
Scale your commercial capabilities to lead the food system transformation
RisingFoodStars exists to identify the most promising aspiring scaleups in the Agrifood-Tech space & empower them to lead the revolution towards a future-fit food system.
You could be eligible to join

Why is the RisingFoodStars Accelerator Programme needed?
It is difficult to scale up
Less than 5% of European startups in agri-food tech successfully scaleup beyond 50 employees
A scaleup is not a big startup
Scaling up is a delicate transformative phase that forces start up to question the success factors & ways of working that got them to the stage they’re in
Support must be personalised
There is no pre-made, one-size-fits-all formula to successfully scaleup as challenges & success goals vary by venture
What We Offer
Start-up screening
We audit your company and assess your strengths and shortcomings to define together your specific needs in order to successfully scale up. In the screening is included 16h of deep dive with experts, audit and feedbacks on strategy, operations, team, commercial strategy and action plan with top 3 priorities to scaleup
Flight plan
We provide you with small group interactive workshops and 1:1 mentorship to set your strategic priorities, develop a plan of action and build your capabilities. You’ll get 50h of personalised mentoring and workshops, possibility to matchmake with advisors and experts on highly personalised needs basis
Partnership building
We help you identify & connect with the right corporate partners to widen your market access & commercial reach
Funding
We find you the right funding opportunities through our own EIT Food impact fund and our network of investors. We provide access up to 500K SAFE in bridge rounds & commercial pilots and introduction to our 50+ investors community
Spotlight
We give you privileged access to leading corporates and investors via the biggest pan-European conferences and by highlighting your success story in our media channels
Programme Benefits
RisingFoodStars boosts your chances of scaling up successfully by supporting you to:
Articulate
your “Why” through persuasive story telling
Crystalise
your vision, business model and update your pitch
Define
your strategic priorities and focus on scaling up
Attract
the right talent and commercial partners
Build
your leadership and management capabilities
Transform
from product to commercial orientation
Who are we looking for?
Impact Driven Ventures
With a potential to rapidly become real game changers, driving positive impact in one of our three missions
Leaders
With a compelling vision with the right capabilities & mindset to transform from product/service to commercial orientation
Innovative technology
A unique and scalable technology validated in market conditions combined with a healthy business model
Ready to Grow
At a tipping point in their journey where a delicate transformation is needed to overcome barriers to growth
Why the EIT Food RisingFoodStars programme is so essential to scaling a business
Don’t just take our word for it
Mentor and Business Expert Network

Vanessa Ballard
Marketing, Sales

Menno Van Dijk
Scale Up Expert

Steve Charlton
Leadership, Organisation

Didier Toubia
Serial Entrepreneur

Marie Asano
Investor, Impact

Simone Frey
Innovation, R&D, Nutrition

Stephane Durand
Innovation, R&D, Agritech

Andrew Thomas
Corporate Expert
FAQs
What are the benefits of the RisingFoodStars (RFS) programme?
The higher goal of the RFS network is to facilitate and stimulate collaboration and cross-fertilisation between RisingFoodStars, the members of EIT Food, and external parties.
The value proposition includes:
- Easy access and personalised introductions to world-leading corporates, academia, investors and research organisations
- Increased visibility through accessing high-impact international agrifood and startup events and our own social media
- Backing from a ‘trusted network’, including names as Pepsico, Danone, Nestlé, Cambridge University, and TUM.
- Individual support to scale up, raise investment, and tackle typical startup growing pain points
Membership comes in terms of three consecutive financial years against a fee of €3.000 per financial year. We waive the fee for the accession year
What is the eligibility criteria to become a member of the RFS association?
We welcome all companies that at the submission stage, identify with the following:
- You have your legal entity based in a member state of the European Union (EU) or Horizon Europe associated countries. Switzerland and UK-based companies are eligible to apply. However, eligibility to receive funding will be determined based on Switzerland’s and UK’s eligibility status for EU funding at that time.
- You are a SMALL sized company as defined in the EU recommendation 2003/361 (between 5 and 49 employees and less than 10 million turnover or balance sheet)
- You expect to conclude a Series A within the next 6-12 months or you have recently raised a Series A
- You are past the ideation phase, with preferably paying customers and at least a product-market fit in your home market
- You have a technological solution within one of the six key focus areas of EIT Food
- You have the ambition of strong growth, and your next milestone is to scale your business across borders
- You complement the current pool of RisingFoodStars and EIT Food partners, and you can add value to the network.
- You are not involved in another EIT Food Entrepreneurs programme, i.e. Seedbed Incubator or the EIT Food Accelerator Network
- You have no conflict of interests. Ventures owned by EIT Food employees or members of EIT Food governing bodies and engagements in which EIT Food employees or members of EIT Food governing bodies have an interest are also excluded. EIT Food includes all CLCs of EIT Food and all governing bodies.
How can you apply to become a member of RFS?
Interested candidates should apply & check if they pass the programme’s eligibility criteria. Once this is passed, you will be invited to complete your application, and after your answers are submitted, we will evaluate your application and submit it to the Advisory committee. Some applicants might be invited to an online pitching and Q&A session. The Board of the Association RisingFoodStars will issue a final decision on the acceptance of applicants to the RisingFoodStars network
For more details, refer to the Terms & Conditions
When are programme applications open?
Programme applications are open from 26th January to 29th March, and all applications are evaluated from April-May
What is expected of members to remain active in the association?
Our RFS manager undertakes an annual evaluation of the RFS members to assess their eligibility to remain a member of the association based on the following criteria:
- You must be supporting the aim of the EIT Food RisingFoodStars programme
- You must still be directly or indirectly active in the food sector, in one of EIT Food’s key focus areas
- You must be involved in a minimum of 3 x EIT Food activities in one financial year, such as KAVAs and/or other activities, including podcasts, FoodUnfolded, and various external representations of EIT Food RisingFoodStars trainings etc. external
- You must attend EIT Food (supported) events
- You must be showing signs of growth and progress
For more detailed information about RisingFoodStars, see programme Terms and Conditions
european companies backed each year
million euros attracted in 2021
jobs directly created in 2021
corporative, university, research & industry partners

Danone Pack Challenge

Open call for Mentors & Evaluators

Häagen-Dazs Start-Up Innovation Challenge

EIT Food Programme Information Webinars 2023

Lab4Impact / GREEN KILLER WEEDS, S.L.
