Boreal Light is European Food Startup of the Year
During these finals, 15 startups from 8 European countries pitched their innovation to a jury of experts, chaired by Adam Anders, Managing Partner of Anterra Capital. ‘The jury evaluated the different pitches on criteria like the business model and global impact’, Adam Anders says. ‘We unanimously voted for Boreal Light as the winner because of major impact on global scale”.
‘Boreal Light wins the final of the European FoodNexus Startup Challenge, because it is an excellent combination of technology and sustainability with a vital impact in regions where the availability of fresh water is lacking’, says Laurent Genet, Corporate Development Director of Nutreco.
As the winner of the European Finals, Boreal Light tops the list of some 400 startups who earlier this year registered for the national finals.
‘I am very excited that we have won’, says Hamed Beheshti, Executive Manager of the German startup Boreal Light. ‘Recently I was in Uganda where I explained our work to a woman in the local village I visited. She started crying, knowing the importance of the availability of fresh water. This is a basic human need, and I am very happy that with the prize money Boreal Light won here, we can build a water kiosk benefiting that village in Uganda.’
The audience voted for Urban Crop Solutions as the winner of the Public Choice Award, who will be awarded a spot on the center stage during the prestigious event F&A Next, on May 30 and 31 2018 at Wageningen University & Research, the Netherlands.
Representing Urban Crop Solutions, Maarten Vandercruys received the award from Jan Meiling, Managing Director StartLife. ‘What a fantastic experience to win this final!’, Maarten Vandercruys says. ‘We invested a lot of energy in developing our concept of indoor farming systems using LED lighting.
Information on next year’s edition of the European FoodNexus Startup Challenge will become available on www.fnsc.eu.