F&A Next 2025: Ten Startups to Watch in Sustainable Food Innovation

Courtesy: F&A Next

On 21 and 22 May, F&A Next returns to Wageningen for its tenth edition, bringing together more than 850 participants from across the global food and agriculture sector. This annual summit highlights innovation in agrifoodtech, with a clear focus on sustainability, science, and scalable solutions. A key feature this year is the spotlight on ten startups—selected for their potential to drive meaningful change in how we produce, distribute, and consume food.

Each of these startups will pitch their solutions live to an audience of investors, corporates, researchers, and fellow entrepreneurs. They are competing not just for new partnerships and investment but also for the 2025 Feike Sijbesma Sustainable Innovation Award. For the first time, the award will be presented to two winners: one from the early-stage (Pre-seed/Seed) group and one from the later-stage (Series A/B) category. Each will receive a €12,500 grant.

Early-Stage Startups: Building the Foundation

These Pre-seed and Seed stage companies are at the start of their journey but already tackling significant challenges in the food system:

• Agrobiomics (Denmark): Developing biosolutions that help crops withstand climate stress like drought and soil salinity.

• Agrisound (UK): Offering remote monitoring tools to track pollinator activity, helping landowners support biodiversity.

• Concert Bio (UK): Enabling greenhouse growers to leverage microbiome data for healthier, more productive crops.

• Foodforecast (Germany): Using AI to improve demand forecasting, cutting down food waste and improving supply efficiency.

• Greenswapp (Netherlands): Providing APIs that allow food platforms to measure carbon footprints at the product and recipe level.

  
  

Later-Stage Startups: Scaling Sustainable Impact

The Series A/B group features startups further along in development, ready to scale their impact:

• Grassa (Netherlands): Unlocking protein from grass for human consumption, while also improving dairy sustainability.

• Klim (Germany): A digital platform supporting farmers in regenerative agriculture with tools, financing, and community.

• Nofence (Norway): Producing GPS collars to manage livestock using virtual fencing, reducing the need for physical barriers.

• Vivici (Netherlands): Creating dairy protein alternatives through precision fermentation.

• Wild Bioscience (UK): Working on crop genetics to accelerate growth and boost yields of staple crops like wheat and maize.

Recognizing Innovation: The Feike Sijbesma Award

Named after former dsm-firmenich CEO Feike Sijbesma, the award honors science-based startups focused on climate-resilient food systems. Backed by the DSM Brighter Living Foundation through the Wageningen University Fund, the award aims to support sustainable innovation and help promising ventures scale.

The jury includes prominent figures in agrifoodtech investment:

• Arnout Dijkhuizen, Astanor

• Richie Gray, Mondelez SnackFutures

• Sebastiaan Masselink, Yanmar Ventures

• Maurien Olsthoorn, dsm-firmenich

• Francesca D’Cruz, Fall Line Capital

Each member brings experience in scaling sustainable ventures and will assess the startups on impact, feasibility, and innovation.

A Decade of F&A Next

Since its founding in 2016, F&A Next has championed collaboration across the food innovation landscape. Organized by Wageningen University & Research, Rabobank, StartLife, Anterra Capital, and FoodValley NL, the summit promotes dialogue between startups, researchers, corporates, and investors.

The 2025 edition continues this mission, offering a platform for partnerships that aim to reshape food systems around the world. The event will be held in Wageningen, a leading center for agricultural and food research.

More information about the event, including the full program and registration details, is available at www.fanext.com.