GOVA

We made it to the Semi Finals! 🚀 Govs has been selected as a Semi Finalist in the FoodTech World Cup, hosted by FoodHack Givaudan and Nestlé Research & Development We’re honored to be recognized for our work in rethinking sugar, not just replacing sweetness, but recreating sugar’s texture, mouthfeel, and behavior in real food. We’ll be pitching at the HackSummit finals in Lausanne on May 15, alongside some of the most exciting food innovators around the world. Thanks to everyone who’s been part of the journey so far, this one’s for all the dessert lovers. 🍪💛 🟡 See all 36 semi-finalists: https://lnkd.in/ggW8iRCZ Emilie Dellecker Arman Anatürk Laura Hodgkiss

🚀 Gova: 2024 – A Year of Growth and Impact As we step into 2025, we are excited to look back at what Gova achieved last year: 🔬 New Lab and R&D Expansion We established a new lab and office at the University of Helsinki’s Viikki Campus, fully equipped to drive innovation in sugar reduction. 🌍 Global Recognition We participated in top startup programs like MassChallenge, EIT Food, Hokkaido Innovation week and Vitafoods, which helped us build our network and push our work forward. 👩🔬 Team Growth Our team expanded with new talent in R&D, production, and scaling, doubling our capacity to deliver results. 💡 Technology Breakthroughs Successfully encapsulated a wide range of natural sweeteners, including sugar alcohols (erythritol, xylitol...), stevia, monk fruit, allulose, and fiber-based sweeteners like inulin. Created hybrid particles that cut sugar by up to 90% while keeping the taste, texture, and functionality of regular sugar. Moved to a fully additive-free process using only water and electricity, making it scalable and eco-friendly. 📜 IP We filed two new patents (with 2 in the national stage). 🎯 2025 Vision With our lab, technology, and team in place, we’re ready to scale up and bring our solutions to the food industry at a larger scale. Our focus is on making healthier, cost-efficient sugar alternatives easy to adopt without changing recipes or processes. Thank you to everyone who supported us in 2024. Here’s to an even bigger 2025! 💪 #Innovation #FoodTech #SugarReduction #Gova2025

Last August marked Gova’s first-year anniversary! It has been one year since we raised our pre-seed round, and seven years since the idea began. One year ago, we were just starting out –our patents were filed (but no feedback yet), R&D was outsourced to Aalto University, we had no employees nor customers, and we could only encapsulate up to 30% of sweeteners in liquid form, usable only in liquid-based products. Fast forward one year, and so much has changed! We received feedback on two of our patents – no prior art applications. We now have full-time employees, and we are hiring more. We have our own independent laboratory, office, and equipment. Gova can now encapsulate all natural sweeteners, improving their texture, removing the aftertaste, and making them more functional across a wider range of products. Even better, we can encapsulate white sugar and reduce its calories by up to 90% – all in powder form. This means Gova has solutions for both sugar-free and sugar-reduced products. What makes us different? We do not use any traditional or expensive host molecules. Our solution is simple, cost-efficient, and 100% natural! We believe we have found a solution to the sugar pandemic. And we have made sure our technology is cost-efficient because the majority of products with added sugar need an affordable solution. Gova’s approach is for everyone – not just those aware of the issues with sugar, but for future generations and all of us. We’re also incredibly proud that Gova has been recognized worldwide as one of the top 10 startups for our innovative solution. In addition, we have many LOIs with international, multi-billion-dollar companies, including sweetener producers, sugar producers, and FMCG companies. Looking ahead, we’re excited for Gova’s progress in the next year. We just opened our seed round, which is set to close next year. A huge thank you to our team for their hard work and belief in us despite all the challenges, and to our mentors who have been hands-on in guiding and supporting us. Faith, love, and caring people are what have brought Gova this far, this fast. #foodtech

Thank you, CoreAngels, for arranging the tour! The tour was truly eye-opening for us. We visited many startup hubs and laboratories for startups. Truly, GOVA feels that deep tech startups has full opportunity to grow in Portugal. The laboratories were brand new, very pleasant, and included everything needed, such as internet, water, and lots of common areas like meeting rooms, a common kitchen, and other benefits like 3D laboratories available for free. Another benefit we saw was the proximity of the laboratories to the university, where startups can get support and collaborate with university professors. We had the opportunity to attend the Algarve Impact Meetup, where we met other founders in food and algae startups. We also had many meetings with Portuguese investors. It was great to meet very experienced and hands-on investors. Additionally, we visited the Unicorn Factory in Lisbon and witnessed how Nordic startups could expand their R&D. Overall, we would like to focus on and collaborate with the Portuguese startup world, mainly because in Portugal, investors are more hands-on and open-minded than any investors we have experienced so far. Portugal is truly focused on deep tech innovation, as evidenced by all the brand new startup hubs and advanced laboratories. We also appreciated how universities are willing to collaborate and help startups a lot, and they are very open-minded. Thank you, CoreAngels, and especially Rui and Aveiro University, for dedicating your time to show us how much opportunity we have in Portugal. Universidade de Aveiro PCI · Creative Science Park Aveiro Region Biotrend SA Rui Falcao COREangels Lisbon COREangels Unicorn Factory Lisboa Elisabete Coelho Manuel A. Coimbra Ana Xavier Nasib Naseri Adam Silfvander

GOVA has been selected as a finalist at the Startup Innovation Challenge in 2024! GOVA will be presenting at the event, talking about our breakthrough technology and vision for the future. Find your way to Insights theatre (K79.) at 2.30pm. //GOVA Team