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Today’s consumers are more demanding of their functional foods and supplements than ever before. Not only must food products be natural and have scientifically & clinically proven health benefits, they must be environmentally conscious, all without compromising on taste or texture.
NutriLeads is a Health Ingredients innovator harnessing the health-giving power of natural plant compounds to help people strengthen their health through nutrition, addressing top consumers demands. We develop and commercialize natural ingredients with clinically proven health benefits, which we market in partnership with food, beverage, and food (or dietary) supplement companies, incorporating our ingredients into their products.
We take all our health ingredients through rigorous scientific and clinical trials to demonstrate their safety, and efficacy on human health and gain regulatory approval for market access. All our ingredients are fully protected by a broad intellectual property portfolio of patents.
Get to know the people enabling NutriLeads to meet consumer demand by developing, producing and commercializing our innovative health ingredients.
The NutriLeads management team brings a diverse range of cross-disciplinary experience. The team is aligned around the challenge of developing large scale food technologies to cost-effectively deliver scientifically substantiated, natural, innovative health ingredients that address top consumer demands.
We are developing a portfolio of natural health ingredients clinically proven to proactively support human health by improving immune function and benefiting the gut microbiota.
Our proprietary technology delivers novel natural ingredients with enormous health benefits while simultaneously addressing consumer demands and environmental challenges by harnessing upcycling production methods.
We have developed a unique, proprietary health ingredients platform based on Rhamnogalacturonan-I (RG-I), a complex fibre, which is one of the building blocks found in the cell walls of various crops.
Following development and manufacture, we work with partners to add our health ingredients into their foods, beverages, and dietary supplements, to bring
benefits to consumers.
NutriLeads is privately held and backed
by world-class investors. We have also received non-dilutive funding from
various regional, national and
European grants and loans.
At NutriLeads we are committed to maintaining the highest scientific standards. We have in-house experts with strong track records in (micro)biology, food and ingredients (technology), and nutrition and health, from both academic and industry backgrounds.
The NutriLeads team brings a diverse range of cross-disciplinary experience. The team is driven by a shared goal to develop large-scale food technologies that cost-effectively deliver scientifically substantiated, natural, innovative health ingredients to address top consumer health demands.
NutriLeads is a privately held, commercial-stage Health Ingredients Innovator developing natural, sustainable, plant-derived ingredients that provide clinically proven health benefits.
We are backed by the following investors:
To discuss investment opportunities
NutriLeads is a privately held, commercial-stage Health Ingredients Innovator developing natural, sustainable, plant-derived ingredients that provide clinically proven health benefits.
NutriLeads, together with Ambiotis, ProDigest, and Örebro University, won a three-year Eurostars grant for the innovative NUTRIGUT project, to deliver a new RG-I-based food ingredient with protective effects on gut health.
NutriLeads has been awarded an “Innovatiekrediet” (government backed loan specifically for innovations) by RVO for its technical development project: “Development of BeniCaros (formerly Xtramune™) for application in functional foods”.
NutriLeads’ NUTRI-NEED project received €2.5 million in funding from the EIC Accelerator (SME Instrument (phase 2)) which is part of the European Innovation Council. The aim of the 2-year project is to prepare NutriLeads’ health promoting food ingredient, BeniCaros, for commercialization.
NutriLeads, together with NIZO food research and FrieslandCampina, was awarded a €3.7 million EFRO project to develop new food ingredients that will support resistance to infections, as well as affordable and predictive research models in humans
NutriLeads was awarded a grant “groeiversneller” from OOST NL
NutriLeads, together with NIZO food research and FrieslandCampina, was awarded a €3.7 million EFRO project to develop new food ingredients that will support resistance to infections, as well as affordable and predictive research models in humans
NutriLeads received an ‘Innovation voucher’ of the European Regional Development Fund.
NutriLeads, together with NIZO food research, received an FND grant from the top sector AgriFoods.
Bronland 12-N
6708 WH Wageningen
The Netherlands
T: (+31) 6 12 50 07 64
E: info@nutrileads.com
If you are interested in joining our team and working in a stimulating and inspiring environment, just send us an application together with a CV to info@nutrileads.com
BeniCaros® is award winning.
