Investment Climate

Alex Shandrovsky

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The Protein Brewery: Thijs Bosch shares how to get funded in 2025
The Protein Brewery: Thijs Bosch shares how to get funded in 2025Investment Climate Podcast: Fundraising Playbooks From Food Tech CEOs and VCs In this podcast series, Alex Shandrovsky interviews investors about benchmarks for funding Alt Proteins in 2025 and uncovers the investment playbooks of successful Climate Tech CEOs and Leading VCs.Podcast Host Alex Shandrovksy is a strategic advisor to numerous global food tech accelerators and companies, including alternative proteins and cellular agriculture leaders. His focus is on investor relations and post-raise scale for agrifood tech companies. This podcast is syndicated through our media partners, Foodtech Weekly and Vegconomist.Episode 52: The Protein Brewery: Thijs Bosch shares how to get funded in 2025In this episode, Alex sits down with Thijs Bosch, the new CEO of The Protein Brewery— a Dutch biomass-fermentation scale-up making a mycelium-based protein-and-fiber powder for food and nutrition. Fresh off a €30M Series B led by Invest-NL and BOM with continued support from existing backers (including Novo Holdings), Thijs explains how he stepped in mid-process to close a 15-month fundraise while steering a strategic pivot from alt-meat into active nutrition and healthy aging. He’s candid on valuation realities, why an eventual strategic exit is likelier than IPO, and what the team needs next: U.S. partners in sports/active nutrition and wellness ready to trial at industrial scale.Key Facts The Protein Brewery:Goal: Healthier and more sustainable fats to deliver tasty, more nutritious foods.Recently closed €30M Series B led by Invest-NL and BOM with continued support from existing backers (including Novo Holdings).Alex’s Top Findings:Investor Conviction: Customers Spoke During Due Diligence. Letting brand R&D/marketing validate taste/texture/use-case to investors beat vanity pipeline charts. “Get those customers and those promoters to talk to your investors during the commercial due diligence. That has been very helpful.”New CEO, Same Raise: Leadership Switch Mid-Process. Thijs joined five months ago and finished a 15-month fundraise already in motion—while investors assessed the new plan. “ I joined the protein brewery about five months ago. I'm new to the company, and I basically dropped in the middle of the fundraising process. I took over from the former CEO. We had to close the fundraising rounds with both the current and new investors.”Sustainability Still Matters (Even If It’s “Hygiene”). Fermentation’s land/water/CO₂ footprint remains a core part of The Protein Brewery’s investment and customer story. “ Nowadays, it's a ticket to the table or it's a hygiene factor for many scale-ups, but fermentation technology as such, and especially if you do it in a minimal process way, requires a fraction of the land, a fraction of the water, a fraction of the CO2, etc. Also, for all of our investors, it's still a key point. Sometimes it gets a bit overshadowed in the current discussions, but for a lot of investors, it is still very important.”
