Big Idea Ventures

📣 We are pleased to announce the launch of the latest company through our Generation Food Rural Partners Fund, Bayou Best Foods. 🌱 Bayou Best Foods has been launched to commercialize a portfolio of proven intellectual property that supports a truly sustainable, animal-free solution to the seafood industry while delivering great tasting solutions for customers. ✅ Kelli Wilson has been appointed as CEO of the company. Kelli brings over 30 years of experience in the food manufacturing industry to the Company, including senior roles at ConAgra and Beyond Meat. Read our press release here 👉 https://lnkd.in/eTpABgGS To read Elaine Watson's article on Bayou Best Foods' launch on AFN, click here 👉 https://lnkd.in/e5AHcfVG ✨ The GFRP Fund evaluates intellectual property focused on innovations in the agriculture, food, and protein sectors. The fund invests to create new companies formed around research with the greatest chance for broad commercialization. 💡 These new companies are headquartered in rural communities, creating living wage jobs to drive economic growth and development. #alternativeprotein #sustainablefood #bigideas Andrew D Ive Tom Mastrobuoni Frank Klemens Elsa Swanson Sareen Bill Arnold Emily Linett Van N. Truskett Darcy Lee

🚨 ICYMI: Here are the latest exciting stories from our portfolio companies ✨ 🙌 Ali Osman, co-founder of PFx Biotech, Lda won the Business Worldwide CEO Award for “Most Innovative CEO in Advanced Nutrition Markets”. Read more about his plans for the company's future here 👉 https://lnkd.in/dtd-vbJP 📣 MOA foodtech successfully raised their Series A round. The funds will help develop the company's commercialization strategy and production scale up of their protein ingredients 👉 https://lnkd.in/dfNVRjuC 🥛 Future Cow Technologies, Brazil's first precision fermentation startup is gearing to scale up production of their animal-free milk 👉 https://lnkd.in/dMVt5Aps 🥚 UMAMI UNITED were featured in NHK's international broadcasting program "Japanology Plus". Catch them at the 6:25 timestamp 👉 https://lnkd.in/gBWM8biZ 🍯 MeliBio announced that they have expanded nationwide in the US 👉 https://lnkd.in/du4ba6w8) #bigideas #futureoffood #innovation Andrew D Ive Henrietta Hearth Tom Mastrobuoni

🌟 Exciting News 🌟 We're thrilled to welcome Saeed Karimzadeh to the Generation Food Rural Partners Fund team at Big Idea Ventures for an internship! 👉 Saeed is a PhD candidate in Biological and Agricultural Engineering at University of California, Davis, with a rich background in sustainable agriculture research at prestigious institutions like UC Berkeley, TU Delft, Politecnico di Milano, and Universidad de Almería. 🌱🌍 🚀🌾 Saeed's passion for translating academic knowledge into practical products aligns perfectly with our mission. He'll be working closely to evaluate university intellectual properties, aiming to transform theoretical patents into thriving and profitable startups in the food and agricultural technology sectors. Join us in welcoming Saeed to the team! 🙌 #Innovation #SustainableAgriculture #BigIdeas Andrew D Ive Tom Mastrobuoni Frank Klemens Elsa Swanson Sareen Bill Arnold Van N. Truskett Emily Linett

📣 We are pleased to announce our partnership with The Future of Protein Production Amsterdam, which will be held at RAI on October 23rd and 24th. 🌐 Join over 500 attendees to explore the latest solutions to the challenges in alternative protein production! ✨ Sign up using the code 'BIV20' to receive a 20% discount. Find out more here 👉 https://lnkd.in/dThnfm9Y #alternativeprotein #bigideas #futureoffood

🌱 In 2019, Big Idea Ventures launched the first global fund dedicated to alternative proteins. Since then, we've helped drive global innovation, supporting over 100 early-stage alternative protein teams worldwide. 🌎 ✨ 📣 Last month, North Carolina State University and the Bezos Earth Fund joined this incredible journey by announcing the Bezos Center for Sustainable Protein! This center of excellence will create a biomanufacturing hub for environmentally friendly, healthy, accessible, and affordable dietary proteins. Big Idea Ventures proudly supported NC State's application and world-leading plan, and we look forward to collaborating with them on one of the most exciting initiatives in sustainable protein today. 🤝🔬 👉 We caught up with Bill Aimutis, COO of the new center, to delve into the initiative and its plans in greater detail. Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/d7mmkYsw #bigideas #innovation Andrew D Ive Tom Mastrobuoni Frank Klemens

We'd love to see some cellular agriculture companies taking up this fantastic accelerator opportunity from Big Idea Ventures! Check it out 👉

🎉 Congratulations to our portfolio company, The Leaf Protein Company, for raising $850,000 in a pre-seed round! The University of Melbourne Genesis Pre-seed Fund led the raise. LaunchVic’s Hugh Victor McKay Fund and Loyal VC participated. 💡The Leaf Protein Co. has developed a novel platform technology to extract Rubisco proteins from green leaves. The company's vision is to build a library of functional, protein-rich ingredients from sustainable sources. ✅ The Australia-based startup will use the capital to expand its staff, optimize its pilot plant, and enhance its protein extraction methods to bring its leaf proteins to market. Read more here 👉 https://lnkd.in/diWPMDdG #futureoffood #bigideas Fern Ho Andrew D Ive Henrietta Hearth Tom Mastrobuoni Karin del Rey

📣 We are pleased to announce that our Generation Food Rural Partners Fund has invested in Supercharger! 💡Supercharger is a software development company that has built applications utilizing large language models to execute detailed and complex data searches. Since the launch of the fund, the GFRP and Supercharger teams have collaborated on an AI application to evaluate intellectual property from global research universities and institutions. ✨ We are excited to support this innovative company and continue our work with them! Read more here 👉 https://lnkd.in/dQPE6cWh #bigideas #agrifoodtech #innovation Andrew D Ive Tom Mastrobuoni Frank Klemens Bill Arnold Elsa Swanson Sareen Emily Linett Van N. Truskett Kevin Wang

📣 Are you going to be at HackSummit this week? Here are some amazing innovators you can meet there 👉 ✅ Stéphane Chen, CEO at Another Food, will be part of a session about alternative coffee. 🗓 June 14th, 1:30pm (Builders Stage) ✅ Bharath Bakaraju, Founder at Phyx44 Labs, will be part of the "APAC: The Next FoodTech Frontier" panel. 🗓 June 24th, 3:30pm (Builders Stage) ✅ Cultivated Biosciences, PFx Biotech, Lda, Another Food will be at the HackSummit Startup Fair! Find out more information here 👉 https://www.hacksummit.co #bigideas #futureoffood #innovation Andrew D Ive Henrietta Hearth Caroline Mak Karin del Rey

📣 Our founder and managing general partner, Andrew D Ive, will be speaking at the 6th Industrializing Cultivated Meat & Seafood Summit! 💡 Meet him at the Executive Breakfast Deep Dive - a session focussed on rebuilding collaborative relationships with investors and improving clarity on development timelines. 🗓 27th August, 2024 ⏰ 7:45 am 📍 Boston, MA (USA) ✅ Find out more here 👉 https://ter.li/cimzrv #bigideas #futureoffood #cultivatedmeat