Start-up pitch
How HydroWatt Zero is supporting innovators to protect food security
Future food security is under serious threat. But industry innovators are fighting to revolutionise the food system and change the story. Discover more...
Start-ups
Cultivated freshwater eel tech opens new opportunities in Japanese market
A cultivated seafood tech business has developed a system of cell cultivation to allow for commercial freshwater eel farming.
Top tips to successfully market your brand
Marketing can be complex, time consuming and costly. We run down the top tips and tricks to successfully market a food and drink brand on a tight budget.
Start-up pitch
How Fabas Foods is making alt dairy nutritious and sustainable
Alt dairy is proving to be one of the great plant-based success stories. But associations to UPF and questions over sustainability are holding it back. Fabas Foods believes it has the solution.
Lack of imagination to novel food blocks – food and drink industry challenges
Red tape, lacking investment and negative connotations around new and novel food types are just three of many issues standing in the way of Europe’s food and drink sector progress, experts have warned.
How to identify and engage with your target market
Creating and building brand awareness, with potential customers, is essential to success. Here’s how to recognise and connect with your target market.
Innovation watch: Spotted at SIAL 2024
Edible cutlery, reimagined sushi, and vitamin-enriched cheese are just a handful of exciting food and drink innovations entering the market.
Video
Ask the experts: What do F&B start-ups get wrong?
What do food and drink start-up businesses get wrong? It’s the big question facing many fledgling businesses. FoodNavigator speaks to nine industry experts to find out.
Redefine Meat plots NPD as plant-based market 'regains sales'
Plant-based meat alternative heavyweight Redefine Meat has plotted a series of new launches and retail listings as the market rebounds following a recent tumble and stagnation.
Replacing oils and fats with water: Deep-tech start-up secures €4.2m
Healthier food-tech business MicroLub, which uses tech to replace fats and oils with water – while claiming sensory retention – has closed a €4.2 seed investment round to commercialise.
Start-up pitch
How BettaF!sh is creating seafood from seaweed
The plant-based seafood market is underserved – enter BettaF!sh. This week we're discovering how founder, Deniz Ficicioglu, is revolutionising the fish-free fish space in the first edition of FoodNavigator’s start-up pitch series.
Future Food-Tech 2024
How two start-ups are improving food safety and quality with innovation
Food safety and quality are two sides of the same coin. But how is the process of making food not only safe but beneficial for the consumer being made more efficient?
Supplementary drink that combats effects of alcohol targets European growth
Hangover cure? Apparently so as one US start-up claims the consequences of a heavy night could be resigned to the past for Europeans, should the brand debut on this side of the pond.
Future Food-Tech 2024
Do consumers want alternative raw materials?
Alternative raw materials aim to provide sustainable versions of commodities, including cocoa, coffee and palm oil, that are both integral to food and linked to deforestation. Will consumers accept them?
What Mondelēz International will do with Urban Legend doughnuts
Mondelēz International will push to scale healthier doughnuts business Urban Legend following its minority stake investment, FoodNavigator can exclusively reveal.
Opinion
How the food industry can excel – hot takes from Future Food-Tech
What was the gossip and top trends from this year’s Future Food-Tech? The FoodNavigator editorial team reveal their key insights and takeaways.
Future Food-Tech 2024
Future Food-Tech 2024: Exciting innovations from the show
Brands put innovation on centre stage at Future Food-Tech 2024. Here are just a few of our favourites from the two-day food and beverage celebration.
Future Food-Tech 2024
Three hot start-ups designing and creating sector-challenging proteins
There are myriad ways to design and create proteins. We spoke to some of the key players in this varied space.
Future Food-Tech 2024
Mycoprotein’s finished being quiet and about to raise its game
The OG meat alternative mycoprotein is set to retake the spotlight in a sector rife with food start-ups bringing to market products through an increasing array of food-tech innovations.
Future Food-Tech 2024
Is food and drink innovation broken? Lessons in getting it right
Food and drink industry insiders suggest sector innovation may need to be reset if it is to launch products with sustainable market cut through.
€8.1bn and 25,000 jobs predicted from alt-protein boom
Private investor and government backing has sparked a jobs and revenue boom in Europe’s alternative protein market, leading to a need for specialist recruitment services.
Mondelēz International snaps up stake in 'healthier' doughnut brand
Mondelēz International has backed a fresh doughnut and pastry business that boasts custom-designed and patented air frying technology that significantly reduces sugar, fat and calories.
Cow-less casein protein 'first' creates full cheese spectrum
A full spectrum of ‘cheeses’ can be made without cows, following the development of a casein that can self-assemble into micelles, the foundation for stretchy, protein-rich cheese alternatives.
