Agrifood'ture Challenge: 4 start-ups winners innovating the future of food

The Agrifood’ture Challenge: 4 start-ups winners innovating the future of food

On Thursday September 15th in Dijon, the Agrifood’ture Challenge held the final of its international start-up pitch contest. Organised by Vitagora, EIT Food, FoodTech Dijon Bourgogne-Franche-Comté and MPowerBio, the Agrifood’ture Challenge showcased 33 start-up finalists from 10 different countries innovating solutions that addressed major food industry challenges, from farm to fork.

The Agrifood’ture Challenge is a pitch contest open to start-ups from throughout the world developing innovative solutions for farmers, food manufacturers or consumers, with the goal of improving the sustainability of food production. From the 140 applications, 33 finalists were invited to pitch their innovation for a jury of contest partners and food industry professionals.

Four winners were announced at the end of the day, winning cash prizes of 3,000 € each as well as access to professional resources to accelerate their development.

The winners of the Agrifood’ture Challenge:

• Challenge #1 Agroecological farming practices: Corbiota (Germany) has the goal to create a new category and become the new standard for natural animal health and welfare solutions that can also increase productivity and meet the needs of farmers. Their natural products strengthen the eubiosis of young animals such as chicks or piglets and make them more resistant to diseases.
• Challenge #2 The protein transition: Le Papondu (France) is a ready -to-use plant-based egg alternative adapted for vegans or those with egg allergies.
  
  
• Challenge #3 Circular economy and reducing food waste : Cirucl’Egg (France) upcycles eggshells from egg processing plants, into tow different products: a calcium carbonate powder and a shell membrane powder for animal feed and nutraceutical applications.
  
  
• Challenge #4 Smart systems and digital tools: La Charette (France) aims to be the first logistics network for short supply chains, based on the values of transparency and fair prices for producers and transporters.

Four special prizes were also awarded: three start-ups were selected for free access to the ToasterLAB agrifood acceleration program - Nutropy, Proteme et La Vie du Vin – and one start-up was selected to pitch at the MPowerBio final event to be held in October in Wupertal, Germany – Dionymer.

Pierre Guez, President of Vitagora

“We were impressed by the exceptional quality of the start-up finalists to this first edition of the Agrifood’ture Challenge. They are proving their ability to tune in to the needs of professionals and consumers, as well as the economic and environmental challenges that our industry is facing. This event is a genuine showcase for our European agrifood innovation ecosystem as well as recognising the important role that start-ups play in driving the transition towards more sustainable industry practices, from farm to fork.”

Marianne Lemberger, Programme Manager of EIT Community

“EIT Food (European Institute of Innovation and Technology) has the ambition of addressing the major challenges of the international food sector, organised around three areas: society, the environment and the economy. Faced with these challenges, EIT Food is working to use innovation to transform our food systems, by establishing an ecosystem of food innovation players across Europe.”

Catherine Breyssens, Programme Manager Business Creation at EIT Food

“An event like the Agrifood’ture Challenge is crucial for supporting the development of start-ups. This is why EIT Food is the co-organiser! We obviously want to provide them with better visibility and a fertile environment for accessing new opportunities and investments. But we also wish to strengthen collaborations and links between start-ups themselves, as we are convinced that their combined expertise can help them to develop further and faster. This event was thus a chance to encourage dialogue and a group dynamic within the finalists that carried over to the pitch contest.”

Contact 

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Contact presse :

Cindy Tran, cindy.tran@vitagora.com, +33 6 51 40 53 29