#68: Mauricio Agudelo and Lina María Toro - Sustainable Animal Nutrition

What significant problems does the food industry face today? Which solutions are already in development?

In this episode, I am talking with Mauricio Agudelo and Lina María Toro about Sustainable Food Innovation in South America.

BIALTEC assists animal protein producers to improve productivity and profitability through precision nutrition, understanding their particular dietary needs, analyzing them through a bioinformatics platform that uses artificial intelligence, and supplying the next generation antibiotic-free additives that will facilitate performance to obtain the desired results.

In this episode, we talk about:

• The Problems in the Food Industry
•  What Solutions are in Development?
• Bialtec’s Mission
• Why You Should Create a Startup and
• Much More

I hope you enjoy the conversation the same way I did.

Who are the experts in the show?

• Mauricio Agudelo (eMail:  
• Lina María Toro (eMail: lina.toro@bialtec.co)

Shownotes: tbd

Youtube: https://youtu.be/8S--mLaRJ4w

Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro

(02:30) Opening

(05:45) Recap of EFIB October 2021

(09:15) The Major Problems in the Food Industry in South America, North America, and Europe

(11:40) Use of Antibiotics in Agriculture 

(12:45) The Two Big Problems in Agriculture 

(13:45) Precision Farming and Precision Agriculture: Using AI, Big Data and Gene Editing

(16:20) Bialtec’s Mission

(19:50) Solution of Bialtec for Precision Farming

(24:15) The Importance of the Microbiome

(30:20) Big Data, Health, and Nutrition

(31:50) Let Food be thy medicine and medicine be thy Food.

(33:30) The global increase in meat consumption

(36:15) Sustainability

(38:30) Motivation to create a StartUp

(46:45) The Start-Up Eco-System in Colombia

(50:45) Live Your Dreams

(54:00) Opportunity for US and EU Bases Investors in Latin America

(58:45) Bialtec’s Plans for European Expansion

(01:01:45) What is Bialtec Looking for?

Podcast Links:
Podcast Website: https://www.lifescienceget2gether.com/
Podcast Community: https://lsg2g.substack.com/
Community Partner: https://linktr.ee/lsg2g
Christian Soschner: https://linktr.ee/soschner
LSG2G Twitter: https://twitter.com/LGet2gether
LSG2G Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/life-science-get2gether
Podcast Episodes: https://pod.link/1493847125
Episodes on YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlZfrwd6iXrQ3LIANISUpP22seS2CsCEV

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Transcript

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Christian Soschner 0:00

What is going on in the food industry? What major problems does the food industry face today? Which solutions are already in development? Does one of these questions resonate with you? Then episode number 68 might be right for you.

Lina Toro 0:21

I would like to bring him or her a message which is believe in your dreams and believe it's possible. You don't need to be in the US, you don't need to be in Europe for bringing your dreams to come true. If you think your solution is powerful, if you think your solution is different and it's innovative, then keep looking forward for the solution.

Christian Soschner 0:40

Maybe this is episode number 68, in which I discuss questions like this with Lina Toro and Mauricio Agudello, two entrepreneurs from Latin America. The recording happened in November 2021, and we were talking about the problems in the food industry, what solutions are already in development and coming to the market. Biotech's mission, why you should create a startup, and much, much more. In this episode, I present Biotech, which is a company in Colombia, and Biotech assists animal protein producers to improve productivity and profitability through precision, nutrition, understanding their particular dietary needs, analyzing them through a bioinformatics platform that uses artificial intelligence and supplying the next generation antibiotic-free additives that will facilitate performance to obtain the desired results. The CEO and co-founder of Biotech is Mauricio Agudello. He is a chemical engineer by training and has complementary studies completed in project management and tech management, business and finances. He has nine years of experience in biotechnology companies and is co-inventor of several patents and studied two companies already. He is accompanied by his CFO, Lina Maria Torro. Lina Maria Torro has an MBA, nine years of experience in the financial industry, and four years of experience in the biotechnological sector. She did complementary studies in digital marketing and is an accomplished leader in administrative and marketing processes. I hope you enjoy this episode the same way as I did. Welcome to a new episode of the Life Science Get Together podcast Beginner's Minds. Today I'm very happy to have two guests from, I would say, from the Vienna perspective, Sunny Colombia, Mauricio Agudello, and Lina Toro. Welcome to the show.

Lina Toro 2:58

Thank you, Christian. Thank you for having us here.

Christian Soschner 3:00

Thank you so much, Christian, for having me here. It's good to see you. How is the weather in uh Colombia?

Lina Toro 3:06

Well, the weather is kind of rainy and it's uh cloudy today, so it's not like the very sensational tropical weather you might have in your mind, but it's still it's uh an enjoyable temperature.

Christian Soschner 3:19

Where are you located in uh this beautiful country?

Lina Toro 3:22

We are located in in a region close to the second main city of the country. It's called Medellin. We're in the middle of the mountains, and um it's yeah, it's always rainy and it's always very tropical weather.

Christian Soschner 3:40

Warm sometimes.

Lina Toro 3:41

Yeah, something it's warm.

Christian Soschner 3:43

Yeah, it's in Vienna, it's a little bit cloudy, um snow, so we have uh more wintery weather around zero degrees Celsius, and it's in the middle of the city. So it's I think the view from your office is probably a little bit more um beneficial than uh my view, where I just see the rooftops of Vienna. How is your how is the view from your office? Uh full of mountains.

