About.

Why have we started Rift Protein?

Established in 2023

We're based in the Leiden Bioscience Park, an excellent environment to share ideas and collaborate.

We have an extensive network in East Africa, to source ingredients such as mung beans, from smallholder farmers, and establish local processing facilities, powered by renewable energy.​

Our Goal

​We are currently focused on plant protein. We expect to source and produce in East Africa and Europe.  Why Africa?  Africa has an abundance of agricultural production and Kenya provides a major source of geothermal electricity and hot water in the Rift Valley.​
But we also have an interest in precision fermentation and expect to diversify into this space over time.​

Our Team

Michiel Timmerman
CEO

Postdoctoral research (Oxford University) and 20+ years investment experience. Founder of EFAfrica Group (SME finance) and Mbuyu Capital Partners (investments).
D.Phil. (Oxford) in muscle cell physiology

Annelies Schulte
R&D Lead

20+ years R&D in plant sciences (De Ruiter Seeds, Leiden University, ExPlant Technologies) Founder of ExPlant Technologies (plant biotechnology).
​PhD (Leiden University) plant biotechnology

Work with us?

We don't have any current vacancies but are interested to engage with part-time advisers with expertise in protein biochemistry, food product development and computational protein design.  Please contact [email protected] if you would like to have a conversation.