The Fi Europe Startup Challenge has become an important platform for advancing potentially transformational solutions from young companies. Although it is built around an awards programme, the Challenge does more than recognise innovation. It nurtures startups by giving them business support, constructive feedback, industry exposure and an opportunity to make the connections they need to scale up and grow.
“The Challenge offers a front-row seat to witness the cutting-edge ideas […] shaping the future of the food industry”
The Challenge was the brainchild of nutrition consultant and food industry expert Sandra Einerhand, who worked with the team at Fi Europe to make it a reality. Since then, the programme has gone from strength to strength, and is now in its ninth edition.
“The Challenge offers a front-row seat to witness the cutting-edge ideas and creativity that are shaping the future of the food industry. It’s inspiring to see the passion, ingenuity and dedication of entrepreneurs who are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible,” said Einerhand.
Rise in plant-based, sustainability-focused foodtech
In recent years, the Challenge has seen a growing number of applicants presenting plant-based deep-tech technologies that support sustainable food production.
Not only is this a reflection of trends in the macro-environment, it is also evidence that plant-based innovation is driving the transition to a more sustainable food system.
In 2023, four of the winners—EQUII, Arkeon, WNWN, and Planet A Foods—were innovators in the plant-based space. Here, we look at what sets their solutions apart.
EQUII: Leveraging bioinformatics and fermentation to create high protein staples
By combining bioinformatics, fermentation and cutting-edge processing, EQUII is turning flour from a mere carbohydrate source into a complete protein powerhouse for formulating healthier staple foods such as bread and pasta.
The inspiration for EQUII came from the realisation that staple foods are as much a part of the daily diet as meat.
“I started EQUII to make nutrition on our plate a default, by creating staple foods that are high in protein and low in carbs and have great taste and texture,” said Monica Bhatia, co-founder of EQUII. “The market for plant-based proteins has been growing in leaps and bounds, but most innovation over the last ten years has focused on mimicking meat.”
EQUII’s technology starts with a bioinformatics algorithm that allows it to scan thousands of microbes found in foods and discover the ones that can make complete proteins when fermented. In the second step, grain starches are fermented with the microbes to produce complete proteins. Then, in the final step, proteins are isolated post-fermentation.
The mixes have been validated at conventional, large-scale industrial facilities for bread, bakery and pasta.
EQUII was named ‘Most Innovative Food & Beverage Ingredient’ in the 2023 Fi Europe Startup Challenge, which Bhatia described as a “unique opportunity to introduce EQUII into European food ecosystems as well as the food innovation community.”
“As Fi Europe is Europe’s largest food industry show it was great to be recognised for our innovation and use this honour as a platform for EQUII to discuss partnerships with EU-based businesses and funds,” she said.
Arkeon: Producing essential amino acids from waste gases
Austrian startup Arkeon won the ‘Most Innovative Plant-Based or Alternative Ingredient’ accolade for its technology, which captures CO2 from industrial waste gases and converts it into amino acids that can be used by the food & beverage industry.
“If you look at how food ingredients are made, they tend to be tied to land, plants and animals,” said Arkeon co-founder Michael Mitsakos. “We wanted to think outside the box, and we landed on a process of producing amino acids from microbes. This means that you can bypass agriculture and instead of using agricultural inputs, use waste gases.”
Archaea—a group of microorganisms similar to but distinct from bacteria—are central to Arkeon’s revolutionary approach to producing protein ingredients. Colonies of archaea are fed industrial waste gases, and amino acids are produced via a proprietary, patent-pending gas fermentation process.
“These microbes feed on carbon dioxide, along with hydrogen,” explained Mitsakos. “From these feedstocks the archaea excrete amino acids through a membrane, which end up in a salty solution. We are then able to separate the amino acids from the salts.”
Through this process, Arkeon is able to produce the 20 amino acids essential to human health.
A facility in Vienna is operational and producing amino acids at pilot scale, and the startup is currently looking to form partnerships with CO2-emitting companies.
WNWN: Sustainable alternatives to chocolate
“We love chocolate,” says Johnny Drain, co-founder of London-based venture WNWN. “But when you start digging into how chocolate is made, you find that two-thirds of cocoa is produced in the Ivory Coast and Ghana – and that this production is linked to child labour and deforestation. Cocoa production also has a huge carbon footprint.”
WNWN’s solution to this issue was to take locally sourced, abundant and sustainable ingredients like cereals and legumes, and apply fermentation technology to bring out flavour compounds they share with chocolate.
In 2022, WNWN became the first company in the world to sell a cocoa-free chocolate, and in 2023, the startup was one of two winners of the ‘Most Innovative Sustainable Solution’ at the Fi Europe Startup Challenge.
The company says chocolate is just the start of what it plans to do; many other ingredients, such as coffee and vanilla, are also grown in unethical and unsustainable ways, and the same supply chain pressures and environmental impacts that apply with cocoa are also evident with these ingredients.
“We believe that our fermentation platform can unpick these flavour profiles,” said Drain.
Planet A Foods: Cocoa-free chocolate
The other recipient of the ‘Most Innovative Sustainable Solution’ award, Planet A Foods, was a Munich-based business founded by siblings Sara and Max Marquart in 2021.
Through proprietary technology that naturally ferments oats and sunflower seeds, Planet A Foods is able to recreate the flavours and fats in chocolate – a milestone in the development of sustainable, cocoa-free alternatives, it says.
“Oats and sunflower seeds undergo a similar treatment to cocoa beans, from the proprietary fermentation-like method we use to gentle roasting,” said Antonia Schreiber, head of business development and partnerships at Planet A Foods. “We then ground the seed in several steps, to get a highly aromatic concentrate. After that, we mix the concentrate with other ingredients and conche everything,” she added.
The resulting product—ChoViva—is a creamy, tender, and velvety mass that looks and tastes like chocolate and has the same manufacturing properties, Schreiber said.
Planet A Foods is currently helping well-known brands and partners to replace cocoa and chocolate with ChoViva in their products.
2024 Startup Challenge
The next Fi Europe Startup Challenge will take place at the forthcoming Fi Europe event in Frankfurt, which runs from 19-21 November 2024. The deadline for entries is 6 September and prizes will be awarded in four categories:
- Most Innovative Food or Beverage Ingredient
- Most Innovative Plant-based or Alternative Ingredient
- Most Innovative Foodtech Solution
- Most Innovative Service or Digital Solution Supporting the F&B Industry.
Find out more about the Startup Challenge here.
This was a guest post by Fi Europe.
