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It was a busy day today in Wageningen. With great vibes, innovative Start-ups, 20 pitches and 2 great winners. We gathered for networking, demonstrations and dealmaking. Check out what happened today below and who won the competition. 
N-Chroma and Phenospex
win F&A Next pitching competition
The first F&A Next Pitching competition featured 20 Start-ups. N-Chroma and Phenospex were laureated by Dutch Minister of Agriculture Martijn van Dam.  

N-Chroma's Constantinos Patinios team won the early-stage start-up pitching competition. His company uses biotechnological methods to develop and produce natural colors for usage in food, textile and cosmetics. N-Chroma participated in the competition to attract attention from food companies as they identified this sector as their main target market. They are looking for 500K Euro investment. 

Contantinos Patinios: "We don't have very specific plans yet, but we have spoken to 3 or 4 people and we are curious what they can do for us!" 

Phenospex won the later-stage part of the competition. And was represented by Gregoire Hummel. His start-up develops and markets sensors and anaysis software to assess and analyse plant performance for agriculture. They aim to be a world leader in plant analysis and automate processes related to plant screening and agriculture. They hope to close an investment deal within the next 4-6 months. 

Gregoire Hummel: "We came to present our idea, and to meet with people, but now that we won, we are super happy for the guys at home, they will be happy that people like our ideas and our products."

Prize
N-Chroma and Phenospex will pitch again tomorrow, among several later stage scale-ups who will  present their pitches.
Additionally they will get a chance to pitch @ FoodBytes! in Boulder, USA in October. Their trip is sponsored by Rabobank, co-organiser and sponsor of FoodBytes!

About the F&A Next Pitching Competition
20 promising, pre-selected F&A Start-ups took the stage to convince a jury of investors. Their innovative ideas in food and agriculture technology ranged from technology to isolate soluble leaf protein to vertical farms and tractor navigation apps. They had to make a strong first impression in only 1 minute, after which 8 of them were selected to extend their pitch to a 5-minute pitch and 5-minute Q&A with the Jury. 
 Call to investors to set up 12 Million F&A Seed Fund for Food and Agtech
Martijn van Dam calls to investors to match his 6 million to set up a Seed Fund for F&A Start-ups.

"
We need to encourage young people to innovate in this sector. So it’s important that agri-food universities and colleges join forces with our universities of technology. And that we organise battles like this."

That is what Martijn van Dam, Minister for Agriculture, emphasized in his speech this afternoon. To enforce his arguments, Van Dam announced several initiatives to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship in food and agri:
  • Van Dam encourages the setup of a 'Food Accelerator' to provide training, mentoring and advice to start-ups on the interface of agrifood and high tech. He invites everybody that is interested to join this initiative.
  • Investment: Van Dam called to investors to set up a joint a 12 million Euro Food & Agri Seed Fund. His ministry will contribute the first 6 million and Van Dam invites investors to contribute the other 6 million Euro. Contact: 
  • Van Dam announced that the next F&A Next event will be held on 13 October 2016 during the Dutch AgriFood Week he hopes that the initiatives mentioned above will have evolved by then. 
Investors, corporates or startups that are interested in the mentioned initiatives can contact Jeroen Leffelaar (Rabobank) or Job van de Sande: 06 - 53677096
F&A Next Today on Twitter #fanext
CHECK out our Storify Twitter report here and see what happened @FA_next today. Want to follow what's happening tomorrow? Or contribute to our story? use #Fanext in your tweets or search. 
 F&A Next Program Details - 26 May 2016
F&A Next | The European platform where investors and start-ups meet
Boosting Innovation in Food and Agriculture

Location: Orion building, Wageningen Campus

08:15 Registration

09:00
Welcome by Moderator Andrew Makkinga
Keynote by Louise O. Fresco, President of Wageningen UR
Keynote by Berry Marttin, Member of the Executive board of Rabobank
10:00 Panel 1: Accelerating food & agtech innovation in Europe
11:00 Network break

11:30 Panel 2: Investing in changing protein demand
12:30 Keynote by Margrethe Jonkman, Corporate Director Research & Development of Royal FrieslandCampina NV
12:55 Address by Prince Constantijn van Oranje, Chairman Startup Fest Europa
13:00 Networking lunch (included)

14:00 Keynote by Dominik Richter, Founder and CEO of HelloFresh Global
14:30 Panel 3: Investing in more with less
15:30 Network break

16:00 Pitches: Next Generation
  • Mazza Innovations, Benjamin Lightburn 
  • Naïo Technologies, Gaetan Severac
  • In Ovo, Wouter Bruins
  • