The ingredient solutions giant is joining forces with MassChallenge to support food start-ups driving healthier, more sustainable innovation in the UK and Switzerland.
Credit: Tate & Lyle
Tate & Lyle has announced a strategic partnership with MassChallenge in the UK and Switzerland to accelerate food innovation and support start-ups shaping the future of the industry.
The ingredient solutions giant will act as a founding corporate partner in MassChallenge UK, supporting early-stage companies with scale-up potential. The company is also joining MassChallenge Switzerland, an established hub that has worked with many of the sector’s leading innovators.
Both partnerships are designed to address some of the food industry’s most pressing challenges, including improving nutrition, advancing sustainable farming and processing methods, and reducing food waste.
Karen du Plessis, Head of Open Innovation at Tate & Lyle, said:
This new partnership provides us with access to some of the most dynamic start-ups and early-stage companies working to develop the novel ingredients, process innovations and sustainability solutions that our food system needs to continue to thrive.
By supporting MassChallenge’s efforts to nurture innovators, helping them to refine their ideas and business models to become investment-ready more quickly, we’re helping to build a strong, collaborative innovation community and developing a strong future pipeline for Tate & Lyle of innovative solutions for our customers to enjoy.”
Replicating success
As part of the collaboration, Tate & Lyle’s innovation leaders will work with MassChallenge teams to identify start-ups aligned with its strategic priorities. Selected participants will gain access to mentoring, market insights, fundraising support, and a global network, while also receiving guidance on refining business models and scaling operations.
David Kinsella, Managing Director of MassChallenge UK, said:
Scaling an early-stage startup is never easy; validating technological breakthroughs, raising investment, developing new business models, and building highly skilled technical teams are challenges most inventors face.
The Swiss model of MassChallenge has been hugely successful, accelerating nearly 1,000 start-ups, who went on to raise €2 billion in funding, and creating more than 55,000 jobs in a ten-year period. With Tate & Lyle’s help, we’re working to replicate this success in the UK, and build a world-renowned innovation hub in East London’s Royal Docks.”
The partnership forms part of Tate & Lyle’s Open Innovation programme, designed to complement its in-house R&D by building collaborations and gaining access to new proprietary technologies. Recent initiatives under this programme include the company’s collaboration with BioHarvest Sciences to develop the next generation of proprietary plant-based molecules, initially focused on sweeteners, and with Manus to establish the first large-scale commercialisation of an all-Americas-sourced, manufactured, and bioconverted stevia Reb M ingredient.
Tate & Lyle said the MassChallenge partnership will further enhance its food ingredient innovation pipeline and accelerate its speed to market.
