Generate – the innovation hub empowering next-generation ingredient development within Nexture, the holding that brings together the industrial heritage, ingredient-tech capabilities and innovation expertise of CSM Ingredients Group and Italcanditi Group – has selected together with URIKA Partners the three winning startups of the Generate Program 2025: Green-On, Kokomodo and YEAP. The announcement was made at FIE 2025 during the dedicated event “The Ingredient Revolution: Meet the Innovators”, attended also by the founders of the selected startups.
The Open Call for Startups was launched in December 2024 with the aim to identify and select the next startups with breakthrough ingredient innovations that would have joined the Generate program. Selection criteria included the relevance of the innovation for applications within Nexture’s portfolio of solutions and areas of expertise, as well as the possibility of scaling the innovation by leveraging the expertise and the market proximity of Nexture’s brands, including CSM Ingredients, HIFOOD, Vitalfood by Italcanditi, Comprital, and Prodotti Rubicone.
The winners represent ingredient solutions fully aligned with Nexture’s open innovation pillars, addressing future-critical challenges such as sustainable fats, resilient access to cocoa and high-performance proteins. “Green-On, Kokomodo and YEAP perfectly embody the type of breakthrough ideas we strive to partner with and transform into future successes,” said Emanuele Pizzigalli, Nexture Chief Innovation Officer. “Their solutions are bold, science-driven and fully aligned with our open innovation pillars, addressing some of the most pressing needs of the ingredient landscape. With Generate, our goal is not just to identify high-potential innovations, but to actively nurture them, accelerating the path from idea to market impact. We look forward to advancing future-ready ingredient technologies together.”
The 2025 selected startups
Green-On makes edible fats and oils from CO2 using a resource-efficient patented technology. The solution is based-on a ”Power-to-X” process that uses water and carbon dioxide together with electricity for production of fatty acids and triglycerids and enables to bipass traditional agricultural production, thus decreasing the use of fresh water, nitrogen, phosphorous, and the need for large areas of arable land. Using this technology, Green-On replicates animal or plant-based products down to the very last molecule, allowing to replace both animal and tropical fats and oils such as palm oil, dairy fat, cocoa and shea butter in common foods.
Kokomodo crafts real cacao through cellular agriculture, cultivated from selected cacao cell lines in clean, controlled environments. The cacao preserves its authentic flavor and customisable bioactive content while ensuring consistency, sustainability, and safety across food, beverage, and supplement applications. The company can provide year-round cacao without land use, pesticides, or volatile supply chains.
YEAP upcycles spent yeast into healthy, tasty, allergen-free, clean label food proteins and supplements. The functional protein developed by the company has outstanding emulsification properties and ability to hold texture and flavor even in high protein concentrations. This makes it ideal both as a clean-label emulsifier and for protein enrichment in various foods.
During “The Ingredient Revolution: Meet the Innovators” event in Paris, hosted at the Nexture booth #72G18 at FIE 2025, the founders of the startups – Jonathan Goshen from YEAP, Annette Graneli from Green-On and Tal Govrin from Kokomodo – not only presented their innovations but also discussed together with Emanuele Pizzigalli and Uri Weinheber of URIKA Partners how emerging ingredient technologies such as cellular agriculture, Power-to-X technologies, and upcycling processes are revolutionising the future of food, thus providing food for thought and inspiration to all the attending guests.
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