This article is part of a blog series introducing the startup teams of the EIT Food Accelerator Network Helsinki 2023 programme.
With a growing world population, we find ourselves at the crossroads between largely animal-based diets and a sustainable future. Time Travelling Milkman believes that dairy alternatives are the solution to bridge these two worlds. However, 73% of consumers are disappointed by the taste and texture of dairy alternatives. Luckily, Time Travelling Milkman can provide a 100% plant-based cream made of just sunflower seeds and water with a very low environmental footprint. This OleoCream can easily be used in any plant-based formulation without compromising health, sustainability and convenience.
At Time Travelling Milkman, like dairy cream, sunflower seeds are gently squeezed and skimmed into a cream ingredient. This cream consists of little lipid droplets creating a creamy mouthfeel in dairy alternative products. These little lipid droplets form the magic behind the OleoCream, which were studied by all three co-founders in Wageningen University (WUR): the “oleosome-technology”. Time Travelling Milkman is accelerating the food transition by selling OleoCream to food producers producing, eg., plant-based ice creams, cream cheeses, yoghurts and cooking creams. The EIT FAN programme was a uniquely fitting programme that would be able to bring us in contact with relevant corporates that might be in need of creaminess in such soft-dairy products.
EIT FAN: Collaboration-focused & tailor-made
With our knowledgeable but technical team, we enjoy finding synergistic food development projects to make our ingredient succeed and have an impact together with our customers. As this can be challenging at times with larger organizations, the EIT FAN programme provides clear insights into how to structure these collaborations. The programme sparks successful first connections, knowledge sharing, as well as pilot trials between start-ups and corporates.
Next to these collaborations, the programme is tailor-made and allows for input from many experts, from pitch training to go-to-market strategy. We are continuously challenged to zoom in and out of the strategy, impact and activities of our company, helping us to bring focus and develop our company further. We are extremely grateful to do this while being surrounded by like-minded, inspiring start-ups working on food ingredients and plant-based products.
So far, we have greatly enjoyed the first half of the programme and look forward to continuing the acceleration that EIT FAN started. In case you are in doubt about whether to apply for this programme, the only advice we can give is to stop doubting and sign up!
Written by Time Travelling Milkman’s co-founders Lead Scientist Saskia Tersteeg & CEO Dimitris Karefyllakis
If you are not yet done reading about irresistible plant creaminess, find out more about Time Travelling Milkman on their website, and follow their journey on LinkedIn and Instagram. Learn more about the EIT FAN Helsinki programme here.
