An Israelian company that up-cycles food waste into high-value bioplastic was looking for a scaling opportunity in Western Europe

The Israeli scale-up produces highly pure lactic acid by fermentation, made entirely from renewable carbon, offering a major reduction of carbon emissions. After getting to know the company’s needs and challenges, it became clear that the company was in need of an R&D partner, to grow and to mature, before even considering doing business in Flanders. Our partners connected the scale-up with the right ecosystems in Belgium, one of which is Flanders Biobased Valley. Here, the scale-up was able to grow and strengthen their value proposition for a year. After this year, Start it Expand assigned the right sector expert to the project. With expertise and an extensive network in the biotech and dairy industry, as an ex CEO of one of the largest dairy companies in the world, his reputation, market insights and strong connections made for an extra qualification when making warm introductions. Within 4 months, the scale-up launched in the Belgian market, and is continuing to grow.