The 2022 Nutreco Feed and Food Tech Challenge has selected five companies as the finalists for a prize that awards breakthrough innovations in livestock farming, aquaculture, and alternative food proteins.
Nutreco, an Amersfoort, The Netherlands-based animal nutrition firm, which owns aquafeed firm Skretting, chose 15 start-ups to its 30 June pitch day out of 150 applicants representing 48 countries. A jury composed of industry experts chose five companies – Beakbook, BioBetter, Multus, Tepbac, and AquaRech – to advance to the contest's final round, with Tepbac and AquaRech representing the aquaculture sector.
The five companies will make a final pitch to investors live in Amsterdam in October 2022, for the honor of being selected the three winners of the contest, which awards up to EUR 50,000 (USD 51,100) in scientific research, on-farm validation trials, and expert consultations.
Nutreco Director of Venturing and Business Development and NFFTC22 Head Juror Joost Matthijssen said the jury was "very impressed by the quality, passion, and effort of the 2022 applicants."
"It's a pivotal time for global food production. With the NFFTC, we proactively seek breakthrough innovations that could change the future of our industry, help produce food in a more sustainable way and solve key challenges in feed and food production," he said.
Founded in 2012, Tepbac is a Vietnam-based digital platform designed to manage aquaculture operations. Its farm-management system, known as Farmext, can monitor aquaculture from most digital devices. The platform consists of digital farm logs, cost management, inventory management all accessible remotely.
Kenya-based AquaRech operates an app to ensure farmers can sustainably purchase aquafeed and access tools for farming and production. The three primary services AquaRech offers are community-inclusive fish farming, tracking control, and contractual fish farming.
Photo courtesy of Nutreco
