European AgriFoodTech Top 50

Published on October 13, 2025

Earlier this year, we released our report on the state of the European FoodTech ecosystem (available here). Today, we’d like to share with you DigitalFoodLab’s FoodTech Europe top 50 for 2025. As for each year, our goal with this list is to create a snapshot about what DigitalFoodLab considers to be the 50 European startups with the biggest potential of growth, a significant exit, or to leverage innovation to improve the agrifood value chain in the year ahead.

 

Europe FoodTech 50 – what happened in a year?

First, let’s look at the startups of last year’s top 50 (here is the link to the mapping). As for the rest of the ecosystem, it was a rough year for many ecosystems and hence for most of the companies on this mapping:

  • A single exit with the IPO of Moolec (UK, molecular farming) earlier this year
  • No bankruptcies, even if some companies are facing difficulties, which is almost a feat for a list of 50 AgriFoodTech startups in the current context.

 

Now, how did we make the list for 2025?

This edition was more challenging than previous years: startups raise money and have fewer successes to report, making it harder to evaluate where they are. Behind the scenes, and even in the absence of deals (or maybe due to that), the AgriFood innovation ecosystem is changing a lot; that’s why we made a lot of changes to the mapping by removing more than 50% of last year’s startups.

First, from the huge pool of about 3,000 active AgriFoodTech startups in Europe, we select those that have raised significant funding (depending on their categories) over the past three years and rank them using the following questions:

  • Trend: is the startup surfing on key trends identified by DigitalFoodLab?
  • Funding or profitability: Is there enough money to go to the next level?
  • Hype: Can it communicate its service or product well enough to attract interest?
  • Exit potential: can it realistically become either a unicorn (become a leader and go through an IPO) or be acquired in less than five years

 

Here is the full mapping:

What do we learn from this mapping?

If the number of players per category doesn’t change much, it’s inside each of them that we observe significant moves:

AgTech: We have chosen to remove insect farming startups as their potential seems to be decreasing with each year. On the contrary, we now have four startups focused on bioinputs and two (Agreena and Klim) focused on carbon credits and supporting farmers on their transition towards regenerative practices.

Supply Chain: by adding Brainr (which recently raised €11M), we reflect the growing wave of innovation to support efficiency gains in the food supply chain through digitisation.

Delivery: most of these startups have revenues in the multiple hundreds of millions. it confirms that this ecosystem is increasingly mature.

Foodservice: we have added a couple of players (Nory, Teby) leveraging artificial intelligence to help improve restaurant management. Foodservice is one of the areas where AI makes the most sense in the short-term in AgriFoodTech.

Consumer Tech: we observe the growth of players like Yazen with great interest. Focused on weight loss or supporting people with diabetes, this new generation of food coaching platforms is attracting a great number of consumers by leveraging AI and image recognition.

Food Science: this category is increasingly more divided between a large number of brands (which are slightly underrepresented in this mapping) and startups at the intersection of FoodTech and Biotech. This is notably the case of players like Cradle and Basecamp research, two protein discovery/design startups.

 

Full list of DigitalFoodLab’s European AgriFoodTech Top 50 for 2025: 

AgTech

  • Agreena: Soil-carbon platform paying farmers for regenerative practices (insets/credits) – Denmark 🇩🇰

  • Aphea.Bio: Microbial biostimulants & biocontrol for major crops – Belgium 🇧🇪

  • ecoRobotix: Precision weeding/spraying robots reducing herbicide use – Switzerland 🇨🇭

  • Elicit Plant: Plant-based biostimulants improving crops’ drought tolerance – France 🇫🇷

  • Klim: Platform helping farmers adopt regenerative practices (advice + credits) – Germany 🇩🇪

  • Micropep Technologies: Micropeptide-based bioherbicides/biostimulants as pesticide alternatives – France 🇫🇷

  • Nofence AS: Virtual fencing collars for livestock with GPS & audio cues – Norway 🇳🇴

  • Tropic Biosciences: Gene-edited tropical crops (banana, coffee) for resilience & yield – UK 🇬🇧

  • xFarm Technologies: Farm management platform (FMIS) with IoT & decision support – Italy 🇮🇹

