From upcycling ‘spent hens’ into flavour enhancers to recreating breast milk in a lab, we round-up five of the most innovate start-ups we interviewed in 2023.
The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is launching a food and drink incubator programme for entrepreneurs, open to ‘anyone in the wider London F&B fraternity’.
The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), partnering with Foodtech HUB Latam, is expanding its Food Accelerator Network (FAN) to Brazil, where it will open a hub that will help develop burgeoning agrifood-tech start-ups in the Latin America...
The algae spirulina has a wide range of health benefits. Now, a start-up is exploring its potential as a clean-label meat substitute, with flexibility in flavour and in use.
Start-ups in Europe with a bent towards finding solutions that promise to reduce the environmental footprint of the food system are resisting the rise of investor retrenchment globally, a new report claims.
EIT Food, the world’s largest food innovation community, has announced the results of its Marketed Innovation Prize, designed to reward innovative food start-ups that have successfully brought products or services to market. EIT Food is supported by the...
Just as smartphone application ‘Shazam’ identifies the song playing by hearing just a section of the tune, Israeli start-up Alteco.ai identifies which device is consuming what by using just one smart meter to help manage energy consumption, cut costs,...
The five food firms chosen for the prestigious European Innovation Council Accelerator reveals a commitment to solutions attempting to improve the resilience and sustainability of the food system, but a seperate report demostrates how Europe's start-up...
A new not-for-profit accelerator supported by retail majors Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Ocado has launched in the UK. Titled ‘ADD Psalt’, the programme aims to bring more diversity to the food and drink sector.
Israeli start-up Kinoko-Tech is tapping fermentation to produce new alternative protein products from fungal mycelium growing on legumes and grains. “We are not aiming to be meat analogues,” said co-founder and CEO Jasmin Ravid, who wants consumers to...
Frustrated at the range of dairy alternatives currently on-shelf, a French start-up has developed a plant-based milk made from faba protein and algae. “Its advantages in comparison to conventional dairy are almost outrageous,” Update Foods CEO Clémence...
Europe’s agri-food sector is ripe for investment as the region seeks to make its food system more sustainable, healthy and trusted, according to EIT Food.
The Danish biotech making upcycled flour from spent coffee grounds is preparing to scale up production having secured €1.1m in seed funding, co-founder and CCO Alejandro Franco tells FoodNavigator.
Dutch start-up Greencovery has developed technology that helps food manufacturers recover valuable compounds from their side-streams. The resulting ‘high quality’ ingredients help the business offer an ‘attractive economical proposition’ that reduces...
Pre-COVID, food entrepreneurs were reluctant to outsource to service providers. But a ‘change in mindset’ has occurred, according to Young Foodies’ Thea Alexander, meaning founders are increasingly comfortable relinquishing control.
Israeli start-up Seebo has raised a total of $31m to help manufacturers predict and prevent food waste on the factory floor. The more complex the production line, the better, CEO Lior Akavia tells FoodNavigator.
COVID-19 has accelerated food trends that were already on the rise prior to lockdown. So how can entrepreneurs best capitalise on these trends to attract early-stage funding? And in a growing field of competitors, how can investors pick the right horse?
The impact of COVID-19 on retail and food-to-go channels has challenged many food businesses. Yet challenger brands and start-ups with an agile mindset can use the crisis to their advantage, say a panel of experts.
Chilean biotech Protera Biosciences is heading for the city of lights, having closed $5.5m (€4.9m) Series A financing led by Sofinnova Partners. Europe, Protera CEO Leonardo Álvarez tells FoodNavigator, is known for its ‘vast expertise’ in producing enzymes...
Israeli start-up Remilk hopes to replace cows as ‘food factories’ with its microbe-based ‘milk’. Co-founder Aviv Wolff tells FoodNavigator the product is functional, versatile, and ‘behaves the same way as cow’s milk’.
Israeli start-up Yemoja has developed a ‘super intensive’ growing platform for microalgae, which CEO Eyal Shalmon says he hopes will bring the ‘super crop’ into the mainstream.
Alcohol-free Nirvana Brewery was born out of a love for craft beer. Three years on, demand for the category has grown ‘massively’, co-founder and director Becky Kean tells FoodNavigator: “People go crazy for it.”
Plant-based start-up Yofix Probiotics has secured $2.5m to fund ‘global expansion’ of its non-dairy yoghurt alternatives. Dairy players Müller and Bel Group are among its backers.
UK meat analogue start-up THIS has secured £4.7m in seed funding, which co-founder Andy Shovel says will help finance R&D, manufacturing capabilities, and ultimately, international expansion.
Israeli start-up FFW is championing yeast as a ‘major protein source’ – offering an alternative to soy and pea protein in the plant-based space, founder Leonardo Marcovitz tells FoodNavigator.
Start-up Nourished claims it has developed the world’s first 3D-printed ‘truly customised’ daily nutrition stack, which it is launching in the UK this week.
The food tech scene is booming in Israel, where its start-up ecosystem is striving to be ‘number one’ in the game. So what makes this country a hotbed for food tech innovation? FoodNavigator hears from a food manufacturer, a start-up incubator and a venture...
Israeli start-up A1C Foods has developed bread and chocolate products that are both low carbohydrate and low GI to make low carb-high fat diets easier to maintain.
Italian pasta brand Barilla is seeking food tech innovation for an accelerator programme in three focus areas: circular food economy, personalised meal solutions, and healthy snacking.
Snack sales are surging as innovation in the category focuses on satisfying cravings with an increasingly diverse range of options. Start-up Made for Drink has a unique proposition, developing up-market snacks that pair with alcoholic tipples. We spoke...
A Danish start-up is dehydrating fruits and vegetables for smoothies to reduce food waste – 40-50% of which is made up of this surplus, ‘aesthetically unappealing’, or overripe produce.
CEO and co-founder of food waste app Too Good To Go, Mette Lykke, is taking an entrepreneurial approach to sustainability: “We are taking an issue that everyone loves and turning it into a win for everyone.”
UK start-up Almond has developed an app that rewards shoppers for buying responsible brands, while helping to reduce and offset CO₂e emissions. “In a nutshell, we help consumers reduce their negative impact,” CEO Oliver Bolton tells FoodNavigator.
Norwegian start-up TotalCtrl has developed software that tracks expiration dates in supermarkets, food banks, restaurants, and hotels. The end goal? “To eliminate food waste throughout the entire value chain, from farmer to consumer”, CEO and co-founder...
Fed up with the limited range of “really bland” and highly processed meat analogues available for vegans and vegetarians, a German start-up has developed plant-based chicken alternatives using a new protein source: the laetiporus mushroom.
UK start-up Better Nature is developing nutrient-rich tempeh products for western audiences while raising funds to eradicate protein malnutrition in Indonesia.
A global agri-food tech platform has been developed to help businesses keep up with trends, innovations, and funding movements from start-ups, accelerators and investors.
Slow-fermented chickpea miso is full of natural umami notes, making it a great way to enhance flavor, reduce salt and add beneficial bacteria to food, says Brazilian company Missô Origem.
The CEO and founder of soup start-up Re:Nourish, Nicci Clarke, was once a cardiac nurse. What did this teach her about food? “It taught me that you only live once and that you should live as well as you can,” she tells FoodNavigator. “And that’s what...
