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Announcing the Innovators in Big Idea Ventures’ Latest Accelerator Cohorts

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NEW YORK, Nov. 22, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Big Idea Ventures, global leader in early stage investing in the food technology sector, revealed its latest accelerator cohorts today.

Seventeen early-stage startups were selected for pre-seed investment as part of Big Idea Ventures’ bi-annual accelerator program. Investments were made through the firm’s New York and Singapore offices and the firm’s newest office in Paris, which opened early 2021. Big Idea Ventures’ accelerator is part of its New Protein Fund ($50M+ AUM), dedicated to early stage investments in alternative protein products, ingredients and technologies.

“Innovation in alternative proteins continues to advance globally,” said Andrew D. Ive, Founder and Managing General Partner of Big Idea Ventures, “helping to solve big challenges with big ideas. The entrepreneurs we support have real solutions to climate and food challenges, Big Idea Ventures is investing in the best companies around the world, and these developments could not arrive at a more critical moment for us all.”

The seventeen companies in Big Idea Ventures’ latest accelerator cohorts are developing and improving on protein alternatives across the value chain:

New York AcceleratorCohort 4
“This year, we’re seeing smart solutions to improve current alternatives and expedite their time to market. Each company in our New York program is addressing at least one barrier to mass-market commercialization, from price and scalability to performance and nutritional content.” — Mia Medicus, Program Director, BIV New York

  • Fybraworks Foods — will disrupt the $1.4 trillion traditional ag-based meat market by growing real animal meat proteins via microbes that are cheaper to produce and free of hormones and antibiotics. Fybraworks is the world’s first company to develop recombinant muscle protein for food applications.
  • De Novo Dairy — is the first African company to use precision fermentation technology to produce nature identical, animal-free dairy proteins that replicate dairy in function and nutrition allowing for the creation of animal-free cheese, yoghurt and ice cream.
  • Prosel Biosciences — leverages high-performance computing to unlock the potential of microalgae to sustainably produce bioidentical food proteins and selenoprotein-modified industrial enzymes. Prosel’s platform technologies are able to express proteins with up to 10x higher yields compared to wild type yields.
  • BetterMilk — makes whole milk with mammary cells. BetterMilk’s innovative genetic engineering platform allows for the dramatic reduction in the cost of lactation hormones and growth medium to bring their milk to price parity at launch. They are a B2B company who will sell their milk and milk ingredients to companies from the food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industry.
  • Liven Proteins — produces animal-free, functional protein ingredients by fermenting agriculture and food industry by-products, bringing a circular economy in the food value chain. Liven is developing a platform technology, with gelatin as the first product.
  • Maya Milk — uses precision fermentation to produce animal origin-free dairy proteins and fats. Maya Milk’s mission is to create dairy products structurally similar to animal derived counterparts, without compromising the sensory experience that consumers are accustomed to.

Singapore AcceleratorCohort 4
“Singapore is at the forefront for regulatory approvals and commercialisation of cell-based meats and alternative protein. Our cohort is leading with cutting-edge innovations from indulgent foods, cultivated exotic meat and surimi and a multitude of fermentation solutions to produce sustainable protein.” — Dr. Dalal AlGhawas, Program Director, BIV Singapore

  • Phyx44 — is a cellular agriculture startup creating dairy alternatives using precision fermentation. Phyx44 is producing nature-identical, animal free dairy proteins & fats to recreate milk and its derivatives – same taste, healthier & lower carbon footprint.
  • LILO — is a New Zealand fruit technology company creating permissibly indulgent snacks from low grade and waste fruit. LILO’s hero product is a ready to eat plant based and gluten free cheesecake that is every bit as indulgent as it’s dairy counterpart. LILO is working directly with New Zealand orchardists and strategic partners to untap the potential in unused produce and create a range of nutritionally superior products for on the go lifestyles.
  • Fisheroo — is Southeast Asia’s first cell-based fish company focusing on the $5 billion huge surimi industry, and aims to create surimi at scale and sell it as an ingredient to existing surimi product manufacturers and potentially integrating with innovative plant-based companies. Fisheroo has their proprietary cell line within their state-of-the-art facility based in Singapore and are on track to deliver a prototype within 2022.
  • Mogale Meat — is Africa’s first cultivated game meat company, is developing real meat products from southern Africa’s antelope, poultry and free-roaming cattle species, using advanced cellular agriculture technologies. Their proprietary biobank of stem and satellite cell lines is sourced from free-range livestock and wild antelope and poultry species, each valued for their unique flavour and health benefits. By investing in southern Africa’s rich biodiversity with minimal impact, Mogale Meat Co distinguishes itself from existing competitors by expanding culinary diversity of cell cultured meat.

