Gentian is an early-stage investment company founded by the Entrepreneurs Elian Kool and Gerhard Gerner. We focus on investments in SaaS platforms, Mobile, Robotics/Drones and adjacent areas we have a passion for. Based in Switzerland, most of our investments are in the DACH region, but with a clear focus on a global market. We invest exclusively in enthusiastic teams, which we support with our experience as entrepreneurs as board member or advisor.

Gentian Investments

Beyond Impact Advisors is created to facilitate investment in products and services that are either inherently vegan in nature or are cruelty-free and remove mankind’s reliance on the raising of animals for slaughter. Beyond Impact’s core investment thesis centers on sustainability as a pillar of risk management and economic valuation. Due to the heavy environmental impact, the use of animals is inherently unsustainable and alternatives need to be found and funded. Coinciding with this we are seeing an accelerating societal shift in favour of vegan, cruelty-free and plant-based alternatives, based on the environmental imperative, health concerns and compassion for animals. As such, Beyond Impact targets significantly impactful companies which have positioned their products and services to meet this growing demand, favouring those with clear technological advantages and whose products outstrip the qualities of the animal-derived material they replace.

Beyond Impact

Newtree Impact invest in disruptive and encouraging Agri-Food tech and Food Loss companies.

Newtree Impact

Yeastup

Yeastup upcycles by-products from the beer-brewing process into quality ingredients, thus promoting the circular economy. Yeastup is headquartered in Brugg, Aargau and was founded in 2020.

Yeastup AG extracts high-quality proteins and fibers from brewers' spent yeast using a patented industrial process that isolates protein, beta-glucan, and mannoprotein. The company's flagship products include Yeastin, a vegan protein with a protein digestibility-corrected amino acid score (PDCAAS) of 1, comparable to egg protein. The protein offers good solubility and a neutral taste, making it suitable for various food applications. Its fiber product line, Upfiber, consists of beta-glucans and mannoproteins with advanced functionalities such as gelling and water-binding properties, serving applications in dietary supplements and functional foods.

Natural and vegan ingredients from surplus yeast

Enabling change

Yeastup - The alternative protein ecosystem

Yeastup secures $9.9m in Series A funding for new production site

Innovative upcycling: sustainable, vegan ingredients from brewer's yeast

Arbiom Unveils Yusto Yeast Protein as Part of "New Wave of Protein Ingredients"

YeastUp

Yeastup Secures Funding to Launch New Production Site – Nutraceuticals World

Company

Yeastup secures CHF 8.9M in Series A and launches innovative production site

Empowering sustainable food innovation through food engineering tech

Alternative Ingredients

Yeastup Raises €9.47M to Turn Dairy Site Into Facility Upcycling Spent Brewers’ Yeast

Yeastup AG extracts high-quality proteins and fibers from brewers' spent yeast using a patented industrial process that isolates protein, beta-glucan, and mannoprotein. The company's flagship products include Yeastin, a vegan protein with a protein digestibility-corrected amino acid score (PDCAAS) of 1, comparable to egg protein. The protein offers good solubility and neutral taste, making it suitable for various food applications. Their fiber product line, Upfiber, consists of beta-glucans and mannoproteins with advanced functionalities such as gelling and water-binding properties, serving applications in dietary supplements and functional foods.
The company's extraction process is environmentally efficient, with its protein production requiring 74% less CO₂ than the production of alternative pea protein. The process involves standardizing and debittering yeast emulsion, followed by gentle cell disruption, purification, and fractionation to create a highly pure, odorless, and tasteless native protein powder. The technology uses commercially available machinery in a specific combination of process steps, which has been patented.
In December 2024, Yeastup established a large-scale production facility in Switzerland by repurposing a former dairy site. This facility has the capacity to upcycle over 20,000 tons of brewers' spent yeast annually.
Key customers and partnerships
Yeastup has established strategic partnerships in supply and engineering to ensure cost competitiveness. The company collaborates with Cremo, Switzerland's second-largest dairy producer, for its production facility. Gelita AG has also partnered with Yeastup, recognizing the potential of their yeast-based ingredients in transforming alternative product development. The company is developing products in collaboration with leading manufacturers of sports nutrition, meat analogues, dairy alternatives, and cosmetics.

