Food & Beyond

🎉Congratulations to EIT FAN Helsinki's 2024 cohort startup Senara GmbH & Svenja Dannewitz Prosseda for making it to the top 20! 🎉 While this is already great, we will be there cheering you on Nov 20 so you make it even further in the competition. Ps. Senara among the other startups of the 2024 cohort are pitching at our and EIT Food North-East 's side event Futures of Food on Nov 20 at 4:30 pm onward. Hope to see you there! #Slush2024 #Slush100 #foodtech #FutureofFood

🤔 What have you always wanted to know about the role of biotechnology in building a more sustainable future for the humankind? Well, this is your chance to find it out. 🥁 So, with a little drumroll, the panellists of the event are:  Divya Murthy who brings in the investor’s perspective through her experience as an all food-value-chain encompassing AgriFoodTech impact investor. Principal at Oyster Bay Management GmbH, she has extensive experience from the scene, also through her past position as the investment lead for ProVeg Incubator. Katariina Rommi currently holds the position of a Senior Research Manager at Fazer possesses not only extensive experience on food biotechnology, but also entrepreneurial mindset. Knowing a lot on side stream valorisation and plant proteins, she has lately commercialized a new upcycled oat protein product to the B2B markets as an example. Nemailla Bonturi is the co-founder of ÄIO, a leading food biotech startup based in Estonia and an EIT FAN Helsinki alumnus. Experienced with working on yeasts, this PhD in the field is looking into transforming the food system by replacing unsustainable fats and oils with high-quality alternatives. 🎤 The panel would not be as great as it can be without a superb moderator. This time, a fourth mic is held by Yulia Bodnar who is currently managing all the EIT Food Accelerator Network programs at EIT Food.    🔥We are truly thrilled to have the above people step on stage with us to share how they see food bioprocessing shaping our futures. Aren't we starting to get you excited about Futures of Food already?🔥 See you soon in Helsinki! #Slush24 #EITFood #FuturesOfFood #Biotechnology #VTT #EITFAN #agritech #foodtech

It is time to introduce the second batch of startups pitching at the Futures of Food side event at Slush to literally get some butter on its bread! 🍞 Melt&Marble is a Swedish company producing designer fats through precision fermentation. Their products are more sustainable alternatives to animal fats in foods. Fats form a group of essential ingredients providing taste and texture to food products and thus they are a highly important component in the sustainable transformation of the entire sector. Pitching on stage the Chief Business Officer, Thomas Cresswell!   🥛 Senara GmbH is on a mission to change the dairy industry. They are cultivating dairy cells in a bioreactor with the aim to produce a true milk-like ingredient comparable to animal milk in its functional qualities, nutritional values, and taste. If you are keen to learn more, come hear the CEO & CSO of the company, Svenja Dannewitz Prosseda, pitch!    🤓 If you are aspiring to learn more of the latest trends in foodtech, come hear startups of the EIT FAN Helsinki program pitch and sign up for the event via the link provided in comments.  Registration for the event is free of charge and does not require a ticket to Slush. Psst! To learn more about the startups, take a look at their blog posts on the Food & Beyond platform. Links in the comments. See you at Slush! #EITFAN #EITFood #VTT #foodtech #foodinnovation #startups #slush24 #FuturesOfFood

VTT käynnistää kaksi yhteensä lähes 20 miljoonan euron biotaloushankketta osana Yhdysvaltain National Science Foundationin (NSF) Global Centers -tutkimusohjelmaa! Hankkeista toinen, FoodID monipuolistaa globaalia ruokajärjestelmää. FoodID-hanke kehittää uusia kestäviä prosesseja, jotka perustuvat vaihtoehtoisten proteiinien ja lipidien tuotantoon kasveista ja fermentoimalla. Digitaaliset työkalut ovat keskeisessä roolissa, ja FoodID hyödyntää globaaleja akateemisten ja teollisuuden kumppaneiden verkostoja, maksimoiden tulosten vaikuttavuuden. Yhteistyössä ovat mukana VTT, University of Helsinki, Fazer, Valio, MeEat Food Tech Oy, Enifer, Onego Bio, Solar Foods ja Bionto. Kolmivuotista hanketta koordinoi University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Suomalaisia partnereita rahoittavat Business Finland ja Research Council of Finland | Suomen Akatemia. Hanke kuuluu NSF:n Proof of Concept -projekteihin sekä Business Finlandin rahoittamaan ja Valion koordinoimaan Food 2.0 -ohjelmaan.

