Agri-food startups and companies helping children fight allergies, preventing food waste and creating chemical-free fertilizers were crowned EIT Food's Pitch competition winners at the Venture Summit in Lisbon last week.
Nine startups pitched for the award, each shortlisted from over seventy companies for their positive impact on people and the planet and working toward 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, an audience of 300 agri-food professionals and investors chose one winner per mission. So let's discover these startups together:
Healthier Lives through Food: Vini Mini
Vini Mini is a startup that aims to stop the rising number of food allergies in babies by introducing allergens via their products in a healthy, easy, and safe way. In addition to preventing allergies, this female-led startup aims to source from upcycled ingredients and is awaiting its B-Corp certification.
Finalists: Gavan Technologies and Nikus Biotech
A Net-Zero Food System: Bio2Coat
Bio2Coat's is a circular solution can reduce food waste by extending the shelf life of fruits and vegetables and also create an alternative packaging material to avoid single-plastic use. This innovation, made from a biodiverse plant found in Brazil, is also edible and 100% natural.
Finalists: Climate Farmers and PROTe-IN
A Fully Transparent, Resilient and Fair Food System: Toopi Organics
Toopi Organics is a circular and affordable solution for agriculture that uses urine as a growing medium to produce biofertilizers. It addresses the urgent issues of climate change, biodiversity loss, and closing the loop on the nutrients cycle, using a byproduct instead of expensive chemical fertilizers.
Finalists: SafetyNet Technologies, Regrowth
In addition, each mission was introduced by a quick panel. Speakers explained the importance of looking for systemic solutions and more circular approaches while defining the future framework EIT Food intends to take.