Connecta2Invest: connecting capital with agrifood tech innovation

Building a product without a clear market need is often cited as the leading cause of startup failure. Running out of cash or failing to raise new capital follows closely behind. But to understand why this happens, it is important to consider the challenges within the European agrifood landscape.

Across the EU, high regulatory complexity, fragmented national markets, major sustainability challenges – such as climate change and soil degradation – and uneven access to capital create significant barriers. Together, these factors make it difficult for traditional venture capital (VC) to efficiently identify, assess, and invest in the most promising startups working to transform our food system. Innovators need capital, while investors need access to innovative, high-quality deal flow.

This critical gap led EIT Food to create Connecta2Invest. The platform’s value proposition is clear: to streamline the investment process with a strong European focus, giving investors access to a pipeline of pre-vetted startups screened for their potential, impact, and readiness to scale.

The Connecta2Invest platform is designed to facilitate financing and strategic collaboration through a structured approach that combines a digital platform with targeted networking events. Startups can create a company profile, similar in format to LinkedIn, showcasing information investors need to assess business proposals and investment opportunities. They can indicate whether they are actively seeking funding or plan to do so within the next 3–6 months.

Investors, in turn, see the most recently updated startups at the top of the platform. Using advanced filtering criteria, they can curate their own lists and receive notifications when new startups match their investment interests. Investors have access to detailed startup profiles and, in many cases, pitch decks. As a result, the platform is more than an attractive catalogue; it is a forward-looking tool for generating deal flow and connecting companies with capital.

Fully operational since 2025, Connecta2Invest now showcases more than 200 startups, with over 70 actively fundraising. These startups span a wide range of development stages, from prototype to scaling. The strongest concentration of startups can be found in the following areas:

• Food and beverage ingredients
• Alternative proteins
• AgBiotech
• Farm management and precision agriculture

The platform brings together more than 60 dedicated agrifoodtech funds from 15 European countries, representing a combined capital capacity of €5 billion. To date, Connecta2Invest has facilitated more than 25 connections between startups and investors and hosted five pitching events, creating high-impact opportunities for networking and investment.