MassChallenge Switzerland’s Post

Finally, the seven startups selected for the 1st edition of the FoodSeed Accelerator program, part of the CDP Venture Capital SGR National Network, were unveiled yesterday at the #demoday, in Verona. With funding exceeding €15 million, up to ten startups per year will be selected over three years to boost growth in one of Italy's most important innovation ecosystems, focusing on Sustainable Agriculture, Food and Beverages, and Circular Economy. Foreverland Food, Regrowth, Soonapse srl, Agreen Biosolutions Srl SB, Trusty, Agree NET , and Hypesound received initial funding, mentoring, and coaching for 6 months of acceleration to drive innovation and sustainability in Italy's agrifood sector. During the demo day, the seven finalists were able to showcase their cutting-edge solutions including chocolate alternatives, water stress prevention, and advanced fermentation to a broad audience of investors, corporations, stakeholders, and more. FoodSeed receives support from promoters and main investor partners Fondazione Cariverona, UniCredit, and Eatable Adventures, along with corporate partners Amadori, Generali Italia, #axxelera, Veronafiere, and scientific partner University of Verona. The call for startups participating in the 2nd edition of FoodSeed will open in February 2024. Learn more here ⬇ https://lnkd.in/dSqebmbq

The seven startups selected for the 1st edition of the FoodSeed Accelerator program, part of the CDP Venture Capital SGR National Network, are finally revealed! 🎉 With funding exceeding €15 million, up to ten startups per year will be selected over three years to boost growth in one of Italy's most important innovation ecosystems, focusing on Sustainable Agriculture, Food and Beverages, and Circular Economy. Foreverland Food, Regrowth, Soonapse srl, Agreen Biosolutions Srl SB, Trusty, Agree NET  , and Hypesound received initial funding, mentoring, and coaching for 6 months of acceleration to drive innovation and sustainability in Italy's agrifood sector. During the #demoday in Verona, the seven finalists were able to showcase their cutting-edge solutions including chocolate alternatives, water stress prevention, and advanced fermentation to a broad audience of investors, corporations, stakeholders, and more. 👏 🍃 FoodSeed receives support from promoters and main investor partners Fondazione Cariverona, UniCredit, and Eatable Adventures, along with corporate partners Amadori, Generali Italia, #axxelera, Veronafiere, and scientific partner University of Verona. The call for startups participating in the 2nd edition of FoodSeed will open in February 2024. 🚀 Read more about their groundbreaking solutions here 👇 https://lnkd.in/dYYvmrNJ

📊 New report on global FoodTech investments by DigitalFoodLab! I am so pleased to share with you our first global FoodTech investments report! We have 4 key learnings: 1️⃣ 72% decline in funding between 2021 and 2023: that's huge and even if we have now reached a low plateau, we are at investments levels comparable to 2016! 2️⃣ Seed investments have decreased dramatically in the first half of 2024. They are only compensated by a handful of megadeals in delivery startups. That would quite bad news for the future of the ecosystem if it were to continue for a long time. 3️⃣ Growing emphasis on upstream and midstream technologies over time: once FoodTech investments were 90%+ delivery. Year over year this figure decreased to reach a bottom low of 21% in 2023. Now, upstream (agriculture) and mid-stream (transformation, alt proteins, new brands) account for a large majority of the funding. 4️⃣ The emergence of the European ecosystem and the relative decline of Asian FoodTech ecosystems: alongside delivery's decline, we observe a decline in funding for Asian startups (at least in relative terms). Also, Europe's FoodTech, which was lagging, is now more and more visible. This are only snippets of the content you can find in this report. You can have a look at it to see where the AgriFoodTech ecosystem stands now and understand where Ag and Food innovation are going. 👉 Link to the full report: https://lnkd.in/dQYT9xY2 #foodtech #agtech #deals #startups #investments

Can this 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗨𝗣 make 𝗟𝗔𝗕-𝗚𝗥𝗢𝗪𝗡 𝗠𝗘𝗔𝗧 𝗔𝗙𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗗𝗔𝗕𝗟𝗘? Plant-based meat substitutes have made strides recently, but fully replicating the taste and texture of real meat has proven elusive. Lab-grown meat shows promise, but high production costs have hindered mainstream adoption. Now, an Israeli startup aims to change that equation. Ingrediome, a food tech company based in Israel, claims to have developed a process to manufacture cultured meat at a fraction of the current market cost. By optimizing its protein engineering platform, Ingrediome believes it can produce slaughter-free meat for up to 10x less than other methods. The startup has raised $2.46 million from investors including SOSV and Alumni Ventures to scale up its solution. Ingrediome has also signed collaboration agreements with a European ingredients company and an Israeli deli meat producer, demonstrating commercial interest in their innovation. Startups and corporates partnering through open innovation provide a textbook example of how embracing external creativity and technology can create value. This is one of the avenues that both, startups and corporates should constantly be exploring. If Ingrediome succeeds, its breakthrough could represent an additional step toward disruption of the traditional meat industry. Even though, regulatory and consumer adoption challenges remain. How are you leveraging startups and corporates collaboration in your organization? Link in the comments 👇 #startups #innovation #transformation #strategy #disruption

In an article posted on TECH'EU last month, Tamara Djurickovic reports on the top 10 European foodtech industries and why these companies are well worth investigating in 2024. This is based on tech.eu’s annual report, which found that European foodtech companies made over 150 deals, raising over €700 million. Although the total investment does not place European foodtech industries among the top 10 most funded sectors, this industry was among the top 8 securing monetary deals, which according to Djurickovic, makes these 10 companies highly interesting to at least keep an eye on in 2024. These top 10 European foodtech industries include: Umiami, Meatable, Uncommon, BLUU Seafood, GoodBytz, Paleo, Solar Foods, Dreamfarm foods, Nosh, Adamo Foods.  #foodtech #2024opportunities #foodinnovation #startups #futureoffood #venturecapital #innovation2024 https://lnkd.in/e-nZ57QQ

