Swiss Venture Studio FOOD FOUNDERS raises CHF1.2 million and launches first food-tech venture

FOOD FOUNDERS Studio has officially launched with CHF 1.2 million (US$1.36 million) in seed funding and the debut of its first venture, positioning itself as Europe’s first dedicated venture studio focused on commercializing academic food tech research.

Two years after founder and CEO Giacomo Cattaneo set out with what he described as a “crazy dream” to build a bridge between university labs and the food industry, the Switzerland-based studio has brought that vision to life. Backed by a consortium of private investors – including a Swiss family office as anchor – the funding enables FOOD FOUNDERS Studio to systematically turn scientific breakthroughs into scalable companies.

“When we began fundraising, we heard it all: sustainable food is not a trend anymore, food tech is dead, investors don’t understand venture studios and won’t invest in food anymore, university partnerships take forever,” Cattaneo said. “Well, here we are.”

The studio’s inaugural venture, developed through its first university partnership, focuses on a problem long recognized as a barrier to mainstream plant-based adoption: off-flavors associated with legumes.

“Our inaugural venture tackles one of the plant-based industry’s most significant obstacles: legumes’ off-flavors that prevent mass market adoption,” said Alexandre Morel, Co-founder & CTO. “The proprietary technology offers a scalable, cost-effective solution that significantly improves taste while reducing formulation costs, more than any competing solution we’ve seen so far.”

The company’s first appointed CEO, set to be introduced in the coming weeks, emphasized the importance of taste over sustainability messaging alone. “By solving the off-flavor challenge – a problem known to everyone from manufacturers to consumers, and yet never truly solved despite many claims – we’re enabling food companies to create products that can win on deliciousness, not just credentials.”

FOOD FOUNDERS Studio positions itself as a systematic venture builder, working directly with universities, exceptional founders, and industry stakeholders. Its model is designed to close the persistent gap between groundbreaking research and commercially viable food innovations.

“This model addresses the fundamental disconnect between breakthrough university research and commercial viability that has plagued food tech for years,” said Robert Boer, who recently joined FOOD FOUNDERS as Investment Director after managing Blue Horizon’s 60+ seed portfolio. “It delivers both meaningful returns for investors and scalable impact for our food system.”

Cattaneo stressed that the real victory is not just launching a single company but proving the model itself. “Europe generates incredible food research, but most of it stays trapped in university labs. Traditional tech transfer doesn’t work for food innovation. We built the bridge,” he said.

Looking ahead, FOOD FOUNDERS Studio plans to introduce its Advisory Board and inaugural CEO, while continuing to build a pipeline of ventures sourced from European universities. The studio is actively seeking breakthrough food technologies, industry partners, and entrepreneurial leaders to join the platform.

“This is just the beginning,” Cattaneo said. “We’ve shown that European research can become global solutions. That the right investors will back bold visions when execution is solid. And that systematic innovation in food tech is not only possible, but necessary if we’re to fix a broken food system.”