Lina Toro 4:07

Full of mountains, full of cows, full of horses all over. We've decided to have our headquarters like in the middle of the of the like in the middle of farms and in the in in the country part of of the city. So yeah, you can see a lot of tropical birds all over, full over, like full of color and flowers all over the place. It's very, very nice. It's it's very nice to to to have like our office in this environment.

Mauricio Agudelo 4:36

And I, as Lina said, we took that decision to have our headquarters in this place because this is a daily industry around us. A port industry is rural but with a high potential to grow. So one of the things that we have on our mind is to develop the regions, not just the city. So part of the work we do through BLTEC is to push the industry in the rural sectors to everyone keep there in not to move to the city as is most common.

Lina Toro 5:18

If if in case there you hear uh dog barkling, we feel sorry for that. But our neighbors are all full of dogs and and we can at so it's it's no problem.

Christian Soschner 5:30

I like that. I like that. Uh it gives a nice flavor, it gives a nice flavor to this podcast episode.

Lina Toro 5:36

Okay, yeah, we've tried to have like the closest dogs controls, but you know, it's all full of dogs all lovers.

Christian Soschner 5:44

So I believe that. Uh Mauricio Lina, we met at the uh EFIP uh European Forum for industrial biotechnology and the bioeconomy in Vienna. How was the conference for you?

Mauricio Agudelo 5:58

I I think it was great uh for us. We have been going to this uh fair for the last three years, yeah, part of the lockdown with by the COVID. But before that, we we were dead because in 2019 we were selected for one of the most innovative startups in biotech by DSM and Telft. Uh a validation lab, they made a contest, and we were one of the uh finalists in that process. Uh so we we met that fair and we we really enjoyed the conference and the new topics that we can talk there and to yeah, the partnering with the potential investor and what is going on in that field is very exciting for us. Lina, how was it for you?

Lina Toro 6:54

Well, actually, I'm not very technical manager. So for me, it's like I need to understand a new language to understand and learn new science in the market and the different solutions that scientists bring to different problems that maybe sometimes we don't even know that they're there. So it's quite interesting for me to be in in this kind of event where where you can see a different uh point of view of how the Europeans decide to solve several problems that we don't even consider in Latin America. So it's like the conscious level. And yeah, we have like we we have like a mission to bring all this message to Latin America and to tell them that yeah, yeah, look, like this is real, this is a problem and it's coming, and we have to think about our future and the future generations. So yeah, it's quite exciting for us, and and every time it's like knowing people from all over Europe, not like the always countries like Germany or or Spain or France, but also from Austria, Lithuania, um, and Eastern Europe, it's very, very interesting to know that how you all guys are solving the common problems we all have.

Christian Soschner 8:12

Yeah, I completely agree to what you both are saying. I think it's a great idea to exchange ideas and talk about uh problems. What do we have in common? Uh, where are differences, what are different points of views, what are common points of views, and bringing people together. I enjoyed especially the socializing part at the conference because it was the first one in two years that I attended. And what I learned at this conference, what I was absolutely not aware of, is that there is a lot going on in the food industry. So I'm coming from drug development from with a farmer background, and uh thought food is food. So, what innovation would you like to bring to food? Uh I couldn't imagine that. And then came the conference, and uh I saw many great things, and you started talking about problems, and I'm curious. Um, from your perspective, you know uh South America, Latin America, you know, I think also North America, and you traveled to Europe. So you got a really great overview about the major problems in the food industry. And I'm curious, could you share a little bit uh of your insight into this area?

Lina Toro 9:23

Yeah, well, the biggest problems we have is that we have to nourish the growth, the growing population with less uh with less uh how would you call it? Like you have to produce more with less because there's not enough soil for or cultivated land for for for having these crops of of uh to produce their grains, their animal needs and human needs to be nourished.

Mauricio Agudelo 9:54

So this is a huge problem because population is growing and blood resources are uh unavailable. So yeah, and a few big companies are in charge of the whole nutrition, the entire nutrition of the entire uh world. So some issues uh come up, like high density, for example. Yes, and when you have high density, you need extra tool to support the tension of the boundary, you are pushing the line. And is I think it's a consequence of the globalization war in the market. Um so we need to create or to develop a new tool in order to support that uh the other extra effort over the land. And I think one of the biggest of the food industry is manufacturers because they must produce more food with lower resources and healthier, cleaner, greener, and less process uh besides with a great test, such a big deal. Um but if we talk about particular problems in food industry, we must consider the production of animal protein. Uh FAO has said the increase on the demand 2050 to 70 percent, but we don't have enough arable land, cultivary land, to produce the grains and cereal we need to nourish everyone. So we must improve the efficiency and find alternative solutions. Uh, one of the most solutions to improve efficiency is the use of growth promoters, mainly antibiotics. However, the excessive abuse has increased global concerns related with the antimicrobial resistance AMR. According to the WHO, AMR can kill more people than cancer in the near future. So, okay, one of the biggest challenges in the protein market is how can we produce more meat, milk, and eggs to nourish the growing population with less resources and curb the AMR.

Lina Toro 12:26

Actually, this is one of the reasons why the use of antibiotics as growth promoters has been banned in the European Union and also in China last year. So and here in Latin America, there's also beginning to have some certain regulations about the use of these antibiotics. And um, this is how we have like defined the problem in the food industry.

Mauricio Agudelo 12:54

Yeah, I can frame in two big problems with efficiency and microbial resistance.

Christian Soschner 13:03

That's very interesting. That's very interesting. So, your findings are that there won't practically be enough uh meat to feed the entire world population. And uh, I also think the switch from meat to vegan is not an option because you mentioned that there is not enough land already to produce uh what's necessary to feed humans and animals. Um, is this the right impression that I got?