Paris Accelerator — Cohort 1
“The alternative protein industry is growing rapidly in Europe, and we were impressed by the number of quality applicants for Big Idea Ventures first cohort in Paris. From plant-based innovators to novel fatty acid and cell-based technologies, the Paris cohort is a great example of the food innovation coming from Europe.” — Henrietta Hearth, Program Director, BIV Paris

  • Bright Biotech — is using cutting edge science to de-bottleneck the supply and reduce the cost of growth factors to speed up the delivery of cell-based meat to our dinner plates. They have developed a robust and scalable plant-based technology that uses chloroplasts as chassis to manufacture large amounts and cost-efficient growth factors.
  • Green-On — makes ultra-sustainable saturated fat and fatty acids with their power to food technology, using only carbon dioxide, electricity and a small amount of water. Initially focusing on replacing palm oil to produce chocolate, ready meals and other food products, the technology can be adapted to replace other fats.
  • Little Bandits — is the first dairy and soy-free brand for children in the UK. They make life easier for parents and kids by developing products that are always nutritious, delicious and fun. Their yogurts have at least 25% more calcium but 50% less sugar than leading kids dairy yogurts. They are also the first kids yogurts to market to be fortified with calcium, vitamins D2, B12 and iodine.
  • Luyef Biotechnologies — is a cell-based meat company using molecular biology and photonics to produce the next generation of cell-based meat. They have already developed a myoglobin protein which delivers the flavour and aroma of real meat for plant-based meat. They are also working on a scaffolding for real cultured minced meat using a macro-algae only found in Chile and are using state-of-the-art neuroscience to produce juicy, three-dimensional cultured meat steaks.
  • The VERY Food co. — are enabling change without changing people’s habits in the kitchen by delivering quality plant-based ingredients for cooking : eggs, butter and cream. We address the barriers to switching to an animal-free diet by replicating the taste, texture and appearance of animal-based ingredients used in professional and everyday cooking.
  • YOFI — is a French food-tech startup offering a delicious range of organic milk alternatives using sustainable, nutritious and tasty peas to offer good quality drinks with high nutritional value. The use of peas instead of other traditional plant-based ingredients entails a higher amount of proteins, amino acids and unsaturated fatty acids.
  • MOA foodtech (France / Singapore Offices) — combines biotechnology and artificial intelligence to transform waste and by-products of the agrifood industry into a ”next generation protein ” with high nutritional value and 100% sustainability. MOA’s technology offers high nutritional proteins based on the valorization of food industry by-products thanks to biotechnology and fermentation processes.

About Big Idea Ventures
Big Idea Ventures (BIV) is solving the world’s greatest challenges by supporting the world’s best entrepreneurs. Its first fund, the New Protein Fund ($50M+ AUM) invests in global alternative protein companies at the pre-seed stage via its accelerator program and seed to series A via direct investment. New Protein Fund I is backed by leading food corporations including AAK, Avril, Bel Group, Bühler Group, Givaudan, NR Instant Produce, Meiji, Tyson Ventures, and Temasek Holdings. To date, Big Idea Ventures has invested in more than 65 alternative protein companies across 17 countries.
www.bigideaventures.com

Big Idea Ventures is currently accepting applications to its next accelerator cohorts in New York, Paris and Singapore, beginning in early 2022: https://bigideaventures.proseeder.com/application/start

Media Contact
Big Idea Ventures

New York — Aaron Brodkey [email protected]
Paris — Marion Bazille [email protected]
Singapore — Yiting Loh [email protected]

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Artificial Intelligence

CUBE acquires global regulatory intelligence businesses from Thomson Reuters

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LONDON, May 17, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — CUBE, a global leader in Automated Regulatory Intelligence (ARI) and Regulatory Change Management (RCM), announces today its acquisition of the Thomson Reuters Regulatory Intelligence and Oden products and businesses.