Consumer Tech

  • Jow: Digital meal planning companion that suggests personalized recipes and automatically builds grocery lists – France 🇫🇷
  • Yazen: Healthy meal planning & grocery suggestions for weight-loss – Sweden 🇸🇪
  • ZOE: data-driven personal insights using microbiome and blood sugar testing to help individuals improve gut health and nutrition – UK 🇬🇧

Delivery

  • Matsmart / Motatos: On-demand quick-commerce grocery delivery – Germany 🇩🇪

  • Gousto: Recipe meal kits – UK 🇬🇧

  • HungryPanda: Delivery platform focused on Asian food for overseas Chinese communities – UK 🇬🇧

  • La Fourche: Membership-based online organic grocery at wholesale prices – France 🇫🇷

  • Matsmart / Motatos: Surplus/short-dated online grocery reducing food waste – Sweden 🇸🇪

  • Picnic: Online grocery with proprietary electric-van logistics – Netherlands 🇳🇱

  • Rohlik: Online grocer with fast delivery in CEE & Germany – Czech Republic 🇨🇿

FoodScience

  • Air Up: flavoring tap water using scent technology, eliminating sugar and additives – Germany 🇩🇪
  • 21st.BIO: Scale-up platform for precision fermentation & industrial biotech – Denmark 🇩🇰

  • Basecamp Research: Protein/enzyme discovery for biotech & food – UK 🇬🇧

  • Cradle: protein design for novel enzymes & ingredients – Switzerland 🇨🇭

  • Food Brewer: Plant-cell culture applied to coffee and cocoa production – Switzerland 🇨🇭

  • GOURMEY: Cultivated foie gras & poultry – France 🇫🇷

  • Heura Foods: Mediterranean-style plant-based meats – Spain 🇪🇸

  • Huel: Complete nutrition meals (powders, RTDs, bars) – UK 🇬🇧

  • Infinite Roots: Mycelium fermentation for sustainable protein & ingredients – Germany 🇩🇪

  • KoRo: D2C pantry & healthy foods brand with bulk formats – Germany 🇩🇪

  • Mosa Meat: Cultivated beef grown from cells – Netherlands 🇳🇱

  • Nuritas: AI-discovered bioactive peptides for health & nutrition – Ireland 🇮🇪

  • Onego Bio: Precision-fermented egg proteins (ovalbumin) for food – Finland 🇫🇮

  • Planted Foods: Clean-label plant-based meat via wet extrusion & fermentation – Switzerland 🇨🇭

  • Planet A Foods – ChoViva: Cocoa-free chocolate alternatives from fermented ingredients – Germany 🇩🇪

  • Revyve: Upcycled brewer’s yeast proteins & fibers for clean-label texture – Netherlands 🇳🇱

  • Solar Foods: Protein (Solein) made by microbes using CO₂, electricity & air – Finland 🇫🇮

  • THIS: Plant-based chicken & pork alternatives focused on taste parity – UK 🇬🇧

  • The Protein Brewery: proteins produced and fibers by fermenting fungi – Netherlands 🇳🇱

  • La vie: plant-based bacon and pork alternatives using innovative fat technology – France 🇫🇷

 

Foodservice

  • Choco: Ordering platform connecting restaurants & suppliers; digitizes procurement – Germany 🇩🇪

  • Deliverect: Middleware integrating delivery apps into POS; centralizes online orders – Belgium 🇧🇪

  • Flipdish: White-label ordering, loyalty & marketing for restaurants – Ireland 🇮🇪

  • Foodles: Smart fridges & workplace canteen alternatives with fresh meals – France 🇫🇷

  • Nory AI: AI operating system for restaurants (labour, inventory, forecasting) – Ireland 🇮🇪

  • Tebi: Back-of-house management platform for hospitality/foodservice – Netherlands 🇳🇱

Supply Chain

  • BRAINR: Factory operations software (MES, traceability, IoT) for food manufacturing – Portugal 🇵🇹

  • RELEX Solutions: AI-driven unified retail & supply chain planning (forecasting, replenishment, inventory) – Finland 🇫🇮

  • Notpla: Seaweed-based packaging to replace single-use plastics – UK 🇬🇧

  • Too Good To Go: Marketplace app to rescue unsold food from retailers & restaurants – Denmark 🇩🇰

You're in a good company

Join the 60+ clients of Digital FoodLab: leading agrifood companies, retailers, banks, investors, startups, and public organisations.