Lina Toro 13:27

Yeah, yeah, it is.

Christian Soschner 13:28

That's great. That's great. I mean, uh, I got a very narrow uh overview uh in a couple of days and meetings at the FIP. Uh, I'm very interested in hearing your opinion about uh what solutions do you see on the market that tackle these problems? What's going on currently?

Mauricio Agudelo 13:49

Okay, we can this is a complex problem, and there are too many solutions from different points of views. I think all of them helps with the problem, and we need to combine them to create a holistic solution. Uh but we can mention those uh alternative protein sources like insect protein, plant-based protein, uh cultivated meat. But in our field, we are really focusing on precision farming and precision agriculture. And that means when we talk about precision uh farming, we need to talk about the new tools, the new technologies like artificial intelligence, big data, genomic revolution, CRISPR, and so on, etagenomics. All those technologies help us to set the problem and to solve it in a more specific way. We were mentioned before that there are not enough arable land to produce the grains, but how many ways or how many uh feces producing the animals will be processed or convert into meat? So if we understand better the function of the, for example, microbiome or microbiota, and how this variable uh plays a role into the growing of the animal, we can be more efficient in the meat production and create circular economies and reduce the um greenhouses, green houses, green gases, and and and so on. So that is what we see.

Christian Soschner 15:49

It's good to have you here on this uh podcast episode. I just realized that they really have a lot of blind spots in that area. So uh before this conference, it was just yeah, food is food, and uh I can buy it somewhere in uh at the store. And uh after I met you at the conference, I realized that there is uh a lot of things that can be optimized and that you have uh great ideas, especially what you mentioned, Mauricio. Also, I was uh absolutely not aware that these uh technologies that you mentioned, big data uh can be used beneficially also in the food industry for nourishing the animals, also artificial intelligence. And this brings me to the point and the question: what is your company building? What is your focus point in that industry?

Mauricio Agudelo 16:33

Okay, what we are what we are doing in BLTEC is being part of this farming precision, uh, more specific. We can be classified as the precision farming, and we are setting a revolution focusing on transforming the animal nutrition uh through the four business units. The first one is microbiome and fermentation, that means we want to pro uh we are working in production of new probiotic strain that can remodel the microbiome of the animals. So that is the first business unit. The second one is microencapsulated precision feed abites. So this is more the focus of BLTEC. Uh and we are talking about the specific formulation to go directly to the gut of the animals and make this change that I mentioned before, but we need to protect them, protect them against the thermal digestive and storage processes. So, yeah, it's something that must be easier to apply in the field. And the third business unit is more specific precision farming, we call Turing AI, and is focusing on precision diets. That means where is the relationship or the links between among all of different variables like nutrients, feed additives, but also management, environmental condition, and so on, and how this data we can create are predicted models to optimize the growth of the animals. So that is what we do with uh precision farming with Turing AI, and and I think uh is a more holistic approach to the problem. And at the end, we have the four business unit who is production of meat free of antibiotics and free of uh AMR genes. So this is so important. We are establishing a joint venture with a meat producer to have this chall room farm because we want to show everyone that the revolution is possible and that we can produce cleaner meat free of these antimicrobial resistant genus in a circular economy with more benefits than uh more investment, and that is a key of what we are doing. Uh, all those four units are part of ATG, who is animal tech group and is uh a holding we are building to approach the problem from a broader perspective.

Christian Soschner 19:45

It's very interesting. I like this um the term that you use, precision farming, and um just popped up the other term in my mind, uh precision nutrition. How does that work exactly? Uh, can you uh explain it a little bit more? Uh, what's the difference uh in feeding the animal before using your solution and with your solution? What's the uh what are they doing exactly in that area?

Mauricio Agudelo 20:12

Yeah, um, can I say the nutrition or the technicians they were teach, they were taught with uh to understand where the needs of the animals according with the weight of the animal, the age of the animals. So they have these needs of energy, the needs of protein of nutrients, and some equations, some curves were built with this information many years ago. Now we know that in the farm the animals grow at different rates, not as we predicted with the equation that we uh yeah knew before. So now we know that there are other variables involved in this, but these variables uh play uh complex roles in the growing of the animals. So for human intelligence is not uh sufficient to understand the complexity between all those variables. So now we have artificial intelligence, we are understanding very big data, we are understanding uh deep learning, machine learning, and with those uh tools we can create new algorithms to optimize to optimization or to optimize, sorry, to optimize the growing of the animals. So these new technologies help us. To make a precision nutrition. And this is the key for the future because it will help to reduce the use of resources and to reduce the waste in the meat production. I think in the future, the new cell technicians they need to understand the role, for example, the microbiome in the growing process and the other variable that I mentioned before. And we need to develop new softwares who help them to create better formulation according with the location, with the particular condition of the farm, and with the particular condition of the meat production.

Christian Soschner 22:49

It's very interesting to me. I heard I read HelloFresh is an um German company and they basically deliver food so online and they have a nice mission. Their model is they deliver food boxes to the house, and everybody can uh they get a recipe with a recipe, a food box with a recipe, and people learn to cook again at home. And when I was looking on their website, they have a very nice mission. They say they want to deliver high-quality food at affordable prices to everybody. And when I hear your solution that you are presenting, um that connect this to I would say that your approach when you start feeding the animals and you have a lot of measure points in the value chain, that you have the possibility to remodel the entire value chain, that you make the animals uh, let's say, healthier, you give them more uh nourishing uh food and optimize that alongside so that at the end of the day, uh the quality of the meat uh increases tremendously. Is that the right perspective that I get?

