The European startup challenge for the most promising food & ag solutions.

FoodNexus organizes the European Startup Challenge, a contest and a support program that will identify and accelerate the most promising startups in the agrifood sector in Europe, connecting them to leading European corporates in the agrifood industry. With the support of these partners, the startups can scale their innovations to benefit people and planet.

The FoodNexus Startup Challenge consists of national selection rounds in seven European countries: Denmark, Spain, Italy, Ireland, France, Belgium and The Netherlands. In the primary rounds, two European finalists will be selected by a jury in each country, then on November 1, 2017 the winners from all seven countries will be announced. The first EU final is scheduled on December 13, 2017 in Wageningen, The Netherlands. From 2018 on, the EU final will start travelling through Europe.

All national winners, being European finalists will receive cash prizes, premium exposure to the investors community, exclusive access to the support of leading European agri food companies and business development support from high-level mentors. The European winner is awarded an additional cash prize of €50,000.

The participating startups come from FoodNexus three core domains:

  • Agrotechnology for Food Security and Sustainability
  • Technology for Food Quality and Safety
  • Food technology for Health and Well-being

The challenge is coordinated by StartLife, a Netherlands-based incubator and accelerator for startups.

Agricolus will participate on October 20, 2017 in the primary rounds in Bologna at University of Bologna. Alma Mater Studiorum organises the first edition of the Italian challenge with the involvement of Barilla, Electrolux, Granarolo and ICA.