EIT Food’s new cohort of agri-food start-ups to shine light on “food as medicine” revolution

12 Jun 2023 --- EIT Food has unveiled its new cohort of 63 start-ups for its entrepreneurship programs: EIT Food Accelerator Network (FAN) and RisingFoodStars. The start-ups have been chosen for their potential to accelerate innovation to create positive change in global food systems, ranging from achieving carbon-zero farming to protein diversification.

As part of the cohort, start-ups have moved to the next stage of their entrepreneurship journey within EIT Food programs, from launch to acceleration and scale.

Dr. Andy Zynga, CEO of EIT Food, comments: “Start-ups play a fundamental role in building a food system that is strong enough to withstand cycles of global turbulence. At EIT Food, we bring key industry players together and create a shared vision and a common agenda to transform how food is produced, distributed and consumed.”

Meanwhile, Marie Russier, EIT FAN program manager and Narjis Chakir RisingFoodStars program manager says: “Our start-ups’ innovative solutions and dedication to transform the food industry are truly inspiring. We believe we can create a brighter future for our global food system.” They tell Food Ingredients First that “by giving startups a louder voice we can move forward together – collaborating across sectors to ensure that our approaches to producing and distributing food are healthy, sustainable and fair.”

The start-ups were chosen for their potential to accelerate and scale innovation to create positive change in the food system, and develop solutions that help meet some of those most pressing challenges in the food system today. 

Unicorns of tomorrow 
According to Russier and Chakir, the 2023 EIT Food Accelerator Network and RisingFoodStars programs are designed to empower start-ups and aspiring scaleups to become the “unicorns of tomorrow.”

“We do so by driving their recognition and visibility, supporting them on their tech validation and scaling up their commercial capabilities. We support the development of innovative agrifood tech products across several focus areas, in particular, data enabled services, sustainable novel proteins and nutrition, as well as foods as medicines and well-being technologies,” they outline.

Both programs are designed to bring together key elements of the food ecosystem, supporting early-stage and more advanced scaleups, in the development of high-growth businesses through mentorship, fundraising, education and partnerships. 

“Each of the start-ups in the new cohort will receive access to the world’s largest and most dynamic agrifood community of industry experts, research institutions, corporate partners and investors. They will also be able to benefit from world-class mentorship, leadership development, tech validation, business support and training, all designed to make them investment ready and speed up their growth, success, impact and market-readiness,” explain Russier and Chakir.

The new cohort is significant, because these entrepreneurs are the future of driving forward EIT Food’s missions. The start-ups were each chosen because they demonstrate the desire, potential and readiness to disrupt the food sector, whether that be developing or scaling new products and services for consumers, or implementing better ways of working across supply chains. 

Power of fermentation 
Food Ingredients First also speaks with Ani Biome, a Croatia-based company in the EIT Food cohort that harnesses the power of fermentation to create personalized AgeBiotics for elevated gut health and vitality.

Each start-up will receive access to the world’s largest and most dynamic agri-food community of industry experts, research institutions, corporate partners and investors.The company is one of the selected start-ups in the Food as medicine, Haifa Hub.

Nika Pitnar, CEO of Ani Biome, explains that the company is committed to advancing the “food as medicine” revolution. 

“Being a part of this cohort will enable us to leverage the extensive expertise within the group, aligning our services with the broader vision of ‘food as medicine,’ and further strengthen the integrity and scientific validation of our Metabolites-as-Medicine approach,” she says. 

“We plan to form partnerships that expand our reach and foster meaningful collaborations for scientific advancements. With the potential to attract investment and scale operations, this represents a significant opportunity to boost our business. Furthermore, participating in this cohort will accelerate our growth and enhance our capacity to impact individuals’ well-being significantly.”

The EIT Food FAN Food as Medicine cohort aligns strategically with Ani Biome’s microbiome-centric approach and the benefits of fermentation metabolites. Pitnar says it “validates our work and situates us within a vibrant network of like-minded innovators, scientists and entrepreneurs.”

