Reimagining Pet Nutrition: Sustainable & Engineered Fat Solutions
EIT Food is calling on startups and other innovators developing low-carbon, fat solutions to transform pet food production.
EIT Food is committed to supporting the growth and development of agrifood innovations that are helping to make the entire food system more sustainable, healthy, and trusted. Different agrifood stakeholders hold solutions that together, can scale faster and play a major role in this transformation process towards a better food system for all.
Thus, EIT Food connects stakeholders to drive innovation, adoption of new technologies and scaling of impactful solutions, including with world industry leaders such as Mars Petcare, a strategic partner of EIT Food.
About Mars, Incorporated
Mars, Incorporated is driven by the belief that the world desired for tomorrow starts with how business is conducted today. As a $50bn+ family-owned business, its diverse and expanding portfolio of leading pet care products and veterinary services supports pets all around the world, and quality snacking and food products delight millions of people every day. Some of the world’s best-loved brands include ROYAL CANIN®, PEDIGREE®, WHISKAS®, CESAR®, DOVE®, EXTRA®, M&M’s®, SNICKERS®, and BEN’S ORIGINAL™. International networks of pet hospitals, including BANFIELD™, BLUEPEARL™, VCA™, and ANICURA™, span preventive, general, specialty, and emergency veterinary care, and the global veterinary diagnostics business ANTECH® offers breakthrough capabilities in pet diagnostics. The Mars Five Principles, Quality, Responsibility, Mutuality, Efficiency, and Freedom, inspire 150,000 associates to act every day to help create a better world for people, pets, and the planet.
This unique matchmaking opportunity connects cutting-edge technologies to a global leader in Petcare, with potential to scale innovations rapidly.
The top 10 solutions will be invited to a virtual Demo Day. One finalist will be awarded €20 000, and discussions with selected finalists may follow for the development of a joint Proof of Concept (PoC) after the Demo Day.
The Challenge
EIT Food is calling on startups and other innovators developing low-carbon, fat solutions to transform pet food production. From fermentation and plant-based oils to novel and engineered lipids, EIT Food is looking for innovations that once at scale are comparable to the performance and cost of animal fats.
Who EIT Food is Looking For
This call is open to:
- Startups
- SMEs
- Research institutes & universities (with partnership capacity)
- Scale-ups and corporates
What matters most is not size, it’s partnership readiness.
The solutions can come from any type of entity, including startups, research teams from universities or research institutions, as well as established organisations and companies.
The Sweet Spot
EIT Food is particularly interested in solutions that are:
- Ready for a Proof of Concept (PoC)
- At pilot stage or already generating first sales
- Technically validated and ready for real-world testing
- Designed with scalability in mind
The ideal stage? Advanced enough to test quickly, flexible enough to adapt.
If your solution has already moved beyond pure lab validation and is ready to prove its value in practice, you’re exactly who EIT Food wants to hear from.
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