Lina Toro 23:54

Yeah, but it's not only for meat, it also includes milk and eggs and fish, it's like for all these solutions.

Mauricio Agudelo 24:01

But yeah, but you are right. And even I I think if we can understand uh that is something that we are already doing, uh the microbiome and the correlation with the uh productivity, the growing, and then we can understand also what is the precision nutrition for humans. Because at the end, it's not that bad food, good food is the balance between, yeah, it's uh it's depending on the lifestyle you have, the needs of energy you you have, uh according with your lifestyle, and and the balance is the key. And understand, yeah, for sure, the composition of what you're eating, uh, what kind of protein, what kind of carbohydrates, what kind of fat, what kind of vitamins and so on is something important. But also it's important to understand what kind of additives are you using to cultivate a specific microbiome, a specific microbiota, a specific group of bacteria who help us to absorb better uh nutrients and to keep healthy. Uh, I don't know, but if you know a microbiome has the 70 percent of the immunity in a mammal, so yeah, in the gut we produce a lot of uh uh immunity, and that is that is something important. For example, we have uh trials in field in the farm uh with farms that have been using antibiotics as group promoters, and the other the treatment, this is the control with antibiotics, and the treatment is without antibiotics, just with feed adities that we produce, probiotics, microencapsulated probiotics. And we can see genes, uh antimicrobial resistant genes in the control group with antibiotics, but in the other group with probiotics, less amount of antimicrobial resistant genes. And then when uh infection takes advantage in the farm, the animals with the high antimicrobial resistant genes is more difficult the treatment because they already have this resistance, but in the other hands, the treatment with probiotics is more efficient. So, yeah, for I can tell you uh we have uh trials where the mortality in the uh antibiotics group is 3.5 percent, but in our group is just 0.5 percent. And that difference in mortality is uh everything is breaking down a wall because uh everybody thinks that if you are using antibiotics in a small amount, um you are improving the immunity of the animals. But now we know that it's not is not correct at a certain point because they develop these AMR genes, and in the order in the other case, they don't develop these genes, so the infection can be treated more efficiently if we use just natural or biotechnical additives as we are producing.

Lina Toro 27:39

Besides the feed conversion rate, for example, which is more efficient also because the animals with the probiotics can take more nutrients from the feed, so they eat less and they and they convert into more protein. So it at the end it's all uh it's a it's all about uh profits, like economical profits at the end. So you will be producing more meat or more eggs or more milk with less amount of feed, and that will be cheaper, the production costs. And we have also several uh field trials which demonstrates the the the increase in the incomes due to the lower costs in the production.

Christian Soschner 28:23

I mean, I like I like I like both approaches because um they tackle two problems. So one problem still that we have in the world is poverty, and this is why I mentioned the the HelloFresh mission uh to bring uh healthy food to or to make healthy food available for everybody uh at low cost. So what you're doing basically uh meets this demand that we make uh food healthier and more affordable. And the second thing I liked from what you're saying is that uh indeed, I mean, there's a lot of discussion uh in the healthcare system about the role of the microbiome and uh uh when it comes to immunity, what effects a healthy or unhealthy microbiome has. And there are a lot of funds who are investing in that, like for example, Sevencha from Paris, France, that started uh with that already 10 years ago. In my world, they always saw it like uh, yeah, you can measure it, you can uh recommend how to change it to people when they go to the doctor. And after what you said, Mauricio and uh Lina, uh had the thought that it really starts with what people put in their mouths. So um basically, when they eat uh let's say uh low-quality meat, probably it has an effect also on the microbiome. I'm not a doctor, so I'm just guessing, and this is guesswork here. Um but when I just uh try to be a little bit creative without giving any health advice, it sounds to me like uh you can start measuring the effects of animal nutrition in animals with uh your solution. And in an ideal world, if we expand that, then you can start connecting your insights with the insights of the healthcare system and start connecting the dots uh on high level and probably also with blockchain technology to really make uh the data secure and uh uh also being able to really uh analyze the whole data flow from the development of diseases in humans to the beginning of the value chain, the nutrition that animals get. Do you do you think this is a possibility in the future that we do that?

Mauricio Agudelo 30:33

Could be, could be, could be part. I think we need to connect all the other ducks, like yeah, the other uh nutrients that humans uh uh aren't are um consumed, are consuming. Uh so so that is important. I think it's part, but yes, uh in animal nutrition, we can control more the nutrition of the animal and the lifestyle of the animal. In human, human, there are more variables involved, so it's more chaotic. But yeah, I think uh in the future we could understand much better the lifestyle and the precision intuition in order to be more healthier people or to have healthier people.

Christian Soschner 33:06

That's amazing. Did you? I mean, there is this other movement, it's um especially when you listen to podcasts from the United States, they talk a lot about uh organic food, organic nutrition, and uh properly fed animals. Uh, does that play a role also in your decision model, in your company model?

Lina Toro 33:25

Yeah, actually, we have like uh like mantra in our in our company, which is look uh the sentence said by Hippocrates, that is let your be let your health.

Mauricio Agudelo 33:37

Let food be your medicine, and medicine be your food.

Lina Toro 33:40

Exactly. So this is like this defines what we're going to do every day in our in our in our schedule. Like what we're aiming with our efforts is going to bring good food to everyone's dishes. Like we want everyone all over the world to have good food of good quality, and and uh we need the animals to be as healthy and they have to to uh to have as much welfare as possible.