Exploring the gut microbiome
This year marked the start of Ani Biome’s first clinical trial in collaboration with the Netherlands’ Vrije University and Wageningen University & Research in partnership with the Dutch Digestive Foundation. Through this, the company explored nutrition’s impact on the gut microbiome and the immune system. 

Pitnar adds that being part of this cohort will enable Ani Biome to to advance its research further, accelerate the upcoming three studies planned to be set in motion by the end of the year, and extend our partnerships with progressive scientific collaborators. 

“Specifically, we want to collaborate with partners interested in age-related decline and low-grade inflammation. Likewise, as awareness around the microbiome and gut health arises and the role of fermented metabolites gains recognition, this cohort equips us with additional resources to contribute meaningfully to the food as medicine revolution. We’re ready to lead the way in promoting a holistic, vitality-centric approach to health and longevity, fueled by fermentation metabolites,” she outlines. 

“Our goal is to empower individuals with personalized tools that facilitate vitality to support their overall quality of life and prevent age-related decline. We believe that nutrition goes beyond mere sustenance – and we are exploring the transformative potential of synergistic cocktails of fermented metabolites in enhancing vitality, preventing, and even reversing age-related health conditions.”

“Our unique Metabolites-as-Medicine angle to the movement is showcased in our monthly plans of AgeBiotics,” continues Pitnar. “They feature broad spectrum naturally-derived metabolites of fermentation designed to support healthspan. We link these fermentation metabolites with desired metabolic and psychological well-being outcomes by employing metabolomics and machine learning.”

For a personalized approach, the company has a solution for non-invasive diagnostics via Ani Daily app to set the baseline and measure the improvements in Vitalligence Quotient of individuals. According to Putnar, filling out the Vitality Scan takes one minute daily, enabling Ani Biome to holistically guide users on their health journey.

A closer look at the selected start-ups 
Also in the same category as Ani Biome (Food as medicine, Haifa Hub) is WeZoop (Lithuania), a start-up venture developing foods to promote healthy aging.The start-ups have been chosen for their potential to accelerate innovation to create positive change in global food systems.

Meanwhile, in the Achieving carbon-zero farming, Bilbao Hub category, Oligofeed (France), has been nominated, which has developed a scientifically proven supplement that boosts bees’ natural immunity. Another category entrant is SpaceCrop Technologies (Hungary) is an agricultural software company that helps farms manage irrigation using satellite data and AI.

The next category is Scaling the alternative protein revolution, Helsinki Hub, which includes Adamo Foods (UK), a company launching the world’s first sustainable steak made from fungi; Cultivated Biosciences (Switzerland), which is developing an alternative fat ingredient from oleaginous yeast; and Yeastime (Italy), a start-up that uses sensors and mechanical stimulation to reduce time, consumption and energy costs of the fermentation process. 

Also in this category, Nutropy (France) produces real milk ingredients identical to those produced by cows to enable the development of cheese alternatives that are more sustainable, healthier and better for animals.

Accelerating the tech revolution in agriculture, Munich Hub is the next category, which includes Agrodit (Sweden). The company provides real-time data directly from crops, enabling growers to respond to suboptimal environmental and soil conditions before visual symptoms appear. Meanwhile, Seabex (Tunisia) builds intelligent solutions to help farmers manage their operations for better yield production.`

In the same category, Ant Robotics (Germany) has created VALERA, a product that supports farmers during the harvest of fruits and vegetables, reducing non-productive time spent on transporting crates. 

In the Novel ingredients and processes, Paris Hub, Revive Eco (UK), has been nominated for its sustainable palm oil alternative made from local coffee waste.

The category also includes Got Foods (Latvia), which creates dairy-alternative cheese with high protein content from fermented yellow peas, and Colipi (Germany), which develops and scales two distinct technologies to upcycle waste carbon to edible oils.

In the EIT Food RisingFoodStars category, there are 13 start-ups, including Bosque Foods (Germany), which aims to create the next generation of meat alternatives, starting with whole-cut products grown naturally from fungus-derived mycelium. Onego Bio (Finland) has developed a way to produce egg white without chickens, and FreshSens (Turkey), has developed an AI-powered platform to prevent fruit and vegetable waste by predicting and extending their shelf life after harvest.

By Elizabeth Green