European startups represents more than 50% of the total finalists in the 2023 FoodTech 500 rankings. As we zoom into the rich AgriFoodTech ecosystem in the European region, we're spotlighting the top countries and the companies that made the list.

Now in its fifth edition, the FoodTech 500 has gathered more than 1500+ applications from AgriFoodTech Startups & Scaleups globally in 2023, receiving applications from 77 countries, with 57 countries represented in the final FoodTech 2023 list. Among the finalists are 255 companies from Europe that made this year's list.

European AgriFoodTech in Numbers

According to the Food Tech Data Navigator, Europe has recorded a total of €5.6 Billion in 2023; which represents a -60% decrease from 2021 and a -44% decrease from 2022. AgriFoodTech funding in Europe may have decreased, but Europe's total share of global investments has increased; going from 23% in 2021 to 36% in 2023.  

Europe has also managed to escape the general trends of the global AgriFoodTech ecosystem, that has recorded a negative CAGR of -2.6%; and recorded a 4% CAGR between 2018 and 2023. 

Europe has been a nurturing environment for FoodTech; with various government initiatives occurring in 2023. Some examples include The Netherlands investing €60 million Cellulaire Agricultuur Nederland funding program or the UK Government investing £12m in an alternative protein research centre focused on fermentation-based foods.

By looking at the European ecosystem, we can see that the United Kingdom, France, Germany and the Netherlands are the leading ecosystems. The UK leads  in terms of deals closed in Europe in 2023, with 115 deals, followed by France with 76, Germany with 54 and the Netherlands with 52. These countries also have accumulated the most funding in Europe; supported from a combination investors, government incentives, active industry players and universities & research centres. 

Funding Evolution of the European Ecosystem

Funding towards Sustainable packaging has tripled in three years (from €89,550,010 to €239,922,970) and represents 4.3% of the total funding in 2023, a notable increase from 0.6% in 2021. This doesn't come as a surprise as strict regulatory guidelines have risen in Europe over the past year promoting the rise of new technologies such as from mycelium, algae, wood, or even wool.

Analysis also shows that AgBiotech funding tripled between 2021 and 2023; going from €211M to  €627M; and now represents 11% of total investment in 2023 (a 9% rise from 2021). The increase in funding is supported by advancements in technologies like gene editing, biostimulants, biofertilizers; molecular farming, etc that offer promising solutions to the need for increased crop resilience and increased food security.

Ag marketplace and Animal Health & Nutrition saw their funding levels double and triple between 2021 and 2023, reaching €92,525,990 and €87,076,730, respectively. Despite this increase, they only represent 4% of total funding in 2023. 

 

Meet the European FoodTech 500 Finalists

United Kingdom

Tropic, Making tropical agriculture more productive and sustainable by using cutting-edge genetic innovation.                  

Vertical Future, Global Vertical farming technology & technology company.

Ivy Farm Technologies, Innovative food tech scale-up on a mission to create the best guilt-free, real meat.

Winnow, Develops AI tools to help large hospitality businesses like hotels and contract caterers run more profitable and sustainable kitchens by cutting food waste in half.

Roslin Technologies, Develops and commercialises cell lines for the cultivated meat sector

Better Dairy, Precision fermentation to produce the same cheeses, yoghurts, ice creams that customers currently enjoy without using animals.

Mootral, Enabling a shift to new standards in agriculture by allowing farmers and processors to significantly reduce their methane footprint and improve animal health, thereby future-proofing our global food ecosystem.

Nourished, 3D-print personalised gummy stacks for consumers that contain 7-layers of nutrients, vitamins and superfoods.

Collectiv Food, Food and drink sourcing and delivery company, serving professional kitchens in London and Paris. 

It's Fresh!, Next-generation ethylene-control technology enabling the supply of great tasting, fresh produce so its potential can be enjoyed by more people, and not be wasted.

