Gavan technology is based on our ability to extract proteins from a wide variety of plants
Please introduce yourself and your startup Gavan to our readers!
Hello, my name is Itai, I am a serial entrepreneur with a passion to build new companies, create value and always make sure there is something good for the world. Gavan has given me the opportunity to engage with one of the most challenging problems in the food industry: How to create quality food by using fewer resources, via sustainable practices.
How did you get the idea of Gavan?
Gavan was established during a quest for new tastes by Uri Jeremias, a famous chef from Acre, Israel. This initiated the work with Spirulina.
Our mission is driven by a deep-rooted commitment to unlock botanical resources to create bioactive ingredients. Longtime collaborators Uri Jeremias, a famous chef of the restaurant who brought his groundbreaking culinary knowledge and passion to the ingredients industry, and Allen Hazan, with rich experience in designing processes and products, were inspired to create the new technology after meeting me and Baruch Dach, a marine biotechnologist and inventor. The new perfect blue was the brainchild of our inventive synergy, leading us to form Gavan in 2020.
Why did you decide to start with Gavan?
We have a passion for strategizing sustainable solutions. We started developing new technologies in that respect. The spirulina was our first source and we succeeded to extract three different and valuable products from Spirulina making use of the entire biomass. This was our landmark to develop a full sustainable platform.
What is the vision behind Gavan?
Our unique technology is based on our ability to extract proteins from a wide variety of plants. In fact, the blue pigment from spirulina is a small protein. Our vision is to deliver the best-in-class affordable, plant-based protein to the food industry that can be customized to meet customer needs with respect to the protein properties.
How difficult was the start and which challenges you had to overcome?
The start was relatively easy, we had a mission and people who believed in us. The real challenges we faced began later on, once we started the transition from technology development in the lab towards production.
Who is your target audience?
We are targeting food and beverage manufacturers who looking to use natural colors in their hot and cold drinks. Our pallet of colors includes beyond blue, green and purple. All high temperature resistant.
What is the USP of your startup?
We have a game-changer plant -based extraction platform. It enables us to create unique natural, vivid blue colors with resistance to high temperature and low pH making them perfect for pasteurization. We have more innovative plant-based products in the pipeline.
Can you describe your typical workday?
That is a great part of my job. There is no typical workday. It is certainly not a nine-to-five job and very hard to explain what it is. Every day is a new adventure.
Where do you see yourself and your startup Gavan in five years?
Gavan will be a significant company in the plant-based protein and coloring market offering unique protein complexes that poses high functionality on one hand while enable to produce the exact color, scent, and taste of the protein.
What 3 tips would you give to founders?
So many books have been written with tips for founders. For me, there is one important tip that guides me throughout my career and should be considered by founders or any manager in that respect. Find the best people and empower them. I have an amazing team in Gavan and I am so proud of them and what they have achieved.
Thank you Itai Cohen for the Interview
Statements of the author and the interviewee do not necessarily represent the editors and the publisher opinion again.
