European startups continue to dominate the global AgriFoodTech landscape, representing a significant portion of the total finalists in Forward Fooding’s 2024 FoodTech 500 rankings. This article explores the thriving European AgriFoodTech ecosystem, highlighting key trends, funding developments, and the impressive companies that have earned their place on this prestigious list.
The FoodTech 500: A Global Benchmark
Now in its sixth edition, the FoodTech 500 has established itself as the definitive list of the world’s most groundbreaking AgriFoodTech startups and scaleups. The 2024 edition saw 1,420 applications from 80+ countries. Among the finalists, 252 companies from Europe made this year’s list, accounting for 50.4% of the total.
European AgriFoodTech in Numbers
According to the FoodTech Data Navigator, Europe recorded a total of €5.3B in investments in 2024, representing a -14.5% change from 2023’s € 6.2 B. While it is crucial to acknowledge the difficult investment climate that has impacted the global AgriFoodTech industry, Europe has shown to be ‘slightly’ more resilient. European investment fell 62% from 2021 to 2024, while the global Ecosystem saw a steeper decline of 73%. Europe’s share of global AgriFoodTech funding has also grown from 22% in 2021 to 32% in 2024.
Leading European AgriFoodTech Hubs
When examining the funding landscape of European AgriFoodTech in 2024, several countries stand out for their exceptional ability to attract investment capital. The following table highlights the five European nations that have secured the most substantial funding, demonstrating their magnetic appeal to investors eager to back the future of food and agriculture.
Government Support and Policy Initiatives
Europe has continued to nurture its AgriFoodTech ecosystem through various government initiatives recently, and just to name a few examples:
- The European Investment Bank granted Lantmännen €50M to build a pea protein isolate factory in Sweden.
- Meanwhile, a new report found that the UK government has invested £75M in developing sustainable new foods since 2021.
- The UK’s Food Standards Agency also established a regulatory sandbox to speed up the approval process for cultivated meat.
- The Netherlands invested €25M in two open-access facilities to scale up planet-friendly food production using cellular agriculture.
- The European Food Safety Authority updated its guidance documents for novel food applications, closing some critical grey areas in the previous edition.
- The UK’s Department of Science, Innovation and Technology invested £1.4M in a cutting-edge innovation hub, which will empower the Food Standards Agency to expand its expertise in groundbreaking food technologies, including precision fermentation.
These examples of policy measures create an enabling environment for AgriFoodTech startups to innovate and scale.
Meet the European FoodTech 500 Finalists
The following European companies have earned their place in the 2024 FoodTech 500 rankings, demonstrating exceptional innovation, growth, and impact in the AgriFoodTech space:
United Kingdom (32 companies)
Winnow (#8 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Food Waste Tech & Food sharing platforms | Develops AI tools to help chefs run more profitable, sustainable kitchens by cutting food waste in half.
THIS (#14 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Plant-based | Makes ridiculously delicious and nutritious plant-based food with a vision for a world where animals aren’t food and the environment is protected.
Vertical Future (#33 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Vertical & Indoor farming | Develops, manufactures, fabricates, and deploys end-to-end autonomous vertical farming systems, supported by almost a decade of plant science, operations, and research and development.
AGRIVI (#78 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Farm management & Precision farming | Supports the entire agrifood value chain to change the way food is produced by providing powerful digital agriculture solutions.
Olio (#86 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Food Waste Tech & Food sharing platforms | Operates the world’s largest food-sharing app, enabling individuals and businesses to easily redistribute surplus food with their local communities – delivering financial, social, and environmental benefits.
BX Technologies (#102 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Ag marketplace | Enables farmers to communicate, improve and monetise their environmentals through carbon credits.
JULIENNE BRUNO (#110 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Plant-based | Creates award-winning naturally plant-based, dairy-free products with a focus on taste, quality and innovation.
Better Nature (#64 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Plant-based | Develops and sells tempeh-based food products.
CCm Technologies (#119 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Ag Biotech | Manufactures ultra-low Carbon fertilisers using CO2 and other waste-streams to decarbonise agriculture and reduce Scope 3 Carbon emissions for the food industry.
