Not many origin stories begin with spent grain. But then, most companies aren't BUYO Solutions.

In 2022, BUYO won AB InBev's 100+ Labs Vietnam program — a competitive initiative by the world's largest brewer to identify startups capable of building a more circular future for packaging. The win came with a $15,000 grant and something more valuable: entry into AB InBev's global 100+ Accelerator and the beginning of a partnership that continues to evolve today.

How it started
The challenge was both simple and ambitious: find new materials and approaches that could replace conventional plastic packaging within the brewing industry's own supply chain. For BUYO, the answer was already sitting in the brewery. Spent grain — the fibrous residue left after the brewing process — is produced in enormous quantities and typically treated as low-value waste. BUYO saw something different.

The result was a bio-based keg cap developed from brewery spent grains — an early, concrete demonstration that the circular economy isn't just an aspiration. With the right innovation, a brewery's waste stream can become its packaging supply.

The milestones so far
 
2022
Won AB InBev's 100+ Labs Vietnam program
$15,000 grant and entry into the global 100+ Accelerator. Development of the first bio-based keg caps from brewery spent grains begins.
 
2025
World Beverage Innovation Awards — Best Sustainable Packaging
BUYO's bio-based keg caps recognised on the global stage, validating the material science and the partnership model behind it.
 
2026
Partnership continues — new R&D, new opportunities
The collaboration expands into new material research and applications, with the same founding goal: reducing waste and rethinking packaging for a circular economy.
 
World Beverage Innovation Awards 2025 — Best Sustainable Packaging

BUYO's bio-based keg caps from brewery spent grains were recognised by the global beverage industry as the leading sustainable packaging innovation of the year.

Why this partnership model matters
The collaboration between AB InBev and BUYO is a practical blueprint for how large corporations and startups can drive sustainability together. AB InBev brought scale, a real-world testing environment, and a waste stream that could be transformed. BUYO brought the material science, the circular design thinking, and the manufacturing capability to turn spent grain into certified, food-safe packaging components.

Neither could have done it alone. That's the point.

"Solving global sustainability challenges takes more than one company. It takes partnerships."

Four years into this collaboration, BUYO's conviction holds: the future of packaging is circular, the raw materials already exist in the system, and what's needed most is the right combination of innovation, scale, and shared ambition to unlock them.

Learn how BUYO is rethinking packaging — from spent grains to scalable circular solutions.

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