Christian Soschner 34:11

That's that's great, that's a great idea. I like it. That's a really really great vision and mission. And uh, I think it's uh attributed also to Hippocrates what you said, uh, let uh food be their medicine and medicine be their food. So I really love that. I really love that. Um we are talking about big trends. So we mentioned artificial intelligence, we mentioned big data, genomics revolution. Are you aware of other trends that are currently going on in the food industry that uh that you can light up my blind spots a little bit more?

Mauricio Agudelo 34:43

Um yeah, I think uh metagenomics, uh microbiome, artificial intelligence, but also, yeah, as you mentioned before, organic food, less processed food, super food, that food can nourish more efficiently. Yeah, uh there are trends in the food industry. Um circular economies also impact the the production of food, it's very important. And and I think uh, yeah, for example, some interesting fact is that in the last 20 years the meat consumption has increased 58 percent. Really? Yeah, it is eight percent. 58, yeah, 58. Yeah, this increase is due to both to the growing world population and to the hybrid consumption per person. But you know something 85 percent of the increase in the world meat consumption was mainly due to developing countries, including China.

Lina Toro 36:01

Because, for example, in China, people were uh were vegetarian, not just not because they wanted to, but because they couldn't afford a piece of animal protein. Now that they're they're wealthier and that they're that they are having like more capacities for for paying for more expensive money, so they're starting to have at least one piece of meat per day. So this is one of the reasons why the this is there's this is increasing in the meat consumption, right? So and it's also having it's happening also in Latin America that people is starting to have the option to afford the first piece of meat or or a glass of milk for the first time in their lives. So this is the reason why the consumption is increasing, despite there's a lot of vegan or in or insect protein alternatives. It's like we all have to be mixed as solutions in the market because there's a lot of people that we have to to feed, and and and there's a lot of of of good of good quality uh elements that we have to give to all over the world.

Christian Soschner 37:12

I like this idea. I think with the modern technology and also the connectedness of the world through the internet, it's possibly the first time that we have this uh conversation on a global scale to solve uh many problems uh in in all countries of the world and uh give proper access to food to everybody. I mean, this is uh this is a right solution. I'm curious. I mean, um I started in the 90s um uh with let's say the the problems we had back then. Uh is are there many people like uh like you in your country and also what you met, uh your age group that uh are interested in creating a sustainable environment uh globally? Is that uh a major trend also in uh the population currently that you observe when you are talking to other people?

Mauricio Agudelo 38:03

I think people have the feeling, but they need more knowledge to understand the problem because it's a huge problem. So, yeah, they want to, but they need more knowledge. And I think it's part of the globalization world, people start focusing in uh specific problems, and they uh put away uh the root or the basis that is, for example, food, and to understand what is the economy related with that. So, yeah, everybody wants better food, but uh, not everybody uh wants to understand what is the process behind that and what is the science behind that. But yeah, everybody wants that everything is gonna be better.

Christian Soschner 38:57

So it means we still need to do some work to raise awareness uh for this area that it's a very important one uh globally, and maybe the podcast helps a little bit to do the job to get the right uh message out. Um, I was talking about the 90s. Let's go to the next uh next set of questions. I mean, when I was at the university, it was pretty much straightforward. Uh get a degree very quickly and then find a job in a big corporation. And you work up the career ladder until you hit your 50s, and eventually you will get fired. And then it's the right point in time to start a company before you retire so that you make a little bit of money that you can spend the last 20 years of your life uh let's say with sufficient resources. Um now I realize uh it was here in Austria, started, I think, my world around 2010, that uh more and more young people uh had the dream, like what's quite common in the United States, like I learned as I learned. Uh, also young people here had the dream to start a company right after graduating or before graduating. And um, I'm curious to hear from from you too. What motivated you both to decide to found a company, not very close to retirement, but earlier in life? What was your decision point?

Mauricio Agudelo 40:30

Interesting questions. Yeah, yeah. I I think all my life I have been uh very curious about science. I am chemical engineer, and one of the things that I love to study chemical engineering is because I can understand better the processes involving everything, the chemical process, physical process, biological processes. So yeah, that was something inside uh that really pushed me to start. And also I love to make sports uh all my entire life. So I very uh trying to find a connection between what I eat and what the exercise that I do, and find the balance between uh those topics. Um then I had been thinking deeper and uh superior purpose in my life, what what I want to tell in the world, and we have a superior purpose which is transforming the animal nutrition to precision farming, precision additives, and precision agriculture. So when you have that call inside, the best way to follow your faith is making that happen. That is the reason why I founded BL Tech first, and now that is the reason we are founding Animal Tech Group uhistic company.

Lina Toro 42:09

And in my case, Christian, uh I was kind of I had a different story to tell because I actually, when I finished my university, I started working in a big corporation, like in the financing uh bank, like in the biggest bank in Latin America. And uh I was there for nine years and I discovered that I had very limited options by staying in the in the big corporations who would believe that. Like they have all the money you you need, they have all the options, but yet you have you you cannot you cannot reach your your personal goals when you think globally, you know. So uh I just decided to quit my job and and start like Mauricio was talking about uh superior purpose. Mine was to, I was a girl scout when I was a kid. So I always I was raised with it with a with a with a thought of you have to live the world in a better situation of how you found it. So I I wasn't finding the the way I could do it by working in a bank, you know. So I had to to to be brave and I had to take the decision and and I start to I and I just came here to this roller coaster of uh of emotions and situations that will bring us the possibility, the possibility to bring our superior purpose into our reality.

