FOOD FOUNDERS Studio raises €4 million to build foodtech ventures around industry needs
FOOD FOUNDERS Studio, the Swiss venture studio that builds B2B food and beverage technology companies from existing science, has closed an oversubscribed €4 million round to build foodtech ventures with a clear industrial purpose. The studio is also widening its technology search to startups and corporate R&D teams, including programmes that have stalled or been put on hold.
Funding in a selective market
The round was backed by family offices and angel investors. It will fund the studio’s next ventures and the work of identifying and securing the technologies behind them, and the studio is recruiting a CEO and co-founder for its second company.
European foodtech startups raised €401 million in the first half of 2026, nearly 18% more than a year earlier, while the number of funding rounds fell 12%. For new ventures, the question is increasingly whether strong science can become a product that manufacturers will use and a business that can grow.
“The foodtech market has learned a hard lesson: a promising technology is only the beginning,” said Giacomo Cattaneo, CEO and co-founder of FOOD FOUNDERS Studio. “You need a problem the industry cares enough to solve, technology you can build a business around, and the right people to take it into the market.”
The FOOD FOUNDERS Studio team (from left to right): Giacomo Cattaneo, CEO, Alexandre Morel, CTO, and Robert Boer, CIO.
How the model works
The studio works with food and beverage manufacturers to identify problems they need solved, then searches for technology that could address them. Its expert boards assess technical performance, the commercial case, and whether the intellectual property can form the basis of a company. The studio then recruits experienced leadership and co-founds the selected venture, working alongside the team on industrial validation, partnerships and fundraising.
SentiaNova and the wider search
The studio has scouted more than 100 technologies and advanced nine to validation before launching SentiaNova, its first venture. Built on neutral plant protein technology licensed from a European university, SentiaNova removes unwanted off-flavours at the source rather than only masking them.
The studio recruited a CEO, and within a year of launch the company has made samples available, engaged the market and is working toward commercial production while closing its own funding round.
Technologies from startups and corporate R&D teams will be assessed against the same industrial, technical and commercial criteria the studio applies to university research.
“A technology can be technically strong and still lack a route into the food industry,” said Alexandre Morel, CTO and co-founder of FOOD FOUNDERS Studio. “We want to find that technology wherever it sits, secure what is needed to build on it, and put the right team around the opportunities that meet a tangible industry need.”
Food companies and manufacturers can contact industry@foodfounders.studio with problems they need solved.
Researchers, founders and corporate R&D teams can contact tech@foodfounders.studio about relevant technologies. The studio is supported by EIT Food, which is co-funded by the European Union.