How Does Cibus Nexum Help Startups and Scaleups?

We help you grow your business efficiently, keep costs down, and move forward with confidence. 

Taking a product from development to large-scale manufacturing is tough for food startups and scale-ups. Many promising ideas stall due to surprise costs, risks, or technical hurdles. Cibus Nexum helps you tackle these issues with our FoodFlow Method, guiding you from technical validation to launch. As your independent partner, we connect you with the right manufacturers and offer clear strategies and industry expertise to turn your ideas into investor-ready products. 

Common Challenges for Food Startups and Scale-ups 

Food startups and scale-ups face many hurdles when moving from proof of concept to full-scale production. Lab methods that work for small batches often become inefficient and costly at larger scales. Strict EU rules on food safety, labelling, and packaging add more complexity. 

Manufacturers often require minimum order sizes that are too large for startups, leading to higher costs and shelf-life issues. Protecting intellectual property is also a major concern, as founders worry about losing their recipes or processes when outsourcing. Limited budgets make things harder, since building a factory is expensive and slow, and initial production runs can generate a lot of waste. Many contract manufacturers also lack the R&D skills needed for new products, so finding the right technical partners is crucial. 

How Cibus Nexum Helps Food Startups and Scale-ups 

Cibus Nexum helps food startups and scale-ups move quickly and confidently from validation to large-scale production. With our FoodFlow Method, we make sure your manufacturing plan aligns with your business goals, find the best technical partners, and help you scale from lab to industry.  

We recommend asset-light models to save capital, request detailed cost breakdowns to control margins, and connect you with CDMOs with strong R&D skills. We also help protect your IP, secure your supply chain, and guide you through EU regulations. With Cibus Nexum as your partner, you avoid costly mistakes, move faster, and reach commercial scale in just 6 to 9 months with a business case that builds investor confidence. 

Services and Solutions 

Cibus Nexum offers tailored services to help startups and scale-ups move from lab concept to market launch. Our services include asset-light upscaling for fast and flexible industrial entry, contract manufacturer scouting to find the best partners, business development and sales support to speed up market entry and growth, innovation support with Proxy Foods' AI platform for faster product development, and strategic consulting for commercial strategy, industrialisation, and supply chain setup. Each service is adapted to your current stage and helps you reach your next milestone efficiently. 

Venture Building & Rapid Prototyping 

Cibus Nexum supports food startups and scale-ups at every stage of venture building and rapid prototyping, helping bridge the gap between lab innovation and full industrial production. We ensure pilot tests align with your business goals, identify expert CDMOs, and secure access to food-grade pilot lines for efficient small-batch testing. We also coordinate trials to check both technical and commercial feasibility. 

Our approach solves technical problems and adapts recipes as needed. We model waste to improve yields, use black-box and split-processing for IP protection, and use open-access facilities to obtain reliable data. With Cibus Nexum, you avoid costly mistakes, choose the right manufacturing partners, and get to market faster.  

Asset-Light Upscaling 

Cibus Nexum helps food startups and scale-ups achieve fast, asset-light upscaling, guiding you from pilot to full industrial production without heavy capital investment. With the FoodFlow Method, we help you avoid the costly, slow process of building your own factory by leveraging agile co-manufacturing and careful planning, cutting time-to-market. We bridge the technical gap from lab to industrial scale. With Cibus Nexum, your manufacturing strategy aligns with your commercial goals, investment plan, and future exit, delivering speed, flexibility, and the confidence investors want. 

Contract Manufacturer Scouting & Outsourcing 

Cibus Nexum makes contract manufacturer scouting and outsourcing easier for food startups and scale-ups by designing production networks that fit your commercial goals and distribution needs. Instead of just choosing the nearest or cheapest factory, we do EU-wide, anonymous scouting to find and compare potential partners based on efficiency, automation, shelf-life, and distribution connections. 

Our process gives you a shortlist of validated manufacturers, so you can compare costs, technical fit, including whether a CDMO or standard CMO is best, and quality certifications. We protect your IP through confidential outreach and set up hybrid or black box supply chains when needed. By focusing on detailed cost breakdowns and technical screening, Cibus Nexum helps you avoid rushed or unsuitable manufacturing partnerships, so you can build a strong, cost-effective, and scalable production setup that supports your growth and market strategy. 

