A Birmingham company has secured a major contract after its completion of an accelerator program, giving it a chance to broaden its geographic reach.
StenCo, LLC, a company that specializes in producing sustainable and biodegradable packaging, has formed a partnership with major food corporation Cargill Inc. StenCo will create an oxygen-excluding, biodegradable barrier for a range of Cargill products. StenCo is a recent graduate of the Plug and Play Topeka accelerator, while Cargill is one of the three founding partners of the program.
“Cargill is focused on exploring the many advances in science and technology that enable the development of new products, ways of working and solutions for our customers,” said Florian Schattenmann, Cargill’s chief technology officer and vice president of research and development, in a statement. “We are excited to partner our R&D capabilities with StenCo’s team of innovators, with the goal of jointly bringing cost-efficient, sustainable innovations to market.”
The partnership will aim to incubate global innovation around sustainable packaging, specifically by addressing major challenges in the packing industry, such as the ability to create biodegradable packaging for products with high water contents. Cargill’s global reach will help StenCo enter new geographic locations, find new customers and grow. Cargill will bring scale, broad expertise and the strength of a global supply chain.
“StenCo’s mission is to create packaging materials that are better for the environment, focusing on affordability and sustainability while protecting the products of world-class consumer brands like Cargill,” said John Brown, CEO of StenCo. “We greatly look forward to working closely with Cargill’s industry-leading R&D and technology teams to create an oxygen-excluding, biodegradable barrier for Cargill’s packaging materials. Working with Plug and Play, GO Topeka and Cargill has been an exceptional experience, and we are extremely excited to develop the partnership further.”
Plug and Play Topeka selected StenCo as part of its first batch of startups in April 2021. Startups in the program go through three-month accelerator programs aimed at helping the businesses get off the ground. Such programs provide mentorship, resources and office space.
