Connecting Innovators, Investors, and Incumbents to Drive the Bioeconomy
My conversation with Bioshyft's founder, Gerrit Feuerriegel
Last week, I had a great chat with Gerrit Feuerriegel. Based in Hamburg, Germany, he is a serial entrepreneur with a passion for the bioeconomy.
As the Managing Director and CEO of Bioshyft, Gerrit is on a mission to accelerate growth among startups, investors, corporations, and service providers that are focused on innovative solutions in the bioeconomy.
What you can learn from this article
About Bioshyft and its mission
How Bioshyft stands out from other bioeconomy platforms
Challenges faced by food biotech startups and how Foodshyft can help
How startups can adapt to tough funding environments
Bioeconomy trends and developments
Bioshyfts’ next steps
About Bioshyft
Bioshyft is a platform that provides a comprehensive database of more than 32,000 startups, investors, and corporations. It also has a marketplace for products and services to accelerate growth in the bioeconomy, offering a range of benefits tailored to various stakeholders.
For investors, it provides a platform to discover startups that align with their investment criteria. Founders can use Bioshyft to showcase their products and connect with potential investors. Sales and marketing professionals can leverage the marketplace to generate more leads, while those in procurement or operations can use the platform to make more informed decisions.
Bioshyft is structured around six distinct 'shyfts'—Foodshyft, Agrishyft, Oceanshyft, Materialshyft, Energyshyft, and Watershyft—each representing a critical sector within the bioeconomy, as Gerrit explained.
Bioshyft’s mission
Bioshyft's goal is to become the largest and most comprehensive bioeconomy platform. It has three main stakeholders on the platform: startups, big companies (corporations), and investors. Gerrit mentioned that Bioshyft is not solely focused on startups because larger companies play a pivotal role in the bioeconomy as well.
The platform welcomes companies like Buhler and GEA, for example, which have made significant contributions to technological advancements in the bioeconomy. Their inclusion on the platform underscores the importance of collaboration between startups and established corporations.
Investors, incubators, and accelerators form the third player in Bioshyft's ecosystem. Gerrit believes that a strong bioeconomy platform requires the presence of these three players—startups, corporations, and investors—to foster a dynamic and impactful community.
What sets Bioshyft apart from other bioeconomy platforms?
Segmentation
Gerrit explains that Bioshyft comprehensively segments different sectors in the bioeconomy. Unlike other platforms that blur the lines between agriculture, food, and materials, Bioshyft differentiates these sectors to make sure that each part of the value chain receives the attention it deserves.
Funnels and Bioshyft AI
The platform offers unique features like the 'funnel’ feature, which allows investors to create lists of potential startups based on their evaluation criteria. More recently, the platform has trained an AI model (Bioshyft AI) to understand industry connections and recommend technologies that could be used to achieve the desired outcomes for users.
Personalised services
Recognising that some users prefer direct assistance, the platform provides custom lists of potential solutions based on specific project requirements. This feature saves users time and effort in their search for the right solutions.
Consulting
Bioshyft's holistic approach includes consulting services through Shyft Management Consulting. This service goes beyond providing lists of startups and solutions. Gerrit explains that it offers in-depth analysis, including market, competitor, and supply chain assessments, to support decision-making for investors and corporations.
With access to Bioshyft's database and a network of over 3,400 experts, Shyft Management Consulting can provide tailored insights and recommendations. This sets Bioshyft apart as a comprehensive platform, data provider, and consultancy in the bioeconomy sector.
Challenges faced by food biotech startups and how Foodshyft can help overcome them
Gerrit highlighted four main obstacles:
Insufficient funding
Lack of B2B customer feedback and collaborations
Lack of qualified employees or co-founders
Inadequate use of "smart" equipment or low CAPEX models
To tackle the funding problem, startups can access a network of over 15,000 investors through Foodshyft. As Gerrit explained, this access is crucial, especially for first-time founders who may not have an established network of investors. Additionally, the platform offers free feedback on pitch decks, helping startups refine their decks and increase their chances of securing funding.
The lack of B2B customer feedback and collaboration is another hurdle. Gerrit's experience working in biotech startups revealed that developing and maintaining strong B2B customer relationships is challenging, as larger corporations are cautious in assessing partnerships.
