ICL Group, a global specialty minerals and specialty chemicals company, has launched ICL Planet Startup Hub. The platform is designed to propel innovative food tech and agri-tech start-ups to the market while providing enterprises with a broad network of support, including investment and mentorship.

ICL Planet was created as an innovation catalyst serving both early-stage, pilot-ready start-ups and more mature, market-ready start-ups.

The initiative was driven to advance and nurture “game-changing” technology companies to address critical global needs and make a positive and sustainable environmental impact.

Crucial to innovation
Speaking to FoodIngredientsFirst, Hadar Sutovsky, VP of external innovation and general manager of ICL Planet, says start-ups are essential to F&B industries and critical for innovation processes. 

“By conducting a pilot with a start-up, large organizations in F&B industry can mitigate risk through a small, controlled test of existing technology applied to their customers, and start to show the exciting opportunities that are possible.”

“Start-ups and F&B company collaborations can infuse the industry with the methods, tools and mindsets to increase the responsiveness, risk-taking and agility that can drive F&B disruption from within,” she explains. 

Notably, F&B companies play an essential role in transforming the agri-food system. “The ones who will stand out from the crowd will be companies that are reducing carbon footprint and transitioning to food and beverages that are better-for-you in terms of nutritional content but without raising costs of products.”

According to Sutovsky, there can be a lot of uncertainty in the sector. 

“Traditional retail and traditional brands are shifting due to changes in consumer preferences and trends,” she underscores. “Large companies are more conservative while start-ups tend to take more risks, and the competitive landscape is very crowded.”

This ecosystem raises many challenges for start-ups in the F&B sector and can create great opportunities, adds Sutovsky. 

ICL Planet seeks to invest and grow game-changing technology companies that address critical global needs and bring positive environmental impact. 

“The start-up hub is not a classic accelerator. It is a new structure in our corporation that has value both to our innovation and to building our business,” says Sutovsky. 

“We seek start-ups aligned with our organization on sustainability values and product direction.”

The goal is to synergize efforts and know-how to meet the fundamental needs of our customers and to work together to solve key challenges in the food and Agri industries. “Start-ups that join us benefit from our corporation’s accrued wisdom and advanced infrastructure and to attain a fast-track route to commercialization.”

A haven for food and agri-tech start-ups
The new start-up hub will center activities on two core areas of competency. The first will focus on crop nutrition, such as organic fertilizers, nutrient use efficiency, biostimulants, micronutrients and nitrogen fixation. 

The second will focus on food tech start-ups active in alternative proteins, natural ingredients, plant-based functional ingredients, and white biotechnology that can demonstrate a measurable positive environmental impact.

The ICL Planet Startup Hub is an extension of ICL’s existing external innovation activities. The program was initiated in 2014 for scouting breakthrough technologies emerging from universities, institutes and early-stage start-ups. 

ICL sponsors long-term R&D and proof-of-concept projects in exchange for a royalty-bearing license. Since its inception, more than 45 projects have been nurtured under the program, with another 13 ongoing. The current projects are mainly in the agri-tech space, with some already in the commercialization phase.

“As global leaders in the field of agriculture, food and engineered materials, we are constantly developing impactful solutions to improve the quality of life for millions worldwide via our established R&D infrastructure,” adds Sutovsky. 

“Our value proposition is much more than merely funding; we answer early-stage companies’ needs to run pilots and move them to the commercial stage with full support.”

Forging impactful partnerships
ICL has set up a dual-track program and service envelope for all start-ups working under its umbrella. Through the program, they can leverage ICL’s broad business and infrastructural ecosystem, including investment, co-working space, access to laboratories and analytical equipment, and R&D support, with options for field trials and new-product pilots.

“The setting up of ICL Planet as a corporate start-up hub is just another evolutionary milestone in our organization journey. The transformation started from inside out, from internal innovation to external innovation,” adds Sutovsky.

Last year, ICL established an internal accelerator program for its employees. 

“Adding the ICL Planet start-up hub makes sense on many levels, and we are ready to do it as a team,” she concludes.