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: one start-up was selected to pitch at the MPowerBIO final event to be held in October in Wuppertal, Germany – Dionymer and three start-ups were selected for free access to the ToasterLAB agrifood acceleration program - Nutropy, Proteme and La Vie du Vin.
Photo: Winner selected to pitch at the MPowerBio final event to be held in October in Wuppertal, Germany – Dionymer.
