EIT Food announces winners of Venture Summit 2023 for agrifood innovation
- Europe’s most promising and innovative agrifood startups
- Winners include startups working on boosting the natural immunity of bees, creating alternative meats using mycelium, and developing develop healthy seafood alternatives
- EIT Food Venture Summit 2023 brought together investors, experts and startups from across the European agrifood sector
EIT Food is proud to announce the winners of its prestigious 2023 Venture Summit, held on 8th-9th November in Lisbon, Portugal. EIT Food is supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union.
The annual EIT Food Venture Summit, now in its sixth year, brings together Europe’s most innovative agrifood startups, industry-leading corporates and major investors, with the aim of creating a more sustainable and trusted food system.
The event offered the opportunity for attendees to discover more than 100 impact-driven agrifood tech startups that have been launched, accelerated and scaled by EIT Food over the past year. The 300+ attendees also enjoyed keynote speeches on the future of food, including Jamie Crummie, co-founder at Too Good to Go, explaining how food waste is fuelling the climate emergency.
At the event, 12 startups pitched for the prestigious EIT Food Mission Startup Award, each shortlisted for their positive impact on people and planet, and working towards one of these three missions: Healthier Lives Through Food, A Net-Zero Food System, and A Fully Transparent, Resilient and Fair Food System.
From this shortlist, three winners were chosen following an audience vote of the 300 agri-food professionals and investors at the event. Each winner will be awarded a €5,000 prize, alongside an invitation to join EIT Food on stage at the EVPA Impact Week on Nov 22-24 in Turin, Italy, to meet with impact investors.
The three winners for each category are:
- Oligofeed (France), which has developed a scientifically proven supplement that boosts bees' natural immunity.
- Bosque Foods (Germany), which aims to create the next generation of meat alternatives, starting with whole-cut products grown naturally from fungus-derived mycelium.
- Pacifico Biolabs (Germany), which develops seafood alternatives that are significantly healthier and lower cost than any other, whilst providing realistic taste and texture through a unique biomass fermentation process.
“Our missions represent three crucial areas that we urgently need to accelerate if we are to achieve a healthier, more sustainable food system for all. By connecting investors with forward-thinking, innovative startups that are driving forward change in these areas, we can help to deliver real-life products, solutions and approaches to market.”
“We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to further raise awareness of the essential topic of the problems that bees and pollinators face today. We must all realise the urgency of solving this problem, which is our mission at Oligofeed.”
"The EIT Food programmes have been instrumental in our growth as a biotech company. Today's prize is a testament to the dedication of our team in creating an innovative fermentation platform that produces healthier and more sustainable meat and fish alternatives, meeting the diverse needs of our customers in terms of texture and taste."
“We’re thrilled to part of the mission to create a net-zero food system, in which alternative proteins are one of the most impactful levers. We’re very grateful to the whole EIT Food team for the amazing support.”
For EIT Food enquiries please contact communication@eitfood.eu.
About EIT Food
EIT Food is the world’s largest and most dynamic food innovation community. We accelerate innovation to build a future-fit food system that produces healthy and sustainable food for all.
Supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union, we invest in projects, organisations and individuals that share our goals and vision for a healthy and sustainable food system. We unlock innovation potential in businesses and universities and create and scale agrifood startups to bring new technologies and products to market. We equip entrepreneurs and professionals with the skills needed to transform the food system and put consumers at the heart of our work, helping build trust by reconnecting them to the origins of their food.
We are one of nine innovation communities established by the European Institute for Innovation & Technology (EIT), an independent EU body set up in 2008 to drive innovation and entrepreneurship across Europe.
Find out more at www.eitfood.eu or follow us via social media:
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