RisingFoodStars gains traction: 20 scaleups joining the unique network

Picture: RisingFoodStars network at EIT Food MatchMaking event in Budapest - January 2020

This year’s companies were selected from a record number of applications, with close to 130 startups from over 33 countries evaluated. The Advisory Committee members were particularly focused on supporting the companies with technological solutions to key issues in the food system, to ensure it can be healthier, more sustainable and more transparent in the future.

On this year’s cohort, Dr. Annick Verween, RisingFoodStars Manager shared:

“We’re thrilled to welcome 20 outstanding agrifood scaleups to the RisingFoodStars network. We believe these companies are the gamechangers of the future and the fact that they are on the edge of scaling internationally makes them the perfect addition to our EIT Food community. Now the fun begins, in learning to know them better, seeing where they need to progress and connecting them to partners and opportunities within and outside of the EIT Food network.”

RisingFoodStars will benefit from:

• Access and personalised introductions to EIT Food’s network of major agrifood companies, universities and research organisations
• Increased credibility and visibility to take impactful work to the next level through exclusive entry to best-in-class events, both in Europe and globally
• Tailored support in scaling up, investments and the typical pains of a scaleup
• Access to funded joint projects working on an equal footing with industry and research leaders

For more information, please contact:

Anne-Marie Banescu
RisingFoodStars Business Support Manager
T: +32 497 73 20 45
E: A-m.banescu@eitfood.eu

RisingFoodStars: 2020 Cohort

Below are the companies that have been awarded a place on RisingFoodStars, separated into EIT Food Focus Areas for a healthier, more sustainable and more transparent food system.

Alternative Proteins

• Mosa Meat (The Netherlands): The current food system is causing devastating damage to our planet. And we believe that a new, sustainable approach to growing food is one of the best ways to change the tide. We produce beef that's kinder to animals, better for the planet, and safer to eat.
• Peace of Meat (Belgium): Peace of Meat is a producer of cultured fat. We produce fat directly from isolated animal cells without the need of growing or slaughtering live animals. An alternative to unsustainable animal farming: Real meat straight grown from cells, no animals needed.
• Protera (France): We are producing next-generation protein ingredients for food applications. To design our products, we have developed a process called Natural Intelligene™, that allows us to deliver safe and clean-label protein ingredients for food applications without compromising functionality.
• Redefine Meat (Israel): We make the perfect steak without the need for animals. Instead of cows, Redefine Meat utilizes plant-based ingredients, proprietary meat modelling and industrial-scale 3D food printers. Redefine meat previous took part in the EIT Food Accelerator Network and is now becoming a RisingFoodStar.
• OSPIN (Germany): We digitise and automate bioprocesses based on an industry 4.0 approach. We are developing a universal bioprocessing platform consisting of hardware, process control software and a cloud-based data management system.

Circular Food Systems

• Comerso (France): Comerso's mission is focused on the general waste issue. We developed a tech & logistic platform to accelerate Circular Economy in businesses.

Digital Transformation of Traceability

• Agri Marketplace (Portugal): Agri Marketplace, is a B2B cloud-based digital marketplace company that specialises in utilising e-commerce, app development, and traceability with blockchain to create more efficiency and transparency in food distribution and along different channels of the AgriFood sector.
• Clevabit (Germany): clevabit develops sensors for farms in order to increase animal welfare, decrease the use of antibiotics, and increase the profitability of agricultural holdings.
• ScanTrust (Switzerland): Scantrust is a connected goods platform for companies that depend on selling physical products in a connected world. Scantrust solutions help maintain brand integrity, deliver valuable consumer insights, and unlock growth potential in the goods companies sell.
• PIELERS (Germany): PIELERS is an open food platform, enabling farmers, food manufacturers and craftsmen to manage and sell their products online. It is our mission to promote barn to door sales in order to increase farmers' profits, foster their freedom and support local farming.

Sustainable Agriculture

• Deep Planet Limited (UK): Deep Planet has built and developed proprietary machine learning platform which includes crop cataloging using Satellite Imagery, sensor, weather, salinity, nutrients, leaf and soil moisture, soil composition, sub-surface, methane detection and other modeling techniques for Agriculture.
• RootWave (UK): RootWave uses electricity to zap weeds with zero chemicals to offer a sustainable and scalable alternative to herbicides. 
• TheGreenData (France): Our objective is to help agrifood chains to better control the environmental risks while accelerating the changes of agriculture. In that purpose, we provide decision tools to agrifood chain actors to help them to get a better understanding of the situation and simulate best transition scenarios.
• Farm Robotics and Automation (Spain): Faromatics is a Precision Livestock Farming startup that uses robotics, artificial intelligence and big data to monitor animals, identify their needs and assist farmers in addressing those needs to reap increases in animal welfare and farm productivity.
• Drygo (UK): DryGro is an agriculture technology company that has developed a proprietary system for growing a high-protein animal feed ingredient using minimal water.

Sustainable Aquaculture

• SafetyNet Technologies (UK): SafetyNet Technologies’ primary goal is to design and build devices that increase the selectivity of commercial fishing practices. By being more selective with the fish caught, the industry becomes more sustainable. Light can be used as a tool to achieve this.
• Marine Feed (Sweden): Marine Feed developed unique new products for the food chain, based on cultivation of sea squirts (Ciona). The operation has multi-ecological benefits and addresses main challenges for ecological food supply.
• SuSea (UK): SuSea is a natural preservative producing company developing innovative preservation technologies for seafood with an aim to provide healthy and high-quality seafood products, improve seafood safety and reduce waste by increasing shelf life.

Targeted Nutrition

• Durrow Mills (Ireland): Our innovative ingredients company is supplying organic sprouted flours and breads to the baking industry and retail sector.
• LOEWI (Germany): LOEWI evidence-based personalised nutrition and supplementation.