The acquisition of these global businesses represents a major step forward in CUBE’s growth plans. It will deliver significant scale across many of the world’s leading and systemically important financial institutions. CUBE’s existing global customer base will be expanded to total approximately 1,000 customers in banking, insurance, asset and investment management, payments and adjacent regulated industries.
CUBE’s global employees will expand to 600, of which close to 250 are highly qualified regulatory subject matter experts, legal and compliance professionals.
Ben Richmond, founder and CEO of CUBE said: “Thomson Reuters is known to be the biggest and best in the industry for providing regulatory expert analysis and subject matter expertise, alongside world-leading journalism and news. The combination of CUBE’s purpose-built AI, with the years of content curated by Thomson Reuters Regulatory Intelligence and Oden expert analysts, will accelerate innovation. Together, we will deliver regulatory transformation capabilities for our global customers that could only have been imagined before.”
Richmond continues: “This combination will provide tremendous scale and depth across CUBE’s regulatory content and technology. It is a significant step toward creating an industry-defining regulatory compliance and risk platform that will benefit all customers and elevate the industry as a whole.”
Through this acquisition, CUBE will provide an expanded and comprehensive selection of specialized regulatory intelligence and regulatory change services, committed to excellence, quality, and highly contextualised and meaningful regulatory content for customers. By combining cutting-edge technology and subject matter expertise at scale CUBE will set a new bar for the industry in regulatory automation and content.
Chris Maguire, General Manager, Risk and Fraud, Corporates, Thomson Reuters said: “It was clear to us that CUBE had established itself as a leading regulatory intelligence provider for global enterprise clients in the financial services and insurance sectors. We wanted to ensure our customers and employees could work with an organisation that would continue to innovate and significantly invest in solutions like Thomson Reuters Regulatory Intelligence and Oden. We are working tirelessly to ensure a seamless and value-enhancing transition for customers and employees, and we are looking forward to working with the CUBE team during this transition.” 
Christopher Fielding, Hg, said: “We’re delighted to further extend our market reach, bringing in two high quality and complementary global businesses to the CUBE platform.”
Thomas Martin, Hg, added: “We see these acquisitions as enabling further innovation in the regulatory intelligence and change management sector, leading to strengthened demand for these quality solutions across the globe.”
The terms of the transaction will not be disclosed.
About CUBE
CUBE provides a highly comprehensive and robust source of classified, and meaningful AI-driven regulatory data to power its Automated Regulatory Intelligence (ARI) and Regulatory Change Management (RCM) solutions. CUBE’s purpose-built regulatory technology including its AI engine (RegBrain) and software platform (RegPlatform) tracks, analyses, and monitors laws, rules, and regulations in every country and in every published language to create an always up-to-date regulatory footprint that transforms visibility and compliance capability for customers across the globe.
With operations across Europe, North America, Canada, Asia, and Australia, CUBE serves a diverse and global base of customers and partners including the largest financial institutions in the world who leverage CUBE’s platform to streamline their complex regulatory intelligence and change management processes.
Following the strategic partnership with Hg in March 2024, CUBE announced the acquisition of US-based Reg-Room in May 2024.
About Hg
Hg supports the building of sector-leading enterprises that supply businesses with critical software applications or workflow services, delivering a more automated workplace for their customers.
This industry is characterised by digitisation trends that are in early stages of adoption and are set to transform the workplace for professionals over decades to come. Hg’s support combines deep end-market knowledge with world class operational resources, together providing compelling support to entrepreneurial leaders looking to scale their business – businesses that are well invested, enduring and serve their customers well.
With a vast European network and strong presence across North America, Hg’s 400 employees and around $70 billion in funds under management support a portfolio of around 50 businesses, worth over $140 billion aggregate enterprise value, with over 110,000 employees, consistently growing revenues at more than 20%.
About Regulatory Intelligence
Regulatory Intelligence is a proactive, connected, and comprehensive solution that tracks and analyses regulatory changes within ~2,000 regulatory bodies and rulebooks for more than 20 countries. It enables banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) sectors to manage exposure to operational, regulatory, and compliance risk.
About Oden
Oden State Rules and Regulations (SR&R), Oden Policy Terminator/Sentry PT, and OdenTrack provide repositories and automated solutions for complying with state rules and regulations on the provisioning of Personal and Business Insurance in the US.

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Cayman Enterprise City Publishes Socio-Economic Impact Assessment by Economist and Leading Advisor on the Caribbean, Marla Dukharan

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The Impact of Cayman Enterprise City’s Socio-Economic Development Project Nears USD $1 Billion
GRAND CAYMAN, Cayman Islands, May 16, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Cayman Enterprise City (CEC) has released a Socio-Economic Impact Assessment by Marla Dukharan. The report illustrates that CEC is increasing its impact by supporting higher earnings for Caymanians and is driving a shift towards a knowledge-based economy by focusing on high productivity sectors. The release by Dukharan reads, “Caymanian resourcefulness and private sector-led innovation have been the driving force behind the islands’ outstanding socio-economic success. Cayman Enterprise City underpins the next generation of Cayman innovation and dynamism.”

