EIT Food Seedbed Incubator

This weekend we celebrated International Day of Zero Waste! In honor of this, we’re featuring Seedbed Alumni Useeble, a team redefining product quality monitoring with stimuli-responsive smart inks. Founded in 2024 in the Netherlands at Eindhoven University of Technology, Useeble is led by PhD material scientists Marina Pilz da Cunha and Yari Foelen, PhD. Their mission? To revolutionize labeling with temperature-sensitive inks that enhance product safety and reduce waste in food and pharma. 🔬 The Challenge: Traditional expiration dates often fail to ensure freshness. Food waste is a global issue, and temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals need precise monitoring. Consumers, retailers, and logistics providers need a better solution. 💡 The Useeble Solution: Useeble’s smart ink technology provides continuous, real-time feedback on cumulative temperature exposure, ensuring optimal product quality. Their breakthrough features include: ✅ Color-Based Alerts: Labels gradually change color based on time and temperature. ✅ Customizable Solutions: Tailored for food, pharma, and logistics. ✅ Seamless Integration: Works with standard printing, eliminating costly sensors. 🛒 Applications: Food: Monitoring perishables like fish, dairy, and fruit. Pharma: Ensuring vaccines and temperature-sensitive drugs stay safe. Retail & Logistics: Helping optimize stock rotation and reduce waste. 🚀 Business & Growth Useeble operates under a B2B model, working with packaging and printing companies. They’ve secured €300,000+ in funding and are running pilots across Europe, including Ireland, testing their tech on food products like strawberries. 🌍 By tackling food waste and improving product safety, Useeble is making a significant impact on: 🌱 Reducing food waste with real-time freshness indicators. 🛡 Enhancing safety by preventing foodborne illnesses. 📦 Improving supply chain efficiency and reducing losses. 🔹 The Future of Smart Packaging With its scalable, cost-effective, and user-friendly approach, Useeble is set to redefine how we track product freshness and safety Visit their website to learn more and follow along their business journey: www.useeble.com #seedbedincubator #eitfood #internationaldayofzerowaste #innovation #wastereduction

🌱 Building a sustainable food system starts with sustainable founders. The agrifood-tech space is full of visionaries tackling some of the world’s most pressing challenges—climate change, food security, and supply chain resilience. But behind the breakthroughs, many founders face an overlooked challenge: mental health. This article, written by Magdalena Herrador Moreno the program manager of EIT Food RisingFoodStars, sheds light on the unique pressures agrifood entrepreneurs face—long development cycles, regulatory hurdles, and the weight of driving systemic change. Burnout is real, but so is the opportunity to build a culture of resilience, support, and well-being. 🔗 Read more here: https://lnkd.in/ezDtPBJy To all the founders out there: What strategies have helped you maintain balance while growing your startup? #SeedbedIncubator #EITFood #AgrifoodTech #SustainableFood #StartupLife #MentalHealth

🚀 Impact Sips is LIVE – A Real Commitment to Innovation! 🚀 Are you a startup developing science-backed functional ingredients? This is your chance to collaborate with Corporación Hijos de Rivera S.L. and EIT Food Corporate Venturing to shape the future of beverages. 🔬 What we’re looking for: Startups innovating in functional ingredients that enhance: ✅ Active Lifestyles – Energy, endurance & recovery ✅ Brain Health & Well-being – Focus, stress management & cognition ✅ Gut Health – Digestion & microbiome balance ✅ Disease Prevention – Immune & metabolic health 💡 Why apply? ✔ Pilot projects with Hijos de Rivera ✔ Equity-free funding – €5,000 for all Demo Day startups & €25,000 for winners ✔ In-person deep-dive sessions to integrate with HDR’s innovation culture ✔ Potential investment opportunities 📅 Key Dates: 🔹 Applications Open: March 17 🔹 Deadline: April 23 🔹 Shortlist Announced: May 21 🔹 Demo Day: To be announced (HDR HQ) 🔹 Final Winner Selection & Deep Dive Week: Q4 2025 💡 This is more than a corporate challenge—it’s a real commitment to collaboration, impact, and innovation. 📅 Applications close April 23—Apply Now! 🔗 Apply Now: https://lnkd.in/dztxbHY9 #ImpactSips #FutureOfBeverages #FunctionalIngredients #FoodTech #RealInnovation #EITFood

Great opportunity for Seedbed Alumni looking to pitch their innovations and receive feedback. There are still spots available to register for this event, so don't wait! EIT Food Alumni