Foodshyft aims to address this by introducing a marketplace where corporations can post challenges and startups can apply to collaborate on solutions. This is designed to position startups favourably for collaboration and provide them with feedback from potential B2B customers.
While Foodshyft is currently focused on the first two challenges, Gerrit mentioned that the platform plans to expand its offerings in the future to address the other two issues: the lack of qualified labour and the need for smart digitization and infrastructure.
How can startups adapt to the tough funding environment?
In the current challenging funding landscape, startups must adopt strategic approaches to thrive, Gerrit said. He elaborated on this by comparing two distinct startup models: the unicorn and the camel.
Unicorns focus on rapid growth and attracting venture capital, with the goal of increasing their valuation to have a lucrative exit in 7-10 years. Camels focus on efficient use of resources and steady growth, even in the absence of external investment. This is not black or white, however. Some startups can be unicorns and have some features of a camel.
For startups aiming to navigate this tough funding environment, Gerrit suggests focusing on the end customer's needs rather than solely on attracting investors. This customer-centric, low-cost approach is the core idea of the camel model.
Gerrit outlines five key areas for food biotech startups to consider:
Flexible personnel expenses: Maintain a small core team for essential processes and outsource other tasks to freelancers or experts to lower costs.
Reduce CAPEX: Use smart equipment and low-capex models. He recommends that, if possible, startups should work with external pilot facilities instead of building everything from scratch.
Focused expenses: Concentrate all your expenses on developing your unique selling point (USP) or core business and avoid unnecessary spending.
Early engagement: Engage in early collaboration with B2B customers through pilot projects and test labs, even if the product or technology is not fully commercialised. Incentivize the B2B customers with favourable commercial agreements so that they have a reason to join you early on.
Favourable payment terms: Negotiate favourable terms with equipment suppliers who may be willing to finance pilot equipment, allowing startups to defer payments until they start making revenue.
Bioeconomy trends and developments
More government support
One big trend that Gerrit is seeing is the increasing government support for the bioeconomy in Europe. This support is vital for helping innovations ‘cross the chasm’ in the innovation cycle (see image below), providing a much-needed boost to the sector.
Alternatives to key raw materials
Gerrit sees an uptick in startups and collaborations focusing on developing alternatives to key raw materials that are becoming more expensive due to climate change or regulatory developments.
Chocolate is one example. He cited the 10-year commercial partnership between the US startup California Cultured and the Japanese chocolate giant Meiji, where Meiji will be using California Cultured’s cell-based cocoa in their products.
Startups need to consider the cost-competitiveness of their innovations, especially if they are competing with low-cost solutions. If a traditional product or ingredient is expected to become more expensive in the future (due to climate change, for instance), it presents an opportunity for startups to develop cost-competitive alternatives that will be ready in 3-5 years.
Closed-loop bioeconomy systems
Gerrit highlights the potential of closed-loop bioeconomy systems, which integrate different processes across the value chain to create more sustainable and efficient systems. He gave an example of pairing yeast fermentation facilities with microalgal photobioreactor systems, where CO2 from the fermentation facility can be used by the microalgae.
What’s next for Bioshyft?
In the short term, the focus will be on improving the platform's offerings for startups. Bioshyft plans to do this mainly by strengthening its free access data and providing users with more comprehensive access to startups and investors. Additionally, Bioshyft plans to launch webinars to further expand the platform's reach and incorporate external knowledge.
In the medium term, Bioshyft intends to increase the number of solutions available on its marketplace. While the current focus is on building a robust company database, the medium-term future will see a shift towards a more solution-oriented approach for investors.
This involves detailing industry-specific sections on the platform, such as Foodshyft and Agrishyft, to provide more targeted and relevant information for users. The segmentation and search criteria will be refined to better suit industry-specific needs, which will improve the overall user experience.
In the longer term, Bioshyft has plans to improve its AI model, feed it with more data, and continue training it to facilitate cross-connections within the bioeconomy. The key idea behind this AI-driven approach is to identify and recommend solutions across different sectors, supporting the growth of the bioeconomy as a whole.
Want to learn more about Bioshyft?
You can learn more about Bioshyft here and sign up for free on the Bioshyft platform here!
Also, you can follow Bioshyft, Foodshyft, Agrishyft, Oceanshyft, Materialshyft, Energyshyft, and Watershyft on LinkedIn.
Let your friends know about Bioshyft!
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