International missions: “We got a lot more out of it than we ever expected.”

How did the mission to Slush come your way?

Yoni: “There are an awful lot of opportunities for university start-ups. For example, in the past we participated in the Atlas Invest Challenge where we won €15K. To us, that was really an ‘OMG moment’, which made us realize that we have to grasp all opportunities that are out there. One of those opportunities was Slush. We had already heard positive stories from other start-ups in StartHub. So when I heard that they were selecting again, I immediately mailed that we wanted to go there. Because if you want something, you have to put energy into it.”

What exactly did you want to achieve with the mission?

Yoni: “The aim was mainly to learn a lot. To begin with, this was the first time that we as co-founders had to work together in a different way, so that was already an interesting test. We therefore carefully considered which members of our team would go. How do we want to present ourselves? We decided that co-founder Inge Vermeer and I would go, because we wanted to express the ‘girl power’ of the WUR start-up ecosystem. Besides, some investors have a preference for female founders. Fundraising was not quite our immediate aim, but we did want to learn how that process works. Slush offered the perfect opportunity for that.”

In what way?

Yoni: “It was very nice to go there with the 4TU start-ups. You then have conversations with entrepreneurs who understand the process you are going through. We also had nice talks with other founders during side events, for example about how to take care of your mental health when you spend 60 hours a week running a business. That was very valuable. And of course, Slush provided us with the opportunity to engage in talks with investors. We make hardware, which is a costly and long process. So we really were able to examine what type of funding can be attractive to us. For us, this was the first time we spoke to VCs, which was of tremendous value to us.”

What did all those conversations bring you?

Yoni: “We got a lot more out of it than we ever expected. Several weeks before departure, we already started preparations on the Slush matchmaking platform. During the mission, we mainly adopted a learning attitude. So we asked for feedback on many occasions and processed it on site, for example where our pitch deck is concerned. As a result, we got to talk to many investors. That went unexpectedly well. Currently we are having talks with various VCs every other week, which is handy when we will be starting our first fundraising round in Q4. TTT also helps us with that, because VCs always want to know how much funding we have already raised. TTT’s funding and the prize money of the Atlas Invest Challenge show that we can already do a lot on our own. During and after Slush, I learnt a lot about the fundraising process. When an investor showed an interest during Slush, I though that we would have money in our account one month later. Now I know that it doesn’t go that fast, haha.”

That is a valuable insight. Did you get any other surprising insights thanks to the mission?

Yoni: “We are a typical start-up in the sense that we want to make money, but first and foremost we want to do good. We already knew that, of course, but since we had to present ourselves so explicitly during the mission, more and more pieces of the puzzle about what kind of start-up we are fell into place. We are young, two thirds of our founding team are women, we want to learn a lot, and most of all make the world a better place. That has to be reflected in everything we do. Slush taught us what is important in your start-up journey and endowed us with a certain type of prestige. That is why I am really looking forward to taking the next steps that are possible thanks to this mission. In any case, we found out that our team works well. Our skills and characters are complementary, and we really became friends thanks to our cooperation. I could not imagine running this start-up with others. So our start-up always gives me an awful lot of energy.”

About BrewRight

Together with Inge Vermeer en Dakar Schlemper, Yoni Mol is co-founder of BrewRight. The Wageningen University & Research start-up enables carbon capture in micro breweries. During the fermentation process, CO2 is released. CO2 is also necessary for bottling and filling, but currently, CO2 originating from fossil sources is often purchased for this purpose. By catching the CO2 and immediately using it in the process, BrewRight ensures that small breweries can make a more efficient use of their raw materials. Their philosophy is that net zero is not only for big parties, but for everyone.