EIT Food, a food innovation community thatโs supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), has announced three new investments as a part of the EIT Food Startup Impact Fund in agrifood startups.
The fund invests up to โฌ500,000 per venture in a select number of high-performing agrifood companies contributing to the sustainability of healthy and trusted global food systems.
Meet the three startups
The first investment went to Belgium-based Fyteko, a company developing low-cost next-gen bio-crop inputs such as bio-stimulants, bio-herbicides, and bio-fungicides that are not only effective but are also environmentally sustainable.
Benedicte O’Sullivan, COO of Fyteko, says: “Fyteko is honoured to receive the support of EIT food, an organisation that shares our values and ambitions in moving towards more sustainable agriculture. As an EIT Food community member we are very much looking forward to receiving support in scaling our operations, connecting with industry partners or further investment opportunities.”
The second company backed by EIT Food is MaGie Creations. This Netherland-based company utilises brewersโ grain waste and upcycles it to form food ingredients for high-protein bakery products and fat replacement. This company helps in reducing food wastage and improves nutritional profile.
Madeleine Gielens, Founder of MaGie Creations, says: “MaGie Creations is committed to help reduce the ecological footprint of our food production. Partnering with EIT Food accelerates the speed with which we bring our beer-grain-based food ingredients to market. It allows us to take the next steps in research and development, factory design and commercialisation, speeding up the market adoption of upcycled foods.”
Lastly, the investment fund has also invested in a space data and services company ConstellR based out of Germany, that delivers global land surface temperature maps. It monitors fundamental global data for intelligent crop monitoring by identifying changes in crop health days to weeks, enabling farmers to react and mitigate potential yield risks.
Max Gulde, CEO of ConstellR, says: โWith our vision fixed firmly on future food security and agrifood system optimisation via โbeyond-visualโ data, this partnership with EIT Food helps bring our critical data infrastructure and crop monitoring products and services ever closer to the market and to leveraging global impact. The stellar network of EIT Food and its investment helps us grow our product and agronomy teams and bring precise, granular and actionable crop health insights to the hands of growers across the planet.โ
Benoit Buntinx, Director of Business Creation at EIT Food, says, “We are delighted to announce new investments in three of the most promising startups in our entrepreneurship programmes. EIT Food’s Startup Impact Fund acts as a bridge for high-performing agrifood startups to transition from a regional to a European and global investment scope, increasing their visibility to attract interest from other investors.”
โWe are grateful to our wider investor community, including our core partner FoodSparks (by PeakBridge), which plays a vital role in opening up further investment opportunities for these companies,โ Buntinx adds.
The financing opportunity is available to all EU agrifood firms who have graduated from or are currently enrolled in one of EIT Food’s core entrepreneurial programmes: Seedbed Incubator, EIT Food Accelerator Network, or RisingFoodStars.
About EIT Food
EIT Food is a food innovation community that strives to build a future-fit food system that produces healthy and sustainable food for all.โฏโโฏโฏIt invests in projects, organisations and individuals that share its goals for a healthy and sustainable food system. It is one of nine innovation communities established by the European Institute for Innovation & Technology (EIT), an independent EU body set up in 2008 to drive innovation and entrepreneurship across Europe.
01
How Leipzig became a hub for energy and medical tech startups with IRL and SpinLab support