Sesame Summit 2026 – application open

Coccola: The Nutrient-Packed Sweetener For Beverages

Elevating Beverage Sweetening with Coconut-Based Innovation

Coccola, created by SuiteFood, is changing how we sweeten our beverages with its unique coconut-based formula. Coccola’s coconut-based sweetener stands out from traditional options. It combines coconut water and milk powder to deliver essential electrolytes, magnesium, and potassium. This enhances not only the flavor of coffee and other drinks but also their nutritional value.

“We wanted to offer more than just sweetness,” explains the founder Emmanuela Alesiani. “Coccola adds nutrients to your beverages, making it the first-ever nutrient-packed sweetener and beverage enhancer.”

This product is more than just a sugar alternative — it’s a natural coconut-based sweetener that nourishes the body while offering a rich and delicious taste.

The Italian Craftsmanship Behind Coccola And Coconut-Based Sweetener

The name Coccola isn’t just about coconut-based sweetener; it’s also about bringing a sense of indulgence and comfort to consumers. Emmanuela explains, “We chose the name to evoke warmth and to reflect our Italian roots.” Coccola is crafted in Milan, combining Italian culinary traditions with a modern approach to nutrition.

This fusion of authenticity and innovation has made Coccola’s coconut-based sweetener, a standout product in the growing market for healthy and natural sweeteners. The founder emphasizes, “It’s about creating a product that delights the taste buds and nourishes the body— without compromise.”

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📸: Coccola.shop

A Health-Conscious Approach to Sweetening

Health-conscious consumers are at the core of Coccola’s target audience. As wellness trends continue to grow, people are searching for alternatives that align with their health goals, whether it’s managing blood sugar, boosting energy, or maintaining a clean diet.

“Our coconut-based sweetener isn’t just about cutting sugar,” Emmanuela shares, “It’s about adding something valuable to your coffee or drink — a source of nutrients that can support overall well-being.”

Coccola’s unique formulation, which includes coconut-derived protein and natural antioxidants, turns every cup of coffee into a superfood. Its benefits extend beyond taste, offering health advantages like metabolism-boosting effects and improved hydration.

Global Expansion and Strategic Partnerships for Coconut-Based Sweetener

With an innovative product like Coccola, the path to growth is clear: expand globally through strategic partnerships. The founder shares their excitement about partnerships with Carrefour Italia, where Coccola will be featured both on shelves and in their café areas. “This is just the beginning,” they mention, “We are targeting international markets like France, Spain, and the UK, and we aim to expand our retail footprint.”

The focus for 2024 includes closing a seed funding round of 1 million euros and establishing Coccola with its coconut-based sweetener as a leader in the European beverage market. This ambitious plan also involves scaling production and building a presence in the USA and Asia.

Overcoming Challenges with Determination and Passion

Starting a food tech company is no easy task, and the founder acknowledges the challenges they’ve faced along the way. “There were sleepless nights, rejections from investors, and market challenges,” they admit. But despite the hurdles, they never considered giving up. “We believe in Coccola and the positive impact it can have on people’s lives,” the founder adds. This passion drives them forward, eager to compete with established brands and even American startups in the same space.

Their relentless determination to bring this Italian-crafted, coconut-based sweetener to the world is what keeps them going, day after day.

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📸: Sesamers

SIAL F&B Exhibition Wrap-Up: A Celebration of Innovation

The SIAL Paris 2024 just wrapped up, and we were truly amazed by the atmosphere, the inspiring pitches and speakers. If you missed the event, don’t worry — you can catch up on all the highlights, live streams, and wrap-ups on our socials! Check out our recorded sessions on Sesamers YouTube and LinkedIn to see what you missed, and experience the food tech industry’s future!

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Events 2 days ago

Last week, I spent three days at Bits and Pretzels in Munich — a startup-focused event with a distinctly Bavarian flavor. Think Oktoberfest meets startup conference, complete with dirndls, lederhosen, and more beer than you might expect. As someone building an AI-powered event platform, I went in with a specific mission: Observe how startups actually market themselves at events. Here’s what I discovered: GoodBytz: The power of good demos What they did: Robotics startup GoodBytz set up a booth where its robots prepared kaiserschmarrn (a traditional German dessert) all day long. Why it worked: Nothing beats seeing a product in action. While other booths had brochures and demos, GoodBytz’s robots were actually cooking. The smell, the movement and the end result stirred together an experience that people will remember and talk about. The lesson: If you have a physical product, show it in action. The old writing adage generalizes well: Show, don’t tell.  Let people see, hear and touch the product. WeRoad: The bathroom hack What they did: Posted “Missing Investor” flyers in bathroom stalls with QR codes pointing to their website. Why it worked: Pure genius. Every startup at the event was looking for investors, but the “Missing Investor” headline, while a bit on the nose, proved irresistible. Plus, bathroom stalls are one of the few places where people have 30 seconds to actually read something. The lesson: Think about where your target audience’s attention will remain undivided. Sometimes, the most effective marketing leverages the most unexpected places. Emqopter: Visual impact matters What they did: Designed a bright orange booth that displayed their drone prominently. Why it worked: In a sea of grey, white, beige and brown, Emqopter’s bright orange booth was impossible to overlook. The drone was real, too, and proved a real conversation starter. The lesson: Your booth is competing with hundreds of others. Make it visually distinctive and ensure your product is the hero. Quests: Community building using the product What they did: Created a busy, branded booth with accessories (toy car, traffic cones, a bulletin board) and used their anti-loneliness app to build communities among founders at the event. Why it worked: Quests used their product to solve a real problem right at the event, and the busy booth design generated energy and curiosity. The lesson: Use your product to solve a problem at the event — if it’s possible, of course. Demonstrate your value in real time. Dyno: Event-themed marketing What they did: Distributed branded electrolyte packs with the tagline “Your hangover ends. Your pension lasts – with Dyno.” Why it worked: Dyno aligned its messaging perfectly with the Oktoberfest theme. Every attendee was thinking about beer and hangovers, so Dyno’s goodies were quite relevant. The tagline was clever, memorable, and directly addressed a pain point most people at the event might have to deal with later. The lesson: Tailor your marketing to the event’s theme and culture. The more you tie your messaging and product to the context, the more memorable you become. So, what did I learn? Event marketing is about more than just showing up and setting up a booth; you have to understand your audience and create experiences that people will remember. Here’s what really struck me: most startups and even big companies don’t know how to leverage events properly. They book the booth, show up and hope for the best; maybe they bring some branded pens and a pop-up banner. Then they’ll go back home and wonder why they spent €5,000 in exchange for 50 business cards that never convert. The startups that stood out at Bits and Pretzels understand something fundamental: event ROI isn’t about booth size or location; it’s about strategy, creativity and planning. None of the startups above improvised on-site, or planned something the night before the event in their hotel rooms. They laid everything out 4-6 weeks before the event. A solid pre-event strategy is what separates successful event marketing from expensive booth rental.  But what matters most for early-stage startups is that you don’t need a massive budget to stand out. WeRoad’s bathroom stall hack probably cost €50 to print the flyers. A standard booth package at Bits and Pretzels would go for €3,000 to €5,500. The ROI difference is staggering when you compare the cost per meaningful conversation. That’s the difference between simply spending money and investing smartly. Building Sesamers has taught me that helping startups find the right events is only half the equation. The other half is helping them understand how to maximize ROI once they’re there. Good props aren’t a marketing expense; they’re opportunities to meet customers, investors and partners, and strike up engaging conversations.

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