Mimica (#182 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Food safety & Quality | Sells labels and other packing that indicates true food shelf life to help producers print longer expiry dates and reduce food waste in store and in the home.
Brite (#187 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Functional foods & drinks | Produces natural mental performance drinks.
Authenticate (#189 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Supply chain monitoring & traceability | Provides scalable software solutions, making supply chain transparency a reality for food businesses around the world.
Multus (#196 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Cellular agriculture | Optimizes feedstock formulations for biomanufacturing that perform better and cost less.
Clean Food Group (#173 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Biotech/Synthetisation | Delivers sustainable oils and fats solutions to food and cosmetics manufacturers, with the mission to deliver scalable, healthier, competitively priced ingredients that have a positive impact on the economic, environmental, and social health of the planet.
Hoxton Farms (#179 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Cellular agriculture | Grows real animal fat – without the animals – to make meat alternatives that look, cook and taste like the real thing.
Gardin (#267 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Farm management & Precision farming | Provides phenotyping solutions that allow growers and breeders in controlled environment agriculture to increase crop yield, reduce resource usage, decrease crop variation and improve forecasting.
Collectiv Food (#271 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | B2B marketplaces | Helps professional kitchens simplify operations, cut CO2 emissions and reduce food waste as a next-generation food and drinks supplier.
Adamo Foods (#282 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Protein fermentation | Develops innovative alternatives to meat whole-cuts using fungal fermentation.
BNS (#284 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Food safety & Quality | Transforms organic waste into inputs for the preservation of fresh fruit.
Sustainable Planet (#351 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Plant-based | Revolutionizes protein production by cultivating high-protein water lentils on non-arable land.
AgrigateOne (#353 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Supply chain monitoring & traceability | Provides a platform for maximising returns, collaborating and streamlining supply chain workflows to gain a sustainable edge through unmatched aggregated data and transparency.
Fermtech (#356 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Plant-based | Produces delicious, nutritious, zero carbon protein with a unique fermentation system that uses food industry side streams.
Ivy Farm Technologies (#206 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Cellular agriculture | Uses novel technology created at the University of Oxford to grow real meat free from antibiotics.
MicroLub (#211 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Biotech/Synthetisation | Improves human and planetary health by developing ingredients technologies which replace fat and oil with water, using advanced protein science.
Extracellular (#212 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Biotech/Synthetisation | Operates as a contract research and manufacturing organisation for the non-health biotech sector.
Fotenix (#213 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Farm management & Precision farming | Functions as the Fitbit of Farming.
OSY Group (#375 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Food safety & Quality | Reduces food waste through the extension of food shelf-life via the application of coating to packaging.
ClubZero (#376 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Sustainable packaging & Plastic alternatives | Provides a fully circular returnable packaging platform as a sustainable, cost-effective alternative to single use packaging.
New Wave Biotech (#227 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Biotech/Synthetisation | Accelerates alt proteins from lab to market with AI Bioprocess Simulation.
BlakBear (#369 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Food safety & Quality | Replaces use-by dates on food with an electric label that measures freshness.
FreshCheck (#371 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Food safety & Quality | Provides simple, accessible and affordable tools to record, report and improve hygiene.
Nukoko (#314 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Novel processing techniques & Equipment | Creates cocoa-free chocolate from Fava Beans.
Innovation Agritech (#299 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Builds aeroponic vertical farming systems that allow growers to achieve exceptional crop yields, locally and sustainably, and academics to further their research and train the next generation of agri leaders.
Download the full 2024 FoodTech 500 list here
Germany (25 companies)
Planet A Foods (#13 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Protein fermentation | Makes chocolate more sustainable by using proprietary technology to ferment plant-based ingredients as a replacement for cocoa.
Air up (#19 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Retail tech | Created the world’s first scent-based drinking system, which flavors water using only scent.
MicroHarvest (#70 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Protein fermentation | Developed the fastest protein production technology in the world to deliver better protein ingredients.
Project Eaden (#82 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Plant-based | Uses proprietary fiber technology to create hyperrealistic plant-based meats that taste and feel like real meat.
Protein Distillery (#116 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Upcycled ingredients, Food surplus & Waste efficiency | Upcycles fermented biomass industrial side streams to produce a multi-functional protein for alternative food applications.