Yeastup AG extracts high-quality proteins and fibers from brewers' spent yeast using a patented industrial process that isolates protein, beta-glucan, and mannoprotein. The company's flagship products include Yeastin, a vegan protein with a protein digestibility-corrected amino acid score (PDCAAS) of 1, comparable to egg protein. The protein offers good solubility and a neutral taste, making it suitable for various food applications. Its fiber product line, Upfiber, consists of beta-glucans and mannoproteins with advanced functionalities such as gelling and water-binding properties, serving applications in dietary supplements and functional foods.The company's extraction process is environmentally efficient, with its protein production requiring 74% less CO₂ than the production of alternative pea protein. The process involves standardizing and debittering yeast emulsion, followed by gentle cell disruption, purification, and fractionation to create a highly pure, odorless, and tasteless native protein powder. The technology uses commercially available machinery in a specific combination of process steps, which has been patented.In December 2024, Yeastup established a large-scale production facility in Switzerland by repurposing a former dairy site. This facility has the capacity to upcycle over 20,000 tons of brewers' spent yeast annually.Key customers and partnershipsYeastup established strategic partnerships in supply and engineering to ensure cost competitiveness. The company collaborates with Cremo, Switzerland's second-largest dairy producer, for its production facility. Gelita AG has also partnered with Yeastup, recognizing the potential of the latter’s yeast-based ingredients in transforming alternative product development. The company is developing products in collaboration with leading manufacturers of sports nutrition, meat analogs, dairy alternatives, and cosmetics.

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 California Cultured is a producer of cocoa products such as cocoa powder, chocolate, cocoa butter, and flavanols using plant cell culture technology by taking biopsies from selected cacao plants. The company developed its research based on Criollo cacao varieties, fine-tuning cell lines for specific flavors. In August 2022, the company announced that it was working on the development of cell-cultured coffee.
 
 
 As of December 2022, the company was building its 12,100 sq m facility in West Sacramento and had begun building its pilot plant. As of July 2023, the company was finalizing production methods, with the aim of a commercial launch by 2025&ndash;2026, following FDA approval.
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 In 2022, California Cultured partnered with VTT, a Finnish national research institute, to develop cell lines for cell-cultured coffee. 
 &nbsp;In 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates">
 February 2023
 </a>
 , the company inked a 10-year commercial partnership with Japanese chocolate corporation Meiji to incorporate its cell-based cocoa into Meiji's products. This collaboration marked the first global use of cell-cultured chocolate.
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 California Cultured received undisclosed investments from investment platforms focused on clean, lab-grown food such as CULT Food Science (February 2022) and Blue Horizon (March 2022). In October 2021, the company raised USD 4 million in seed funding led by Agronomics to expand its R&amp;D activities.
 
 
 
 .
 
</div>

California Cultured

Nukoko is a UK-based company that produces 100% cocoa-free chocolate peanuts made from locally sourced fava beans using a biotransformation and precision fermentation process. It also uses a microbial library of cocoa flavors to match chocolate in terms of flavor, thickness, and texture.As of October 2023, the company had opened a limited product launch and sold out the first batch of cocoa-free chocolate nuts, with a full launch planned for 2025 for the EU/UK markets as a B2B ingredients supplier. The company claims to produce 90% less carbon emission per kg than conventional chocolate&nbsp;and its chocolate alternatives contain 40% less sugar and higher protein, fiber, and antioxidants than traditional chocolate.&nbsp;

Nukoko

<div>
 
 Win-Win (WNWN Food Labs prior to 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/27014">
 February 2024
 </a>
 ) is a London-based producer of cocoa-free chocolate using plant-based ingredients such as grains/cereals and legumes through a proprietary fermentation process. The company's cocoa-free chocolate can be used in candy bars, confectionery, cookies, chocolate coatings, ice cream, and beverages. It claims to use 90% less water and emit 80%&ndash;90% less greenhouse gases than regular chocolate.
 