Sales & Business Development 

Cibus Nexum helps food, beverage, and food tech companies accelerate commercial growth through targeted business development support. Through our extensive network of producers, retailers, distributors, and strategic partners, we help these companies enter new markets faster, unlock commercial opportunities, and build a foundation for sustainable long-term success. 

Using our international network, we identify and validate manufacturing, retail, and distribution partners that align with your product requirements, growth goals, and route-to-market strategy. From initial outreach to final introduction, our team manages the process end to end, providing a shortlist of carefully screened, NDA-protected candidates and supporting the development of strong pitches for both producers and retailers. 

Beyond introductions, we provide ongoing sales support and partner management to keep opportunities moving forward efficiently. Acting as your main point of contact, we streamline communication, reduce administrative burden, and help structure high-value partnerships, including manufacturer collaborations, joint ventures, and licensing opportunities. 

By aligning your production and supply chain with the right commercial channels, Cibus Nexum helps you secure the partnerships, market access, and sales momentum needed for successful launches and sustainable expansion. 

Innovation as a Service (Powered by Proxy Foods) 

Cibus Nexum speeds up innovation for food startups and scale-ups with Innovation as a Service, powered by Proxy Foods' AI platform. By combining our industrial upscaling expertise with advanced predictive tools, we help you go from concept to pilot-ready prototype in days, not months.  

The platform enables rapid formulation and optimisation by simulating sensory outcomes, benchmarking against top products, predicting shelf-life and stability, and ensuring regulatory compliance worldwide. 

Our experts work with your team to co-develop and refine recipes, using AI to optimise cost, yield, and ingredient choices, and to simulate industrial processes to ensure your formulations are ready for scale-up. By bringing together scattered R&D data and applying decision-grade analytics, Cibus Nexum helps you deliver a commercially viable, investor-ready solution faster, reducing risk, cutting costs, and preparing you for industrial production. 

Consulting for Food Startups and Scale-ups 

Cibus Nexum offers hands-on consulting to help food startups and scale-ups move from lab concept to industrial reality, focusing on agile upscaling and commercial strategy. We work closely with founders to match their business model with the right manufacturing and supply chain approach. Our team conducts thorough make-or-buy assessments, benchmarks partners across Europe, and designs IP-secure supply chains using split-processing or black-box models. 

We provide cost transparency with detailed breakdowns, manage the technical jump from pilot to industrial scale, and help you prepare for investor review by building a strong, credible business case. With a clear industrialisation roadmap that addresses risks such as minimum production quantities, waste, and changes to raw materials, Cibus Nexum gives you the guidance and confidence to scale profitably and attract investment. 

Case Studies: Real-World Impact of Cibus Nexum 

Cibus Nexum's expertise is best illustrated through real-world case studies that showcase how their independent guidance, technical expertise, and strategic approach deliver results for startups and scale-ups. 

GOOD GOOD: Scaling a Low-Carb Peanut Butter Line 

The Icelandic brand GOOD GOOD wanted to launch a keto-friendly peanut butter in the U.S., but faced high local production costs and technical challenges with the carbohydrate content, which threatened the "keto" claim. Cibus Nexum's team solved the technical issue and, after careful benchmarking, found a highly automated Dutch manufacturer that offered the best cost and quality, even though many expected lower-wage countries to be cheaper. The product is now sold in thousands of U.S. stores. 

La Vie: IP Protection through Split-Processing 

For the French plant-based brand La Vie, protecting proprietary processing knowledge during scale-up was crucial. Cibus Nexum created a split-processing model, making the sensitive semi-finished product through a joint venture and sending it to regional hubs for the final steps. This approach protected their IP without limiting scalability. 

These case studies show how Cibus Nexum helps clients solve technical challenges, reduce costs, protect intellectual property, and enter the market quickly and successfully. 

Ready to Scale Up? 

Contact us to discuss your scaling and outsourcing needs. Once you reach out, our team will respond promptly to schedule a discovery call. In this call, we'll talk about your goals, challenges, and plans. Then, we'll assess your needs and suggest next steps, including a tailored action plan or proposal.