Nosh.bio (#112 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Protein fermentation | Harnesses non-GMO fungi to create nutritionally superior, clean-label solutions with high protein and fiber through a proprietary process.
Neggst Foods (#185 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Plant-based | Develops the “neggst generation” of plant-based egg alternatives that can do everything eggs can do.
Hexafarms (#186 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Vertical & Indoor farming | Provides automated yield forecasts for growers globally powered by computer vision and AI.
Pumpkin Organics (#345 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Functional foods & drinks | Revolutionizes the baby food market with more veggies and less sugar to establish a foundation for lifelong healthy eating habits.
Livello (#495 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Catering/Office services & Vending machines | Develops smart refrigerator systems that revolutionize the autonomous management and sale of goods through IoT, sensor fusion, and machine learning.
InPlanet (#139 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Ag Biotech | Performs carbon removal with the natural process of Enhanced Rock Weathering, locking away CO2 for 1000+ years while remineralising degraded soils.
Bioweg (#193 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Sustainable packaging & Plastic alternatives | Utilizes microbial innovation and green chemistry to create sustainable, bio-based ingredients that replace petroleum-based chemicals.
Happy Ocean Foods (#289 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Plant-based | Develops clean-label plant-based alternatives to fish and seafood that deliver a similar taste and nutritional profile.
Spacenus (#295 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Farm management & Precision farming | Enables regenerative agriculture with scalable tech.
Torg (#331 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Ag marketplace | Connects retail & wholesale buyers with 100,000+ verified food & beverage suppliers in Europe.
E-TERRY (#418 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Farm robotics & Machinery | Builds multifunctional farming robots designed to advance sustainable agriculture at scale through automation and AI.
eversyn (#427 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Biotech/Synthetisation | Makes high-value glycans mainstream.
Global Sustainable Transformation (#154 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Biotech/Synthetisation | Provides its property yeast butter as a sustainable equivalent to cocoa butter.
Esencia Foods (#464 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Protein fermentation | Uses mycelium solid state fermentation to create 3-dimensional biomass for complex fish and meat alternatives with clean labels.
BettaF!sh (#379 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Plant-based | Develops scalable, sustainable food products and ingredients from European seaweed for both B2B and B2C markets.
The Raging Pig Company (#381 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Plant-based | Specializes in the development of authentic pork alternatives using side streams from the alt-protein industry and mycelium.
BLUU (#382 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Cellular agriculture | Grows real fish cells in a fermenter and produces fish fingers from them.
Computomics (#339 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Ag Biotech | Applies AI to bioinformatics data to enable rapid understanding of genomics and drive advanced agriculture solutions.
Circus Group (#134 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Commercial robotics & Hardware | Developed the world’s first commercially viable food production robot.
Greenhub Solutions (#487 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Vertical & Indoor farming | Transforms vertical farms into self-sustaining experts using AI and digital twin technology.
France (21 companies)
GOURMEY (#22 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Cellular agriculture | Operates as a frontrunner in premium cultivated meat, accelerating the world’s transition toward ethical, sustainable, and healthy meat.
Algama (#30 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Functional foods & drinks | Unlocks Microalgae potential to generate the Next Generation of alternative food ingredients.
Koolboks (#43 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Food safety & Quality | Provides affordable, off-grid solar-powered refrigeration solutions designed for African small businesses using innovative ice thermal storage and Pay-As-You-Go technology.
Connecting Food (#59 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Supply chain monitoring & traceability | Creates digital supply chain auditing platforms using precise data to assess and monitor product safety, quality and impact.
Arbiom (#72 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Protein fermentation | Produces high-quality, sustainable proteins at impressive yields through a unique fermentation method.
Les Nouveaux Affineurs (#137 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Plant-based | Provides technology and industrial expertise in plant-based cheese.
Nutropy (#170 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Protein fermentation | Produces milk ingredients, caseins and fatty acids through precision fermentation for the next generation of cheese.
Nūmi (#177 in the 2024 FoodTech 500) | Cellular agriculture | Develops breakthrough cell culture technology to produce human breast milk ex vivo for ideal infant nutrition.
