Why participate?
The Brave New Food Startup Challenge is a unique opportunity to accelerate your business!
BNF Startup Award
A chance to pitch live for an audience of 100+ food professionals and impact investors
Startup & Expert Event
Access to the Brave New Food Startup & Expert Event to meet other startups and experts
Access to markets
With your pitch deck you will instantly reach 35+ food corporates, retailers and distributors
Access to capital
Get in touch with (Dutch) impact investors for subsidies, soft loans or investments
Media exposure
The most promising startup brands will get free publicity and media exposure
Previous participants
Piet Hein van Dam
CEO at Clear.bio
Read their story
"Our participation has led to an investment of Horizon Flevoland!"
Wouter Muis
Co-founder at Gro together
Read their story
"Wow! One pitch led to multiple partnerships with a retailer in food services, and with impact investors"
Laura Hoogland
Founder at SUNT
Read their story
"The Brave New Food network has led to a valuable collaboration with Coroos!"
Who and what are we looking for?
Brave New Food is looking for food startups, with innovative solutions that help accelerate the transition to a healthier and more sustainable food system. This Startup Challenge focuses on next generation solutions in the domains of Healthier food solutions, Alternative proteins, Zero food waste and Sustainable packaging. If your product is brave and new, but doesn’t fit in any of these domains, we invite you to use the Wildcard!
Healthier food solutions
New healthier products or ingredients
New technologies that enable healthier (personalized) diets and behavior
Alternative proteins
New products, ingredients or technologies that can reduce animal proteins
Plant-based, algae, seaweed, cultured meat, cell based agriculture, insects, or any other alternatives
New technologies that improve texture and taste of alternatives
Sustainable packaging
New sustainable materials or techniques for packaging
New recycled, plant-based, edible, biodegradable alternatives
New ways to avoid over-packaging, efficient recycling methods or solutions that reduce packaging waste
Zero food waste
New products, ingredients based on food waste or side streams
New sources of side streams with potential for adding value
New valorization and extraction technologies that enable the recovery of valuable substances from residual flows
Wildcard
Does your company have an innovative food solution, but does it somehow not fit within one of our themes?
Do you still want to share your solution with leading food companies for your chance to access new markets, networks, and expertise? Pitch your product in this Wildcard challenge!
Meet our jury!
- The Marketeer: René van den Cruijsem
Country director Benelux at Redefine Meat - The Builder: Maartje Frederiks
Founder at HelloFresh Benelux & France - The Impact Maker: Frits Snel
Chief of markets at Tony's Chocolonely - The Networker: Marjolein Brasz
Managing director at Foodvalley NL - The Techie: Daniel Gebler
Founder and CTO at Picnic
Read their full bio
How to participate in the Startup Challenge?
- Upload your pitch deck here before November 2st
- You will receive a free ticket to meet other promising startups at the Startup & Expert event on November 10th
- After November 1st, our partners (leading food corporates and impact investors) will review your pitch and have the opportunity to invite you for a 1-on-1 meeting
- On November 15th, Brave New Food will announce which 10 most promising startups will get invited to the Partner & Pitch Event on December 1st
- Here the invited startups will pitch their solutions live to leading food corporates and impact investors. A jury will award the most promising startup with the honorary title of Brave New Food Startup of the Year 2022
Any questions?
Join our Q&A Session on Tuesday 18th of October
Can't you join the Q&A? Feel free to contact us directly! Our startup scout Sandra wil gladly answer your questions via: sandra.einvall@bravenewfood.com.
Who can participate in the Brave New Food Startup Challenge?
This challenge is open for startups and scale-ups with sustainable and healthy food solutions. As a startup you already have a proof of concept and traction. However, your concept may also be pre-revenue.
Are there any costs involved in participating?
No, it’s completely free to join the Startup Challenge.
What's the difference between the Brave New Food Startup Challenge and the Company Challenges?
The Startup Challenge is one big general challenge on behalf of our partners. With one pitch you will reach 30+ food corporates, retailers and distributors at the same time!
Company Challenges are specific innovation needs of an individual company. Your pitch will only be visible to the company you pitch for.
Is it allowed to participate in multiple challenges?
If your solution fits in multiple challenges (for example both the Brave New Food Startup Challenge and a company challenge), we recommend you participate in multiple challenges.
What happens after uploading my pitch deck?
As soon as you have uploaded your pitch, you will receive a confirmation so that you know that we have received your pitch. After the deadline, our partners will assess all pitches individually and invite the startups with the most interesting solutions for a 1-on-1 meeting. If you both see potential in a collaboration, you can make agreements about a follow-up!
What about my IP?
All our partners have signed a contract with us stating that they are not allowed to share the startups pitches to anyone outside the company. However we advise startups not to share trade secrets or IP sensitive information in their pitch.
What are the chances of getting invited to a 1:1 conversations with one of the partners?
In the previous open call, about 60% of the participating companies were invited for one or more 1:1 conversations with one of the partners.