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🚀 If you are the top 1% in the food or agri Industry driving innovation then $50,000 CAN BE YOURS - Register your food or agribusiness at the Green Shoots Startup Pitch Competition powered by Gulfood Green and get a chance to win and scale your business 🚀 Taking place at Gulfood Green 2024 from 24-26 September at the Dubai World Trade Centre the pitch competition will pit the most exciting food and agtech startups head-to-head, as they pitch in front of a jury of world-leading VCs, corporates, and prominent industry experts, to be crowned 2024 champion. Other Advantages to be a part of the Gulfood Green: 1. Get a chance to win the $50,000 cash prize fund to accelerate your startups growth.  2. Showcase your business in front of a jury of world leading VC’s, corporates and industry experts. 3. Engage in 1-on-1 networking with industry leaders, advisors, and mentors to scale your business. 4. Learn from panel discussions and workshops to equip yourself with tools and strategies to scale faster. Register now and get a chance to win the $50,000 prize: 🔥To participate in the Green Shoots Pitch Competition, you must be an exhibiting startup at Gulfood Green 2024, you can do so by booking a startup pod. 🔥Once registered as an exhibiting startup, keep an eye out for a confirmation on your pitching slot after the selection process or 🔥Reach out to Jamal Maxey, Sascha Dutta (nee Taylor), Diane Fermin Roeder or Meiraj A.I.  to learn more about how your pitch can stand out. 🔗 For more details, check the comments section below Get ready to pitch your way to success! 🌿✨ #GreenShootsPitch #GulfoodGreen #Sustainability #StartupCompetition #Innovation #PitchToWin #SustainableFuture

Together with Ryan Edwards, I talked to 12 leading #altprotein startups in Spain about their challenges. Here are their top 3. 😤 #1 Fundraising #2 Finding commercial partners and/ or customers (B2B) #3 Growing the Spanish market & volumes The first one is no surprise, given that funding is down overall vs. last year. 💵 According to The Good Food Institute, globally, here are the numbers: Plant-based: -31% Fermentation: -34% Cultivated meat: -75% Clearly, it's been a tough fundraising year across the board. However, it's good to see this in context, as overall funding by VCs in Spain has halved during the same period. 🏭 Finding commercial partners - and favorable terms(!) Many of the startups reported that there was little-to-no access to infrastructure or partners with manufacturing capacity. Either there was no capacity, or it was too expensive to access. Co-manufacturers unfortunately are not cooperating with the local startup ecosystem, know they have all of the leverage and are using it. 🛒 Growing the Spanish market & volumes This comes down to many factors, including consumer awareness, education, food culture, attitudes, and affordability. Spanish consumer adoption has been relatively flat compared to other countries in Europe. Heura Foods is looking to change that with their innovative marketing campaigns like Heura Fest, where they handed out hundreds of free meals to their target audience. An analogy that I personally witnessed is the fact that my local Mercadona grocery store has cut back from 4 meat alternatives to only 3 in their assortment in the last few months. Other grocery stores may be more open to innovation, but given that Mercadona is the fastest growing (~10% CAGR), most profitable (~25% margin) and biggest (~30% market share) retailer in Spain, it makes a big difference. P.S. If you have any ideas or leads on solving any of the above challenges here in Spain, or would like to bring those ideas to the startups, please reach out and I'd be happy to facilitate or include you in a future FoodHack event. Pictured here is the 3rd edition, with Marc Coloma sharing learnings about his recent $40M raise. Find the alt protein club website and participants below: https://lnkd.in/dGvV_Kjq A big thank you to Naked Innovations for facilitating. #altproteinchallenges #Spain #startups #foodtech

Thanks for sharing these insights! - To address the challenge of finding commercial partners and manufacturing capacity, one solution (I’m not aware if a similar initiative already exists..) could be consider forming a consortium of alt-protein startups. This approach has been successfully implemented in the renewable energy sector provides a great example where wind energy consortia have significantly reduced costs and increased market penetration through collective efforts and shared resources. The European Wind Power Action Plan, which emphasizes collaboration among industry players to achieve climate targets, could serve as a model. Alt-protein startups can similarly benefit from such a consortium, addressing infrastructure and manufacturing challenges. Furthermore, advocating for government support in the form of infrastructure investment, similar to those for solar energy projects, could accelerate growth and align with EU objectives. Looking forward to seeing more collaborative efforts and solutions emerge from this community!

