Israeli incubator The Kitchen plans to ‘intensify’ its venture studio model for foodtech startups in 2023

Founded back in 2015 by Strauss Group , the Israel-based company has made 23 investments to date, 21 of which are active portfolio businesses today. Collectively, these businesses have raised over $260 million from backers globally. “2022 was a very exciting year for us,” CEO Jonathan Berger tells AFN . “Our portfolio businesses matured and some of them reached the trade and began takings.

We in addition had quite a few rounds of investments [for startups].” Another principal milestone: launching The Kitchen Hub 2 thanks to a grant from the Israeli Innovation Authority . The new incubator will focus heavily on alternative proteins, an area significantly represented in The Kitchen’s existing portfolio. “We worked very hard on competing with other parties [for the grant]; not only in foodtech but planet tech, space and climate tech.

Getting chosen was a huge vote of confidence from the state of Israel,” explains Berger. We are also signing collaborations with other institutions for a pilot-scale infrastructure.” How The Kitchen works: The Kitchen bills itself as a foodtech-focused incubator that invests in and nurtures startups. Unlike the accelerator format , which is typically designed to help somewhat developed startups with quick expansion, incubators have a weightier focus on mentorship and nurturing through the earliest stages of a company or idea’s lifespan.

Accelerators in addition tend to have definitive start and stop dates, whereas incubators accept participants on a more rolling basis. Incubators often work with startups and entrepreneurs for longer timeframes, too.

For instance, those selected to work with The Kitchen do so over a period of two years, with access to office and lab space in Ashdod, Israel, where The Kitchen headquarters is located. These businesses meet with senior management from The Kitchen on a weekly basis to tackle the milestones in a mutually-agreed work plan.

Startups receive a budget of $650,000 to $750,000 over the two-year work plan period. The Kitchen’s leadership assesses teams with a particular key criterion in mind in the first instance: the teams behind the startups. If [the team has] this agility or flexibility that will allow it to overcome [those challenges], you’re in a good place.” The Venture Studio model But not all ideas come to The Kitchen with a fully formed team and firm structure.

In many cases, the incubator operates under what it calls “the venture creation” or “venture studio” model. Rather than looking for firms, it looks for new innovations and scientific breakthroughs. “We go to the universities. Research institutions and identify gaps in the market or where we feel the world is going in terms of the food system,” explains Zaidman. “Then we look for technologies in those academic institutions and universities.

Once we find a relevant IP or science, we license it into a new firm that we are structuring.” The Kitchen then recruits a team, typically designating the CEO and CTO as founders. “So we have a team we can trust since we recruited them and we have a tech we believe in. Then we secure the financing and put in the pre-seed backing, and we rollout a new firm.

It’s really creating something from nothing.” The Kitchen founded cultivated meat startup Aleph Farms in this way. The Israel-based firm has gone on to raise $119.4 million from the likes of DisruptAD , L. We expect at least half of our new investments to result from venture studio activities rather than from direct investments into existing ventures.”