The In Ovo story began in 2011 when co-founders Wouter Bruins (trained as a biologist) and Wil Stutterheim (trained as a biomedical scientist) met at Leiden University. Having enrolled on the science-based business MSc course, they were asked to develop a project with a strong business case. At this point, the project had no name, and the founders didn’t have any knowledge of the poultry sector.
An interview with a poultry farmer identified the culling of day-old male chicks as a real issue in the sector. The idea of bringing business, technology and ethics together was a huge opportunity. Wouter and Wil dug deeper into this problem and realised that the quest of others to find a solution to this problem had not been successful. Being internationally recognised for its pharma expertise, Leiden University and the Leiden Bio Science Park offered the right expertise and facilities to get Wil and Wouter started. In 2013, the company In Ovo was officially founded.