Multus, Key ingredients for the affordable and profitable scale-up of cellular agriculture

Gardin, Phenotyping solution that allows growers and breeders in controlled environment agriculture to increase crop yield, reduce resource usage, reduce waste, decrease crop variation and improve forecasting.

Dizzie, Grocery packaging system for dry/ambient foods that helps retailers and brands reduce their packaging footprint by swapping single-use for reusable packaging.

Agrivi, Solving the global food problem by digitalizing agriculture.

WNWN Food Labs, Creates delicious, sustainable, and ethical alternatives to foods the world loves but that are bad for the planet and people.  

Muddy Machines, Addresses labour shortages and high costs for speciality vegetable growers, ensuring efficient crop harvesting and a competitive edge with unique technology and market access.

Harvest London, Vertical farming.

Clean Food Group, Scalable and non-GMO yeast strains to deliver sustainable alternatives to traditional oil and fat ingredients.

Foodsteps, All-in-one environmental impact data platform software (SaaS) that helps food companies of any size accurately measure, understand, reduce, and communicate their impact.

Aquagrain, Soil improving technology that allows plants and crops to be grown outdoors in poor, arid land, sandy soils, or indoors in pots and tubs

Beta Bugs, An insect genetics company that develops and distributes black soldier fly breeds to the insect farming sector.

Better Nature Tempeh, UK's leading tempeh brand.

Modern Baker, Nutrition innovation for reinventing ultra-processed staple foods as actively healthy, starting with the uber-nutritious Superloaf

PES Technologies, The Future of Soil Health Measurement

Flybox, Modular insect farms for customers

Adamo Foods, Develops alternatives to meat whole-cuts.

AgrigateOne, Supply Chain Visibility for food businesses

Ubloquity, Blockchain-enabled smart and secure supply chains for the frictionless movement of goods across borders

The Smarter Food Company, Developing science-backed food with real health benefits, a new approach to help prevent chronic diseases made with a unique glucoraphanin-rich broccoli.

Mimica, Dynamic spoilage indicators that respond to real storage conditions.

Brite, Natural nootropic drinks for better focus.

Authenticate Information Systems, SaaS technology empowering transparent, resilient & sustainable supply chains.

Altered Carbon, AI-powered digital nose, a solution for early problem detection in produce, plants and Livestock.

UPP, UPP harvests proteins from the 80% of broccoli left on the field.

Airponix, A low-footprint farming solution.

Arda Bio, Waste transformed into sustainable biomaterials. 

Extracellular, Manufacturing and scale-up partner for cultivated meat and seafood producers. 

Spoon Guru, Transforming food choices with Nutrition Intelligence. 

FruPro, B2B fruit and veg trade simple using an international marketplace with insured and faster payments with a click of button and automated surplus management.

De Novo Foodlabs, Using bioinformatics, biotechnology and precision fermentation to modify the functionality of proteins and essential nutrients to develop innovative ingredients that are healthier to consume, easy to produce and reduce environmental impact. 

Deep Planet, Climate platform, helping adapt to and reverse the affects of climate change, starting with the 450bn Wine industry.

Mildtech, Develops machines that can cook or dry foods at very low temperatures, therefore retaining all nutrients and organoleptic properties.

Sustainable Planet, Agri-tech food production company increasing food security and combatting climate change.

FoodSquared, B2B FoodTech company that enables the next generation of plant-based shellfish, starting with shrimp. 

LiberEat, Automatically detects allergen food data errors that conventional methods miss, to prevent serious consumer injuries.

CroBio, Regenerating soils with superhero microbes, converting Atmospheric CO2 to a microbial-secreted biomaterial that improves soil health.

Myconeos, Fungal biotech naturally breeding fungi for the food industry.

The Bug Factory, Accelerate the world's transition to sustainable protein by creating affordable and scaleable insect protein production.

Nukoko, Cocoa-free chocolate that is dramatically better for people and planet.