Use case: project for a global F&B company looking to map its AgTech innovation ecosystem and the best startups to partner with

What we did:

  • Mapping of the AgTech ecosystem: startups, research regulators, and other leading companies.
  • Discussion to select areas to focus on.
  • Analysis of the information to reveal the trends and a model to analyse eventual partners.
  • A workshop to validate the opportunities based on our recommendations.
  • Scouting of relevant partners followed by introductions.

Results:

  • Mapping the different categories of innovations in AgTech that should be considered now to create long-term benefits for the business.
  • Identification of key partners (an incubator and a couple of startups).

Use case: project for a CPG company on the healthy ageing ecosystem

What we did:

  • Education of the board through a couple of workshops to define the perimeter
  • Identification of key opportunities and threats created by long-term evolutions (technologies, business models, behavioural changes).
  • Deep dives on each of the priority categories.
  • Co-construction of a vision on how the company should address these challenges.
  • Identification of partners (startups, incubators, funds) to move forward.

Results:

  • Creating a consensus on which categories to prioritise and how to address them.
  • Implementation of an open innovation strategy through the development of partnerships.

Use case: project for a global CPG company to develop a strategy on the healthy ageing ecosystem

What we do (ongoing mission on a subscription model):

  • Kick-off where we present an overview of the AgriFoodTech ecosystem to select with the client the categories to cover and for each, the level of information required.
  • Monthly newsletter: each month we send a newsletter with the articles that we have gathered ranked by relevance, their summaries, and a layer of analysis.
  • Database: we set up a personalised database that will be filled month after month with the information gathered on the companies identified for the watch.
  • Workshops: twice a year with the client’s innovation team and other “innovation curious” team members, we present an overview of the evolutions, key trends and a dashboard of the topics followed by the watch.

Results:

  • A clear, regular and evolutive tool to follow what is happening in terms of innovation on key topics.
  • A forum (through the workshops) to discuss innovation trends and new opportunities.

Use case: opportunity screening for an ingredient company

What we did:

  • Kick-off to define the perimeter of the ecosystem studied.
  • Mapping of the different trends shaping the innovation ecosystem of the client.
  • Analysis of the trends on DigitalFoodLab’s trend curve and other relevant frameworks.
  • Workshop to discuss DigitalFoodLab’s recommendations on key trends to prioritise

Results:

  • Shared view of the innovation ecosystem for the client with a view of the trends to prioritize.
  • Clear document (personalised trend curve) that can be easily shared internaly to explain the company’s innovation choices and which can be then updated each year.

Use case: scouting for an agriculture coop

What we did:

  • Kick-off to define the perimeter of the client, the goals of the scouting (partnerships) and the criteria on which startups should be evaluated.
  • Set-up scouting: we selected the first batch of 20+ key startups following the criteria of the client.
  • On-going scouting: then we set up a quarterly scouting of about ten startups.
  • For each scouted startup, we created an ID card with key information such as the business and technological maturity, funding, and corporate partnerships. We also added an explanation of why we selected this startup.

Results:

  • An ongoing and evolutive scouting are matching the client's criteria and its capabilities in terms of deal flow.

Use case: working on an acquisition process for a CPG company

What we did:

  • Kick-off to define what the client is seeking, notably in terms of maturity.
  • Workshop with the client based on a mapping of the different innovation ecosystems adjacent to its activities to select some priorities and discuss inspiring examples of startup acquisition stories.
  • Identification of 20+ targets.
  • Workshop to select the most relevant to engage with.
  • DigitalFoodLab worked as a sparing partner during the acquisition process, notably to help design how the acquired startup could be integrated into the overall company’s strategy.

Results:

  • Different results from traditional M&A processes with a focus on the client’s innovation strategy.
  • Identification of a good match for an acquisition.

Use case: market due diligence on sugar alternatives

What we did:

  • Kick-off with the client to discuss its interest on this category, its expectations and existing level of information (notably on the target company).
  • Mapping of the ecosystem to analyse the different existing alternatives and technologies to compare them.
  • Interview (calls) with relevant startups made by our internal biotechnology expert.
  • Recommendation on whether to invest or not.

Results:

  • Clear view of the ecosystem and of the reasons to believe (or not) in each sub-category.
  • Enforceable recommendations based on facts and expertise.