At a time when many tech startups have found it challenging to raise money, a France-based precision fermentation startup named Bon Vivant has raised a substantial amount of money from investors and credits it for clarity of strategy and execution. They also credit themselves for a decision they took, which was to “focus exclusively on a b2b business model — meaning the novel protein startup is aiming to be a supplier for, not competitor to, the food industry”.
CEO and co-founder Stéphane MacMillan says, “Since the beginning, we’ve focused — b2b oriented. And in Europe, in particular, almost all [competitors] are still b2c, b2b2c; [or have an] unclear strategy. That’s a big differentiator”. “I think that explains why, in only 19 months, we’ve attracted investors — because we have a clear strategy that we are executing since the beginning, which helps a lot. Because there’s clarity. Then, the team is structured this way. The processes are put in place… So that’s, I think, one of the key decisions why we also attracted Sofinnova, which is the biggest VC in biotech in Europe.”
“My view is that when you are a startup, you need to understand, pretty closely on the value chain, where you are good—and better than anyone else to do it. “I consider that building the tech, building the process of fermentation, doing purification. All of that we can bring a lot… But when it comes to marketing, distribution, and producing tonnes of final product, I don’t think I’m going to be better than any Danone or Nestlé.”
“Honestly, I don’t want to compete with them… I would love to partner with them if you’re serious about the [environmental] impact that you want to drive and… you are serious about your mission. The only way to have a bigger impact is to help the guys making tonnes of dairy products daily. And so you don’t want to fight them on marketing, distribution, and new products, but help them with an ingredient that allows them to reduce their footprint.”