Akshat is an investment director at DSM Ventures, the venture capital arm of DSM that invests in companies working to tackle the world’s toughest challenges. He is responsible for investments in Europe and Israel in areas related to Nutrition, Health and Biosciences.
Prior to joining DSM in 2020, Akshat sat on both sides of the table as an entrepreneur and investor. He started his entrepreneurial career by building WTEnergy, India’s first carbon-trading platform and advisory services company, after which he embarked on his venture capital career at Sequoia Capital.
Akshat holds an MBA from the Indian School of Business, and master’s degrees from the University of Amsterdam and the Delhi School of Economics.
Joana is Chief Executive Officer of NutriLeads BV. She joined the company in 2022 as Chief Commercial Officer and was quickly promoted to CEO and has led the company’s transition from a development company to a global commercial enterprise.
Before joining NutriLeads, Joana spent a decade at DSM, the science-based global company specializing in solutions for human and animal health and nutrition. There she held several leadership positions focused on research and development, new product launches and marketing, and strategic planning. In her last position as Global Commercial Operations Director, Joana had responsibility for B2B ingredients in the food and beverage market.
Joana has a master’s degree in chemical engineering from Porto University and a Ph.D. in Catalysis Engineering from the Delft University of Technology.
Florentine is an investment partner at SHIFT Invest, a Dutch venture capital fund that exclusively invests in innovative enterprises with significant positive environmental impact potential.
She is dedicated to investing in companies creating positive change through innovations related to the food and agriculture value chain, healthy nutrition and clean (bio-based) technologies.
Florentine started her career at Rabobank where she worked in various positions and gained experience in debt restructuring and private equity. Her last position was Associate Director at Rabo Capital (currently Nordian Capital) before joining SHIFT in 2014. She studied Public Economic and Business Law at the University of Utrecht.
As a Senior Partner at the management consulting firm Roland Berger, Alexander focuses on strengthening the competitive position of companies in the Food, Agri, Food Ingredients, Biotech and the fine Chemicals Industry. He has specific functional expertise in business and corporate strategy development, operations, organizational restructuring, innovation, and complexity management.
Alexander has five years of industry experience in flavors, fragrances and food ingredients and over twenty years of consulting experience. He studied Mechanical Engineering and Business Administration at the University of Twente, Business-to-Business Marketing at IMD and in the Advanced Management Program at Harvard. Next to that he participated in the European Comenius Course. Alexander began his career at Unilever and has worked at Roland Berger since 2006.
Robin joined Nutrileads in July 2023 as Commercial Director, spearheading the sales and marketing. Robin brings 15 years of international ingredients sales experience in various industries such as Pharma, Food and Infant formula.
Starting out as international sales manager for BeNeLux, he grew to manage sales teams across the globe to drive the sales of (ELN) ingredients at FrieslandCampina. In his last Role at Nu-mega Ingredients, Robin was responsible for the business development and overall management for the EMEA region, setting the strategy for Sales/Marketing and driving Business Development.
In 2003, Robin completed his Bachelor’s degree in molecular biology in Utrecht and in 2005 he completed his Master degree in Medical Biotechnology at the Wageningen University.
Leilah joined NutriLeads in January 2023 as a Communications Manager.
Prior to this Leilah worked at Edelman Amsterdam as an Account Director for various international B2B clients. Before that she fulfilled B2B Marketing Communications and Corporate Communications roles at DSM Food Specialties, Grodan Group, Rockwool Technical Insulation, Philips Research & Rabobank Nederland.
Leilah holds a Bachelor in Corporate Communications and NIMA B certification in Business Marketing. Leilah is also an NLP Life Coach Practitioner and has her own coaching practice for mothers. She is originally South African, but has lived in the Netherlands for over 20 years
Jan joined Nutrileads in November 2020 as Chief Operations Officer, responsible for finance and the end-to-end scale up of production and supply chain.
Jan has been active in the global B-t-B Food, Agri and Pharma-supply industries since 1981. He has held numerous managerial positions at DMV-Campina and subsequently at Royal FrieslandCampina, and later also served as CEO at DFE Pharma and then at Farm Frites International, as well as interim Director/Partner at Custom Management.
