SeedBed Bilbao announces it's finalists for 2022's edition

With the aim of attracting new ideas and projects that seek to improve and make changes within the agrifood sector, EIT Food has selected a total of 8 startups that will be participating in the Seedbed Programme. This third edition will continue to provide participants with world-class start-up training and coaching to identify their core business assumptions and the support to refine their business value propositions.

The best startups will receive €10,000 to be invested in the search for potential customers. Additionally, they will have the chance to present their projects to experts of the agrifood sector and, the best among them, will receive funding of up to €20,000, which will help them continue to move their business forward.

This year's finalists are:

• Veridi technologies: 60% of soil in the EU is degraded. While soil microoganisms represent 25% of biodiversity on earth, we only know 1% of them, and currently, 70% of farmers do not test enough because it is too expensive. Veridi's nematode technology diagnostics allows farmers to detect pathogens at the early stages. This reduces their need to use pesticides and, as a result, higher yields are produced.
• Bread Free: This is the first bio-tech company in the world to have created gluten-free wheat flour. It has developed a technology that can produce gluten-free wheat flour suitable for celiac people. The organoleptic properties of traditional products remain and production costs are lower to manufacture clean label and healthy gluten-free products.
• Venus: Each year up to 20% of the mushroom production (2.2 million tons) is discarded because it does not meet the specifications set by retailers but they still have high nutritional value. Thus should not be accepted as waste. Venus is developing technologies to turn mushroom discards into valuable ingredients for food, nutraceuticals and cosmetics.
• BioRestart: To reduce the bio waste generated by agrifood sector, BioRestart sets up an innovative and technological solution to sustainably recover added value compounds from re-used bio-waste material, reducing the use of toxic organic solvent during the extraction process.
• Seavolution: Overfishing, harmful catching practices, pollution and habitat destruction are threatening the future supply of seafood. Seavolution offers an alternative protein technology that allows you to enjoy sustainable, healthy, plant-based seafood, with the identical texture, flavor, color, and quality of real fish. 
• Upstream foods: This startup is on a mission to redefine the future of seafood by supplying the world with cell-based alternative seafood products that don't cause a negative impact on marine ecosystems. The team is developing novel cultivated fat ingredient that delivers an authentic seafood taste and texture feel to plant based products. 
• Isauki: This is a plant-based brand that is developing seafood analogues using algae and seaweed to solve the current life-threatening issues of fish stock depletion, ocean pollution by fishing vessels, and the high carbon footprint associated with its production and transportation.
• ODS Protein: Their mission is to develop sustainable solutions to global protein consumption by producing fermented proteins with a formulation and texture suitable for incorporation as an ingredient in different food products. They are vegan and are complete with essential amino acids. The production process is precisely controlled, easily scalable, an it upcycles food waste from the food industry, significantly reducing the use of natural resources.