Our Founder Anna Ramata-Stunda Featured in Startup Guide Europe
Our Founder Anna Ramata-Stunda Featured in Startup Guide Europe
Our founder & CEO, Anna Ramata-Stunda, has been featured in the new Startup Guide Europe — a publication that highlights Europe’s most dynamic startup ecosystems and the founders shaping the future of innovation.
This recognition places Anna alongside Europe’s leading innovators who are shaping the future of biotech, sustainability, and the new generation of science-driven entrepreneurship.
Showcasing Europe’s Innovation Landscape
Startup Guide Europe invites readers to explore Europe’s most vibrant cities and regions — from historic hubs to emerging deep-tech clusters. The publication highlights how European ecosystems fuel innovation, sustainability, and creativity by:
connecting founders, investors, accelerators and universities,
supporting science-driven companies,
and building strong communities that turn groundbreaking ideas into global impact.
Each chapter provides key ecosystem metrics, insights from experts and founders, and stories of companies driving meaningful change
A Spotlight on Sustainable Biotech: Anna’s Journey
In her interview, Anna shares the story behind building Alternative Plants and explains why sustainable biotechnology is the future of cosmetic ingredient production.
From scientific background to founding a biotech company
With a decade of experience in cell biology, in-vitro testing and medical device consulting, Anna recognized a major industry challenge:
rare natural ingredients were becoming endangered, inconsistent or difficult to source sustainably.
This sparked the idea to grow high-value botanical ingredients using plant cell culture technology, ensuring:
consistent quality,
sustainable sourcing,
and no harm to nature.
In 2017, Anna co-founded Alternative Plants in Riga with a clear mission to bring safe, effective and natural biotech-derived ingredients to the cosmetics industry — without compromising the environment.
Anna emphasizes that staying honest about results and processes is key to building trust:
“The more transparent you are, the more trust you build.”
Alternative Plants goes the extra mile — validating each ingredient through additional testing when needed to ensure performance, bioactivity and chemical profile consistency.
In the interview, Anna highlights:
early difficulties working with many plant lines before finding the right ones,
the emotional weight of discarding cultures that don’t meet standards,
and the importance of resilience and active problem-solving.
She also notes that collaboration — especially across borders — is crucial to European biotech growth, helping minimize fragmentation in specialized fields.
What’s Ahead for Alternative Plants ?
Anna outlines the next steps for the company:
scaling production and sales,
expanding the ingredient portfolio,
and entering medical-aesthetic ingredient markets in Europe and the US.
Alternative Plants continues building partnerships with universities and institutes across Europe, ensuring that cutting-edge research supports future product development.
Advice for Entrepreneurs
Anna encourages young founders — especially introverted ones — to speak openly about their ideas:
“You can’t build success alone, don’t be afraid to connect with universities, institutes, accelerators and investors.”
Collaboration unlocks funding, advice and opportunities — and increases the chances of turning science into business.
Why Riga?
Riga’s strong academic environment and scientific ecosystem, combined with world-class engineering and medical universities, made it the ideal location to grow a deep-tech company. The city’s vibrant startup scene continues to attract founders, corporates and research partners.
You can read the full interview with Anna here.