SIBÖ B.V. announces closing of seed round financing
SIBÖ B.V. announces closing of seed round financing
Sibö B.V. has successfully completed its €250.000 seed round of financing with a combination of private capital from 2 private investors and an innovation loan from Rabobank.
Sibö’s potential with the insect-based protein extract as well as its proprietary bio-component separation process has been recognized by these 3 financial supporters. And with this round, we focus on the filing of our patent applications and pilot production by the end of 2021. Setting 2022 as our official market launch year.
Sibö CEO, Alejandro Ortega stated, “It is a great accomplishment for our company, not because of the capital but instead because of how hard it was and what we have been able to accomplish even with the challenges of the past 18 months since we were accepted for the Startup Visa. An accomplishment at the end of the day is not important without meaning, and that meaning for us is to be able to continue a revolution to lead the food industry to a more sustainable future while including the most vulnerable people as part of the solution. It took a long time but that meaning allowed us to keep our values and vision and get to the best financial supporters we could have wished for”
The journey to The Netherlands
Sibö was awarded the Startup Visa from Impact Hub Amsterdam in February 2020, but due to Covid-19 the founders could not get to The Netherlands until November of 2020 and incorporate until April 16th, 2021, which lead difficulties to apply for funding both from subsidies and private investors.
A brief history
Sibö is the main Costa Rican deity who taught indigenous people how to use natural resources in a responsible and sustainable way, and Alejandro and Daniela both being from Costa Rica decided to keep their roots and vision together with this adventure. The story of how insects became to be part of the solution lies in the understanding of the word sustainability, current food production problems, and a “why not” that lead to the creation of the original startup called Costa Rica Insect Company (still operating to this date as a Subsidiary of Sibö).
But Sibö’s vision was bigger, and to lead the food industry had to solve several technical and financial challenges, which is why the founders decided to apply for the Dutch Startup Visa and set up operations in The Netherlands to collaborate with the dutch ecosystem full of leaders in the food industry like Wageningen University, Unilever and many others.
Partners
The current traction and accomplishments we have made so far have been made thanks to the support of our advisors and also key partners we would like to mention.
Brightlands Chemelot Campus who have provided us with business support ImpactCity and The Hague Business Agency who have expanded our network Impact Hub Amsterdam helped us with the Startup Visa and BMC Program Rabobank is now supporting us with the Innovation Loan Accelerate 2030 has been providing a global network and impact support CHILL, key research and development partner for all our insect ideas and projects.
Learn more about Sibö at https://sibo.tech or contact Alejandro Ortega via email at aortega@sibo.tech