What is Fresh?
Fresh is a venture building program and startup studio based in The Netherlands, dedicated to accelerating a regenerative food system. It partners with mission-driven founders to co-found new businesses that tackle some of the most pressing challenges in the food system. The program is designed to help shape venture concepts that have a clear problem, a validated solution, and the beginnings of a viable business model. These ventures often focus on farmer-centric solutions, aiming to transform the cultivation and production side of the food chain—the very start where most impacts and challenges lie.
Main Benefits of Joining Fresh
Joining Fresh offers a unique opportunity to:
- Meet exceptional, mission-driven co-founders who complement your skills and interests
- Access an ecosystem of key stakeholders, financiers, and potential launching customers
- Participate in a two-week digital pre-phase followed by a 13-week in-person program in Rotterdam
- Engage deeply with the food system through ‘problem loving’—a thorough exploration to uncover promising opportunities
- Prototype solutions and gather feedback from relevant stakeholders
- Be introduced to core investors and financiers at the program’s end
- Potentially join the Fresh Ventures studio to accelerate your venture and impact
How the Program Works
The Fresh program kicks off with a light digital pre-phase lasting two weeks. This phase helps participants explore a rich knowledge library, connect with their cohort, and prepare for the in-person experience. Following this, the 13-week program in Rotterdam dives into the heart of the food system. It starts with ‘problem loving’—a deep dive into the system’s challenges to identify the most promising opportunity areas. From there, participants ideate, test, and narrow down potential solutions. The final phase focuses on prototyping one solution and collecting feedback from stakeholders to refine the approach.
Who Fresh is Looking For
Fresh seeks a diverse mix of people—business-minded individuals, domain experts, and technical talents from various backgrounds. The goal is to create well-balanced teams that can tackle systemic challenges in the food system. The program particularly focuses on ventures that address critical barriers or build essential capacities to accelerate the transition toward regenerative food systems. Ambition to transform the food system and an entrepreneurial spirit to found new ventures are key traits Fresh looks for in its participants.
Fresh’s Unique Approach to Venture Building
Fresh operates as an institutionalized co-founder, supporting ventures hands-on during their first 1-2 years. The studio works closely with entrepreneurial teams to organize capital, connect to expertise, build teams, and handle essential tasks like legal, accounting, design, and finding early customers. The ultimate aim is to help ventures become fully autonomous as they gain traction and success. Fresh also embraces a Steward Ownership model, which separates decision-making and profit-sharing rights, giving founders exclusive control over decision-making shares while also rewarding them economically for their early-stage risks and investments.
Impact of Fresh on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
- SDG 2: Zero Hunger – by promoting regenerative food systems that improve food security and sustainable agriculture
- SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production – through ventures that address systemic barriers in cultivation and production
- SDG 13: Climate Action – by accelerating the transition to sustainable farming practices that reduce environmental impact
- SDG 15: Life on Land – supporting regenerative practices that restore ecosystems and biodiversity
- SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals – leveraging a network of investors, experts, and stakeholders to build impactful ventures
Fresh’s Commitment to Long-Term Impact
Fresh is deeply invested in its mission, building alongside partners with skin in the game. The approach is always collaborative—building with, not for, communities that rally around the commons. Impact comes first; profit serves the purpose. Growth is important but always governed by a clear impact strategy. Fresh plays the long game, focusing on systemic change in the food system by addressing the hardest challenges with a systems understanding. This dedication ensures that ventures emerging from Fresh are not just startups but catalysts for a fundamentally sustainable food future.