🍽️ Finnish Startup Munchfam Secures €600,000 to Transform Restaurant Industry 💲 The link to the full article is in the comments below ⬇️ Munchfam, a Finnish startup, has raised €600,000 in a fresh investment round led by Pitchdrive | Early-stage VC 🚀 from Belgium and Genesis Ventures from Greece. With this capital, Munchfam aims to scale its service platform and support restaurants across Europe, particularly in Finland, Germany, Denmark, and Sweden. Munchfam's platform helps restaurants enhance efficiency and profitability by combining digital tools, plug-and-play brands, and high-quality ingredients. Founded by Pertti Kallioinen, Wei Zhou, Henri Auvinen, and Sauli Lehtovaara, the team has over 50 years of experience in the industry and understands the challenges faced by restaurants today. With this funding, Munchfam will continue empowering restaurants to thrive in a highly competitive market, reducing failure rates and enabling success in both physical and digital sales channels. #RestaurantTech #StartupFunding #Innovation #Finland #HospitalityTech #Pitchdrive #Genesis #FoodTech

🚀 Is your Food or Agri-Tech Startup ready to win $50,000? 🚀 🌱 You heard that right, this is your chance to shine and make a difference in the sustainable food industry. The Green Shoots Startup Investor Pitch Competition powered by Gulfood Green is here to support groundbreaking ideas that promote sustainability and green practices. Supported by the UAE Ministry of Economy, The Green Shoots Startup Pitch Competition, is searching for innovative entrepreneurs like you! This is your chance to win $50,000 prize fund, gain valuable mentorship, and propel your business to the next level. Taking place at Gulfood Green 2024 from 24-26 September at the Dubai World Trade Centre, the pitch competition will pit the most exciting food and agtech startups head-to-head, as they pitch in front of a jury of world-leading VCs, corporates, and prominent industry experts, to be crowned 2024 champion. Interested to know how you can pitch at the competition? 🔥To participate in the Green Shoots Pitch Competition, you must be an exhibiting startup at Gulfood Green 2024, you can do so by booking a startup pod. 🔥Once registered as an exhibiting startup, keep an eye out for a confirmation on your pitching slot after the selection process Or 🔥Reach out to Jamal Maxey, Sascha Dutta (nee Taylor), Diane Fermin Roeder or Meiraj A.I.  to learn more about how your pitch can stand out. We at Pitch Lounge, Foodpreneurs Collective, Marketing Strategiser, and Meiraj A.I. are extremely excited to receive your applications for the Green Shoots Startup Pitch Competition powered by Gulfood Green. This is more than just a competition—it's an opportunity to connect with top investors and industry leaders who are passionate about sustainability. 🔗 For more details and to apply, visit: https://lnkd.in/df95uMEp Get ready to pitch your way to success! 🌿✨ #GreenShootsPitch #GulfoodGreen #Sustainability #StartupCompetition #Innovation #PitchToWin #SustainableFuture

