Call for Applications: MassChallenge Sustainable Food Solutions Challenge 2025

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Applications are open for MassChallenge Sustainable Food Solutions Challenge. Get your idea exposed to 7 leading food corporations and gain the chance of a pilot or investment. Our match-making contest finds you the right partner to scale up. MassChallenge believes startups and corporations can help. Startups can play a unique role in bringing new disruptive ideas to the table. Corporations can play a critical role in scaling these ideas and bringing benefits to society quickly.

In 2020 a group of leading global food manufacturers and producers partnered with MassChallenge to find and collaborate with startups so that together, they could help feed the planet sustainably. In the challenges first 6 years over 2,300 startups have applied to take part with over 390 of these being connected to our partners. Of these, over half were involved in a detailed follow-up discussion – check the success stories segment.

Sustainable Food Solutions Challenge Focus Areas

MassChallenge and their partners are looking for startups or scaleups, with proven solutions or technologies in the areas of:

Sustainable Food & Feed Solutions
- Disruptive proteins/ fats/ Ingredients;
- Human health & nutrition;
- Animal feed and pet health & nutrition;
- Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG).
AgTech
- Regenerative agriculture;
- Precision farming.
Sustainable Supply Chain & Manufacturing
- Supply Chain optimization;
- Decarbonisation of Manufacturing;
- Circular economy;
- Traceability/ food safety/ preservation technologies.
Sustainable Packaging & Materials
- Bio-based Chemicals;
- New materials and molecules;
- Sustainable Materials.
Side-streams valorization
- Side-streams: wheat, soy, corn, potato, etc. For a detailed list of areas please see application form.
- Upcycled to the ag-tech & food industry, packaging, construction, personal care, and perfumery.

Sustainable Food Solutions Challenge Benefits

Startups and Corporate Partners engage together to drive change toward a sustainable world and lead global impact. This Challenge allows them to work together, create a joint pitch, and scale up innovative solutions, faster than they could alone.

All startups participating in the Challenge will get:

A direct pathway to multi-national corporations:If shortlisted by our partners, MassChallenge will introduce you to representatives of the partners, including senior R&D, open innovation managers, sustainability executives, and business unit heads. You will talk to the right stakeholders in these organizations, you will have their full attention from the start, and will explore ways to collaborate with them.
The ability to scale your technology with them: After the initial meeting we foresee a detailed sharing of information, most likely covered by a Non-Disclosure Agreement, and then the creation of a joint pilot to evaluate the scaling potential of the product. Startups could then become suppliers to the corporation, partners in some form of venture, or receive investment. Every step is totally at the corporation and startup’s discretion, and there is no obligation to proceed unless the startup and corporation wish.
Publicity and more connections: each corporate partner will invite one of the startups that they shortlisted to our flagship event, the MassChallenge Sustainable Food Solutions Challenge Day, in May 2025. There, the startup combined with their corporate partner will present their joint solution on how to feed the planet sustainably to all of our corporate partners, resulting in more connections and the potential to work with other corporates. This event will be subject to press releases from MassChallenge and some of our corporate partners, providing visibility to the startups. Selected startups will receive 1,000CHF to contribute towards travel to the event.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

They are looking for startups and scaleups that:

Have a product or idea at the prototype stage or with a working proof of concept backed by data (ie Technical Readiness Level 5, where the technology has been validated in a relevant environment).
Are a strategic fit with our partners. In the application form, startups can note which specific partner(s) are a strategic fit for their solution. When discussing with a partner what’s important is an openness to collaborate and scale your idea.
Are from seed to series C+. What’s important is that your product is at least at the prototype stage or with a working proof of concept backed by data. You may already have some sales & traction. This enables us to validate that there is a need for your product and that you’re ready to work with our corporate partners. The next step is to work with the corporate partner to scale your technology.
Have Impactful, Viable, and Scalable ideas:
- Impactful: to massively benefit society by extracting value whilst reducing the CO2 footprint and emissions of the entire food value chain;
- Viable: be able to demonstrate traction amongst consumers; manufacturers, and their supply base (including farmers);
- Scalable: be able to scale at the agricultural, manufacture, distribution, or disposal stage of food production.
Are from any geography. However, note that our partner corporations are headquartered in Europe, so physical collaboration would be mostly in Europe. Startups should ensure they are able to travel to Europe for discussions. The selection process will be carried out online.