 
 In May 2022, Win-Win was operating on a lab scale, capable of producing between 300kg and 600 kg (~661 and 1,323 lbs) of chocolate per month. In November 2022, the company began expanding its facility in Hackney Wick, increasing its production space 8x. In November 2023, the company expanded its plant-based milk chocolate to bakeries, foodservice, confectionery groups, and CPG/FMCG companies 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/24144">
 worldwide
 </a>
 .
 
 
 The company had previously introduced limited-edition cocoa-free products via D2C channels: dark chocolate thins at GBP 10 (~USD 13) per box (May 2022) and the Waim! Bar priced at GBP 8 (~USD 9) for a pack of three bars (September 2022). In March 2023, the company finalized the recipe and process for a line of milk chocolate products that are cocoa- and dairy-free and contain both oats and tiger nuts. The company also experimented with an alternative chocolate ice cream bar at the H&auml;agen-Dazs Start-Up Innovation Challenge in June 2023.
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 In September 2023, Win-Win partnered with the UK department store Fortnum &amp; Mason to showcase its cocoa-free chocolate and technology, including a demonstration and tasting during Fortnum's Harvest Week. In December 2022, the company partnered with Milan-based luxury gift service DLISH to include its specialty chocolate hazelnut gianduja, a northern Italian confection, in DLISH's holiday gifts. In December 2023, the company completed the 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/24805">
 CoLab Tech accelerator
 </a>
 with Mondelēz International and showcased its cocoa-free chocolate bars, truffles, and coated biscuits at Mondelēz's North American headquarters.
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 In February 2023, Win-Win raised GBP 4.5 million (~USD 5.6 million) in Series A funding to scale up manufacturing and increase headcount in anticipation of its UK retail launch.
 
 
 
</div>

Win-Win

<div>
 
 Planet A Foods is a Germany-based startup that makes cocoa-free chocolate ChoViva (formerly NoCoa/QOA) via precision fermentation of oats and sunflower seeds. It then uses proprietary micro-bacteria and flavor formation processes to create a vegan product that mimics the texture and flavor of chocolate. In addition to Germany, ChoViva focuses on Austria and Switzerland, with expansion plans to the US in 2024.
 
 
 Planet A Foods produces cocoa-free chocolates by blending cocoa-free ingredients: a cocoa powder substitute (ChoViva Concentrate) and a cocoa butter substitute (ChoViva Butter). ChoViva represents Planet Foods' debut cocoa-free chocolate product, created using Planet A Foods' cocoa concentrate alternative. The chocolate is produced in-house at Planet A&rsquo;s facility in the Czech Republic. As of October 2023, the ChoViva range included 21 products with prices ranging from EUR 0.5 to EUR 9.95 (~USD 0.53 to USD 10.48).
 
 
 Additionally, the company was in the process of developing its cocoa butter alternative through precision fermentation technology, using single-cell oils and fermentation byproducts. As of October 2023, the company was shipping this fat to early customers for R&amp;D purposes.
 
 
 The company asserts that its chocolate product could be 10x more sustainable, 20% cheaper, and emit about 92% less than conventional chocolate while also using 30% less sugar and 94% less water.
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 In April 2023, the company partnered with German online retailer Confiserie Seidl to launch ChoViva, its first sustainable chocolate line. The brand sees itself as a B2B player, after partnering with oat cereal maker K&ouml;lln on a new line of vegan mueslis using the company's cocoa-free chocolate in September 2023. In December 2023, ChoViva teamed up with 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/24997">
 Lindt
 </a>
 to launch a special edition chocolate bar for Veganuary, named &quot;Soft &amp; Creamy Hazelnut.
 