Mauricio Agudelo 43:41

I'm I'm other thing that I want to mention is I think the new the new generation are more conscious about the role in the life, and yeah, we need to take the control of our lives and try to make uh a change in the world, and uh we believe in that. So if we believe that we can make uh a change, uh go for it and and let's do it. And it's very exciting, as Lina mentioned, it's a roller coaster, but it takes a lot of good moments and good knowledge and good experience.

Christian Soschner 44:27

That's not only one, that are many sound visions. I'm deeply impressed. So I just I'm still digesting what you said, and I really like uh your statement, Lina, that you said uh you aim for leaving the world in a better state than you found it. And I think this is a great attitude. And also, Mauricio, I mean I mean, if I understood it right, so maybe I didn't uh listen closely enough, but I got the message that you started one company and now you're in the process already started a second company. Did I did I hear that right?

Mauricio Agudelo 45:03

Yeah, yeah, that's right. We we started with Bialtech, and even Bialtech is the second startup we create. We already created another one before to produce uh glucose from cassava starch. Yeah, we used to make hydrolysis, enzymatic hydrolysis to produce sugars from starch. We sold that company some years before, and we started with Bial Tech, focusing on feed adities, in precision feed adities. Now we are selling in Colombia our feed. Additives in mainly pork and pet food, our probiotics, our microcapsulated probiotics. But now with this diving into this market, we understand that we need more holistic vision. And that is the reason that we are creating Animal Tech Group and is try to establish a more complex company that approach to the different products that we are mentioned before. And that means that BLTEC will be focused on feed adities and microencapsulated feed adities, but during AI will be focusing on artificial intelligence software to understand their other combination. And we have the other one focus on fermentation, production of probiotics, and new strains. And the other one is the production of meat free of antibiotics. So yeah, it's uh the four business units that I mentioned before are part of animal tech group, and that will be part of this uh holding.

Christian Soschner 46:53

That's very that's that's amazing. So you are not only identifying problems uh and go down in the direction to start complaining and say, okay, I mean, uh, this and that person created the problem, you're really doing really doing it. You are creating solutions and at scale. So not only one solution. So you see a problem, you solve it. I really like that. This is this is a great attitude. I think uh you have a good chance to really make the world a better place with your attitude. You should keep that up, um, even if sometimes the going gets tough. I really like that. Um thank you. No, I'm deeply impressed. I'm very impressed, deeply impressed. Um talking about uh starting companies, so you are both proficient in doing that and also jumping from big corporations into the exciting world of world of startups, which I know from experience is not always easy, and there are a lot of challenges um around the corner and uh are on the way. Um, I'm here in Europe and I have an audience um in the podcast that is uh about 30% in North America, then we have about uh 40%, 50% in Europe, and the remaining part all over the world. Uh, I'm pretty sure that part of the audience is interested in connecting to the startup ecosystem in your country and also in Latin America. And I perceive you two as uh the best experts in my community about the situation in uh uh the startup ecosystem in Colombia, and also maybe we can talk a little bit uh about the startup ecosystem in other countries in Latin America. Could you give us uh more insights in that area?

Mauricio Agudelo 48:38

Yeah, I can say that the most relevant startups in Latin America are those related with technology. Latin America still lacks Asia, Europe, and United States in terms of volumes of tech and biotech startups. However, the widespread and increasing use of smartphone, wireless networks, and payments card has created a ready demand for new digital services. So this is pushing new tech startups in Latin America in general. Even the investment in Latin America in the first nine months of 2021 for a startup has increased 174% from all 2020. It's about 15 billion US dollars the investment in Latin America. And new uh unicorns are rising, even from Brazil, of course, and also Chile, Colombia, even Colombia has two new unicorns uh from delivery and technology. I think that is uh another important thing. Uh, in the history of the world, we have the first revolution, the second revolution, industrialization. And at the beginning, we are developing countries and we say, okay, we need to leave the same process, first revolution, second, third, and fourth. But now the globalization uh gives a shortcut because we can jump from the second uh revolution to the fourth one. So it's impressive, very impressive, very amazing because we have some startups that are jumping directly to the yeah, to the IPOs and listing in the US. So that's great for Latin America. Now there is a kind of boom of Latin America, so that is very important. For instance, uh, Rodrigo Maldonado is an executive director of Morgan Stanley in Brazil, and he said that companies in the region have matured uh in the last five years, and now he thinks there will be likely between two and three IPOs by the next year in Europe from Latin America. So that is great for us. And another important topic of thing with Latin America is the region, as region produces 14% of the world's food to the world, according to Bloomberg, and has only 9% of the worldwide population. So this region holds uh a third of the fresh water resources and even it has a high potential of agriculture. The more arable lands are located, available, arable lands are located here in Latin America. So a huge potential to become a country world is Latin America and is something that is very important to nourish the future. Um that we need, of course, to develop the technology and to connect the communities to be able to become in that country that the world needs.

