STANDING OVATION, a player in the sustainable animal-free food space, recognized as a winner in the annual i-Lab Innovation Competition in the “Accelerating the 3rd agricultural revolution for healthy, sustainable and traceable food” category.
Paris, July 5, 2022 - STANDING OVATION, a player in the sustainable animal-free food space, recognized as a winner in the annual i-Lab Innovation Competition in the “Accelerating the 3rd agricultural revolution for healthy, sustainable and traceable food” category. The competition, financed by bpifrance’s “investments for the future programme” (PIA - programme d’investissements d’avenir), is organized by the French Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation in partnership with bpifrance, and has been investing in the most innovative start-ups since 1999.
STANDING OVATION spearheads sustainable foodtech by developing 100% animal-free and lactose-free substitutes to cheese and dairy products. Through a method called precision fermentation, proteins are produced by microbial fermentation. This method allows the production of transformed products mimicking cheese in terms of aspect, texture and taste.
Whereas livestock farming accounts for 15% of greenhouse gas emissions, and intensive farming is considered unethical by a growing amount of the population, the demand for proteins, and particularly animal proteins, is increasing.
Caseins are the main proteins in milk (by over 80%) and are also essential for milk’s ability to curdle into cheese, and for cheese melting and stretching properties. Using a simple but innovative process, STANDING OVATION is able to produce caseins through fermentation, without any animal products. Together with vegetable and mineral-based ingredients, STANDING OVATION’S animal-free caseins can then be used to obtain true replicas of traditional cheeses. Once casein is created through fermentation, it can replace its animal-based twin across cheesemaking processes to produce a range of products as varied their traditional cheese counterparts.
“The i-Lab competition is a keystone in the world of innovation, and we are proud to be among the winners. We will keep on developing our casein production process in order to contribute to the food transition with maximal impact”, says Romain Chayot, Chief Scientific Officer of STANDING OVATION.
STANDING OVATION’s protein production process is in the Industrial Pilot stage, with production is currently at kg scale. The company plans to launch its first products into the market as early as 2024. Meanwhile, STANDING OVATION continues to invest in R&D to continuously improve its process and diversify its offering.
The i-Lab innovation competition
The 24th edition of the i-Lab innovation competition, financed by “The investments for the future programme” (PIA - programme d’investissements d’avenir), and operated by Bpifrance, aims to identify and support innovative tech companies. Depending on the company and product, financial support can reach up to 600 000 €. i-Lab has become a crossing point for innovation leaders and a distinguished label unanimously recognized by deeptech investors. In its 23 years, i-Lab touts 3,629 winners, €496 million raised and 2,155 innovative technology companies created.
About STANDING OVATION
Created in 2020 and based in Paris, STANDING OVATION aims to become a key player in the food sustainability space. The company develops 100% animal-free and lactose-free alternatives to cheese and dairy products that can be transformed into products that look, feel and taste like the real thing. https://standing-ovation.co/
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