 
 In 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/26955">
 February 2024
 </a>
 , Planet A Foods partnered with REWE Group, Germany&rsquo;s second-largest supermarket chain, to supply ChoViva for REWE Group&rsquo;s own-label cocoa-free products.
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 In its latest funding round in 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/26176">
 February 2024
 </a>
 , the company raised USD 15.4 million in Series A funding led by World Fund, with participation from Omnes Capital, Cherry Ventures, Nucleus Capital, and others. The funds were earmarked for additional scientist hires to bolster its 50-person team in Germany to increase the production of cocoa butter and palm oil alternatives on an industrial scale.
 
 
 
</div>

Planet A Foods

<div>
 
 Atomo Coffee is a developer of beanless coffee that comes in two flavors: 1) regular beanless coffee with 100 mg of caffeine per serving made from date seeds, ramon seeds, sunflower seed extract, pea protein, millet, lemon, guava, and defatted fenugreek seeds and 2) decaffeinated (decaf) beanless coffee. The company claims to be the world's first beanless coffee maker.
 
 
 The company&rsquo;s products are available for retail purchase at 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/23234">
 Gumption Coffee
 </a>
 in New York. In addition, the company began taking pre-orders for wholesale at a price of USD 20.99 per pound (as of October 2023).
 
 
 The company also plans to open a facility in March 2024 that can annually produce four million lbs of ground coffee, made from upcycled date pits (~80 million cups).
 
 
 Atomo's brews reportedly use 94% less water and produce 93% less carbon emissions than traditional coffee.
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 In July 2022, the company partnered with Minor Figures, a vegan products company, to launch the 8-ounce canned Oat Milk Latte, a beanless cold brew, one of Atomo's first focus products.
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 In June 2022, the company raised USD 40 million in a Series A funding round for product development and to scale up manufacturing. In November 2023, the company secured an undisclosed multi-million dollar investment from Japanese beverage leader 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/24577">
 Suntory Holdings
 </a>
 to strengthen its international distribution.
 
 
 
</div>

Atomo Coffee

Companies providing technology related to fortification, cell culture, and fermentation and those supplying equipment including bioreactors and fermenters for the production of novel foods

Companies offering salt substitutes to reduce sodium content in foods and beverages

Companies developing natural sweeteners and solutions to reduce sugar content in foods and beverages

Companies creating natural flavor, texture, and coloring ingredients from plant-based sources like seaweed and algae

Companies producing chocolate without cocoa using ingredients like oats, seeds, and cell-cultured cocoa

Companies making coffee substitutes from ingredients like barley, date seeds, and sunflower seeds

Companies offering plant-based alternatives to honey and nut spreads, addressing dietary restrictions and allergies

Companies producing cooking oils and fats through fermentation, cell-cultured and plant-based extraction processes

Companies developing protein ingredients via cell-culture or fermentation for dietary supplements and food production, excluding plant-based or cell-cultured meat

Transforms raw materials into novel, sustainable food products with minimal environmental impact

Functional Nutrition

<div>
 
 Yeast ingredient company, Yeastup, has successfully raised CHF 8.9 million (USD 9.9 million) in a Series A funding round. The round saw participation from Beyond Impact, Gentian Investments, Newtree Impact, and Angel House.
 The funding is slated for the conversion of a former dairy site in Switzerland into a massive production facility. The site will reportedly have the capacity to upcycle over 20,000 tons of brewer's yeast every year.
 Yeastup's primary goal is the extraction of high-quality proteins and fibers from the spent yeast of brewers. This extraction uses a patented industrial process that isolates protein, beta-glucan, and mannoprotein. Yeastin, Yeastup's main product, is a vegan protein. With a protein digestibility-corrected amino acid score (PDCAAS) of 1, it rivals egg protein. It is believed to be suitable for a plethora of food applications, adding meat alternatives, dairy alternatives, and sports nutrition products.
 
</div>

Yeastup

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