StartLife proudly support startups from all over the world that aim to solve pertinent issues in food and agriculture. We present you four promising agrifoodtech startups that are working hard to make a difference: Solmeyea, Trabotyx, Allozymes and Feltwood Ecomaterials.
Solmeyea (Greece) – Producing Carbon Neutral Microalgae Ingredients
Biotech company Solmeyea is using patented hybrid vertical farming technology to produce carbon neutral microalgae ingredients that are increasingly sought by FMCG manufacturers as they move away from conventionally-grown proteins.
“Our end-products consist of a range of high-quality protein isolates, oils rich in Omega-3’s, fatty-acids and antioxidants, suitable for plant-based food applications, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and 3rd generation of biofuels. Our technology is 29x more efficient than the carbon dioxide (CO2) and oxygen volumes a forest can handle,” said Vasilis Stenos, founder and CEO of Solmeyea.
The company is on a mission to transform CO2 into valuable products, hence helping humanity solve three main problems: Climate change, Food scarcity and Energy. Operating in the Alternative Protein (9.5% CAGR) and the Carbon Offset market ($270B – 12% CAGR), they serve 9 out of the 17 SDGs.
“With the support of StartLife, we aim for strong collaborations and new initiatives, and connect with equally driven and visionary individuals willing to make profit without further harming the environment,” said Vasilis.
Trabotyx (Netherlands) – Providing Automatic Weeding For Organic Precision Farming
Trabotyx automates manual weeding for organic farmers, allowing the farmers to improve their yield and soil health whilst reducing costs and reducing risk related to shortage of labor.
“With the use of computer vision we detect 90%+ of all the weeds and weed with high accuracy. Our precision weeding robot takes away the recurring hassle of organizing seasonal workers for tedious manual labor dependent tasks. Currently robots are able to weed 1/3 hectare on a single battery charge,” said Tim Kreukniet, co-founder and CEO of Trabotyx.
“We support organic farmers in improving their bottom-line by reducing their operational weeding cost up to 25%. Ultimately, we want to be competitive with herbicide spraying, taking away the need of chemicals and improving soil, biodiversity, and water quality. Early 2023 we launch our MVP for 10 farmers with organic carrots,” Tim said.
“It goes without saying that the support of StartLife, the premier agrifoodtech accelerator in the world, just 50km from our head-office, is invaluable to us and helps us move and grow faster.”
Allozymes (Singapore) – Producing Novel Enzymes For Natural Products
Allozymes applies its proprietary platform technology to develop novel enzymes, revolutionizing the way industries manufacture natural products.
“We are unlocking infinite possibilities through enzymatic development with the plan of having a database of custom enzymes for a variety of production lanes. Our novel enzymes will reduce emissions substantially and offer sustainable solutions across sectors. We are able to leverage our technology into the food and plant protein, flavor, and other industries,” explains Peyman Salehian, co-founder and CEO of Allozymes.
Allozymes’ mission is to leverage its technology to generate sustainable alternatives across food production. “Our Hero Enzyme can direct nutrient recovery from lignocellulosic biomass and convert nutrients into fiber-derived sugar. This process enables efficient and sustainable sourcing of raw materials while reducing the harmful impact on our environment.”
Peyman says he is keen to embark Allozymes’ journey to ‘start’ food application testing for their hero enzymes allowing them to be optimized for upcycling different agrifood side streams and produce healthier fiber ingredients. “Together with StartLife, we endeavor to accelerate the development of different food applications with fiber ingredients.”
Feltwood Ecomateriales (Spain) – Upcycling Vegetable Side Streams Into Biobased Materials
Biotech company Feltwood develops technologies that reuses and upcycles waste produced from agriculture and vegetable processing to produce industrial materials composed of 100% vegetable fibers. The new biobased materials and final products are fully biodegradable, recyclable and compostable; thus becoming a real alternative to, among others, plastic.
Eduardo Paz, Feltwood’s CEO, said: “We reduce food waste by valorizing agricultural side streams and upcycle it to relevant alternatives for manufacturers, which allows them to fulfill the rapidly rising demand for sustainable products. Our circular technology can already upcycle more than 40 different residual and side stream products, and more will follow.”
“StartLife provides us valuable coaching, gives access to suitable events where we can showcase our solutions and introduces us to potential partners and investors. They really help us build a strong company and accelerate our business development and growth. Shortly, we will open a funding round. We foresee that StartLife will be a helpful hand in attracting the right investors.”
Startup Support for Agrifoodtech Startups
The above-mentioned startups take part in StartLife à la Carte through which they receive tailored support. Are you also working on a startup with novel technologies that may contribute the transformation to a sustainable food system and do you want to see how StartLife can be of help? Check the StartLife Accelerate and StartLife à la Carte program and get in touch with us.