Generate – the innovation hub empowering next-generation ingredient development within Nexture, the holding that brings together the industrial heritage, ingredient-tech capabilities and innovation expertise of CSM Ingredients Group and Italcanditi Group – has selected together with URIKA Partners the three winning start-ups of the Generate Program 2025: Green-On, Kokomodo and YEAP. The announcement was made at FIE 2025 during the dedicated event ‘The Ingredient Revolution: Meet the Innovators’, attended also by the founders of the selected start-ups.
The Open Call for Startups was launched in December 2024 with the aim to identify and select the next start-ups with breakthrough ingredient innovations that would have joined the Generate program. Selection criteria included the relevance of the innovation for applications within Nexture’s portfolio of solutions and areas of expertise, as well as the possibility of scaling the innovation by leveraging the expertise and the market proximity of Nexture’s brands, including CSM Ingredients, HIFOOD, Vitalfood by Italcanditi, Comprital, and Prodotti Rubicone.
The winners represent ingredient solutions fully aligned with Nexture’s open innovation pillars, addressing future-critical challenges such as sustainable fats, resilient access to cocoa and high-performance proteins.
Said Emanuele Pizzigalli, Nexture Chief Innovation Officer: “Green-On, Kokomodo and YEAP perfectly embody the type of breakthrough ideas we strive to partner with and transform into future successes,” “Their solutions are bold, science-driven and fully aligned with our open innovation pillars, addressing some of the most pressing needs of the ingredient landscape. With Generate, our goal is not just to identify high-potential innovations, but to actively nurture them, accelerating the path from idea to market impact. We look forward to advancing future-ready ingredient technologies together.”
During ‘The Ingredient Revolution: Meet the Innovators’ event in Paris, hosted at the Nexture booth, the founders of the start-ups – Jonathan Goshen from YEAP, Annette Graneli from Green-On and Tal Govrin from Kokomodo – not only presented their innovations but also discussed together with Emanuele Pizzigalli and Uri Weinheber of URIKA Partners how emerging ingredient technologies such as cellular agriculture, Power-to-X technologies, and upcycling processes are revolutionizing the future of food, thus providing food for thought and inspiration to all the attending guests.
Generate will now activate tailored 12-18-month partnership programs with the selected start-ups, providing access to cutting-edge facilities, technical expertise and industrial scale-up applications through the ecosystem of Nexture.
The scouting and evaluation process was carried out in collaboration with URIKA Partners – a firm specialised in innovative strategy, venture building, strategic investments, and technology collaboration, primarily in the Agri-Food and Climate industries – reinforcing Generate’s collaborative approach to deep-tech and food-tech innovation. Other start-ups already scouted in partnership with URIKA include Ingrediome, PoLoPo and DairyX. For more visit csmingredients.com
