Schadeberg's involvement with ValueGrain underscores the startup's disruptive character, according to the announcement: the company's goal is to process spent grain—a valuable byproduct of the brewing process—fresh and at an industrially scalable level. Rather than ending up as animal feed or in biogas plants outside the human food chain, the startup transforms the raw material into a high-quality, modern B2B ingredient for food production. This can be used as a substitute or complement in various applications, for example in the baked goods industry as well as in the field of hybrid meat and meat alternatives.
The nutritional added value of the spent grain is central to this approach. Thanks to its very high fiber content, end products can meet modern longevity requirements without relying on highly processed ingredients, the report continues. As a regional clean-label ingredient, the raw material thus offers further positive aspects in meeting consumer demands.
In times of stagnating sales and rising cost pressure in the brewing industry, ValueGrain says it is aiming for a genuine circular solution that translates ecological sustainability directly into economic efficiency.
Decentralized production at breweries strengthens regional value chains—a future-proof scenario that also works in global markets wherever breweries and industrial food production are located close to one another.
With the fresh capital, ValueGrain intends to gradually expand its own R&D activities as well as its team. The goal is to qualify the ingredient for further food applications and establish scalable logistics solutions.
One future milestone is already set: tapping into Krombacher Brauerei. Nearly 100,000 tons of spent grain are produced annually at that site. Going forward, this is to flow back into human food production as a high-quality ValueGrain B2B ingredient, making products there more balanced and sustainable.
Combined with the spent grain output from the brewery sites of existing investor Jeff Maisel (including Bayreuther Hell), the Hamburg-based startup is thus securing prospective access to nearly 10 percent of all spent grain produced in Germany.
Tim Gräsing, co-founder and managing director of ValueGrain, emphasizes: "When the managing partner of what is probably Germany's best-known beer brand shows enthusiasm for our approach, it confirms the work we've done over the past few years. The brewing industry now needs pragmatic, innovative solutions that generate real value. With Bernhard Schadeberg, we're gaining not just an investor, but one of the industry's most successful entrepreneurs as a mentor. Together, we will take the upcycling of the spent grain side stream to a new, industrial level."