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Perfat Technologies: Jyrki Lee-Korhonen shares how to get funded in 2025
Perfat Technologies: Jyrki Lee-Korhonen shares how to get funded in 2025Investment Climate Podcast: Fundraising Playbooks From Food Tech CEOs and VCs In this podcast series, Alex Shandrovsky interviews investors about benchmarks for funding Alt Proteins in 2025 and uncovers the investment playbooks of successful Climate Tech CEOs and Leading VCs.Podcast Host Alex Shandrovksy is a strategic advisor to numerous global food tech accelerators and companies, including alternative proteins and cellular agriculture leaders. His focus is on investor relations and post-raise scale for agrifood tech companies. This podcast is syndicated through our media partners, Foodtech Weekly and Vegconomist.Episode 51: Perfat Technologies: Jyrki Lee-Korhonen shares how to get funded in 2025On this episode, I sit down with Jyrki Lee-Korhonen, CEO & co-founder of Perfat Technologies, a Finnish spin-out turning cutting-edge lipid science into healthier, drop-in fat ingredients for food makers. Perfat just closed €2.5M—led by Beyond Impact and Newtree Impact, with follow-on from Nordic Science Investments, Big Idea Ventures, and University of Helsinki Funds—after a 7–8 month process that hinged on shifting from any CapEx to a capital-light plan. Jyrki explains how Perfat’s oleogel-based, non-novel tech (no fermentation, off-the-shelf equipment) delivers ~80% less saturated fat and up to 30% fewer calories, while adding dietary fiber—a compelling alternative to butter, palm/coconut oil, and even cocoa butter. We get into IP (patents + trade secrets acquired from the university), B2B commercialization with near-term production and distributor sales, creative valuation structuring, and the asks: intros to customers/CMOs and a Supply Chain Manager to help scale in 2025.Key Facts Perfat Technologies:Goal: Healthier and more sustainable fats to deliver tasty, more nutritious foods.Recently closed €2.5M—led by Beyond Impact and Newtree Impact, with follow-on from Nordic Science Investments, Big Idea Ventures, and University of Helsinki FundsAlex’s Top Findings:Valuation: Market Reality + Creative Structure. Benchmarks and needs set the baseline; they used a flexible, milestone/tap-on structure to align everyone. “ We came up with a structure that offered the investors the kind of valuation that they were looking for, at the same time giving a little bit of upside to the management in terms of when we meet certain milestones, etc. So it's a pretty flexible structure that we have, and so we have to have a bit of creativity to meet everyone's interests for the round. ”Investors’ CapEx Allergy → Capital-Light Plan. They pivoted away from CapEx and toward CMOs/scale partners to fit today’s investor preferences. “We initially envisaged that part of the funding would be reserved for some CapEx, but it became clear quite early on that most investors these days are quite allergic to anything that smells of CapEx. So we did adjust our fundraising a bit towards a more capital-light plan. This also allowed us to scale back a bit down the road. I, overall, don't think it was necessarily a bad thing as such. These days, you do hear a lot about investors don't want to see CapEx in the plan.”How the Lead Happened: Network > Target List. The lead wasn’t on their initial list; a warm network intro unlocked a first Nordic investment for one of the funds and brought in the second. “ The introduction came through our network. To be fair, the name wasn't on our original list, as that investor, in this case, was Beyond Impact. They hadn't been active in the Nordics in the past, so we actually ended up being their first investment in the Nordic region. And then later on, they introduced us to New Three Impact, who then called it the deal.”
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FOOD Founders Studio: Giacomo Cattaneo and Alex Morel share how to get funded in 2025
Investment Climate Podcast: Fundraising Playbooks From Food Tech CEOs and VCs In this podcast series, Alex Shandrovsky interviews investors about benchmarks for funding Alt Proteins in 2025 and uncovers the investment playbooks of successful Climate Tech CEOs and Leading VCs.Podcast Host Alex Shandrovksy is a strategic advisor to numerous global food tech accelerators and companies, including alternative proteins and cellular agriculture leaders. His focus is on investor relations and post-raise scale for agrifood tech companies. This podcast is syndicated through our media partners, Foodtech Weekly and Vegconomist.Episode 50: FOOD Founders Studio: Giacomo Cattaneo and Alex Morel share how to get funded in 2025On this episode, I’m joined by Giacomo Cattaneo (CEO) and Alex Morel (CTO), co-founders of FOOD Founders Studio, a venture studio building B2B food-tech companies from university IP to market-ready startups. They’ve raised $1.2M toward a CHF 3M holding-company model that funds and co-founds 3–4 ventures (roughly $1M per project) while keeping meaningful founder ownership and targeting faster, M&A-driven exits. They explain how they reverse the usual flow—start with validated industry