Barilla, the world’s largest pasta manufacturer, wants to meet food startups that are defining the future of food.
Barilla wants to participate in creating a more sustainable food system and is looking to invest, support, and collaborate with innovative food companies. They created BLU1877, a venture capital fund to invest in food startups with promising futures and their first publicly disclosed investment was in ReGrained, a KitchenTown maker.
OPEN INNOVATION
Through our Partnerships Program, we introduced ReGrained to Barilla in 2017 and a collaboration was born. ReGrained upcycles spent grain from the beer making process into a SuperGrain+ flour. SuperGrain+ has more protein and fiber than wheat, white, and quinoa flours, and is a great source of prebiotic fiber. Barilla sees great value in ReGrained’s innovative product and their unique solution to food waste.
KEY ACHIEVEMENTS
The ReGrained & Barilla strategic partnership has already resulted in a number of successes for both companies. ReGrained founders traveled to the Barilla headquarters in Parma, Italy for a week-long exploratory collaboration. Both teams worked side by side collaborating on product applications for ReGrained’s SuperGrain+ and produced several product concepts and new production methods. “We discovered that our product could be developed using a cold process. This is a huge learning for us and brings a lot of value to our company” said Dan Kurzrock, Co-founder and Chief Grain Officer at ReGrained.
ReGrained recently raised $2.5 million in a strategic financing round this September with participation from Barilla’s BLU1877. The two companies look forward to continuing their partnership and working toward creating a more sustainable food system.
Both KitchenTown and Barilla are deeply invested in supporting innovative startups that will have a positive impact on our food system. We are proud to be one of Barilla’s key partner’s in identifying food startups who will have an impact on the future of food. Our work is defined in part by the successes of our makers. When our makers get an investment or launch a ground-breaking product, we share in the joy of that success.
WHAT WE DO
Our mission is to champion innovation in all its forms so that we can drive positive change in our food system from the ground up. Our strategic partnerships allow us to support food startups with more resources, more access to funding, and greater expertise. We are excited to continue building out our network of corporate and startup partners so we can all collaborate and work to transform our food system for the better.
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