Sustainable Food Challenge 2027

Deadline: 25th November 2026.

The MassChallenge Sustainable Food Challenge 2027 invites startups worldwide to collaborate with global food corporations to tackle sustainability issues in the food industry. This opportunity offers startups the chance to pilot their solutions, gain investments, and scale their technologies with industry leaders.

This Sustainable Food Challenge especially seeks Food & Ag startups that could increase circularity, transforming sidestreams into valuable assets.  They will connect startups to MassChallenge’s partners who are both producers and users of agricultural sidestreams or the ingredients resulting out of it. This could result in a startup helping a partner turn an agricultural waste into a product, that could be sold to another partner. 

The Startups they are looking for 

Their partners: Bühler Group, Givaudan, Mars, Louis Dreyfus Company, and SIG  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.

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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. Publicity and more connections: each corporate partner will invite a startup that they shortlisted to our flagship event, the MassChallenge Sustainable Food Challenge Day, in June 2027. Here, the startup will present their solution, that when scaled will feed the planet sustainably, to all 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 

They are looking for startups and scaleups that:

1. 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).
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.

For more information and application.