It’s a pleasure to announce the 10 early-stage startups that will make up the 11th cohort of our global acceleration program. Over the next four months, the selected startups will level up their business development and become investor-ready. On 7 December they will pitch to a live audience at our Demo Day.

Sign Up for STARTLIFE DEMO DAY FALL 2023 (7 December)

We spent several months talking to startups, reviewing applications, and followed a rigorous selection process before choosing these 10 promising AgriFoodTech startups. Each one offers an innovative technological solution that contributes to a sustainable food system, from farm to fork. In order to feed the planet, we need to use fewer resources and use those resources efficiently. Through innovation, we can make the whole food system, from farm to fork, more sustainable while maintaining healthy business. These 10 gamechangers are bringing smart solutions to the market that address soil health, higher crop yields, reducing the carbon footprint of food, and developing food products which are healthy and sustainable. In the upcoming quarter, the startup founders will focus on product-market discovery, business development, and fundraising. They will be exposed to agrifood investors, leading corporates, Wageningen University & Research experts, and be guided in workshops and one-on-one meetings with high caliber mentors, business coaches, and specialists. We’re pleased to reveal the startups joining our 11th StartLife Accelerate program and their innovative solutions for our food system.

Innovative agrifood solutions

  • Aircohol (🇫🇮) Produces drinkable alcohol from air, more specifically from CO2 captured from fermentation, working together with breweries and distilleries to help them become more sustainable by significantly reducing their carbon footprint and usage of ingredients.
  • VineForecast (🇩🇪) Offers a software for specialty crop farmers to ensure crop health with minimal pesticide use and increased productivity in field operations by utilizing AI-powered disease forecasts and a tailored farm management system.
  • Plense (🇳🇱) Helping growers gain more insights, safety and scalability by using ultrasound sensors and algorithms to measure the status of the crop.
  • Loamin (🇬🇧) Provides tools to enable the efficient and robust measurement and monitoring of carbon and biodiversity projects at scale, unlocking the power of nature in the fight against climate change and biodiversity loss.
  • Sylvarum (🇦🇷) Developing electrostimulation technology to improve crop yields in controlled environment agriculture by enhancing plant metabolic processes, defense, and compound concentration.
  • Digital Bites (🇬🇷) Uses Virtual Reality to develop food products, providing accurate insights into consumer behavior before physical prototypes are made.
  • SomaTech (🇮🇪) Creates sustainable ingredients from local side streams via fungal mycelium fermentation, improving taste and texture in various applications.
  • Fermata (🇮🇱) Creating AI-powered plant monitoring systems with the Croptimus platform that detects pests and disease early, saving time, reducing pesticide use, and increasing yield.
  • SolarFoil (🇳🇱) Develops transparent foils that convert sunlight into the ideal light for plants and algae to grow, tailoring to the demands of the grower and making greenhouse horticulture more sustainable and efficient.
  • Lambda Energy (🇬🇧) Produces a paint that converts unused sunlight to light used for photosynthesis, coatable on greenhouses for a 9% increase in crop yield.

What the startups say

Each startup has its own reason(s) to join StartLife. “With their extensive experience in AgriTech and entrepreneurship, we look forward to our collaboration with the StartLife coaches, mentors, market experts and other people who can help us run in the right direction. We believe the people of StartLife will provide crucial insights and push us in validating our assumptions, thereby accelerating our startup progress,” said Berend de Klerk, Co-founder at Plense.
“We have joined StartLife because they offer a world-class acceleration program”
“We have joined the StartLife accelerator because it is a world-class program that will help Digital Bites in its next steps. We are looking forward to working alongside our coaches and mentors and further immersing ourselves in the AgriFood innovation ecosystem of Wageningen,” explains Theodoros Sofianos, Co-founder at Digital Bites.

Pre-register for StartLife’s Demo Day Fall 2023 on 7 December

On Thursday, 7 December, these startups will conclude StartLife’s 11th accelerate program cohort with a live presentation to a global audience of investors, corporates, partners, and other agrifoodtech enthusiasts. Join us in person or online to be inspired and get a glimpse of the future of food and agriculture. Click here to pre-register for StartLife’s Demo Day Spring 2023, or fill out the form directly below.