Invest in plant-based, cultivated, food tech, and ag tech startups across the globe 💰 Vevolution has emerged as the leading investment platform within the plant-based, cultivated, food tech, and ag tech space. Today, it stands as a thriving platform of over 1,700 startups and 800 investors. 🌎 Going Global The regional breakdown of Vevolution startups has continued to be more evenly distributed across the world. In 2023, 42% of new deals were in Europe, 36% based in the US, and 15% of deals were from APAC in 2023. Latin America saw a slight increase from 2% to 4% of the total deals listed on Vevolution. Investor activity trended slightly higher to EU deals with over 52% of investor interactions being with EU companies. 👇 Here are a handful of many startups across the globe that joined Vevolution in 2023: Europe - Berlin Esencia Foods - Hendrik Kaye Plant-based proteins, Fermentation, Plant-based seafood, Biotechnology US - City of Industry Mi Terro® - Robert Luo Agriculture technology, Biotechnology, Tech, Fashion, Materials, Food waste Asia Pacific - Singapore Agua Foods - Zubin Chand Plant-based proteins, Plant-based seafood, Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) Latin America - Chile Mycobites - Juan Enrique Bernstein Plant-based proteins, Tech, Restaurants & retail 👉 Are you an impact investor looking to invest in food-tech, cultivated and climate-tech startups? Join Vevolution as an investor and access fundraising rounds, pitch decks, round details and updates, instant chat with founders and other co-investors, regular pitch events, a vibrant community, and more: https://lnkd.in/d5kM6KKq 👇 More data insights here: https://lnkd.in/dVzyyT5n --- Vevolution is the leading investment platform for plant-based and cultivated companies to secure funding from our network of 600+ mission aligned investors. Our mission is to connect impact startups with impact investors. We're fintech with heart. #foodtech #impactinvesting #investmentdata #startups #fundraising #cultivated #plantbasedbusiness 

🥢 Calling all AgriFoodTech startups and scaleups in APAC. If you're operating in the region, we want you to be part of the biggest edition yet of FoodTech 500! This year's edition is bigger and better, and startups can expect the following perks: 👉 Ecosystem Matchmaker: As an ecosystem enabler, we help startups address specific challenges by connecting them with trade investment agencies, corporates, and other potential collaborators. 👉 Strategic Partnerships: Whether you’re looking to scale into new regions or find the right partners to complement your offer, the FoodTech 500 aims to connect you with the right people. 👉 ‘Industry Honorable Mentions’: To recognize AgriFoodTech’s best and brightest and their outstanding contributions and innovations, we’re launching the ‘Industry Honorable Mentions’ in various verticals, involving a selection of key Industry Players as part of the judging panel. 👉 Global Exposure: Leveraging media partners and regional hubs, startups that make the FoodTech 500 will receive significant exposure through various channels, including press releases, blog articles, and dedicated social media outreach. 👉 Partner Program Access: Applicants can opt-in through the FoodTech 500 application form to apply and get a head start on joining our partner’s programs (e.g., hubs, incubators, accelerators, competitions, etc.). Apply before 31st July to get a headstart among your peers. Plus, a chance to get reviewed by industry experts to be part of the judging panel! Send your application now: https://lnkd.in/eMP64QU Yume Food Australia, Katy Barfield OAM, Umami Bioworks, Mihir Pershad, Eratani, Andrew Soeherman, Cropin, Krishna Kumar, SEADLING, Simon Davis, SWAN Systems, Tim Hyde, WTH Foods, Stephen Michael Co, 9Growers, Himanshu Aggarwal, AxisTech, Wesley Lawrence, InvertiGro, Ben Lee, Nuvilab, Logan Kim, All G Foods, Jan Pacas, Farmbot Monitoring Solutions, Andrew Coppin, Pairtree Intelligence, Hamish Munro, GLOBAL BUGS 🦗🌏, Kanitsanan Thanthitiwat, Meatless Kingdom, Widya Putra, GoMicro, Sivam Krish, Nutrition Innovation - Transforming world health through sugar innovation., Jimmy O'Mahony, GoodDot, Abhishek Sinha Calyx.Eco, Lauren Branson #ForwardFooding #FoodTech500

Early-stage Latin American agrifood startups, the GLOCAL LATAM Game Changers program is back! ✍ Apply for the chance to join GLOCAL’s portfolio, grow your business, forging new, valuable industry connections, and access an investment ticket of up to $500,000. 🖱 Click this post to discover startups program alumni. #agrifood #accelerator #latinamerica #latam #traceability #marketplaces #alternativefoods #carbonneutrality #watermanagement #climatetech #agbiotech #agfintech

🇪🇺💰Last week, we published our yearly report on the state of the European FoodTech ecosystem. 📉 If investments are declining in Europe, they are much less affected than in other regions. Global investments decreased by almost 56% between 2022 and 2023. As a consequence, Europe’s FoodTech weight increased. Now, Europe accounts for 32% of worldwide FoodTech investments, up from only 14% in 2020. 📈 While there is less money, we observed an increase in the number of deals, notably in early-stage. Investors are still very active in Europe and are betting on startups with an edge to surf long-term trends. In turn, the decrease in funding is due to a drastic reduction in large deals. 🧑🌾 Investments in AgTech (bioinputs and farm management) and in Food Science (alternative proteins and new brands) even increased. The report is full of insights and it's free to download the 77-pages long report, Go read it!