Food Entrepreneur CHICAGO — Mondelez International, Inc. has selected 10 startups for its second CoLab Tech Accelerator Program. The program, led by Mondelez’s research and development team, is welcoming cohorts representing technologies that may help advance snacking areas, including cocoa processing solutions, well-being snacks and ingredients, sustainable packaging and manufacturing and elevated sensory experiences, according to the company.

Mondelez said its CoLab Tech program was created to advance its “Vision 2030” mission, which identifies emerging technologies with new capabilities and helps to accelerate and scale technologies for future use by Mondelez and to lead the future of snacking. 

Cohorts will participate in Mondelez’s eight-week program that offers hands-on learning, virtual sessions, one-on-one mentorship and access to Mondelez International’s network. 

The 10 startups participating in the program include: 

  • Bread Free: A Spain-based company using technology in the gluten-free space to neutralize the gluten in wheat flour to create the same experience in traditional baked foods without gluten. 
  • Enginzyme: A Sweden-based company that created an enzyme-enabled biomanufacturing process to develop a method to create prebiotic trisaccharide. 
  • Enjay: A Sweden-based company that created a system to recover and recycle waste heat that is generated by manufacturing facilities, restaurants and other exhaust sources. The company then re-introduces it into the production cycle as a new source that may lower carbon dioxide emissions. 
  • Hs-tumbler GmbH: A German-based company that offers an industrial mixer without a stirrer that may be faster, gentler and efficient for stirring, rolling and mixing ingredients. 
  • Kokomodo: An Israel-based company that uses cell-cultured technology to navigate supply chain issues and creates controlled, climate-resilient cocoa. This technology may allow for cocoa to be produced anywhere year-round.
  • Luminescent: An Israel-based clean energy startup that developed a thermodynamic cycle using liquid instead of gas to improve efficiency and economics of heat-to-electricity and electricity-to-heat-conversion. The company’s solutions include a heat engine that converts heat into zero-emission electricity, a heat pump and long-duration energy storage. 
  • Outlander Materials: A Netherland-based company that has created technology to upcycle food waste into an alternative packaging to single-use plastics called Unplastic. 
  • Savor: A US-based company that produces fat and oil using 1,000 times less energy than commodity agricultural production. The company produces such tropical oils as coconut and palm. 
  • Tasteomics: A Switzerland-based company that created Peakaroma. Peakaroma is a plant-based product delivering no off-flavors and elevates the Kokumi flavor experience. Kokumi may enhance the intensity and mouthfeel of basic tastes, according to the company.
  • Yangi: A Sweden-based sustainable packaging startup that uses a technology called Cellera to convert cellulose pulp into 3D model products.
“As one of the world’s largest snack companies, we are thinking creatively — including by seeking access to the newest technologies — to be ready and able to meet the opportunities we see coming in snacking,” said Ian Noble, vice president for Global Ingredient Research and Development at Mondelez International. “This year’s CoLab Tech cohort brings exciting, disruptive technologies across the entire value chain. We are very eager to work with and learn from them, while also providing the resources and expertise that can help enable them to grow and scale.”


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