2026 Teams

CircO turns olive pomace (alperujo), the main by-product of olive oil production, into natural, traceable ingredients for cosmetics. Olive mills produce 15–17 million tonnes of pomace every year. Most of the olive's valuable compounds end up in that waste stream instead of in the oil, and disposing of it is costly for producers. Our solvent-free cascade extraction process uses the whole biomass and leaves no residue. It produces a hydroxytyrosol-rich antioxidant extract and biodegradable olive-stone exfoliating particles that replace plastic microbeads. We work with cosmetic brands looking for clean-label, sustainable ingredients with a clear origin story.

Growing Tomorrow is making regenerative agriculture possible at scale by scouting, organizing and supporting bioregional initiatives to succeed. 

We help landscape-scale movements to unlock their progress, get the right funding and start having real influence on the ground. In particular, we look at land ownership and added value activities, making sure that the territory executes a profitable transition that can sustain local stewards.

EcoCryst is developing a technology to recover nitrogen from poultry manure and digestate and turn it into a standardised nitrogen fertiliser. At the same time, removing part of the nitrogen can make poultry manure easier to use in biogas production by reducing the risk of ammonia inhibition. Our solution is aimed mainly at poultry farms, biogas operators and fertiliser manufacturers. We are currently moving from laboratory validation to pilot-scale testing with industry partners.

Inspired by Mediterranean living, Figamor is a natural food startup creating delicious, satisfying snacks with Mediterranean figs and simple, recognizable ingredients, starting with three signature fig bars: Sol, Vida and Placer. We offer quality-conscious consumers an everyday real-food alternative to traditional bakery and highly processed snacks, combining authentic taste and provenance with nutrition, convenience and portability. Figs, our hero ingredient, are naturally fiber-rich, underutilized and climate-resilient. This makes figs an ideal crop to build demand for climate-resilient foods and create new opportunities for farmers, including through the use of surplus and imperfect figs. Handcrafted in Barcelona today, Figamor is designed to scale through commercial production and partnerships across Spain, Europe and the U.S.

Led by Leonidas Mademlis and Shirinda Pulluru, Panthoron is lot traceability for the floor of small and mid-sized food plants, where the ERP stops and the pen takes over. Most of these plants still keep the record on paper, because the systems that could replace it are priced and built for large factories, and a full trace for an audit or a recall takes hours. With Panthoron, operators scan every lot instead of writing it down, the record feeds whatever the plant uses today, from a spreadsheet to an ERP, and the trace is ready in minutes.

Panphyta is an AI-powered rapid prototyping platform that shortens the costly, trial-and-error development of biological crop-protection formulations. By combining research and real-world farming data, Panphyta identifies field-performance bottlenecks and accelerates the design of reliable, affordable and locally adaptable products. The platform addresses a growing market need for effective, low-residue crop protection while helping manufacturers reduce R&D time and cost and enabling growers to protect yield and quality more consistently.

FarmOps is an AI assistant built for farmers. It answers questions and supports everyday farm decisions, while turning voice, messages and photos into structured farm records in seconds. Farmers spend less time on paperwork, make better-informed decisions and reduce errors and operational risks.

Asterina is developing an early-stage, explainable decision-support platform for sustainable aquaculture. It brings together environmental, operational and biological monitoring information to help farm teams identify patterns that may require earlier human review. Our aim is to support adaptive monitoring and more informed farm decisions.

SeaCellTech is developing the biological tools for cellular aquaculture: validated marine fish cell lines and a microalgae-derived alternative to fetal bovine serum. Emerging from the INOVACEL project, SeaCellTech addresses key challenges in the sector by providing cultivated seafood companies with reliable, scalable, cost-effective and animal-free tools to accelerate cell-based R&D and product development.

GamaFungi is a Slovakia-based startup that brings fresh functional mushrooms, such as oyster and lion's mane, into every home with a smart, easy-to-use growing system. Our modular controller keeps the ideal climate automatically and guides users step by step with an AI assistant, so anyone can enjoy a successful harvest from day one. Open to any standard substrate and built as a reusable solution, it uniquely combines smart automation, freedom of choice and sustainability. Founded by AI engineer Anastasia Gamaley and business co-founder Max Stankevych as part of EIT Food Seedbed TeamUp 2026, GamaFungi is ready to grow with the rising demand for healthy, home-grown food. 

Sense4Agro has developed an innovative technology that delivers rapid, accurate insights into plant physiological status directly in the field, with no need for specialized personnel. By detecting how crops perceive and respond to stress before visible symptoms appear, Sense4Agro goes beyond conventional sensing with a plant-centered, “sense-driven” approach to crop management, where actions are guided by the real needs of the crop. By empowering farmers with high-value insights to optimize decision-making, Sense4Agro contributes to a more efficient, sustainable, resilient and healthier food production