Is cultivated meat cost reduction possible? The industry speaks
A recent study suggested that radical cost reduction in cultivated meat production is possible. Ivy Farm, Aleph Farms and Vital Meat speak on the potential of this.
Alternative meat patents are rising, but which country leads the way?
Meat alternative makers are applying for patents at increasing levels, with the US leading the way, FoodNavigator reveals.
Food tech investment slump seeing slow u-turn
Food and drink investors remain cautious over which businesses to pump funds into on the back of a “challenging” market that’s remained stagnant following a steep decline, a banking expert tells FoodNavigator.
Big Interview
What start-ups and industry can learn from each other
In the alternative food space, partnerships between start-ups and corporates hold advantages for both parties.
How precision tech will reboot dairy industry profits
Dairy value sales will balloon to over $1tr in the next decade as the sector combats myriad issues by adopting emerging food technologies like precision fermentation and cellular agriculture.
How to recruit the right staff for your brand
Making the decision to recruit staff is a big step for any new business. It presents multiple challenges and can generate unexpected costs. We’re here to help guide you through the process.
Big Interview
‘I do see an investor appetite to improve’: World Fund's principal on what investors are looking for in fermentation
Fermentation is one of the main methods for producing alternative proteins. How does it look to investors?
F&B excluded from European Commission’s competitiveness strategy
Food and beverage – Europe’s largest manufacturing industry – has been omitted from the European Commission’s ‘The future of European competitiveness’ report designed to accelerate the EU’s finances ahead of competing nations.
How is the EU supporting innovation in food and beverage?
Climate change is threatening the future of food security making innovation to protect it more important than ever. So, how is the EU working to kickstart creativity and encourage investment?
Europe’s largest food upcycling plant opened for spent grains
A new plant is upcycling spent grains for a whole range of uses.
What are the barriers to innovation in food and beverage?
Many of food and beverage's greatest innovations are born from from start-ups. But why is innovation on a decline and what's the future of food and drink NPD?
Big Interview
Mondelēz Snackfutures’ head on staying attractive to investors
He may well be one of snacking’s most influential men. So, an audience with Mondelēz International’s Snackfutures Ventures boss, Richie Gray, could indeed be the making or breaking of a business.
Profile
How food tech start-ups can attract investors and thrive
How do food tech and alternative meat and dairy start-ups gain the interest of investors? Kim Anders Odhner has his ear to the ground and explains what backers might be looking for.
Global R&D tactics launching food and drink start-ups
Food and drink industry research and development investment has proven profitable for many countries around the world, but which are spending and where?
How AI can help design proteins for the food industry
Using a combination of artificial intelligence and synthetic biology, one start-up is enhancing proteins into a wide array of functions across the food industry.
Why is innovation in food and beverage declining?
The lack of innovation in food and beverage is raising concerns that the industry is in trouble. So what’s going on?
How generative AI could boost plant-based protein functionality
Functionality is a key element of producing plant-based products. Generative AI, one start-up suggests, could boost research into protein functionality.
The ultra-processed Superloaf that claims to be 'healthy'
Can an ultra-processed product be healthy? One company believes so, and aims to prove it with a new product.
How to effectively label your food product
Front- and back-of-pack food and nutrition information is essential. Here’s how to ensure the details are legally tight to not only attract customers, but to keep them safe.
‘We're going to work with meat companies, not compete with them’: Meatable on how cultivated meat can help farmers
Cultivated meat has traditionally been posited as an alternative to traditional animal agriculture. Now, Meatable suggests that it could help farmers, not hurt them.
FoodNavigator's how-to guide for start-up success
From designing your packaging, to working with wholesalers, here's our comprehensive guide to building your brand from the ground up.
Start-ups: How to grow your business and your brand
Starting a new business is a big risk, but the rewards can be just as great. Here’s how to, not just survive, but thrive.
Cultivated meat on a farm? Putting farmers at the centre of a new technology
Cultivated meat is often seen as anathema to traditional farming practices. But what if it can be produced on a farm, by farmers?
Finally, an approval application for cultivated meat submitted in the EU
French start-up Gourmey has submitted a novel food application to the EU for cultivated foie gras. This is the EU’s first cultivated meat application.
Is cultivated meat a concern or an opportunity for farmers?
Cultivated meat aims to replicate traditional meat. How concerned are UK farmers about this, and how open are they to potential opportunities?
Start-ups: Where to spend and where to save
Starting a new business is a huge financial undertaking so spending your money wisely is crucial. We look at where to spend and where to save.