For this episode, Antonin Léonard sat down with Hugo Valentin, co-founder and CEO of Edonia.

Edonia is an industrial deeptech that turns microalgae into Edo, a clean-label textured protein with more protein than meat and no additives, flavourings or texturisers. Its real signature is how it scales: where most food deeptechs build custom infrastructure and burn tens of millions, Edonia bent standard, off-the-shelf equipment to its patented "edonisation" process.

Low CapEx, leasable, fast. The result is a TRL 7 pilot delivering its first tonnes after only three years, a largely de-risked path to thousands of tonnes, and a Series A raised in a sector most investors have learned to fear.

In this conversation, we explore:

→ The CapEx-light playbook: standard equipment over custom infrastructure, and why it de-risks the scale-up

→ Why the alternative-protein crash was a sequencing and capital problem, not a demand problem

→ How clean label beats meat mimicry, and Edonia's cost edge over the meat it replaces

→ The Newrest school-canteen test: a world-first plate whose only protein source is microalgae

→ Raising a Series A in a downturn sector, and how Hugo would judge a climate deeptech himself

To learn more:

https://asterionventures.com/en/contact

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