EIT Food selects 135 women entrepreneurs for EWA Grow and Advanced

EIT Food has selected 125 women entrepreneurs for EWA Grow and 10 for EWA Advanced, two modules of its Empowering Women in Agrifood (EWA) programme. Support for the cohorts is tailored to different stages of business development, from strengthening early-stage ventures to preparing established startups for expansion.

Now in its seventh year, the EWA programme has introduced a flexible three-module structure, helping women access support that reflects their experience and ambitions. Alongside Grow and Advanced, EWA Explore offers self-paced online learning for women developing and validating an agrifood business idea.

EWA Grow supports women with a validated business idea or an early-stage agrifood startup who are ready to develop their venture further. Delivered through national cohorts in local languages, the six-month module combines one-to-one mentoring, tailored training, matchmaking and masterclasses.

Participants work on their business models, value propositions and routes to market, identifying potential customers, partnerships and priorities for growth. The programme culminates in local Demo Days, where entrepreneurs pitch their ventures, with prizes of €10,000 and €5,000 available per country.

EWA Advanced brings together a pan-European cohort of women entrepreneurs with high-growth agrifood ventures. The four-month module, delivered in English, focuses on investment readiness, commercial development, corporate partnerships and scaling.

Through expert sessions, weekly mentoring and networking, participants refine their growth strategies, financial projections and investor pitches. They also explore routes into new markets and opportunities to connect with investors and corporate partners. The module includes a Demo Day, with prizes of €20,000 and €15,000 available across the cohort.

Meet the EWA Advanced cohort

• Morena Rolando, CTO & CO-founder of Altered Materials: a deep-tech start-up developing a bio-degradable, plant-responsive encapsulation technology.
• Stefania Malfatti, CEO & Co-founder of Behavix: a collaborative tool that identifies the root causes of food waste in canteens.
• Małgorzata Osiecka-Ciuhak, Founder & CEO​ of Bio Ice Cream Dots: organic micro ice cream dots with zero sugar, high fibre, and functional nutrition.
• Marina Hijano Moreno, Co-founder & CTO​ of Tremi: a start-up turning brewer’s spent grain into a plant-based milk alternative.
• Chiara Maria Di Lorenzo, Founder & CSO​ of Glutensens: a start-up developing a portable, rapid and easy-to-use solution for on-site gluten detection.
• Ninna Granucci, CEO​ of Green Spot Technologies (2018)​: a deep-tech food biotech company that uses filamentous funghi to upcycle agricultural side-streams into clean-label functional ingredients at industrial scale.
• Dr. Sanem Argin, CEO & Co-Founder​ of KIANA AGRICULTURE BV​: develops enzyme and microorganism-based biological products for regenerative and climate-smart agriculture.
• Aygen Savaş Alkan, Co-Founder & CEO​ of Kybele’s Garden: develops sustainable, non-toxic and circular solutions for the agrifood and cosmetics industries through algae biotechnology and fermentation.
• Greta Budreikė, Founder & Project Lead​ of TASTIK Next Verse​: a functional nutrition line for older adults who have difficulty chewing or swallowing.
• Dr. Canan Tiryaki, Founder & CEO​ of Vegg Foods Biotech​: develops sustainable and functional food products from chickpeas and chickpea side streams.

The Grow and Advanced cohorts reflect EWA’s commitment to supporting women at different points in their entrepreneurial journeys. Grow helps participants strengthen the foundations of their businesses, while Advanced focuses on the investment, partnerships and strategic decisions needed to expand. Together, the new modules build on EWA’s support for over 600 women entrepreneurs and 160 startups, helping more women-led agrifood ventures progress from promising ideas to businesses with opportunities for lasting growth.

Aygen Savaş Alkan, one of this year's EWA Advanced cohorts, explains in an interview that “being part of the EIT Food ecosystem provided a level of external validation that strengthened our credibility when engaging with investors, partners, and stakeholders”.

This support also contributes to a wider ambition: a food system that benefits from a broader range of ideas, experiences and leadership. Helping women access the skills, networks and opportunities to develop their businesses can enable more of that talent to contribute to agrifood innovation.

Helping women-led innovation reach its potential

Turning an agrifood idea into a successful business takes more than a promising product. Founders also need the skills, networks and access to finance to bring their solutions to market and grow.

Agrifood is ranked as the fourth most funded industry for female founders in 2019 (1). However, barriers to investment, visibility and market access still exist and can limit how far their innovations progress, particularly when it comes to underrepresentation in leadership and decision-making.

EWA addresses these challenges through mentoring, practical training and connections with the wider agrifood ecosystem. 

Discover why women-led innovation must scale and how EIT Food is helping women entrepreneurs overcome barriers to growth.

1. EIT Food. (2026, January 29). The state of women-led agrifood companies in Europe 2025. https://www.eitfood.eu/reports/the-state-of-women-led-agrifood-companies-in-europe-2025