With an economic impact of USD $130 million in 2023, contributing just under USD $1 billion to the local economic activity in 12 years since inception, “CEC is helping the nation to diversify economically, in terms of sectors and jobs, ensuring locals have economic and employment opportunities that match the nation’s progress,” the report reads.
The CEC socio-economic development project is now home to 352 Special Economic Zones Companies (SEZCos), many of which are globally recognised institutions led by top executives and industry experts. “CEC member companies are providing high-value employment with salaries exceeding those typically found outside of the special economic zone,” said Charlie Kirkconnell, Chief Executive Officer at CEC. “The CEC community is fully invested in Cayman and the report illustrates that the CEC socio-economic development project is making a very significant impact on Cayman’s economy and community.”
“As CEC continues to grow, it continues to create significant employment and entrepreneurial opportunities for Caymanians and we encourage anyone that might be interested in finding out how they might get involved, whether as a member of the community and/or as a volunteer in our Enterprise Cayman non-profit organisation (NPO).”
77% of Caymanian-held jobs at CEC member companies, are in sectors with high social returns and increasing global demand. “By putting skills first and prioritizing learning, CEC is enabling new industries to take root,” the release by Dukharan reads.
CEC, through its Enterprise Cayman NPO, is a first-mover in private sector-facilitated education and training in the Caribbean, making it a leading force to boost youth participation in the economy. By offering training in specialised skills, Enterprise Cayman is helping to close the gap in higher education and earnings for Caymanians. “Through Enterprise Cayman we’ve set out to strategically support meaningful employment and entrepreneurial opportunities for Caymanians, by providing internship and mentorship opportunities, by hosting skill-building and career focused training, and by providing invaluable networking and community engagement opportunities,” said Kirkconnell.
In 2023 individuals took advantage of 4,226 opportunities to participate in education, training, and career development events and, since launching entrepreneurial programming in 2021, Enterprise Cayman has worked with 41 new Cayman-born business ventures. “We’re helping to develop a local talent pool that meets the demand of Cayman’s growing digital innovation and technology sectors while, in parallel, offering exciting opportunities for individuals to launch new business ventures within an innovative business environment,” said Kirkconnell.  
With CEC’s new campus and state-of-the-art facilities, Signal House, the project “holds the promise of deep, continued economic impact,” the report concludes.
To access CEC’s economic impact assessments and Enterprise Cayman’s annual reports please visit https://www.enterprisecayman.ky/reports. For more information on how to get involved and for upcoming programmes and events visit www.enterprisecayman.ky. 
Website: www.caymanenterprisecity.com LinkedIn: @CaymanEnterpriseCityTwitter:  @CEC_CaymanInstagram: @CaymanEnterpriseCityFacebook: @CaymanEnterpriseCityYouTube: @ceccayman
About Cayman Enterprise City 
Cayman Enterprise City (CEC) is an award-winning development project which consists of three special economic zones (SEZs) focused on attracting knowledge-based and specialised-services businesses to set up a genuine physical presence in the Cayman Islands. The zones included within CEC are Cayman Tech City, Cayman Commodities & Derivatives Centre, and Cayman Maritime & Aviation City. With a dedicated Government Authority, licensing fee concessions and guaranteed fast-track processes, CEC enables international companies to quickly and efficiently establish a Cayman Islands office, which in turn enables them to generate active business income within a tax neutral environment.
About Enterprise Cayman 
Enterprise Cayman is a non-profit organisation (NPO) powered by Cayman Enterprise City in partnership with Cayman Islands’ special economic zone companies (SEZCos). The organisation, which applies the Theory of Change (TOC) methodology, provides Caymanians and residents with access to high-quality learning experiences and opportunities to develop and launch new business ventures, to pursue careers within the technology and innovation sectors, and to join a dynamic network of industry professionals. Let’s grow the next generation of Caymanian innovators and entrepreneurs with Enterprise Cayman!
Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1317764/2860789/Cayman_Enterprise_City_Logo.jpg
FOR MORE INFORMATION:Contact: Kaitlyn Elphinstone  Email: [email protected]  

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Strava Unveils New Chapter of Accelerated Product Development at Brand’s Flagship Event

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The Company introduces increased product velocity, leveraging advancements in Artificial Intelligence, in service of its vision of a world connected through movement 
LOS ANGELES, May 16, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Strava, the leading digital community for active people with more than 125 million athletes, today showcased its latest initiatives and product developments at its annual event, Camp Strava. With the theme of Progress, Together company leaders announced how the platform will empower its global community to make progress in the way they explore, move, and connect on Strava.