Hownd, 100% plant-based, allergy-friendly pet care brand, offering healthier products for dogs whilst reducing the serious environmental impacts caused by global meat production.

FLOX, Cameras & sensors combined with computer vision to produce actionable insights for the $429bn poultry industry.

Element Packaging, Innovating sustainable packaging for the foodservice and retail sectors.

Alt Atlas, Enabling the mass production of cultivated meat by unlocking the potential of cell biology to feed humanity.

MVPea, commercialize research into innovative pea-based products

InQube, B2B SaaS platform to support farm-to-table food supply chain sustainability and nature based carbon offset management.

The Wonki Collective, B2B matchmaking technology for food and drink manufacturers to identify surplus ingredients in their supply chain and seamlessly sell them, generating additional revenue streams and reducing supply chain food waste.

 

France 

Ynsect, one of the world leaders in the production of natural insect proteins and fertilizers.

Umiami, offers plant-based meat and fish fillets to the food industry.

GOURMEY, a global frontrunner in premium cultivated meat.

La belle vie, a same-day grocery delivery.

Algama Foods, creates a line of 100% plant-based food solutions made from microalgae. 

Sencrop, a leading ag-weather platform for growers (raw crops, specialized crops, orchards, wine growers) to help them better decide and reduce their crop risks, with a positive agro-environmental footprint. 

Bon Vivant, produces animal-free dairy proteins for food industrials using precision fermentation

Connecting Food, leverages product and supply chain data to increase transparency from farm to fork, perform traceability, reduce risks and create competitive advantage.

Klarys, helps retailers, wholesalers and producers to achieve operational excellence in their fresh food supply chain in order to improve profitability and meet environmental challenges.

Standing Ovation, a fermentative and sustainable milk protein producer

Dry4Good, provides the food industry with a new generation of ingredients, reducing sensitively the need for additives.

Aisprid, develops robotics for Harvesting & Deleafing in greenhouse

Phagos, a sustainable alternative to antibiotics for animal farming based on bacteria's biological predator: the bacteriophage.

OLALA!, develops a 100% plant-based seafood products. 

Myfood, allows all citizens to grow their own fresh fruit and veggies with innovative greenhouses and a skilled community of agronomists and users, helping each other daily on a dedicated social network.

CarbonFarm, an earth observation company aiming to democratize carbon credits in agriculture, starting with rice by bringing first-of-a-kind satellite-verified carbon credits.

Tinybird, creating the first 100% natural and vegan candies based with fruits.

Green Spot Technologies, produces and markets fermented and upcycled food ingredients that give consumers peace of mind.

Agriloops, develops and patents aquaponics in a saltwater environment, to produce delicious shrimps locally, without antibiotics or freezing, as well as various co-products.

Amatera Biosciences, is accelerating perennial plant breeding to adapt our crops and agriculture to a changing climate.

Sand to Green, is cultivating deserts through solar desalination and unique agroforestry model.

Zalg, develops innovative food products based on seaweed in convenient and tasty formats to make seaweed more mainstream in our diet.

MyEasyFarm, develops precision and carbon farming tools to help farmers in their ecological transition.

Biomede, naturally removes pollutants from agricultural soils using plants so called hyperaccumulative.

Aberyne, develops vegan foie gras thats taste great

Frigo Magic, an app that suggests recipes based on what users have in their fridge, aiming to reduce food waste and help users create meals with available ingredients.

Humble+, develops ready-to-consume collagen-based products.

 

Germany

Planet A Foods, Cocoa-free chocolate alternative based on oats.

Stenon, Real-time soil nutrient measurement

Bluu Seafood, Cultivated seafood

Computomics, Computomics applies AI to bioinformatics data to enable rapid understanding of genomics, increase genetic diversity and drive future-ready solutions.

Neggst Foods, Plant-based egg alternative consisting of plant-based egg yolk, egg white and a biodegradable shell.

