation Centers across Europe, Asia, and the US", says Johannes Wick, CEO Grains and Food at Bühler Group. "However, it is particularly timely, given that we are opening our Food Application Center in Minneapolis on June 19 and introducing new technologies, such as the Filtrex solution, specifically for this sector, and will open our joint innovation facility with Givaudan in Sin- gapore later this year." The joint Givaudan Bühler innovation facility in Sin- gapore focuses on sustainable protein-based products. Combining the flavor and formulation know-how of Givaudan with the process know-how and technologi- cal capabilities of Bühler, it provides a one-stop shop for development and first scale up of new products for market test. "We will be pleased to welcome Big Idea Ventures start-ups to benefit from our facilities and capabilities," adds Roberts. "We are excited about this partnership and believe that we can advance our goals for a sustai- nable food system with Andrew and his team." Ian Roberts CTO at Bühler Group Andrew D. Ive Founder of Big Idea Ventures Johannes Wick CEO Grains and Food at Bühler Group