‘This is clearly the way to go’: Pascual unveils Mylkcubator 2.0 as it eyes opportunities in emerging cellular agriculture technology
The initiative has been launched from the group’s Corporate Venture unit, Pascual Innoventures, in collaboration with global food tech accelerators Eatable Adventures. The first edition of the programme launched last year had recently been completed by four disruptive start-ups worldwide.
Mylkcubator 2.0 will last six months, from selection to the demo day. The goal is to enrol a new cohort of up to five start-ups or scientific projects, with innovative solutions in the cellular agriculture spectrum for the dairy industry within the following technologies: molecular farming, fermentation based, cell based, and applied technologies in this field. All the details about the programme are available on the official website mylkcubator.com.
Cream of the crop
Pascual Innoventures explained it has flexible venturing models that build, collaborate and support food tech start-ups in their early stages. The incubator will help the selected start-ups in their business and R&D advancement strategies, preparing them for growth and investment rounds.
"The quality of the start-ups selected in the first edition has been amazing and shows us that this is, clearly, the way to go,” said Gabriel Pascual, director of Pascual Innoventures. “The visibility of these projects as well as the investment rounds that they are receiving is a sign that the industry is prepared for this technological transition. Pascual has been a pioneer in shaping the path of innovation and non-conformism. An attitude that has been hatched generation after generation from my grandfather until our generation.”
Luis Cabañero, CEO and founder of Eatable Adventures, added: “Mylkcubator has attracted the attention of companies, technology centres and professional investors from all over the world demonstrating that there is a great opportunity in the market to implement scalable technological solutions to future proof the dairy industry.”
Proof of this is that investment in the dairy segment has tripled in 2021, compared with 2020, according to Dealroom data analysed by Eatable Adventures.
The production of dairy products using cell cultures and fermentation techniques, that are complementary within the dairy industry, demonstrate industrial and commercial viability and presents a huge opportunity for the sector from both an economic and environmental point of view, according to Pascual.
The Madrid-based company launched the first Mylkcubator programme in June last year after identifying that ‘cow-free dairy’ has the potential to disrupt and complement traditional operations.
Speaking at the Protein Vision last month, which is available to watch on demand here, Pascual Innoventures director Pascual explained why a traditional dairy player is helping advance the development of next generation dairy production. “Technologically it has the potential to disrupt traditional dairy operations,” he said. “It is our responsibility to be a part of that disruption, to anticipate and cooperate.
“Wherever the world might take us, we need to take responsibility in providing opportunities. If traditional dairy operations are disrupted to whatever extent, we need to be working with that ecosystem so they don’t suffer.”
