Above: Pictured at the launch of the Tirlán Nurture Fund investment platform at the Tirlán Innovation Centre in Ballyragget, Co Kilkenny were (l to r) Chairperson John Murphy; CEO Jim Bergin; Director of R&D Michelle Collins; Chief Financial & Secretariat Officer Michael Horan and Chief Investment Officer Frank Tobin

Tirlán has committed €10m to fund agri-food technologies focused on nutrition and sustainability

Tirlán recently announced a commitment of €10 million towards the development of the Tirlán Nurture Fund, an investment platform aimed at identifying and scaling innovative agrifood-tech solutions. The aim of the Fund is to investigate the potential of disruptive nutritional technology solutions outside the Co-op – technologies that could increase efficiency, sustainability and innovation for our farmers, community and company and help transition the company to more sustainable, less resource-intensive food systems. Both direct and indirect investments will be made into technologies seeking commercial scale and to established companies looking to scale into new markets.

Tero Tiilikainen is Head of Corporate Development at Tirlán and has played an instrumental role in setting up and running the Fund. “This investment programme is about much more than just financial return. It’s about driving innovation in the business and allowing us to discover best in class technologies. It’s also about putting money to work in a way that’s an extension of our existing capabilities,” says Tero.

Projects that are eligible for the Fund span the entire supply chain. If a project adds value to Tirlán’s existing products or if it drives sustainability within the business, it will be considered by Tero and the team. “Projects could be focused on any number of things, such as plant based proteins, precision fermentation, bioenergy, farm technologies such as biotech, feed additives or midstream technologies that help us improve traceability or safety. Really, the possibilities are endless.”

Firms interested in applying to the Fund are welcome to do so, says Tero. “We’re out in the market looking at various technologies ourselves, but we’re always happy to engage with interested parties.” The first investment is set to take place in Q1 2024. “Our goal is to begin putting the money to work next year. It’s important that we spend time now investigating and reviewing projects and doing our due diligence to ensure they’re the right kind of technologies for us before we make a commitment.”

The Nurture Fund is very much a two-way project, says Tero. “It’s about collaboration and partnership. As a company, we have a lot of resources we could offer to early stage businesses who want to scale up like commercial expertise, R&D, operations, logistics, etc. We want to link up with firms that are developing interesting and novel technologies and thanks to the resources we can bring to the table, I think Tirlán makes for a very attractive partner.”