It is time to look ahead after a busy week in Rome an gear up for the grand finale of the EIT FAN Helsinki program in 2024. 🔥 The cohort this year is formed by 10 truly fascinating European startups leaving their mark on the futures of food. Each one having their moment in the spotlight at the Futures of Food side event at Slush. Below are short introductions on the first three of them. 👇 🍣 Esencia Foods uses mycelium, the root of fungi, to recreate culinary whole cuts, starting with fish and seafood aiming to advance to alt-meat products. Solid state fermentation as their approach, they are truly reshaping what we will find on our plates. Pitching on stage you will find the Co-founder, Hendrik Kaye.  🚀 Ironic Biotech develops a new generation of plant-based iron with bioavailability comparable to meat. Produced using precision fermentation, their solution aims to respond to a global problem: iron deficiency faced by close to 2 billion people. Pitching on stage the Chief Commercial Officer, Eskil Åhlin.  🐟 KIDEMIS is upcycling agricultural sidestreams using solid state fermentation. Mixing the sidestreams with mycelium, they produce nutrient rich and sustainable fish feed. Pitching on stage John E.. More on each of the stellar startups and their approach behind their blog posts on the Food & Beyond’s website. Links to blog posts in comments. 💫 Oh, and spots to the event are limited, so remember to secure yours by signing up via this link: https://lnkd.in/dRtsbYRW Registration is free of charge and does not require a Slush ticket. 

Next Bite is a wrap, but the relationships and a few key messages are vivid and fresh in the mind. To conclude things for the week, a short quote from Mirva Lampinen from a session on technology validation and optimization towards market launch that took place on Monday: "We are bringing startups to our ecosystem through cooperation on tech validation and the #EITFAN program as, in the end, this is a family business." To sum up, cooperation is key and we can only flourish when we support each other. Particularly when it comes to innovation. Case proven at #NextBite24. Until next time! 👋🏼 #EITFood #VTT #foodtech #foodinnovation #FutureofFood

Although the two days at Next Bite are not yet a wrap, the main moment for the EIT FAN startups is here: Announcements of the Tech Validation Pitch winners! In Helsinki, the winners are: 🥇 Esencia Foods 🥈 Quest [Ivan Wall] 🥉 New Wave Biotech [Zoe Yu Tung Law] Congratulations to all teams - looking forward to seeing what comes next in validating your tech! A massive thanks also to the seven other Helsinki hub startups who did a tremendous job during the program and would totally deserve a proper shoutout. And their moment on the spotlight that is upcoming in a month at Slush! 🚀 #NextBite24 #EITFood #EITFAN #VTT #foodtech #foodinnovation #FutureofFood

Up next at Next Bite: Esencia Foods and their Hendrik Kaye pitching in the king mycelium and a new product, a food ingredient aiming to revolutionize what we are being served on our plates. Ready for a taste? Melt&Marble and their Thomas Cresswell pitching a solution to the global big fat problem and designer fats fitting for the use of several industries. A tip for all investors: Both startups are raising funding. #NextBite24 #EITFood #EITFAN #VTT #foodtech #foodinnovation

Second day of #NextBite24 starting with several EIT FAN Helsinki startups stepping on stage. Following a discussion on how startups, investors and corporates view AI and robotics in food production and distribution, the case of New Wave Biotech is right on point! New Wave Biotech is a UK-based SaaS startup developing a simulation software for companies operating in synthetic biology. Their AI-powered solution is one that will surely have an impact on what happens behind the curtains of future food production. Zoe Yu Tung Law representing the company in Rome. #EITFood #EITFAN #VTT #foodtech

First day at Next Bite starting 🍕 While some of the FAN Helsinki startups will find their way to the stage tomorrow, the following can be met at their booths at the Startup Village already today: Esencia Foods Ironic Biotech Melt&Marble New Wave Biotech (Zoe Yu Tung Law) Quest (Ivan Wall) See you around! #NextBite24 #EITFood #EITFAN #VTT #FutureofFood #foodinnovation #foodtech #agrifoodtech