In the eight years since Foodbytes’s inception, the F&A community has come to value our annual selection of startups representing promising solutions to major industry challenges. Our historical alumni community – those 400+ startups that were selected across those years – have gone on to raise over $3.5Bn and make waves in the areas of farm inputs, automation, novel ingredients, sustainable packaging and much more.
In our current format as a continuous online connection hub, we aim to keep delivering that value through our Alumni and Pick vetting badges.
We value the knowledge of the Foodbytes team. They know the market so well. If they say: You should look at this startup, we certainly do look into them
AGCO
All startups published in the platform are searchable to our corporate and investor users and have passed a screening that corroborates sector alignment and accurate, up-to-date profile information.
To continue to provide the more extensive vetting for which Foodbytes has historically been known, we created two distinct startup badges in the online hub which are visible and filterable to Premium subscribers only. Read on for more details on our screening process and the criteria behind our latest vetting features:
Foodbytes Alumni
This distinction is given to an exclusive set of startups that have been thoroughly vetted by Rabobank analysts and industry partners since Foodbytes began. These companies maintain close connectivity with the Foodbytes team. Selected startups had been reviewed and benchmarked on the following criteria:
- Robust, diverse team: Comprehensive domain and entrepreneurial experience
- Validated business model: Demonstrated product market fit
- Focus on people, profit & planet: Concept is focused on the triple bottom line
- Collaborative mind-set: History of or ambition to work with corporate partners
- Validation or growth stage business: Seed to Series B
Foodbytes Pick
Startups with the Foodbytes Pick badge have been identified by Foodbytes analysts and curated Rabobank sector experts through our ongoing, monthly review process within the following criteria:
- Thematic alignment: Demonstrates alignment and differentiation within the monthly Foodbytes theme, as determined by a dedicated group of 5-10 Rabobank sector experts
- Robust profile: Startup is published to the Foodbytes online hub and contains rich information, including at least one upload AND either milestones or current need
- Commercial Viability: Development stage is launch, validation or growth phase AND company is revenue-generating
- Industry Validation: Fundraising activity is at seed or beyond OR profile details successful commercial pilots or partnerships
- Sustainability: Profile contains explicit mention of the startup’s direct impact on sustainability, including carbon, labor, food waste, nutrition etc.
Startups: Create and ensure your profile is complete and up to date to be considered for our Pick badge.
Corporates and Investors: Interested in taking advantage of Foodbytes vetting, sign up or upgrade to a Premium account today!