Lovely Day Foods, Developing clean and bio-identical proteins derived from the next generation of precision fermentation to use as animal-free drop in replacers in food, beverages and nutraceuticals.

Nosh Biofoods, Selling highly functional, clean-label food ingredients that improve the quality and add high nutritional value at competitive prices to meat and fish analogous, dairy products, confectionery, bakery applications and convenience foods.

Bella & Bona, B2B food delivery service

Humify, Creating super humus out of bio waste to fertilise soil while storing tons of carbon in it.

Kynda, Plug & play bioreactors and starter cultures for alternative protein fermentation.

Seqana, Soil health metrics through satellite imagery and machine learning.

Spacenus, Enabling regenerative agriculture by providing actionable insights on plant and soil health by utilising satellite imagery.

E-Terry, Building an agricultural robot, designed to advance sustainable agriculture on a large scale through automation and AI.

Flowtify, Digital HACCP and Quality Management platform for supermarkets, public catering, QSR and hotels.

Senara, First company in Europe to produce cell-cultivated animal milk.

Ordinary Seafood, Produces plant & synbio-based seafood alternatives starting with salmon, tuna and shrimp.

Organifarms, Develops harvesting robots for greenhouses to solve the problem of labor shortage and rising costs for growers.

Torg, Connecting buyers in F&B (retailers, wholesalers restaurant groups) with thousands of suppliers across Europe for an easy and transparent tendering process.

vGreens, Optimising Fruit Growth with AI Software in Controlled Environments

Hortiya, AI for plants. Plant-centric sensors integrated with AI models for sustainable agriculture.

Hexafarms, Creating peace of mind for commercial greenhouses by automating production and providing forecasts and improvement recommendations.

SmartCloudFarming, Data-driven and cost-effective soil intelligence solutions to support regenerative agriculture and environmental sustainability.

The Raging Pig Company, Specializing in the research and development of authentic pork alternatives using side streams from the alt-protein industry, currently a plant-based bacon and several sausage alternatives.

BettaF!sh, Turning European seaweed into a mainstream ingredient in every food category, starting with seafood alternatives.

 

The Netherlands

Nutrileads, Develops clinically proven, plant-based and upcycled prebiotic ingredients that enhance human health and wellbeing.

Orbisk, Helping foodservice companies to get a grip on food waste, and reduce it

Celine, Inline and real-time, self cleaning and self calibrating nutrient measurement system

FUL Foods, Future-proof nutrition from spirulina

Willicroft, Plant-based cheese and butter for dairy lovers.

Greencovery, Upcycle ingredients that are tasty and good for you and the planet.

NoPalm Ingredients, Circular and sustainable alternatives to palm by fermenting agri-food sidestreams. 

Time Travelling Milkman, Clean-label plant-based cream for improved creamy mouthfeel in dairy alternatives.

Tapp, Data logging solutions using eco-friendly paper dataloggers, without lithium batteries, to reduce electronic waste and promote environmental responsibility.

Health Food Wall, Delivering a 100% plant-based ready-to-eat, data-driven, sustainable outdoor food choice through personalized service and Intelligent Fridges. 

byFlow, Develop and sell innovative 3D Food Printing Technology for the Food Industry

Gastronomixs, Empowering chefs to create, with a recipe database that provides tried-and-tested recipes in the form of building blocks

The Seaweed Company, Scaling hybrid Food & Agri solutions with premium sustainable seaweed ingredients targeting the decarbonizing pains of BigChem & BigFood.

PeelPioneers, Upcycling orange peels into circular ingredients.

 

Check out PART 2 of Zooming in on European Startups in the FoodTech 500. To learn more about the 2023 FoodTech 500 ranking and global FoodTech ecosystem insights, visit forwardfooding.com/foodtech500.

 

Are you an AgriFoodTech startup or scaleup? Be part of the 2024 FoodTech 500. Apply by November 15th, 2024 to join the ranks of the most innovative food tech startups.

 

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