[March 1st, 2021] Lausanne, Switzerland – MassChallenge Switzerland, part of MassChallenge’s global network of innovators, has announced its partnership with Royal DSM, a global science-based company active in health, nutrition and sustainable living. The partnership will identify and support innovative start-up companies working in, amongst others, personalized and precision nutrition and microbiome and gut health solutions.
“We’re excited to partner with MassChallenge Switzerland. As a purpose-led and performance-driven company, DSM is passionate to support health through nutrition – health for people, and health for the planet. To realize this ambition, we have a track record of successful innovation, often fuelled by partnerships with startups we invested in across the globe through DSM Venturing. This new partnership with MassChallenge will further boost our interaction with startups, in areas such as personalized and precision nutrition, using biosciences and digitization,” said Thomas Beck, Senior Vice-President Innovation at DSM Nutritional Products. Since 2016, MassChallenge Switzerland has been a leader in helping startups across Europe grow their businesses, with 396 alumni raising $318M in funding. In 2020, MassChallenge Switzerland accelerated 94 early-stage startups, taking no equity or fees and connecting them to corporate partners, to a broad group of expert mentors and awarding up to CHF 1M no-strings attached cash prizes and several in-kind awards.
Over the past 3 years, the Swiss Accelerator has also been closely working together with both its startup community and corporate partners, towards identifying and addressing some of the biggest challenges of the world of today and tomorrow. This is why, in addition to the early-stage startup accelerator, which accepts startups from any industry, MassChallenge Switzerland has expanded its offerings to accelerate innovation in the food sector with an industry-specific track for early-stage startups as part of the 2021 accelerator. This also includes a challenge program matching later-stage startups with corporate partners in the food industry.
Matt Lashmar, Managing Director of MassChallenge Switzerland added: “I’m very pleased that DSM joins the MassChallenge Switzerland community as a partner. DSM’s purpose of creating brighter lives for all is a great fit with MassChallenge’s ambition to help startups make an impact on society and solve some of the world’s biggest challenges. Any startup in Nutrition, Health and Sustainable Living now has another reason to apply to our 2021 Accelerator – they get a fast track to meet and collaborate with DSM!”
DSM’s purpose is to create brighter lives for all, to be achieved by using all the scientific and innovation power at its disposal to tackle some of the world’s greatest challenges – creating value for customers, shareholders, employees, and society-at-large. The DSM company strategy is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals that were adopted by the United Nations in 2015, with a special focus on SDG 2 (zero hunger), 3 (health and well-being), 12 (responsible production and consumption), 13 (climate action), and 14 (life below water). DSM advocates healthy, enjoyable and accessible food and nutrition solutions for all, produced and consumed respecting the limits of our planet. DSM is one of the world’s leading producers of essential nutrients like vitamins, carotenoids, nutraceuticals and nutritional lipids; as well as solutions for the feed, food, pharmaceutical and personal care industries. DSM, through its startup investment arm DSM Venturing, has a track record of successfully creating value in partnerships with startups for more than 20 years. Through this partnership, MassChallenge Switzerland will facilitate meaningful connections between Royal DSM and selected startups, with the goal of finding breakthrough solutions in for example personalized and precision nutrition that will add real value to what customers, the market, and ultimately, our society needs.
About DSM
DSM – Bright Science. Brighter Living.™
Royal DSM is a purpose-led global science-based company in Nutrition, Health and Sustainable Living. DSM is driving economic prosperity, environmental progress and social advances to create sustainable value for all stakeholders. DSM delivers innovative business solutions for human nutrition, animal nutrition, personal care and aroma, medical devices, green products and applications, and new mobility and connectivity. DSM and its associated companies deliver annual net sales of about €10 billion with approximately 23,000 employees. The company is listed on Euronext Amsterdam. More information can be found at www.dsm.com
About MassChallenge
MassChallenge is the global network for innovators. Headquartered in the United States with seven locations worldwide, MassChallenge equips bold entrepreneurs to disrupt the status quo and to create meaningful change. Since launching in 2009, more than 2,400 MassChallenge alumni have raised more than $6.2B in funding, generated more than $3B in revenue, and created more than 157,000 total jobs. Learn more about MassChallenge at masschallenge.org.
MassChallenge Switzerland Founding Partners
Barry Callebaut, Bühler, Givaudan, Inartis Foundation, Nestlé, Swiss Economic Forum