“Strava is gaining momentum to realize our vision of a world connected through movement,” said Michael Martin, chief executive officer of Strava. “We are focused on two fundamental shifts to accelerate how we deliver value to 125 million people globally– building for women and leveraging Artificial Intelligence – which will unlock new community-and-partner-powered experiences across the platform.”
A New Era of Product VelocityStrava, with new leaders at the helm, is ushering in its next era of product velocity. The company listened closely to feedback from its global community and announced three of the most requested features coming to the platform by the end of the year.
The first of these updates, AI-enabled Leaderboard Integrity, will harness machine learning to automatically flag irregular, improbable, or impossible activities recorded to the platform. Trained by millions of activities, this feature allows all users on Strava to play fair and have more fun.
Additionally, the company announced a new Family Plan Subscription, the sister of the company’s Student Plan. With Family Plan, it’s easier to make a fitness commitment with your community by sharing an annual subscription with up to three other people – friends, family, or fitness family. Launching in select countries this summer, with plans to roll out globally by the end of the year, Strava’s newest annual subscription option offers the best value for groups (up to four), with a discount off the regular subscription price for each member.
Strava also implemented an updated design system, an initiative that is integral in driving a heightened pace of product innovation at the company. Through this work, Strava announced the launch of one of the company’s most requested features, Dark mode. Dark mode will improve the in-app experience for all users, reducing eye strain and improving accessibility while they record activity or scroll through the feed. Athletes can expect a rollout later this summer with options to keep their mobile settings always dark, always light, or match their device settings.
Company leaders highlighted several other features and updates to current products like Flyover, with its next iteration offering an overlay with activity stats and off-platform sharing capabilities. The overlay is available today for Strava subscribers and an off-platform sharing option will be released later this year.
Build for Her, Build for ManyStudies show that women of all ages participate in sports at a far lower rate than men, and overall, despite wanting to be active, find less time to dedicate to an active lifestyle. As the company continues on its mission to motivate people to live their best active lives, building for women on the platform will ultimately serve everyone in the Strava community. Several new features and initiatives were announced as a part of this strategic focus, which includes:
Night Heatmaps: Night Heatmaps show only activities between sundown and sunrise – so athletes can get an idea of which roads, trails, and paths are well-trafficked after hours. Since Night Heatmaps filter for after-hours routes, it can be a helpful tool for female athletes training before sunrise and after sunset.Quick Edit: For active women, having control over what is shared with the Strava community that cheers them on – like what time a run is logged – is important. Quick Edit makes it easier to make the most common edits – like activity name, and privacy settings so you can hide your start time, your map, or other workout stats.Strive for More®: The company announced a new phase of its Strive for More® initiative, created in 2022 to promote and support women in movement and sport. Today, Strava unveiled an official partnership with media company TOGETHXR to encourage more women to watch – and play – women’s sports. As part of the partnership, Strava will also donate $100,000 to the Alex Morgan Foundation, started by co-founder of TOGETHXR, Alex Morgan, to support their mission to help girls and women find confident paths forward in sports and life.Athlete IntelligenceToday, Strava announced the start of an accelerated product roadmap, outlining how Strava will implement the latest technological enhancements in AI and machine learning, to transform the athlete experience.
One key advancement to the platform includes the company’s latest development, Athlete Intelligence. Strava is introducing its beta AI-powered feature which turns each subscriber’s training data into an easily digestible summary that contextualizes their accomplishments and fitness goals. Unlike other AI-powered training services, Strava connects with thousands of devices, wearables, and fitness apps, so an athlete’s insights can consider their entire fitness story across multiple sports and modalities.
The features shared at Camp Strava will be released on a rolling basis through the end of the year. To view the full list of product releases and further details, visit www.press.strava.com.
For more information on Strava, to create a free account, or to start a free subscription trial visit www.strava.com.
About Strava Strava is the leading digital community for active people with more than 125 million athletes, in more than 190 countries. The platform offers a holistic view of your active lifestyle, no matter where you live, which sport you love and/or what device you use. Everyone belongs on Strava when they are pursuing an active life. Join the community, find motivation and discover new experiences with a Strava subscription. 
Visit www.strava.com for more information and connect with Strava on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn.
Media Contact: [email protected]
 
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