Young Hero Award winner Agroflux pitched at F&A Next
Agroflux BV is a Dutch startup-company that specializes in application of seaweed and seaweed-derived products for the dairy industry. The company has extensive expertise on cattle nutrition and ruminant physiology.
Berend Tillema, co-founder of Agroflux and responsible for research and development of the company, won the Young Hero Award at the Business Event Wageningen last month. ‘This award means a lot to us. Towards customers and suppliers I see this Wageningen award as a signal of confidence. We are now located at StartHub, the student startup incubator on Wageningen campus. There is a good atmosphere there and a lot of knowledge at the university as a whole’.
Seaweed as a major innovation in animal feed
The added value of using seaweed in the dairy industry is to be found in the animal health-promoting bioactive compounds. The seaweed-specific polysaccharides, omega-3 fatty acids, carotenoids, minerals and other bioactive substances all do their job resulting in more efficient concentrate feed use, improved animal health, and higher quality of the milk. Agroflux has developed its own concentrate feed product called SeaSpirit Cow containing specially selected red, green and brown macroalgae.
What we see is a more efficient producing cow with a much improved udder health. Currently, there are experiments going on with a calf milk based on seaweed extracts. The first results here are very promising: less diarrhea, improved overall health and better growth.
F&A Next pitch
Berend: ‘I had never heard of F&A Next. We had the opportunity to pitch 60seconds pitches on Wednesday afternoon. This was a great experience for us and a great moment to meet investors’.
Return on investment
‘Our goal for 2017 is to introduce our seaweed based products to the Dutch dairy market.
Our field trial showed that the application our product Agroflux SeaSpirit Cow resulted in significantly better economic results. Based on extra milk production and more efficient concentrates use return on investment is calculated to be 1:2,5. Improved SCC number, improved consistency of the manure and improved cow health are not included in this calculation.’
