EXBERRY^® colour supplier GNT has officially launched an independent investment firm to accelerate innovation and boost sustainability at every stage of the value chain.

GNT Ventures was created to invest in start-up companies that have the potential to help pioneer new and improved plant-based colouring solutions. Its focus is on four key areas: raw materials and fermentation, processing, food ingredients, and upcycling.

It is part of GNT’s long-term strategy to reshape the plant-based colour landscape with innovative new products that can drive a healthier future for the people and the planet.

GNT Ventures has already executed some investments, including the recently announced partnership with Plume Biotechnology to create new plant-based EXBERRY^® colour solutions using unique fermentation technologies. The firm is now aiming to significantly step up its investment activity and is actively seeking out new collaborations with further start-ups worldwide.

Finn Rieken, Managing Director of GNT Ventures, said: “We’re looking to build mutually beneficial relationships with start-ups that dare to dream big and have the drive to shape tomorrow’s planet. We can provide financial, technical, commercial, and regulatory support, using our expertise to not only help bring bold new visions to life but successfully market them worldwide.”

GNT Ventures is seeking to collaborate with start-ups by providing them with the tools they need to bring cutting-edge ideas to life. It can provide comprehensive financial support, whether by leading the financing as a sole investor or helping to share the load as co-leads. It is primarily focused on pre-seed to series A funding, with a maximum ticket size of EUR 1 million.

GNT Ventures also has a state-of-the-art food grade pilot plant to test and optimise processes. It can offer research and development know-how as well as processing expertise to help new businesses develop their ideas more quickly and effectively.

In addition, GNT Ventures can deliver comprehensive commercial support. This includes ensuring innovations reach a wide range of customers within the food and beverage industry as well as connecting start-ups with partners across the entire value chain. It also offers guidance on regulatory compliance and IP.

Dr. Kai Reineke, Technical Lead at GNT Ventures, said: “We aim to establish synergistic partnerships with innovative start-ups that aspire to achieve significant breakthroughs. Leveraging our extensive technical expertise, we provide comprehensive support to facilitate the realisation of ambitious projects and ensure their success.”

GNT was founded in 1978 with a vision to pioneer truly natural colors from fruit, vegetables, and plants. It remains an independent, family-owned business with a commitment to creating plant-based, sustainable ingredients.

Frederik Hoeck, GNT Group’s Managing Director, said: “GNT is now firmly established as a global leader in natural colors, but we know what it’s like to be a small company and grow. We started from humble beginnings and fully understand the challenges involved and how hard it can be to overcome them. We want to help start-ups find their own successful paths so that we can reshape tomorrow’s planet together.”

ADM Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of ADM (NYSE: ADM), announced its investment in Seventure’s Health For Life Capital (HFLC) Fund II. HFLC, based in Paris, is a leading venture capital fund dedicated to health, nutrition, microbiota and digital health.

“We view Seventure as the premier investor in microbiome startups focused on human health and nutrition, and since 2018, ADM has worked closely with the Seventure team to identify opportunities with microbiome solutions that can ultimately help with dietary supplements and food and beverage applications to serve as functional or proactive solutions,” said Darren Streiler, managing director of ADM Ventures. “We believe Seventure can help meet the long-term demand we see as the result of the convergence of food and pharmaceuticals and consumers looking more towards bioactives and nutrition for wellness solutions.”

The microbiome consists of trillions of micro-organisms that reside on or inside the human body. ADM’s primary interest is the vast, complex bacterial ecosystem that lives within the digestive tract and constitutes the majority of every individual’s unique microbiome.

“With a better understanding of how the microbiome ecosystem works, we can develop functional ingredients for dietary supplements and food and beverage solutions targeted to help improve overall health,” Streiler said. “We are focused on looking at new, innovative solutions that can lead to a more balanced bacterial system in your digestive tract, otherwise known as a healthy gut, and can help lead to better health.”

ADM is committed to discovering and leveraging nutritional ingredients that can be used for preventative health, as well as for treating common ailments or even chronic diseases in both humans and animals. The company’s new probiotics production facility in Valencia, Spain – which will significantly increase its post- and prebiotic production capacity – is planned to be online in 2022.

ADM is an established market leader for microbiome solutions, with an award-winning portfolio of products and ingredients, including NutraIngredients’ 2020 ‘Probiotic Product of the Year’, ADM’s Bio-Kult Migréa^®; 2020 Ingredient of the Year in the Weight Management category, ADM’s Bifidobacterium lactis BPL1; and the 2020 Editor’s Award winner for Functional Food Innovation, ADM’s Bacillus subtilis PXN^®21^®, a live microbial strain shown to reduce the aggregation of α-synuclein, paving the way for future research in Parkinson’s disease.