StartLife Wageningen

Overview

StartLife Wageningen is Europe's longest-running agrifoodtech startup accelerator, co-founded by Wageningen University & Research in 2010. Its mission is to empower founders to build and grow startups with breakthrough technologies that shape a sustainable food system. To this end, it provides a wide range of services, including business development support, top industry business mentors, non-equity funding, and access to a global community of startups, investors, corporates, and experts. Since 2010, the accelerator has supported over 400 startups that have raised over €185 million in follow-on capital. StartLife focuses on early-stage companies in the food and agriculture sectors, offering tailored support to help them validate their technology and business model, acquire connections in the food and agri ecosystem, and pitch to investors. The accelerator provides business development training, introductions to leading corporates, access to (pre)seed and growth investors, convertible loans up to €250K, mentoring by successful entrepreneurs and business leaders, and connections to Wageningen University & Research experts. StartLife collaborates closely with Wageningen University & Research and other knowledge institutes, corporates, government organizations, and investors. It is also co-founder of F&A Next, the premier platform in Europe where each year investors, corporates, startups, and scale-ups in the food and agricultural domain from all over the world come together for sharing insights, networking, and deal-making. The accelerator's office is situated in Plus Ultra II, Bronland 10 on Wageningen Campus, where numerous agrifood startups and other startup support organizations, including StartHub Wageningen and Foodvalley NL, are also located.

Investment Focus

• Innovative technologies in the food and agriculture sectors
• Scalable business models
• Strong founding teams with a clear vision for a sustainable food system

Portfolio Companies