EIT Food awards €600,000 to 18 AgriFoodTech start-ups across Europe

Smart Farming

EIT Food awards €600,000 to 18 AgriFoodTech start-ups across Europe

Rafaela Sousa

22 October 2025

EIT Food awards €600,000 to 18 AgriFoodTech start-ups across Europe

EIT Food has awarded a total of €600,000 in Tech Validation Funding to 18 start-ups across Europe, supporting early-stage AgriFoodTech innovators in validating their technologies and preparing for market entry.

The announcement was made during EIT Food’s flagship Next Bite 2025 event, held in Brussels on 15-16 October. The funding, provided through the EIT Food Accelerator Network (FAN), aims to help start-ups fast-track pilot projects, strengthen their investment readiness and advance solutions tackling key challenges across the food system.

The 18 winners were selected from this year’s cohort of 65 participating start-ups across six EIT FAN Hubs. They will receive individual grants of €20,000, €30,000 or €50,000, alongside mentorship and access to EIT Food’s network of research centres, pilot plants and 24 corporate partners.

2025 Tech Validation Funding recipients:

€50,000: Agreenet, APOLO Biotech, Chonova, Ingrediome, LayerLogic, Trilliome
€30,000: Carbon Cell, Ferryx, HarvestR, Koppie, Silvibio, TierraSphere
€20,000: Agrisound, BioArmix, Biomyc, Elogium, Kyomei, PoLoPo

The Tech Validation stage allows start-ups to test their technologies in real conditions, confirm market fit and attract investment for scale-up.

Yulia Bodnar, EIT Food Accelerator network programme manager, said: "We are incredibly proud of this year's cohort. Each start-up has shown remarkable resilience, creativity and determination, validating their technologies, refining their pitches and shaping the future of food. With the support of our Hub leads, coaches, evaluators, Corporate Programme Partners, investors and jury members, these innovators are now one step closer to transforming the agrifood system."

Top image: © PoLoPo

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