The Fi Global Startup Innovation Challenge, held at Europe’s biggest annual food ingredient trade show, Fi Europe, is a unique opportunity for startups to present their solutions to the food industry.
Each year, the Challenge shines a spotlight on agile companies breaking new ground in the food industry. In 2022, more companies than ever before applied to the Challenge and judges were impressed by the quality of submissions, which made picking finalists a difficult process.
All finalists – a total of 19 startups across four categories – will pitch before the panel of judges and winners will be announced on 6 December at Fi Europe.
The finalists of the 2022 Startup Innovation Challenge are:
Most Innovative Food or Beverage Ingredient
MeliBio provides a solution for honey that’s just as delicious and nutritious as the one that bees make, only without the negative impacts of factory farming bees and overbreeding a single bee species.
Resugar offers the first all-natural, 100% sugar-like substitute that perfectly replicates the taste and properties of sugar while eliminating its harmful effects – all without the use of any sweeteners.
Maolac uses tools of bioinformatics and computational biology to produce dedicated target-protein formulas with a wide range of health capabilities as a basis for preventive nutrition.
Cano-ela aims to remove refined ingredients from the food supply chain by processing oil-rich seeds in an innovative way, helping food companies and plant-based food producers achieve a cleaner label.
Kern Tec develops a set of proprietary processes to turn discarded fruit pits into valuable ingredients for the food and beverage industry, such as oils, protein powders, and even dairy alternatives.
Most Innovative Plant-Based or Alternative Ingredient
Cultivated Biosciences provides naturally produced creamy fat obtained from the fermentation of non-genetically modified organism (non-GMO) oleaginous yeast.
Cultimate Foods creates an alternative cell-based fat ingredient for plant-based meat products, which replicates the structure of animal fat tissue.
Brevel develops microalgae protein, which is both colour and flavour neutral, available at cost levels comparable to pea and soy, and with a high nutritional profile.
Colipi turns CO2 into CO2-light oils and proteins through a biotech platform that utilizes bacteria and yeasts.
Nutropy develops alternative cheesemaking ingredient solutions that are used to produce cheeses just as tasty as conventional cheese, but more sustainable and better for our health and animal welfare.
Most Innovative Processing Technology
Veloz Bio develops a transient expression platform through post-harvest second and third quality (unripe) fruits, using their metabolism to produce a recombinant protein.
Vanilla Vida grows and delivers top-quality, tailor-made vanilla beans that perfectly meet the market’s demand and business needs, ensuring a stable supply chain and maximum flavour.
mk2 Biotechnologies develops highly efficient production processes for growth factors and cytokines, which are the key for success of the cultured meat industry.
Onego Bio creates an animal-free egg white protein, which maintains all the functional benefits of eggs, including foaming, gelling, binding, and leavening properties.
Gaia Tech develops solutions to recover irrigation water from olive production waste and extract valuable ingredients for food and cosmetics manufacturers.
Most Innovative Service, Technology or Digital Solution Supporting the food and beverage industry
Capsoil FoodTech provides technology that converts oils and oil solubles into a water-soluble powder, allowing brands in the F&B segment to easily use oils in their products.
Ai Palette helps F&B ingredients brands create their next best-selling product thanks to the analytics SaaS platform that allows companies to spot trends and predict their trajectory in real time.
Bio2Coat creates a 100% natural, edible coating that extends the shelf-life of food products, keeping them fresh for longer without impacting their organoleptic characteristics.
Seppure enables more sustainable separation processes in food ingredients manufacturing, significantly cutting energy consumption, carbon emissions, and operation costs.
