In this podcast series, Alex Shandrovsky interviews investors about benchmarks for funding Alt Proteins in 2025 and uncovers the investment playbooks of successful Climate Tech CEOs and Leading VCs.
Podcast Host Alex Shandrovksy is a strategic advisor to numerous global food tech accelerators and companies, including alternative proteins and cellular agriculture leaders. His focus is on investor relations and post-raise scale for agrifood tech companies. This podcast is syndicated through our media partners, Foodtech Weekly and Vegconomist.
Episode 41: Alba Health
In this episode, I speak with Eleonora Cavani, founder and CEO of Alba Health, a Sweden-based startup on a mission to prevent chronic disease by improving childhood gut health. Eleonora shares how Alba raised €5M — including a €2.5M round led by Unconventional Ventures — and how the company combines microbiome testing, nutritional coaching, and parent education to help families build long-term health foundations. We explore her scientific moat, regulatory strategy, and how she used LinkedIn and public speaking to build investor trust. Eleonora also reflects on the emotional side of fundraising and what it means to lead with purpose.
Key Facts Alba Health:
- Goal: To prevent chronic disease by improving childhood gut health
- Recently raised €5M, including a €2.5M round led by Unconventional Ventures.
Alex’s Top Findings:
- From Cold Start to 600 Conversations. Nora’s pre-seed journey involved reaching out cold to 250 investors and speaking with 600 people in her first year—building trust one connection at a time. ” Our first round was very different, very different. I went out to 250 investors, so that was a lot of work and very different. The second one was much easier. Completely different in the first round. I started out cold. Now looking back, it was a lot about developing the idea, developing the business model, and the plan, and also fundraising. The first year, I really spent it meeting so many people. I spoke to 600 people and I spoke to anybody, not only investors, anybody that had something around this topic, anybody that was interested in the topic, anyone that could help, anyone that resonated, that somehow liked what we’re doing.”
- How to Win Intros: Be Someone Worth Introducing. Rather than asking directly, Eleonora focused on being authentic, valuable, and compelling—so others wanted to introduce her. “I saw many people giving me introductions and inviting me to more and more things over time. And I think that’s what led to that one introduction, but it led to many other introductions as well. So my last round was very atypical, and our lead investor was our customer. We got introduced by a friend, and actually another investor who followed our journey over time. She has helped me a lot by making introductions. I didn’t ask for it. I believe that they talked to the two of them, and it was a catch-up between two investors, talking about who is around and who is interesting, and I believe Unconventional Ventures is looking for companies that have big potential, have an impact, but also have unconventional founders in a sense. She pointed to me and she made the introduction without me asking. ”
- Valuation: Let the Market Decide. Rather than anchoring the conversation, Eleonora lets investor demand determine valuation—betting on interest over control. “ I never decide that [valuation]. If investors ask me about valuation, I say that they will be better equipped to decide that. I would say the way I see my job as a founder is to create a market around me, my company, and the fundraising. So I want to create extreme interest, I want to make sure that many investors are interested in getting in, see the value, and understand what we’re doing. And then I think the valuation is just a consequence. And they will come up with it, and they will figure out something. But if you have a lot of interest, you shouldn’t be worried about that because I think the valuation will be good.
Link to Apple Podcast here.
Catch the full podcast series here.