Next to his executive roles he has been active in several non-executive governance roles at different companies and sports federations since 2004.
Jan holds a BSc in Food Technology from HAS Den Bosch (1981) and graduated on the Executive Training Program of the European Committee in Tokyo (1989)
Joana joined Nutrileads in April 2022. Prior to this Joana worked for 10.5 years at DSM where she held several positions from R&D scientist, contributing to new products, to R&D and business leadership positions in the food and beverages B2B space. In the second half of her career, she held positions as Business Director for Bioprocessing Ingredients for several markets (beverages, fats & oils) and later as Commercial Director for the Nutritional Ingredients portfolio for the Food & Beverages business group.
Joana holds a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Porto University and a PhD in Catalysis Engineering from the Delft University of Technology.
Annick joined NutriLeads in February 2018.
After a postdoctoral position at the ETH of Zurich, Annick started her career in industry at French biotechnology company, Transgène S.A., where she worked for 14 years. After this, she set up the Department of Microbiology of Ecosystems at the Institut Pasteur de Lille.
In 2002, Annick took a Group Leader position in the Nutrition and Health Department at the Nestlé Research Center in Lausanne, Switzerland. She was successively in charge of the Functional Microbiology, Allergy and Host-Microbe Interaction groups, and built and led the Gut Ecosystem department before retiring from Nestlé in January 2018.
Annick obtained her PhD in at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. She is co-inventor of more than 50 patents and authored more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific publications.
Ruud obtained his PhD on immunomodulation at Utrecht University and studied intestinal metabolism at Rockefeller University in New York. In 1998 he joined Unilever where he built and led the global expertise group on nutrition immunity and gut health in varying roles up to global R&D director Bioscience, Nutrition & Health Discover Platform. He initiated numerous international collaborations and is coinventor of IMPP-1. From 2007 to 2012 he chaired the ILSI-Europe taskforce on nutrition and immunity that published seminal papers on immunomodulation in humans. Since leaving Unilever in 2012, he founded Nutrileads and he acts as consultant for international ingredient, food and pharma companies.
Krishna joined NutriLeads as an early-stage researcher as part of the Sweet Cross Talk ITN network in February 2020. She will carry out research on structure-function relation of pectin derived polysaccharides at Utrecht University as her PhD.
Krishna obtained her Master’s degree in Medicinal Chemistry at the Pune University, India. Her thesis was on extraction and characterization of bioactive molecules from medicinal plants for sickle cell anaemia. She did her Bachelor’s with three majors (Biochemistry, Genetics and Biotechnology) in India as well.
Annette joined NutriLeads in March 2020 to support the team and organize all business-related activities.
Before joining NutriLeads she held various positions including that of Office Manager at CNA Reinsurance Company Ltd. and Management Assistant at Prospectory, both in Amsterdam. She was also a teacher at primary school De Mariënborn in Oosterbeek.
Annette holds an MSc in English from Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht in The Netherlands.
Sue joined NutriLeads as a translational scientist in 2021. She is responsible for the further development of scientific evidence to support the launch of NutriLeads’ health ingredients.
Previously, she worked as a Nutrition Manager for Upfield and in various R&D roles in the Nutrition & Health department of Unilever.
She studied Biopharmaceutical Sciences at Leiden University before obtaining her PhD at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Her postdoctoral research at Groningen University focused on airway remodelling in asthma and at Utrecht University on the development of novel asthma therapies.
Saskia joined NutriLeads as Manager of Production and Technology in June 2021. She is responsible for the coordination of the commercial production of BeniCaros® by our suppliers as well as continuously improving the production process.
Saskia has gained extensive technology and operational experience during over 18-years’ employment at FrieslandCampina, where she held various roles in the ingredients business.
She was educated as a process technologist at Wageningen University and obtained her PDEng at the Technical University of Eindhoven.
Marie-José joined Nutrileads in March 2022. She is responsible for assuring that our products and processes meet our high internal standards, all relevant regulatory requirements, and exceed our customers’ expectations.
Marie-José has broad experience in quality assurance. She has worked for 10 years in the food sector at Hoogwegt and Friesland Campina, as well as in the public domain. All her roles related to quality assurance and food safety.
