StartLife and EIT Food join forces to empower Europe’s agrifood startups
StartLife and EIT Food have announced a strategic partnership, marking a major step toward accelerating agrifood innovation across Europe.
StartLife, the Wageningen-based agrifood accelerator, and EIT Food, Europe's largest food innovation community, have announced a strategic partnership, marking a major step toward accelerating agrifood innovation across Europe. The partnership makes EU agrifood startups in StartLife’s flagship program eligible for EIT Food investment funding of up to €1.5 million.
The partnership combines the strengths of two of Europe’s most influential agrifood innovation players. Together, StartLife and EIT Food aim to fast-track the development of sustainable solutions that make food systems healthier, more resilient, and future-proof. EIT Food is supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union.
Driving Growth Through Collaboration Shared Vision for a Sustainable Future
By linking EIT Food’s pan-European investment network with StartLife’s startup acceleration expertise, the partnership opens a powerful gateway for early-stage agrifood innovators to scale their technologies and impact.
“We are very excited about our partnership with EIT Food,”
“By combining the strengths of two European agrifood powerhouses in a first-of-its-kind collaboration, we can offer startups unprecedented access to funding and growth opportunities.”
Shared Vision for a Sustainable Future
EIT Food leads Europe’s largest food innovation community. Its mission aligns closely with StartLife’s: to build a healthy, sustainable, and inclusive food system through entrepreneurship and collaboration.
“Having worked with StartLife for years, this partnership was a natural next step. StartLife’s startup support is top notch, and through our collaboration we can make a big step forward in our joint mission to accelerate the growth of agrifood startups that help build healthy and resilient food systems.”
Unlocking Opportunities for European Startups
The collaboration builds on a strong foundation of shared success stories, including innovative startups like Orbisk, MagieCreations, Cano-ela, Time-Travelling Milkman, and Revye. Until now, only startups that have graduated from EIT Food’s own accelerator programmes are eligible to receive funding. The new partnership will open this exclusive opportunity to include alumni from StartLife Accelerate programme, provided that its application and selection process is fully compliant with the Horizon Europe (HE) guidelines.
Beyond funding, startups will gain access to shared resources, industry expertise, and a network that spans the entire European agrifood value chain.
Together, StartLife and EIT Food will strengthen Europe’s innovation ecosystem, creating new pathways for entrepreneurs to bring breakthrough ideas to market and drive meaningful changes in global food and agriculture.