The Smarter Food Company

Summary

Smarter Food is on a mission to help prevent Type 2 Diabetes. It’s incorporating a unique variety of broccoli into everyday foods, which research suggests reduces high blood glucose. They’re fundraising to bring to market their 1st product, SmarterNaturally soup.

• This product may also lower cholesterol and may have other health benefits.
• Global nutraceutical market projected to hit $722bn by 2027
• T2D accounts for >10% of the NHS budget. Projected to hit 17% by 2040
• From the Quadram Institute, a UK academic food & health research org

Idea

Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) is a serious condition that affects millions of people and risks serious health complications. Pre-diabetics are advised to diet & exercise, but long-term compliance is often low, with many going on to develop T2D. This is a growing problem worldwide.

Our soup, SmarterNaturally, will be easy to incorporate into a diet, aiming to provide a possible long-term sustainable solution. Our license on specially-grown patented broccoli contains higher levels of glucoraphanin which may help to prevent the onset of T2D in pre-diabetic patients.

Research suggests that just one bowl a week of our soup, designed to be both tasty & healthy, could help to lower high blood glucose levels and maintain it. High blood glucose levels is a key risk for developing T2D. Research also indicates our broccoli could help lower cholesterol and may also have other health benefits. Future programmes of human trials have been identified and will need to be carried out to get the evidence required to achieve a health claim.

Once ready, we will aim to sell SmarterNaturally soup B2C, with a subscription model following early commercialisation. We will also explore B2B revenue streams with the potential to sell to food retailers and medical channels.

Funding will be used to grow crop, manufacture & market our soup online, targeting at risk consumers & those looking to make health improvements.

Team

Laura Knight – CEO & Director

Laura was part of the team that helped establish the Quadram Institute, a new academic food and health research organisation and was one of the founders of Smarter Food, a spin-out from the Quadram Institute. Previously Director and Founder of 2 companies with exits to Virgin and a specialist VC.

Professor Richard Mithen – Inventor, Lead Scientist & Director (Part-time)

Professor of Human Nutrition, Liggins institute. Formerly, Research Leader of the Quadram Institute's Food Innovation and Health strategic research programme. Responsible for the introduction of high-glucoraphanin trait found in specially-cultivated broccoli.

Steve Morrison – Regulatory Specialist (Part-time)

Founder, P2F Ventures. Former COO, Provexis, the first European functional food company to achieve Article 13.5 'new science' health claim from EFSA.

Dr Martin Stocks (Part time)– Business Development, IP & Commercialisation

Owner & Director, Heatherbank Consulting. Previously, Business Development Manager, Plant Bioscience Ltd., CBO, Procarta Biosystems Ltd., Director, Iceni Advisory Ltd.

Other Directors:

Paul Finglas - Director: Heads the Food Databanks National Capability, Quadram Institute Bioscience.

Dr Andy Muir - Director: Fund principle, UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund.

Dr Georgina Pope - Director: Technology Transfer Business Development Manager, PBL Technology.