WELCOME TO THE FUTURE OF FOOD.

WE SCALE IT TO MAKE IT AFFORDABLE AND ACCESSIBLE

CHANGING THE WAY WE EAT ON EARTH AND BEYOND.

WELCOME TO THE FORGE: WE SCALE THE FUTURE OF FOOD

Can we produce food in a more sustainable manner?

Can we make it available to everyone? Anytime? Anywhere?

Not yet. Less than 20% of Food-Tech businesses scale successfully. Hence sustainable food is still a niche.

 

Alphorn Ventures was born out of an idea, to offer the fastest track for Food-Tech innovators and ventures, working on breakthrough gatekeeper technologies (such as bio-manufacturing), to explore, exploit, scale and create the future of food.

To make this happen, Alphorn Ventures is creating a uniquely designed turn-key ecosystem unlike any other, a 40'000m² large Food-Tech "one-stop" scale-up space and innovation hub, located north of Zürich, Switzerland, called The Forge.

It gives Food-Tech innovators a cutting edge advantage by crunching time, and to scale up faster and bolder.

An African proverb says – if you want to go fast, go alone if you want to go far – go with others…

Our scale-up space offers a specifically designed and curated ecosystem, giving Food-Tech innovators focusing mainly on ground-breaking technologies such as cultivated food, algae, fungi, fermentation, and other bio-manufacturing initiatives, a one-stop-shop and access to shared infrastructure, services, knowhow, go-to-market, funds, making it easy and fast to build and scale their Food-Tech ventures and brands.

We deliver solutions to drive your vision from “recipe to shelf” – from idea, to product, to manufacture, to consumer.

field, wheats, grains-6374781.jpg

The future of food manufacturing: changes will be dramatic with animal-based food phasing out ​

The current food system has reached its natural limits. It is not sustainable.

But how will the future of food manufacturing look like? How will we experience it? How will it feed us?

We believe the “microbial revolution” and bio-manufacturing will be the successor of the current food system.

This next generation of food system will be able to feed 10Bio people in a sustainable, healthy and fair manner.

This system does not exist yet. The Future Food Factory and industry are in the making. Some of the technological building blocks do already exist, others start to emerge. We start slowly to get a sense of how it all can come together, and how breakthrough technologies will transform the way we eat on Earth and Beyond.

The challenge is to scale them up, and integrate them into our lives.

We provide food-changemakers a tailored and safe environment to experiment and establish novel ways to scale the future of food. To create impact, to be a force of good, and to create a more sustainable world.

TO BE A FORCE FOR GOOD

These are some of the principles that guide our thinking and actions

To use 1% of Earths' land to feed 10 Bio people

We are working on a sustainable food system with minimal environmental impact. We believe that breakthrough technologies and behavioral changes can contribute to achieve this dream.

To encourage Rockstar founders to start more Food-Tech companies

We want to attract the greatest and most talented minds to collaborate and to create companies and solutions that will drive the change that is urgently needed, to address the problems already manifesting.

To achieve high returns with investing into breakthrough technologies

Changes of such epic proportions require funds to fuel the progress, and we believe that investing into this next generation food system will create fantastic business opportunities and returns.

To impact people's lives

Contribute to build a more sustainable, healthy and fair food system.

VENTURE CREATION POWERED BY AVP

Why founders, start-ups, corporates and food innovators choose to work with us: The Forge is a specially designed, tailor made and carefully curated physical space and platform to explore, scale and fund the future of food

PRODUCE

40’000 sqm food graded site, giving food ventures exclusive access to the infrastructure, services, logistics, manufacturing and processes needed to reduce unit costs and work on the “technical-economical business model” (TEA) for breakthrough technologies such as cultivated-, precision fermentation-, fungi-, yeast-, algae-based or other bio-manufacturing solutions

DEVELOP

Access to on-site factory food innovation labs, kitchens, technologists, scientists, chefs, focused on developing products and process with novel ingredients and raw-materials

GO TO MARKET

Support start-up's and scale-up's gaining traction by getting access to retailers in Switzerland and Europe (end-consumers) and foodservice customers

CREATE

Food-Tech Venture Studio focusing on building exceptional startups at the intersection of biology, technology and food, especially where “high entry barriers” require multidisciplinary approaches, intensive collaboration and a proprietary business development playbook. For instance cultivated fish, precision fermentation milk. “Startup-as-a-Service” for corporates/SME.

FUND

Fund investing in companies in the space of cultivated food and precision fermentation, through out the seed stage and rounds A and B.

WHAT SETS US APART?

We make next generation food ideas happen, along the entire life-cycle, from lab to plate.

Disruptive innovations such as plant / cell based proteins or plastic alternatives, require a specific, tailor-made environment to simulate the technical-economical model (TEA), the viability of the business, the plug-and-play layout of the operation, including critical aspects such as the climate impact of a new business and it’s operations.

Our space offers this specifically designed combination of physical space, facilities, services in one place. A real “twin” to simulate the most efficient and effective business and operational setup.

This allows to release value quicker and de-risk.

Switzerland is the ideal test market

“The context where you do things, defines the way you do it.”

The future of manufacturing will be looking more into “localization” and finding the right balance to become carbon neutral. Hence, to understand and simulate the climate impact of the the scale-up and the future business model, is crucial.

The Zürich Metropolitan Area gives access to 1.8 Mio consumers within an 80min drive from Zürich Airport. These consumers have above average incomes and animal welfare and planetary health are important to them.

All of this makes this region an ideal test market for innovative food solutions.

In addition Switzerland offers a number of favorable regulations, taxes, public grants, skilled workforce and other benefits to support start-/scale-ups.

We are running out of time: It takes a city to build the future

"Food can bring people together in a way nothing else could."
Yotam Ottolenghi

Unlike other industries and sectors, Food-Tech ventures can only advance and serve humanity, when all relevant stakeholders pitch in, built trust, and collaborate.

 

This is why we are partnering up with those stakeholders in the ecosystem, that actively contribute to make progress. Such as Swiss local and federal governments, corporate innovation departments, banks, public-private financing partnerships, academia and research institutions, Food-Tech communities, NGO and interest groups focusing on the future of food, Food-Tech incubators/accelerators, private investment organizations such as VC or family offices and many others.

MEET THE "ALPHORNERS"

BUZZ ABOUT US

next.sh

next. develop Schaffhausen

Over 200 Schaffhausen residents have modeled a strategy for a successful place to live, work and do business in the future. Over 60 projects and measures have been developed. Whether it’s a university campus, a novel food centre or mobility of the future.

Unilever-Knorr-Fabrik-Thayngen

Venture Studio | Scale-Up

A FoodTech Venture Studio, a scale-up facility for future food and an ecosystem focusing on “cultivated food and precision fermentation” is in the making on the site of Unilever Switzerland in the North of Switzerland. Alphorn Ventures and Unilever are joining forces to build this future food ecosystem

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About Alphorn Ventures: 

 info@alphornventures.com

Contact Us: 

Schmidgasse 32, CH-8500 Frauenfeld

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