Lina Toro 52:46

I would like to bring him or her a message which is believe in your dreams and believe it's possible. You don't need to be in the US, you don't need to be in Europe for bringing your dreams to come true. If you think your solution is powerful, if you think your solution is different and it's innovative, then keep keep keep looking forward for the solution. Maybe in Latin America there are some people and there's some and there's yeah, maybe the government or or whatever, they're not prepared already for the solutions you you have, but it doesn't mean that your solution is not working. It just means that it's not the right country. Then look for the solutions and bring it's like what we're doing. We've been traveling like all over the world talking about our solutions and and and talking about our dreams or talking about the way we're bringing uh the solutions to the problem in the market. And the world has listened to us. And we've been and we've been growing a lot. For example, this year we've we've grew we grew like three, four times in our sales uh due to the to the campaign we've been doing all over the world, like in the in the in the solutions we're bringing, and uh yeah, and yeah, of course local government is helping us, it's supporting us, but there's a lot of things to do still in Latin America. When I began in this story, for me it was kind of uh what how would you say like weird to talk about biotech in in Colombia? But then after you get really into this subject, you discover that there's a lot of people which are also bringing some biotech solutions for different uh things in which are happening all over the world. And we need to believe in our in our in our greatness. We need to believe that we are the same capable as an European or North American or Indian or Chinese to bring a solution to the world.

Christian Soschner 54:49

You have an amazing spirit, you too. I really like that. So this makes it this is awesome. Uh keep on fighting, keep fighting for what you believe in, and um you have the world uh open today. I mean, the internet is a great solution, so you can reach out uh to anybody from everywhere in the world, and people are listening. And this is really great words. Thank you. Thank you for sharing that.

Lina Toro 55:12

Thank you for inviting me.

Christian Soschner 55:16

No, it's good to have you here. Um you mentioned that uh fighting and that you need to move forward. Um, how is the reality for startups in Latin America? What are the pain points that you face that uh you believe uh investors from the United States and Europe can help help solve?

Mauricio Agudelo 55:37

Yeah, for true. Uh developed countries as the resources to bust the innovation in Latin America and in these developing countries. As Lena said before, we have the uh skills. We need to work more in a group, as a group uh together. I think is is something that we need to keep improving, but for true, we need to we need that Europe and US keep looking at us and see the possibilities to make a big change in the world. So that is so important, and is one of the reasons that we are uh moving abroad and traveling uh around the world, uh finding potential uh investors who want to join us in this journey to change the way that we produce meat right now. And even is one of the reasons that we we we are uh setting up our business in the Europe. Europe is a more major market in uh reduction of antibiotics as growth promoters, so they know better uh how it is to produce meat with less antibiotics as growth promoters. And we have data that proves that we can do better with the additives that we have. That is something that okay, we need to be there and to and to show what we are doing. And on the other hand, we need to keep um we need to keep overcoming the challenges here in the Latin America to proving everyone that we can produce better meat in a more efficient way. We have uh land, we have resources, uh, we need more technology, and it's something that we want to bring here.

Lina Toro 57:43

Yeah, we it's like in Europe, yeah, or for example, in the United States or Canada, there's a lot of technology and there's a lot of budget, and here we have a lot of resources. Like we have found the strengths of each area, and we want to mix them all to add the options to develop a sustainable solution, which is going to be an in a long-term impact, which is what we are looking for. And this is why we're inviting international investors to participate in this initiative.

Mauricio Agudelo 58:20

Yeah, and let me tell you something. For a Latin America biotech startup, it's not easy at all to go to the huge company and say, okay, we have a solution that can replace other solutions from European or North American companies and to prove that we have more specific technology for this particular condition, like tropical weather and so on. Overcome those challenges to set our credibility, it takes uh time and a lot of effort. Uh, but for example, this year was a great year for us because it's three years after we launch the the four cell feed line, who is our line of probiotics microencapsulated, and we could reach uh break even, and as Lina said before, uh grew 3.5 times respect to last year. And we are in a accelerate process to to keep conquer the local market and to expand to the closer countries like Chile, Mexico, and other countries here. And for sure, we will start with the EFSA certification in Europe, who is a uh a process, a tough process, but we do, and and we hope in two years to have the certification in our hands.

Christian Soschner 1:00:07

Sound success stories. So you have um tremendous growth. You found uh you're in the process of founding your third company, and uh, if I got it right, you also have plans to establish operations here in Europe. Um, did I hear that correctly? So you are doing it basically, you're moving uh forward at uh hyper speed. Elon Musk should watch out. What are your plans for Europe?

Mauricio Agudelo 1:00:38

Uh our plans for Europe uh we were winners of this contest in 2019, but uh DSM is a feed adities company, or yeah, yeah, and Telft. And now they have this uh company builder called Planet Bio, which is a place in the Netherlands to uh soft landing and start operation there. Uh I think is it's suit for us. Uh we are keep looking in other parts in German, in in France, even in Spain, and it's most likely we will be there in Planet Bio in the Netherlands, uh establishing our operation. Uh, the first uh part we want to do is to go for the EFSA certification, but at the same time we have a patent, a PCT of microencapsulation technology. We already uh apply in file in uh European Union and also in USA. So we are looking for potential um clients or partners to make alliances and and see how is the best work to work together. And and it's what we are looking for. We want to be with the leaders in the market and to talk to them. We already are talking with DSM, Ebonic, uh, Nutreco, uh Alterion. Um so yeah, that is amazing for us, and we know that we have something viable here, something with high value, and we keep uh working in that in Europe.

Lina Toro 1:02:40

And another reason why we're saying our operations in Europe is because of the technology development and the agreements, and and and like all these uh agreements you can make with different research groups and and so on that could help us to, like you said, like like get into the faster lane to to to reach all the technical results that the market expects from us. If we stay here in Latin America, that's not gonna happen as fast as we want. So we have to move like our scientific operations to to to Europe or US.

Christian Soschner 1:03:17

Okay, that's and that's interesting. Um let's let's assume that um you could um put a wish to uh let's say a ferry and uh describe your ideal partner that would help you the most right now. How would the ideal business partner look like?

Mauricio Agudelo 1:03:40

Oh my god, the idea.

