2025 was a big year for StartLife. We celebrated 15 years of backing AgriFoodTech founders, passed €10 million in pre-seed funding, welcomed new leadership, and saw alumni close major funding rounds and partnerships. In this recap, we look back at the highlights of 2025 and share where we are heading in 2026.
From our 15-Year Anniversary Demo Day in Ede to new partnerships and global alumni success stories, one thing became very clear this year. The ecosystem is not “emerging” anymore. It is working. Startups are scaling, pilots are turning into long term collaborations, and more partners are choosing Wageningen and StartLife as their launchpad for innovation.
A Milestone Year For StartLife
In May, we celebrated a powerful week on Wageningen Campus with our 13th Demo Day followed by the 10th anniversary edition of F&A Next. Over 1,100 agrifood professionals joined us across both events, with Demo Day showcasing our latest portfolio startups and F&A Next bringing a global stage of investors, corporates, and innovators together to discuss how technology can drive a more resilient food system.
In October, we also celebrated our 15-Year Anniversary Demo Day at the World Food Center in Ede. More than 300 founders, investors, corporates, mentors, and partners joined us for pitches, sessions, and a vibrant expo that showed what the future of food looks like in practice.
During the anniversary, we announced a major funding milestone. Since 2010, StartLife has supported more than 400 startups worldwide, 163 Dutch agrifood startups have received a combined €10 million in StartLife pre-seed funding, creating more than 1,000 jobs and unlocking over €230 million in follow-on investments.
To mark this moment, we also launched our 15-year anniversary magazine, 15 Years of Shaping Sustainable Food Systems with AgriFoodTech. The magazine highlights the startups, partners, and innovations shaping the future of food and agriculture, and shares inspiring stories, key milestones, and what is next for our ecosystem.
We also launched a strategic partnership with EIT Food, Europe’s leading food innovation community. Through this collaboration, EU startups in our flagship program can now become eligible for EIT Food investment funding of up to €1.5 million, provided they meet Horizon Europe guidelines.
Another exciting milestone for the Foodvalley ecosystem is the opening of the Food Innovation Kitchen in Plus Ultra II. Together with Wageningen University & Research, Kadans Science Partner, Kalsec Inc., and CJ Europe GmbH, we are proud to strengthen the region with a shared space that accelerates food innovation.
Founders Raising The Bar
Our alumni made serious moves in 2025. Phagos, a French biotech startup from the StartLife community, secured a €25 million Series A round to scale bacteriophage treatments for animal health and expand its AI-driven discovery platform. Even more important, Phagos achieved the world’s first regulatory authorization for personalized phage veterinary drugs, a breakthrough for the whole field of phage therapy and the fight against antimicrobial resistance.
Revyve, a spin-off from Wageningen University & Research and StartLife alumnus, raised €24 million in Series B funding to scale functional yeast proteins that replace eggs and additives in mainstream foods. With its first-of-a-kind facility in Dinteloord already running at capacity, the company will now scale production to more than 1,600 tons per year and serve larger customers across Europe and beyond.
Another strong example of global ambition is Umami Bioworks. Founded in Singapore, the company is now scaling its “blue bioplatform” for cultivated seafood and marine innovation into Europe, choosing Wageningen and StartLife as its European launchpad. By combining AI, cell cultivation, and strong industry partnerships, Umami Bioworks is helping seafood companies bring sustainable alternatives to market faster.
These are just a few of many stories. Together they show what we already see every day on campus. When science-based innovation meets the right partners and capital, AgriFoodTech moves from a nice idea to real impact.
Deepening Our Ecosystem Roots
2025 was also a year of building the structures around founders. In June, former StartLife Program Director Loet Rummenie was appointed as the first Director of the HortiScience Innovation Center (HIC) in Bleiswijk. HIC is a new initiative founded by Wageningen University & Research, Delphy Improvement Center, YES!Delft, StartLife, and the Municipality of Lansingerland. It is designed to turn cutting edge greenhouse research into entrepreneurial breakthroughs for the horticulture sector.
As part of this mission, HIC is launching the world’s first venture studio dedicated to greenhouse horticulture, a breeding ground where new startups are systematically built: ideas are developed, tested, and grown into full-fledged companies with shared expertise and resources.
Inside StartLife, 2025 also marked a leadership shift. As of 1st June, Dr. Nikki Harrison joined as our new Managing Director. With a background in science-based innovation, cluster building, and sustainable horticulture, Nikki is now steering StartLife’s next chapter with a strong focus on deepening our roots in Wageningen and expanding collaboration across Europe.
On the program side, we sharpened our focus on commercial traction. In May we published “Commercial Traction or Bust: The Make-or-Break for AgriFoodTech Startups,” a practical guide built with investors and corporate partners. The message was clear. Great technology is not enough. Founders need proof that they solve real problems at scale, and that is where early pilots, field trials, and strong partnerships come in.
All of these moves point in the same direction. StartLife is evolving into a connector of clusters, facilities, partners, and founders who all work toward the same goal: a sustainable and resilient food system.
Looking Ahead To 2026
Looking ahead, one thing is clear: real impact happens when ambitious founders meet the right people at the right moment. When entrepreneurs work closely with mentors, researchers, and partners, ideas do not just grow, they turn into solutions that change the food system. From our base on the Wageningen Campus, we have already seen hundreds of teams validate faster, raise smarter, and scale with more confidence.
In the coming years, we will deepen our roots in the Netherlands while extending our reach across Europe. We will tighten our collaboration with Wageningen University & Research and regional partners to give startups faster access to expertise, testing facilities, and tailored support, and we will build new international partnerships that connect innovation hubs and help founders scale breakthrough solutions.
None of this happens alone. The progress we have made so far exists because of our founders, mentors, investors, and more than forty industry and research partners pushing this community forward. Together, we aim to do more than respond to today’s challenges. We want to create the conditions for radical innovation and help shape a food system that is sustainable, regenerative, and resilient for generations to come.
Thank you for being part of our journey in 2025. If you are a startup, corporate, or investor who wants to help shape the next chapter of AgriFoodTec innovation, we would love to connect with you in 2026.
