Nature's Principles - Circular Factory

Nature’s Principles

The program gave us a lot of positive energy, a close connection with like-minded start-ups and insights into our vulnerabilities and risks.

Nature’s Principles is scaling up a new L-lactic acid production process, enabling more sustainable and cost-effective production of lactic acid. Lactic acid is used in cleaning formulations and food preservation, among other things. A residual flow of European sugar beet is used as raw material for this process. Jan Pieter Van Tilburg is cofounder and CEO of Nature’s Principles. The process of Nature’s Principles is truly unique and different than the current market. With our technology, instead of using refined sugar, we prepare the crop to be fermented. In this way, we are more efficient with costs and energy-use. Jules Rombouts about participating Circular Factory: “What I got out of it is a lot of positive energy, a close connection with like-minded start-ups and insights into our vulnerabilities and risks. It has been able to help me in my entrepreneurship, by providing a clear framework based on where we can structure our developments. The division of the program into these 4 clear domains has helped us, among other things, to formulate a strategy on how we can achieve our product-market fit and shape our developments.”

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News

20.07.2023

That is the amount the startups Bakkersgrondstof, Biophilica, BlueBlocks, Fairm, Magie Creations and Nature's Principles need to make a serious scale step. The young companies are participants in the Circular Factory programme, set up by Tekkoo, BlueCity and partners such as Invest NL and Renewi. The program supports startups that want to build a factory for their circular or biobased products. In this way, Circular Factory wants to contribute to the realization of twenty circular factories in the coming years.

7.11.2022

Circular Factory supporter Invest-NL about the future of circular startups in the manufacturing industry: “How can we use circular strategies to create a just and liveable society for all?”

Invest-NL is one of the supporters of the Circular Factory program. In this interview, Maud Hartstra and Guy de Sévaux discuss the importance of scaling up circular startups. “All kinds of developments are underway, which means that many more circular start-ups will be founded in the coming years. Circular Factory is designed for circular startups in the manufacturing industry that want to scale their production by building their first factory; and help them to make this factory circular. In addition to these startups, we also see on a larger scale a new focus of moving production closer to home. More and more manufacturing companies previously located in Asia and Eastern Europe are returning to Western Europe. With the Circular Factory program we want to point out to the entire value chain that making things circular and sustainable requires a different approach and mindset, but also changes in business models and new ways of financing. As far as Invest-NL is concerned, Circular Factory is coming at the right time.”