With a background in Food and Nutrition, Marie-José holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Groningen and a Master’s degree in Food Safety from Wageningen University & Research.
Sanne Melles has developed his interest and expertise in the food ingredients and biotech industry through multiple (exec and non-exec) board positions. Most recently, as CEO of Royal CSK he has overseen building and ultimately the sale of this leading dairy ingredients company to Royal DSM in 2019. In addition, he is advising various start-ups developing next generation food ingredients, and he is liaised with an early-stage impact investor.
A MSc (Delft) and MBA (Insead) by training, his genuine curiosity helps him to study or observe and appropriately understand technology, people, culture and apply to the benefit of the business/company/stakeholders. Sanne enjoys acting on the interface of science and business and is excited about the prospect of biotech to drive the protein transition and sustainability in food at large.
Rob Beudeker is currently responsible for the investment in start-up companies active in nutrition as Investment Director at DSM Venturing. From 2010 to 2016, he was active as VP Innovation at Human Nutrition and Health at DSM, steering these activities globally from Switzerland. Prior to this, Rob held various positions in R&D (project-, program- and resource management) and New Business Development at DSM, known as Gist-Brocades at the time he joined in 1984. Before this he worked as a post doc at the University of Texas in Austin in molecular biology.
Rob has an MSc in biology and PhD in microbiology from the University of Groningen in The Netherlands, as well as an MBA from the Universities of Rotterdam and Rochester (NY). In addition, he is a member of the supervisory board at JavaFoods, Phynova, Frontier Nutrition and S-Biomedic. He also works at TiFN (Wageningen, The Netherlands) as Program Director for Health and Nutrition.
Michel Briejer is a managing partner at Thuja Capital Management, a venture capital fund manager, which he joined early 2008. Prior to this, he held a variety of senior management positions, both in the international pharmaceutical industry (Janssen Pharmaceutica and Yamanouchi), as well as in the biotech industry (Crucell). In addition, he worked as a consultant to a number of small pharmaceutical and biotech start-up companies.
Michel holds an MSc degree in Pharmacy (Utrecht University), a PhD in Pharmacology (Wageningen University), and a post-doctoral degree in Pharmaceutical Medicine (DipPharMed, European Center for Pharmaceutical Sciences, Basle). Michel has authored over 25 peer reviewed scientific papers and book chapters on pharmacology and drug development.
Nityen Lal co-founded Icos Capital in 2005 with the goal to invest in early growth phase innovations that positively impact people and their environment. Now as one of the most experienced Climate Tech and Food Tech venture capital funds, Icos continues to drive large scale impact in low carbon, circular, nutritious and sustainable food systems.
Taking a collaborative venturing approach, Icos Capital works closely with sector leading corporations such as, Buhler Group, Royal Cosun and Nouryon to invest and collaborative with portfolio scale-ups to realize mutual benefit, stronger growth and performance.
Nityen’s experience is broad and international assignments in technology and venture capital have spanned Europe, Asia and North America. He studied at various universities in the US and completed his MBA in the Netherlands where he is now based as Managing Partner at Icos.
Marcela joined NutriLeads as Research Manager (Nutrition & Health) in early 2016. She is responsible for the coordination of in vitro and in vivo testing of NutriLeads’ lead ingredients as well as the initiation and coordination of clinical trials.
Marcela’s postdoctoral research at the Karolinska Institutet/AstraZeneca Integrated Cardio Metabolic Centre in Stockholm, Sweden, focused on the regulatory mechanisms implicated in the interaction between immune and metabolic cells in obesity-related diseases: insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes and fatty liver disease.
She originally trained as a molecular biologist at Leiden University and obtained her PhD at the University Medical Center Groningen, the Netherlands, where she studied the role of chronic inflammation in insulin resistance and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
Steve started as a US representative of Nutrileads BV, in April 2022.
He began his career working in the pharmaceutical industry in an R&D capacity with Baxter International and then moved into quality management in pharmaceuticals for the next seven years. Following a relocation to Salt Lake City, Steve entered the dietary supplement and nutrition industries, where he has worked for 20 years in roles including quality assurance/control management, sales and business development.
Steve has degrees in Chemistry and Psychology from Northern Illinois University with a special emphasis in business management.
