Citrosuco and StartLife join forces to make juice industry sustainable
The Brazilian juice giant Citrosuco has announced a strategic partnership with StartLife to help the juice value chain become 100% sustainable.
The company has teamed up with the Dutch agrifoodtech accelerator to gain better access to European startups, in particular those with new technologies. Citrosuco offers startups funding and technical and operational expertise.
As one of the world’s largest producers of orange juice and orange-based ingredients, Citrosuco is committed to drive the transformation to a 100% sustainable juice value chain by 2030. Citrosuco believes that the power and focus of startups will help them reach breakthroughs much faster.
“Startups have creative ideas and are often forerunners in new technologies. We have operational and product expertise, (testing) facilities and both the opportunity and knowledge to scale up new technologies. It just makes sense to combine our forces,” said Alex Marie Schuermans, product development and applications general manager of Citrosuco.
Alex Marie Schuermans added: “We have come to know StartLife as one of Europe’s leading agrifoodtech accelerators with a solid support program and a rapidly expanding network in Europe. They also have a proven track record in matching startups with corporates. As such, we believe StartLife is in an excellent position to help us achieve our goals.”
Caroline Bijkerk, global partnership manager of StartLife, said of the partnership: “Two of every ten glasses of orange juice consumed around the globe are produced are produced by Citrosuco. Imagine the impact when they apply new technologies which reduce waste, energy and water consumption or contribute to even healthier nutrition, to just name a few examples. Citrosuco offers a wide array of opportunities for both foodtech and agtech startups to contribute to a sustainable food supply chain as well as to grow their own business at the same time. Clearly we look forward to help making this happen.”