VNF sincerely appreciates the insights shared by Raise Partners and the co-organizers in creating the ESG Investor Forum for SMEs & Startups 2026 – a forum centered on frank, practical discussions as ESG requirements become more concrete and time-bound for SMEs and startups.
What we valued most was not only the energy of the event, but how discussions quickly moved into concrete challenges SMEs are facing today – particularly environmental, labor, and supply chain requirements in 2025-2026, which are increasingly shaping investor decision-making.
VNF also appreciated the opportunity in the opening speech to share our own approach, where ESG is not treated as a set of checkboxes, but as a differentiation strategy rooted in circularity, by-product utilization, and long-term operational resilience.
Underpinning this approach is VNF’s bio-industrial platform, designed to translate biological by-products into multiple value streams through integrated bioprocessing.
Within this platform, RetriV emerged as a successful spin-off company, demonstrating how platform capabilities can be translated into a viable downstream business focused on nutrient recovery from food-processing wastewater.
We highly value the hands-on format and open exchanges and look forward to continuing these discussions to help translate ESG expectations into practical action.
VNF’s more detailed perspectives and reflections from the event are shared in a separate post (link in the comments 
).