🌊Today is World Water Day so we are highlighting Seaqure labs, a Seedbed alumni from our 2024 cohort that utilizes mycoproteins as the solution for current unsustainable methods within aquaculture. Seaqure labs emerged from Chalmers University of Technology and University of Borås, leveraging their expertise in fermentation and resource recovery. Their mission? To create high-value protein ingredients for animal feed and pet food using circular side streams from the agri-food industry. 🐟 The Problem: Traditional protein sources like soy and fishmeal are environmentally destructive. Imported soy contributes to deforestation, while fishmeal production depletes ocean biodiversity—95% of the herring caught in the Baltic Sea ends up as fishmeal instead of human consumption. A sustainable, locally sourced protein alternative is urgently needed to reduce these ecological pressures. 💡 The Seaqure Labs Solution: Seaqure Labs is pioneering a mycelium-based protein alternative through solid-state fermentation. Their proprietary process converts solid biomass side streams into nutrient-rich feed-grade mycelium. Seaqure Labs is addressing multiple sectors in the feed industry: 🔹Aquaculture Feed: High-quality proteins with essential amino acids and health benefits, particularly for salmon farming. 🔹Pet Food: Sustainable, nutritionally rich protein alternatives for pet food manufacturers. 🔹Livestock Feed: Organic protein solutions for poultry and other farm animals. 💼 The Business Journey Seaqure Labs is actively engaging with medium and large feed manufacturers that are shifting towards sustainable ingredients. By offering a locally sourced, environmentally friendly alternative to fishmeal and soy, they are bridging the gap between sustainability goals and real-world production needs. The company is currently fundraising for a pre-seed round to scale production from 50 kg to industrial-scale tons within the year. 🌍 By reducing reliance on unsustainable feed sources, Seaqure Labs is making a meaningful impact on: 🔹Marine biodiversity, decreasing pressure on ocean ecosystems by replacing fishmeal with mycelium-based proteins. 🔹Carbon emissions, offering a locally produced alternative to imported soy. 🔹Circular economy development, transforming agricultural waste into high-value nutrition for the feed industry. 🐟 Scaling Up for a Sustainable Future With a pilot fish trial underway in Portugal and growing industry interest, Seaqure Labs is well-positioned to disrupt the traditional feed industry. Follow along Seaqure Lab's business discover journey, we know they'll make a big splash in sustainable aquaculture! Learn more about the team and their innovation on their website: www.seaqurelabs.com #SeedbedIncubator #EITFood #SustainableFeed #AlternativeProteins #CircularEconomy #Aquaculture #PetFood #AnimalNutrition #Biotech #ClimateImpact #WorldWaterDay #CleanWater

💡 Great insights from the Marketing Lead of EIT Food RisingFoodStars! Larua works with many established agrifood startups and has a deep understanding of the importance of effective story telling. Her advice applies well to early stage startups and teams too! #seedbedincubator #eitfood #startup #agrifood

♻️ On World Recycling Day, we'd like to highlight a few Seedbed alumni teams that are dedicated to improving our food system with circular innovations. 🐛 From the 2022 Seedbed cohort, beworm is a biotechnological start-up facing the challenge of plastic pollution. Their goal is to develop a biotic recycling process that decomposes polyethylene, a commonly used material, into its building blocks. With the help of selected microorganisms and enzymes, the long hydrocarbon chain of polymers can be split up into shorter fragments, which can be reused as raw materials. This will transform a linear process into a circular process. 🍞 From the 2023 Seedbed cohort, Circular Fiber SRL pioneers food waste reduction by converting artichoke by-products into Karshof flour. They employ cutting-edge sustainable technology to extract and process these waste materials, promoting eco-conscious and nutritious ingredients. 🌱 From the 2024 Seedbed cohort, Nomos recycles and refines organic liquid waste into sustainable mineral fertilizers. Their bioreactor allows AD plant owners to save time and money on digestate management, while also ensuring compliance with environmental regulations. 🙌 We are proud to work with such amazing teams that are working to reduce waste and promote a circular economy! #seedbedincubator #eitfood #seedbedalumni #worldrecyclingday #sustainability #circulareconomy #innovation

💡 Great advice for innovators in the agrifood space!

👏 Well done to GAPPO, Seedbed alumni from the 2024 cohort! Congratulations on your soft launch 🚀

🌟Seedbed Alumni Spotlight 🌟 Founded in 2023, Change Bio is transforming the future of protein manufacturing. Emerging from a venture-creation program, this UK-based startup was inspired by the PhD research of co-founder Noah Sprent and his supervisor John Heap at Imperial College. Their vision? To develop a scalable manufacturing platform that eliminates bottlenecks in the production of recombinant proteins, opening doors for sustainable advancements in cosmetics, materials, and food. 🌱 The Problem: The world is witnessing an explosion in protein design, thanks to advancements in DNA sequencing and AI. Scientists are discovering proteins for applications like sugar substitutes, natural pigments, and sustainable textiles. However, manufacturing these proteins at scale remains a significant challenge. Traditional methods are slow, expensive, and highly customized—limiting innovation and accessibility. 💡 The Change Bio Solution: Change Bio is building a universal, scalable platform to produce diverse proteins efficiently. Leveraging proprietary advancements in process optimization, strain development, and techno-economic modeling, the company’s technology streamlines protein manufacturing across industries. By removing barriers to production, Change Bio enables innovators to focus on discovery and application, rather than being burdened by manufacturing limitations. 🌍 Innovation Meets Impact 🔹 A broad-spectrum protein production platform tailored for food, cosmetics, and material industries. 🔹Proprietary IP that optimizes strain development and manufacturing efficiency. 🔹Addressing the critical gap between protein design and large-scale commercial production. 🔹Positioning itself as a key manufacturing partner for AI-driven protein designers, research firms, and global consumer brands like Unilever and Givaudan. 🚀 The Business Journey Change Bio is already making waves, securing pilot projects with early customers across multiple industries. In food, they’re working on high-functionality proteins for gelling and enzyme applications. In cosmetics, they’re collaborating on active peptides for skincare. And in materials, they’re exploring textile applications that could redefine sustainable fashion. 🔬 The Future of Sustainable Protein Manufacturing Change Bio’s mission extends beyond solving today’s production bottlenecks. By making protein manufacturing scalable, efficient, and accessible, they aim to power the next wave of sustainable innovation. Whether it’s reducing reliance on synthetic chemicals in cosmetics, replacing animal-based proteins in food, or creating biodegradable materials for fashion, Change Bio is laying the foundation for a cleaner, greener future. 🙌 We are greateful to work with teams like Change Bio and look forward to see what they accomplish in the future. Stay up to date with Change Bio and follow along as they continue their business journey by connecting with them on LinkedIn. Zoe Woods