Two TU Delft pre-startups granted within DSM NL Kickstart Fund

In 2020, DSM NL established the Kickstart Fund to support the ecosystem around Planet B.io and the Biotech Campus Delft. With a total annual budget of 200 k€, the Fund supports activities in three categories:  pre-startup support, startup support and ecosystem support. The funds are coordinated by Planet B.io.  

The objective of the first category is to support TU Delft pre-startups with strategic value to the Biotech Campus Delft to reach Proof-of-Principle, so that these pre-startups are better positioned to access other funding sources.  In 2021, the first two pre-startups were granted.  

In November 2022, three pre-startups pitched their plans at the Biotech Campus Delft. The applications were assessed by the Planet B.io team with support from DSM experts, focusing on three main criteria: the thematic fit with Planet B.io, Biotech Campus Delft, and/or DSM; the commercial and technology readiness; and the quality of the proposal. Two of the pre-startups were granted an amount of €50.000,- from the Fund to support their Proof-of-Principle activities.   

HoliZyme brings enzymatic solutions to chemistry challenges 

HoliZyme originated from the research group of Prof. Frank Hollmann and focuses on the use of peroxygenases for the synthesis of (fine) chemicals with potential applications in flavours and fragrances, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. Founded in 2022, HoliZyme is developing a virtual screening platform which integrates an enzyme library with efficient data management. Through this approach, they expect to be able to reduce the development time, from activity detection to scale-up, for industrial partners. The grant will be used to support their activities in the wet and dry labs, and for business development.    

ProteoT develops metaproteomic* barcoding for food applications 

With their 2021 grant, the pre-startup team from the research group of Dr. Martin Pabst developed a software platform based on smart target selection, allowing them to obtain Proof-of-Principle for the use of metaproteomic barcoding on monitoring of waste water treatment consortia. With the new grant, they aim at evaluating the applicability of the technology in food applications, and the market need relative to the current industry standards, for example to support taxonomic identity and purity control in plant-based meat alternatives.  

*Metaproteomics - the large-scale identification and quantification of proteins from complete microbial communities 

Beyond pre-startup support 

While the pre-startup support is exclusive for initiatives originating at TU Delft, the startup support and the ecosystem support are aimed at promoting collaboration between the startups that are part of the Planet B.io community and other parties in our ecosystem: knowledge institutes, other startups, etc. Many initiatives are possible!