Christian Soschner 1:03:43

In a perfect world, yeah, in a perfect world, in a perfect world.

Mauricio Agudelo 1:03:48

Okay, first uh I think we need to have the same purpose, the same high purpose, and to believe that we can transform this, uh, the way that we produce animal protein right now, uh the patient, because this is not the easy solution, it takes time and biotech takes time, and yeah, we combine uh artificial intelligence but also uh biotechnology, so it needs to take some time. Um, but also uh I can say that he needs to be connected with the animal nutrition market in order to bust our growing. Um if we can connect well, he can be less patient because we can reach our goals uh faster. Um but on the other hand, uh yeah, we need someone to understand better uh his position. Is he was going to be just an investor, or is he going to be a partner who works with us and understand the dynamics uh of the business and all these challenges that we need to overcome every day? So yeah, is what we but in general um something that makes match with us.

Lina Toro 1:05:23

Yeah, and I would add that he or she must understand that they're not investing in Latin America but in a global solution.

Mauricio Agudelo 1:05:30

Yeah, yeah, that is that is super key because we are a global startup. Uh we are founded here in Latin America, but we'll be there in Europe uh too soon. And and we we want to become a global startup, then we will be in Asia, US, and we are moving around the world because the solution and the technology we have is changing things.

Christian Soschner 1:05:58

So in case it resonates with an investor or business partner or corporation that listens to the podcast, if I understood you right, uh you're open to uh investments in Latin America, in your current company, but also in setting up operations here in Europe so that also investors could invest in a European entity. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's great.

Lina Toro 1:06:25

Yeah. We're actually settling our operations in the Netherlands in January 2022. So it's for sure it's European investors if they don't want to like take the risk of bringing their money to Latin America, then they can invest in our headquarters in the Netherlands next year.

Mauricio Agudelo 1:06:43

We call second floor startup company. The first floor uh is the operation that we already uh doing here in Colombia. We are increasing sales and we are expanding to the region, so it is the the operation part. But in the second floor, who is more strategic vision, uh, we will establish our headquarters in in Europe, and from there we can uh manage all the business unit in in Latin America and also in Europe and also in the other parts. In Asia, yeah. Asia is a huge market, is the the the hugest market.

Christian Soschner 1:07:31

I I believe that. I believe that Asia is a pretty big big market. I wouldn't necessarily say that investors won't invest in Latin America because of the risk. Uh, as far as I understand, the investor. World, European funds where we often have the regulation. They have set up their funds in a way that they allocate about 90% of their investment capital in Europe. It's just their regulations that they apply to. And if you create a company here in Europe, you just maximize the possibility for investors to invest in your story. So you tap in 100% of the investment capital. And when you just have uh your entity in Colombia, then uh people must be aware that they narrow down their options to 10%. So the remaining parts that can be allocated outside Europe, I think. The same pretty much applies, I think, in to funds to many funds in North America that just have the regulations. So it's um it's just the the way they play the game.

Lina Toro 1:08:30

Yeah, yeah, you're right.

Christian Soschner 1:08:33

So just assuming that one business partner or more business partners after listening to this podcast would like to reach out to you, what is the best way to get in touch with you?

Lina Toro 1:08:47

Well, they can contact us through our personal emails, which are I don't know if you can write it in the in the in the podcast uh description or something, because I feel I would say mauricio that agudelo at biotech.co or uh lina.toro at biotech.co. Or they can look us look for us in LinkedIn, like our company profile is biotech, or or you can look for us on like our personal profiles on LinkedIn and then we can keep in touch. Uh yeah, that will be like the way if you think yeah, the easy one. That's great. Just say sorry, just say that you you contact us through through this podcast because otherwise it will like like hello. Yeah, we do receive sometimes some emails from from foreign uh VCs that say that they're interested in investing in our in our initiative, but it's like, who are you? I don't know you, like I've never met you before. And it's kind of weird to receive those kind of miles. So it will, I will I will be really grateful if you just say, I just heard a podcast from Life Science and I wanted to keep in touch with you, then thanks a lot.

Christian Soschner 1:10:08

That's an entire new topic, but I like talking about it. Uh, yes, I realize that I mean the world is connected through the internet, and the great thing is you can reach out to everybody, but sometimes when you don't know a person, it's like, is that real or is it just uh just fake mail?

Lina Toro 1:10:23

And uh yeah, yeah, it happens very often. So it's like I don't know, I don't know if I shall answer this email, you know.

Christian Soschner 1:10:33

Yeah, this is a good point because uh when people mention at least where they saw you or heard you, it helps probably building a little bit of credibility on the other side that uh this is a real opportunity and not one of those mails that I get uh recently in higher frequency where they just say, Okay, we have a great investment opportunity, send us your email address and we get in touch or something like that. Um, it's it it's it's really a good idea. I was not aware of that, Lina. Lina Mauricio, would you like to add something that we missed in this podcast?

Lina Toro 1:11:08

Nothing comes to my mind. What about that?

Mauricio Agudelo 1:11:10

No, no, no. I think it's it was a great conversation with you. Thank you so much for having us here.

Christian Soschner 1:11:17

I really enjoy it. Thank you very much for your time and that you participate in the podcast. I really like your story and I love your spirit. And keep that up, keep moving forward and keep making the world a better place. I think uh if there are more young people like you, definitely we end up at a better spot in the future. Yes, thank you, Chris. Have a great day, and thank you very much. Stay safe. Bye. Okay, bye you two. Thanks for listening. Please, please share the podcast and make sure you've subscribed. Have a great day.