problems, then license tech (balancing royalties/equity so founders still own the majority), and why they expect shorter timelines than typical food-tech. We close on lessons from a year-long raise (persistence beats neat timelines) and a call for partners: investors aligned with pragmatic derisking, universities/R&D labs with commercialization-ready IP, seasoned CEOs to lead new ventures, and food companies eager to pilot their off-flavor removal tech.Key Facts FOOD Founders Studio:Goal: To build and launch B2B food tech ventures from untapped European academic IP.Recently raised $1.2M toward a CHF 3M holding-company model that funds and co-founds 3–4 ventures (roughly $1M per project)Alex’s Top Findings:Timeline: A Year of “No’s,” Then Yes. It took ~12 months from first rejection to the lead check—bridged by pure grit and personal financing. “Almost a year from the first No. Me [Giacomo] and Alex were pouring money into it to make it up till our accounts were dry. Too many pieces of the puzzle of this very ambitious puzzle that is taken on its own technology. The founders, the story, the positioning on solving the systemic issues, as well as the technology. We stayed on, and fortunately, we were able to build the first foundational partnerships, and now we are building. ”From “Are You a Fund?” to “We’re In.” Giacomo and Alex converted confusion into commitment by delivering value—securing tech, partners, and an investable first venture; the family office joined the investment committee, too. “ We started like everybody, a beautiful story on a PowerPoint that promises the world. But at some point, you need to start showing you can do it. As soon as we got very confident in our selection of the first technology, we could give a real, concrete outlook about what kind of ventures we are going to build, and our ability to execute on our mission. I think that also gave the family office a better justification to sit around the table internally, trying to figure out that this just makes sense. Now this family office is in… It’s in on our investment committee as well.”Problem-First Scouting, Then Tech. FOOD Founders Studio starts by validating urgent industry problems, then sources university tech that can solve them—flipping standard “tech looking for a use” on its head. “One of the benefits… is that we do create a portfolio of startups… We take a lot of time to really refine this funnel, selecting only one technology… that becomes then the foundation of the new startup that we built.”
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Decameal: Leander Hessner shares how to get funded in 2025
Decameal: Leander Hessner shares how to get funded in 2025Investment Climate Podcast: Fundraising Playbooks From Food Tech CEOs and VCs In this podcast series, Alex Shandrovsky interviews investors about benchmarks for funding Alt Proteins in 2025 and uncovers the investment playbooks of successful Climate Tech CEOs and Leading VCs.Podcast Host Alex Shandrovksy is a strategic advisor to numerous global food tech accelerators and companies, including alternative proteins and cellular agriculture leaders. His focus is on investor relations and post-raise scale for agrifood tech companies. This podcast is syndicated through our media partners, Foodtech Weekly and Vegconomist.Episode 49: Decameal: Leander Hessner shares how to get funded in 2025This episode features Leander Hessner, marine biologist and CEO/co-founder of Decameal, which upcycles invasive European green crabs and crustacean side streams into high-value feed ingredients. Leander explains how Decameal moved beyond “crab protein” to a patented separation process that yields a clean protein concentrate plus shell-derived compounds, landing pilot production inside a major Danish fish-feed company’s facility. After product trials with that partner performed well, the corporate came in as the largest check—unlocking a €700k equity round (without a formal lead) and a €1.4M Danish state grant to scale. We dig into supply security (the biomass is vast), sustainability that pencils out on price, and a path to a profitable pilot by 2027 before a CapEx-heavy scale round. Leander closes with what helps most now: intros to North American shellfish processors, feed/ingredient players, and licensing partners.Key Facts Decameal:Goal: Restoring a healthy marine life through a sustainable business model.Recently unlocked a €700k equity round (without a formal lead) and a €1.4M Danish state grant to scale.Alex’s Top Findings:Reality Check: Price & Function Beat “Green.” Sustainability alone won’t win the deal; unit economics and performance drive buying and investing decisions. ”You should probably start your pitch deck by showing your budget rather than showing your sustainability profile, because that's, in most cases, what the investors want to see. They want to know if you can actually make something that's profitable, and if it's also sustainable, then that's a plus, but it's not gonna secure you a green premium, as it's called. I had a firm belief in that in the beginning, but as I've gotten further in the process, now we've raised two times, and we've talked to many customers, it's all about