Can food tech innovate like software?

To celebrate the launch of our whitepaper Lean Startup Meets Food Tech: Does It Work, Nurasa and New Wave Biotech are running a webinar to share the key insights of the paper, and invited pioneers across the startup, corporate and VC space to share their views.

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This webinar explores how Lean Startup thinking — originally developed for fast-moving tech companies — can be adapted to the slower, higher-cost world of food tech and biomanufacturing.

 

Whether you're developing novel ingredients, investing in the future of food, or enabling scale-up through infrastructure and partnerships, this session will offer practical insights on how to move faster, de-risk earlier, and scale smarter.

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This webinar is for:

• Startups building novel food ingredients, precision fermentation or biotech platforms

• Corporate teams leading innovation in food and bio-based materials

• Investors and partners enabling faster, smarter scale-up

• Anyone interested in applying Lean Startup principles to complex, capital-intensive R&D

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What you'll learn

• How food tech innovators in corporates and startups can apply Lean Startup principles to de-risk faster, validate smarter and build real traction earlier

• How corporates and investors make decisions — and how startups can effectively engage them for funding or partnerships.

• How to leverage partnerships, digital tools and techno-economic analysis to fail cheap in an industry that’s not cheap

 

Featuring:

• Yu Tung Law - CEO & Co-Founder, New Wave Biotech
  Zoe leads New Wave Biotech, which develops AI-powered software to simulate and optimise bioprocesses for speed, cost and sustainability. Her work supports alt protein and biomanufacturing innovators get to market quicker, cheaper and faster. With a decade experience in innovation consulting, she also actively supports the budding entrepreneurs through coaching and speaking for organisations like the Cambridge University Impulse Programme, LSE Generate, and John Hopkins Alt Protein Project.

• Sukhi Wei - Strategic Project Manager, Nurasa
  Sukhi leads open innovation initiatives at Nurasa and brings hands-on experience as the former co-founder and CEO of algae-based ingredient startup Algrow. Her background includes consulting at BCG and a deep focus on commercialising sustainable nutrition solutions.

• Auroni Majumdar, Vice President, Global Open Innovation at CJ CheilJedang
  Auroni is a business-minded technical leader with over 20 years in FMCG and B2B ingredients. He has held roles across R&D, strategy, and commercialisation at companies like PepsiCo, IFF, and DuPont. At CJ, he drives innovation through external partnerships, investments, and M&A, integrating scalable technologies to unlock new value.

• Richard Grieves - Co-Founder & COO, De Novo FoodLabs
  Richard is an engineer and former machine learning developer turned food tech founder. At De Novo FoodLabs, he’s building the future of alternative proteins through cutting-edge bioprocess development and smart, lean startup execution.

• Carolina Villa - Principal, Nucleus Capital
  Carolina is a scientist-turned-investor with over 10 years of experience in food tech and synthetic biology. At Nucleus Capital, she supports early-stage founders tackling deep tech and climate challenges. Her career spans roles at Planet.Bio, StartLife, DSM, BASF, and CJ CheilJedang BIO, combining scientific depth with commercial strategy.

 

Agenda:

• 20 minutes: Welcome + presentation from Zoe (NWB) and Sukhi (Nurasa), introducing key insights from our whitepaper

• 30 minutes: Panel discussion between Carolina, Auroni and Richard, moderated by Zoe

• 10 minutes: Audience Q&A