Fastlane is a driving force for the growth of agri-food companies

In May 2021, Invest-NL and Foodvalley NL launched this new programme to accelerate the growth of young companies. The step from start-up to scale-up can be difficult for companies operating in the food chain. In order to help these companies grow, the Fastlane programme offers young companies tailored mentoring, personal coaching and a diverse group of world-class experts.

Invest-NL and Foodvalley NL can look back on a successful first edition of the Fastlane programme with their first participants: Willicroft,Rival Foods, de Nieuwe Melkboer and Grassa. On Wednesday 13 April 2022, the four selected companies took to the stage to pitch their experiences during the Fastlane programme to the Dutch agri-food ecosystem, including a group of investors, corporates and knowledge institutions.

Tom Grobben (De Nieuwe Melkboer): "We received advice and support from Fastlane on setting up the company, marketing our brand and having discussions with investors. As a result, the programme has prepared us for further scaling up."

Raising the financing

The aim of the programme is to support companies in developing their propositions so that they can then successfully attract financing.Three of the four participating companies have managed to attract investors for a new financing round.

Experts have helped the companies with diverse issues, such as attracting talent, selecting the right market for national or international expansion and addressing various financing issues.

Fastlane is built on the Dutch agri-food ecosystem and the partner community is therefore essential in order to provide the right support to companies as successfully as possible. On 13 April, this partner network grew significantly with the addition of Rabobank, The Yield Lab, Shift Invest, RVO, Future Food Fund, ISPT, Peakbridge Capital andTechleap.By admitting this diverse group of parties to the Fastlane community, Invest-NL aims to involve the entire ecosystem in the successful growth of companies.