Climate tech venture capital fund, Icos Capital, held the “Accelerating Sustainability Summit” at Bühler CUBIC Innovation Campus on March 28, 2025. The event brought together investors, industry leaders, and start-ups from the biotech sector to accelerate sustainable solutions, harnessing the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The partners intend to grow their ecosystem of collaboration and innovation to enable start-ups to scale up their efforts in tackling some of the most urgent and complex challenges in the food industry.
“At Icos Capital, we aim to uncover and invest in cutting-edge innovations to drive sustainability forward. By leveraging our collaborative venturing approach, we foster mutually beneficial partnerships between start-ups focused on food technology, chemical technology, decarbonization, and sustainability and established corporations, facilitating their growth and development,” says Nityen Lal, Founding Partner at Icos Capital. Since 2006, the start-ups backed by Icos have disrupted and led their respective markets and have benefited from the Icos approach of considering financial, social, and environmental returns in equal measure. “This year, we focus on biotech and AI since we’ve seen many companies applying these technologies to optimize production and increase efficiency,” adds Lal.
The Accelerating Sustainability Summit was hosted at Bühler’s CUBIC for the third year in a row. Ian Roberts, Chief Technology Officer at Bühler, sees many benefits for Bühler and its industry partners. “We’re delighted to play a role in strengthening this collaborative venturing approach to scale impactful innovation.” The leading solution partner for the food, feed, and mobility industries works with selected partners, such as Icos, to build a global network of partnerships that support the transition to a sustainable food system and support industry adoption of new solutions and practices. “With established supply chains and market access, we believe that corporates in the room can play a crucial role in the journey of start-ups and enable them to scale both their business and their sustainable impact significantly faster,” adds Roberts.
Turning challenges into opportunities
The biotech industry is facing multiple challenges. Recent policy shifts are leading to a decrease in funding and increased cost pressures, while collecting high quality data and building data sets for AI models require significant investments. One key answer is the use of AI in the design, test, and scaling phase of solutions in the sectors of alternative proteins, dairy, seafood, and even personal care such as cosmetics. It is here where the participating start-ups from Europe and North America provide new ideas and pathways for big players in the food or diary industry.
Ori Zakin, Co-founder and CEO of BioRaptor, a bioprocessing data analytics platform, says: “This is an exciting time for biotech – they are able to bring science fiction to life, making products that were impossible just years ago. BioRaptor accelerates the path from R&D to scaled manufacturing with AI-driven bioprocess optimization. Our platform streamlines data collection, enables instant analysis, and accelerates process development.”
Wolfgang Heinzl, Director of Business Development at PHW Group, a German family-owned company in the poultry business venturing into the alternative proteins sector, highlights the benefits of learning from start-ups: “If there’s only one good contact from this event, it’s sufficient. I really enjoyed the in-depth presentations and discussions today. Start-ups are run by very ambitious people that take a high risk and aim to go beyond borders. They try to break established rules, and that’s what we need within corporates. The speed and agility they bring to the table benefit everyone.”
Triplebar is another start-up that caught the attention of the participants. Sarah Bolmer, Vice President, Product, says: “We’re focused on creating Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) models for strain design for protein production. These models can create a strain for precision fermentation that would have taken years and millions of Dollars to construct manually. Our strength is deep-technical information and development. To make that a reality, we must work with people that have the power to bring it to market. This event is a unique opportunity to learn from like-minded people and find the right partners downstream of our company.”
The crucial role of data quality in GenAI models
All participants agreed on the importance of data quality. In the presentations, breakout sessions, and exchanges, the experts underscored that the fastest and most sophisticated large language models are of no use if the data quality is not good. Generating original data sets in own labs is crucial in combination with getting additional high-quality data from partners. This is the cornerstone to building trust in the consistency when start-ups deliver new components such as enzymes to corporations. The larger and more trustworthy the data set, the easier it is to prove the products’ worth and to calculate its financial viability. In addition, feeding a GenAI model with high-quality data can save precious time and resources in the research and development phase, significantly reducing the risks associated with entering new markets such as alternative proteins.
The “Collaborative Innovation Summit” event was an early highlight for Icos in 2025. Their search together with Bühler for high potential, sustainable start-ups continue. “We’re always looking to expand our network and encourage entrepreneurs ready to scale to contact us directly at info@icoscapital.com”, says Nityen Lal.