To achieve the 2025 sustainability goals that AB InBev set itself, the company joins forces with in total 21 start-ups from 12 countries across 5 continents. Do Eat is one of them and receives $100,000 funding, mentorship and access to an external network of investors as part of the 100+ Accelerator program.
“Climate change is the most pressing issue confronting our planet and could impact the natural resources we rely on to brew our high quality beers,” says Carlos Brito, CEO of AB InBev. “Our 2025 Sustainability Goals and 100+ Accelerator will complement each other, providing solutions for environmental and social challenges so we can build a company to last for the next 100+ years.”
Do Eat was established when two university friends, an architect and a graphic designer, came up with the idea of edible packaging. “After a night in front of the television, it was Hélène who came up with the idea to design an edible plate. So she didn’t have to do the dishes anymore’, explains Gilquin, CEO of Do Eat. “We changed from plates to edible containers, after we saw how much waste accumulates at events because of disposable crockery.” This idea grew into a business in edible containers.
Thanks to AngelList, a platform that connects start-ups with investors, Do Eat found its way to AB InBev’s accelerator program. After their selection, the co-founders rolled up their sleeves. Currently the co-founders are working on an edible cup prototype made of spent grains from AB InBev’s brewing process – no easy task. In the coming months the prototype will be tested with a small group of consumers, and, if the results are positive, the start-up would then run edible cup pilots at several AB InBev partner festivals during the summer. The ultimate aim is for the co-founders to pitch a proved-out concept at an investor’s event later this year in New York.
Gilquin and Hoyois’s greatest wish? It’s to get consumers to change their behavior in waste without them noticing. Now that’s a cause worth accelerating.
Find out more on https://100accelerator.com/cohort
