Press release: SHIFT Invest joins successful seed financing round of Nutrileads

Dutch nutritional health ingredients startup NUTRILEADS B.V. today announces the successful closure of a seed financing round with an investment syndicate comprising DSM...

Dutch nutritional health ingredients startup NUTRILEADS B.V. today announces the successful closure of a seed financing round with an investment syndicate comprising DSM VENTURING, PPM OOST, SHIFT INVEST and THUJA CAPITAL.

NUTRILEADS develops nutritional ingredients for application in health-promoting food products. The company was founded in December 2011 based on an invention initially made at Unilever. In 2013, NutriLeads, together with NIZO Food Research, obtained a grant from the topsector Agri &Food to start the preclinical development of its lead ingredient.

"This seed investment enables us to accelerate development and to move our lead ingredient to clinical testing. This is a major step in achieving our ambition to partner with ingredient suppliers and food companies to bring the benefits of our health ingredients to patients and consumers" indicates Ruud Albers, PhD, former Nutrition and Health R&D director at Unilever and CEO of NutriLeads,

NutriLeads' lead ingredient is derived from a traditional herbal remedy, which was shown in clinical trials to support immune function and to improve resistance to infections. It was discovered that the active component can be sustainably sourced from food crops. NutriLeads develops this proprietary ingredient as dietary supplement and for application in specialized functional and medical food products.

Erik Dam, former VP at Danone Advanced Medical Nutrition and CBO of NutriLeads emphasizes: "The consortium of investors is carefully composed to support NutriLeads through its next development stages and it provides highly relevant and complementary expertise and networks".

Michel Briejer, PhD, from THUJA CAPITAL, lead investor of the syndicate, indicates that "NutriLeads combines experienced management and deep knowledge with interesting assets initially identified at Unilever. We have recognized this as an exciting opportunity to create value for both patients/consumers as well as investors".

Marius Prins, CEO of PPM Oost, who is also very pleased with the investment in NutriLeads, states: "Significant value creation by bringing the benefits of health ingredients to patients and consumers is highly relevant to our fund Innovatie- en Energiefonds Gelderland (IEG). In addition, this strategic investment further strengthens the ecosystem of Wageningen UR and the Campus Development".