the pricing and the function of what you're actually doing. That was a big surprise for me.”Valuation: Cap Table Health + Evidence. First round priced on potential; second round tied to production, timing, revenue paths, and maintaining founder ownership. " We had reached a suitable valuation from the first round that all the investors agreed to, and that would be healthy for our cap table. At that point, it's all about the potential. We didn't have much more than a product, and maybe someone who was willing to say what they were, wanted to pay for it. So the valuation at the first round was, the arguments for that weren't very strong, but we made it work anyway. The evaluation for the second round was a bit more rooted in what we can actually produce, when we can sell it, how much we can sell, and what the revenue will be. Of course, the progress that we had made since the first round and also the soft funding that we had gotten while in between the two rounds, played a big role as well.”De-Risk with Trials First, Capital Follows. Product samples and fish-feed trials with a major corporate validated performance—then that corporate joined the round. " Last year, we did some trials with them, fish feed trials, where the
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Mewery: Roman Lauš shares how to get funded in 2025
Mewery: Roman Lauš shares how to get funded in 2025Investment Climate Podcast: Fundraising Playbooks From Food Tech CEOs and VCs In this podcast series, Alex Shandrovsky interviews investors about benchmarks for funding Alt Proteins in 2025 and uncovers the investment playbooks of successful Climate Tech CEOs and Leading VCs.Podcast Host Alex Shandrovksy is a strategic advisor to numerous global food tech accelerators and companies, including alternative proteins and cellular agriculture leaders. His focus is on investor relations and post-raise scale for agrifood tech companies. This podcast is syndicated through our media partners, Foodtech Weekly and Vegconomist.Episode 48: Mewery: Roman Lauš shares how to get funded in 2025This episode features Roman Lauš, founder & CEO of Mewery (Czech Republic), a cultivated-meat startup building a co-culture platform that combines animal and microbial cells to make pork and other products more efficiently. Roman shares how he pivoted his fundraising strategy in a brutal market: from early validation by Big Idea Ventures and regional VCs, to surviving with bridges and stacking non-dilutive funding, validated by EIC Accelerator, and received the Seal of Excellence from the jury. He breaks down the real lessons: founders should invest their own capital, prove a fast proof-of-concept, differentiate deeply (their proprietary co-culture is the edge), and never bank on a verbal “yes.” We also get a candid look at why he’s still bullish on cell ag (costs plummeting, second-generation tech, traction over hype) and what Mewery needs next: collaborations with meat and food manufacturers to bring products to market.Key Facts Mewery:Goal: To break down barriers to scaling and accelerating the cultivated meat industry.Recently raised €3M from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator, and from the Horizon Europe research program.Alex’s Top Findings:Capital Stack v1: Validate, Then Amplify. After friends/founder money funded initial tests, Big Idea Ventures invested (~2022), triggering strong inbound and a total of ~€800k with local funds (Power Pro Ventures, Credo Ventures) and a small grant. "Big Idea Ventures… decided to invest in us, and this was the highlight of our company because we were the only startup from the Czech Republic who has ever been funded by this fund. We just released a press release, and the next day, I woke up to my inbox being full of not spam, but more than a hundred emails from investors and partners.”Market Reality: Believe Actions, Not ‘Yes’. Verbal enthusiasm ≠ capital; keep parallel processes alive until money is wired. " I don't believe in ‘Yes’ anymore. This is very sad because if you tell me yes, I think you mean yes, but maybe it's my understanding of yes. It's not their mistake, because they want to have you in the process. We actually hang on to one investor. We thought that was it, and it took six months. We were running out of funds, and I thought this was a done deal. I don't need to look for more investors. So this is what I would change, and I think every experienced founder with fundraising would tell you the same.”Grant-First Strategy to Advance TRL. Mewery rebalanced away from VC chasing to grants (incl. EIC Accelerator), learning to write/rewrite applications, hiring an agency, and using the process to harden the R&D and commercialization roadmap. "We reapplied for some of the grants, and with the EIC accelerator, we started very early. Everybody was telling us, ‘Guys, you are too early for that. You are not in this technical readiness.’ And we were not at that time, but I said, " It doesn't matter. We will grow into it. Let's not postpone it.’ I had a gut feeling we needed to write it because, for us, it was very important to formulate and articulate our experiment, roadma
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