🚀 $50,000 CAN BE YOURS - Register your food or agribusiness at the Green Shoots Startup Pitch Competition powered by Gulfood Green and get a chance to win and scale your business 🚀 Taking place at Gulfood Green 2024 from 24-26 September at the Dubai World Trade Centre, the pitch competition will pit the most exciting food and agtech startups head-to-head, as they pitch in front of a jury of world-leading VCs, corporates, and prominent industry experts, to be crowned 2024 champion. Other Advantages to be a part of the Gulfood Green: 1. Get a chance to win the $50,000 cash prize fund to accelerate your startups growth  2. Showcase your business in front of a jury of world leading VC’s, corporates and industry experts 3. Engage in 1-on-1 networking with industry leaders, advisors, and mentors to scale your business 4. Learn from panel discussions and workshops to equip yourself with tools and strategies to scale faster Register now and get a chance to win the $50,000 prize: 🔥To participate in the Green Shoots Pitch Competition, you must be an exhibiting startup at Gulfood Green 2024, you can do so by booking a startup pod. 🔥Once registered as an exhibiting startup, keep an eye out for a confirmation on your pitching slot after the selection process or 🔥Reach out to Jamal Maxey, Sascha Dutta (nee Taylor), Diane Fermin Roeder, Zainab Shukri or Meiraj A.I.  to learn more about how your pitch can stand out. 🔗 For more details and to apply, check the comments section below! Get ready to pitch your way to success! 🌿✨ #GreenShootsPitch #GulfoodGreen #Sustainability #StartupCompetition #Innovation #PitchToWin #SustainableFuture

🚀 $50,000 CAN BE YOURS - Register your food or agribusiness at the Green Shoots Startup Pitch Competition powered by Gulfood Green and get a chance to win and scale your business 🚀   Taking place at Gulfood Green 2024 from 24-26 September at the Dubai World Trade Centre, the pitch competition will pit the most exciting food and agtech startups head-to-head, as they pitch in front of a jury of world-leading VCs, corporates, and prominent industry experts, to be crowned 2024 champion. Other Advantages to be a part of the Gulfood Green: 1. Get a chance to win the $50,000 cash prize fund to accelerate your startups growth. 2. Showcase your business in front of a jury of world leading VC’s, corporates and industry experts. 3. Engage in 1-on-1 networking with industry leaders, advisors, and mentors to scale your business 4. Learn from panel discussions and workshops to equip yourself with tools and strategies to scale faster. Register now and get a chance to win the $50,000 prize: 🔥To participate in the Green Shoots Pitch Competition, you must be an exhibiting startup at Gulfood Green 2024, you can do so by booking a startup pod. 🔥Once registered as an exhibiting startup, keep an eye out for a confirmation on your pitching slot after the selection process or 🔥Reach out to Jamal Maxey, Sascha Dutta (nee Taylor), Diane Fermin Roeder or Meiraj A.I.  to learn more about how your pitch can stand out. 🔗 For more details check the comments below Get ready to pitch your way to success! 🌿✨ #GreenShootsPitch #GulfoodGreen #Sustainability #StartupCompetition #Innovation #PitchToWin #SustainableFuture

Category Highlight – Food and Drink Startup The Food & Drink industries play a major role in economic activity in Ireland with wide-ranging impact on economic growth, employment, and local development. The Food & Drink Startup Award aims to recognize startups offering products & services related to food & beverage products in Ireland. Enter NOW ➔ startupawards.ie Entry Deadline – 17th October 2024 #yourstartupjourney #Startups #SUA2024 #NSA2024 #nationalstartupawards2024

Looking forward to meeting with the FoodTech community at the next FoodHack meetup in Berlin! I’ll be sharing our company story and answering audience questions about how we Bosque Foods took to the challenge of scaling - not just our production, but also our customer base, markets and team. Register here and join me at Wholey's facilities at 18:00 on February 29th. #foodhack #berlin #startups #networking #foodtech #food #scaleup #entrepreneurship

Looking forward to meeting with the FoodTech community at the next FoodHack meetup in Berlin! I’ll be sharing our company story and answering audience questions about how we at Wholey took to the challenge of scaling - not just our production, but also our customer base, markets and team. Register here and join me at Wholey Organics at 18:00 on February 29th.    #foodhack #berlin #startups #networking #foodtech #food #scaleup #entrepreneurship