EIT Food RisingFoodStars announces new cohort of agrifood scaleups to address long-term food sustainability

Leuven - EIT Food, the world’s largest food innovation community, has announced its new cohort of 14 groundbreaking startups for RisingFoodStars, one of its prestigious entrepreneurship programmes. EIT Food is supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union.

The successful startups were chosen for their potential to scale solutions that address the long-term sustainability of food and agriculture in Europe, faced with global challenges such as the need to secure food self-sufficiency and reduce net emissions by 90% by 2040. 

Startups joining the cohort will benefit from access to the world’s largest and most dynamic agrifood community of industry experts and leaders, research institutions and investors.

The startups will also be able to benefit from support with enhancing the global competitiveness of EU products, navigating the complexities of developing and commercialising their innovations, and further establishing themselves as leaders in the agrifoodtech field.

The chosen startups from across Europe include:

EIT Food RisingFoodStars – full details available to download here.

• SeedForward GmbH - a Germany-based startup that substitutes synthetic agrochemicals with bio-based alternatives, emphasising bio-based seed treatments, biostimulants, and bio-based plant protection – all with the aim of facilitating the transition towards regenerative agriculture.
• Notpla - a UK-based sustainable packaging firm that provides solutions for everyday applications, including food containers, pipettes for oils, seaweed-paper, dissolving pods and films. Its packaging solutions are made from Notpla, a revolutionary material made from seaweed and plants that naturally biodegrades in weeks. Notpla recently announced the successful completion of a £20 million fundraising round, which will accelerate its expansion into the North American market.
• Ficosterra - a Spanish marine biotechnology company applied to organic and conventional agriculture. The company develops prebiotic and probiotic products (biostimulants, biofertilizers and soil activators) based upon different species of seaweeds and microorganisms that favour the development of crops and plants while reducing the planet's carbon footprint.
• Carbone Farmers - a France-based startup that makes the decarbonisation of agriculture economically viable through the development of a platform that enables stakeholders to valorise their contribution to farmers’ transition to low-carbon agriculture practices.
• Meala Foodtech - an Israel-based company that is developing innovative ingredients and processes that enable the creation of cleaner, healthier and tastier products with a better environmental footprint.
• MyEasyFarm - a France-based startup that provides a platform managing agricultural data from many sources (fields, satellites, drones, Ag machines, weather, IoT sensors) to reduce product usage and enhance crop cycles. The company's solution aims to measure and reduce CO2 emission/storage in agriculture by changing crop cycle practices.
• Neggst Foods GmbH - a German company that develops plant-based whole egg alternatives that consists of a white, yolk, and a biodegradable shell. The products the company develops are made using a legume-based recipe free of soy and gluten.
• Matr Foods - a Denmark-based firm that develops microbial food solutions allowing the transformation of local plant ingredients into a new generation of clean label plant-based meat alternatives with a unique juicy texture and natural deep umami.
• Evja - an Italian startup that supports growers in optimising the management and monitoring of irrigation, nutrition and protection of their crops through the use of OPI, an agri-climatic intelligence system based on predictive agronomic models, machine learning, data analytics and sensors.
• Those Vegan Cowboys - a Belgium-based dairy product producer that makes cow-less milk and cheese products.
• AgroLeague - a French startup that builds a social platform connecting farmers, providing real-time diagnosis of farming issues, and offering direct-to-farmer services.
• NoPalm Ingredients - a Netherlands-based company that creates environmentally friendly microbial oils to substitute palm and other tropical oils in food, cosmetics, and detergents. The oil is produced in a sustainable, cyclical, and environmentally beneficial manner by fermenting sidestreams.
• Bon Vivant - a pioneering French biotech firm specialising in precision fermentation methods to produce dairy proteins without animals, reducing environmental footprint and empowering clients to create environmentally conscious, nutritionally rich dairy products.
• Cultivated Biosciences - a Switzerland-based startup that improves the mouthfeel of animal-free cheese, yoghurt and more by developing a unique creamy fat ingredient for the food industry, using fermentation.

RisingFoodStars alumni secure over $700 million in investment

Since 2018, more than 130 startups have been supported by the programme, with alumni having already secured over $700 million in investment, supported by an additional $15 million in investment from the EIT Food Impact Fund.

Notable success stories include RedefineMeat, known for developing plant-based meat using 3D-printing technology. Partnering with Givaudan, RedefineMeat has aimed to advance the protein diversification market, and its participation in the programme helped boost the company’s growth, before it went on to secure $170 million in funding over three years.

Over 250 high-impact startups from across Europe were evaluated by more than 20 experts from the agrifood sector to ensure that the chosen startups not only have the potential to disrupt the food industry, but also share EIT Food's commitment to achieve impact towards the following missions:

• Healthier lives through food
• A net zero food system
• Reducing risk for a fair and resilient food system

Each startup has undergone a thorough and comprehensive evaluation process to assess their innovative potential, their impact, their tech and commercial viability, their business model, leadership and growth potential.