PectCof raises € 2 million for its innovative coffee pulp-based food ingredients
PectCof (Venlo, the Netherlands) has raised financing from Brightlands Venture Partners, Future Food Fund and its management team. The funds will be used to accelerate technology development, scale-up the production of the company’s first product Dutch Gum and broaden the customer base.
Impact for a better future
PectCof’s technology unlocks the full potential of coffee pulp and provides an enormous positive environmental and societal impact. The coffee pulp, the side stream of the second most traded commodity in the world, is currently dumped or landfilled.
Rudi Dieleman, Co-founder: “We cut CO2 emissions and pollution by recognizing coffee pulp as a valuable resource while we also create an additional revenue stream for coffee farmers.”
PectCof’s Dutch Gum offers superior functionality at best-cost-in use
In the past years, Dutch Gum has been successfully tested as an emulsifier, stabilizer, texturizer amongst others in candies, sauces and soft drinks. The product is offering superior functionality at best cost-in-use and allowing more flexibility in formulation development.
Daniela Ribezzo, CEO: “I am very pleased to join PectCof and eager to bring the company to the next level. We are looking forward to offer our customers the opportunity to co-develop new clean-label formulations, in line with the latest trends in the food and beverages industry.”
Upcycling to novel food ingredient
This is a true example of biomass upcycling to novel functional food ingredients. Driven by consumer’s demand for clean-label ingredients and their consciousness about social-environmental impact, there is a growing need in the food and beverages industry to move towards ‘natural’ ingredients from transparent supply chains in relation to their clean-label brand-positioning.
Kim de Boer of Brightlands Venture Partners: “Contributing to a sustainable use of the earth’s resources in our food production system is a key element of our investment strategy. This investment fits well our portfolio and our focus on innovations in the food value-chain”
Enforced team already fruitful
Brightlands Venture Partners and Future Food Fund played a decisive role in giving a boost to the existing management team by recruiting additional members with a solid track record in the industry.
Jeroen Kimmels of Future Food Fund: “Impressed with the potential of the technology, we have been following PectCof for years. Anticipating a breakthrough, we felt it was time to invest and strengthen the team. This has already been fruitful; the new team has already pushed PectCof further than ever.”
For more information please contact:
Daniela Ribezzo – CEO PectCof
+31 6 22346385
daniela.ribezzo@pectcof.com
www.pectcof.com
Kim de Boer – Partner at Brightlands Venture Partners
+31 6 5758 8442
kdb@brightlandsventurepartners.com
www.brightlandsventurepartners.com
Jeroen Kimmels – Managing Partner Future Food Fund
jeroen@futurefoodfund.com
www.futurefoodfund.com
About PectCof
PectCof, founded in 2012, developed a proprietary technology to transform the side stream of coffee pulp biomass into valuable bio compounds. The coffee pulp (skin and flesh of the cherry) is transformed into valuable functional ingredients. The first product launch will be Dutch Gum, that has shown to be substantially more effective as stabilizer and emulsifier compared to actual incumbents.
About Brightlands Venture Partners
Brightlands Venture Partners (BVP) is the fund manager of the Brightlands Agrifood Fund and is a so-called ecosystem investor. BVP invests in companies benefiting from and contributing to the Brightlands campuses in the south of the Netherlands. Funds under management are BVP Fund IV, Brightlands Agrifood Fund, Chemelot Ventures and Limburg Ventures.
About Future Food Fund
Future Food Fund is a € 12m Seed Capital Fund, founded and funded by 30 successful entrepreneurs. Mainly with a background in Food & Agri and technology, these entrepreneurs wish to actively contribute to the success of the fund, not only with money, but also with experience and network. Future Food Fund is aimed at Dutch companies that want to impact the Food & Agri sector with innovative technology and / or disruptive business models.
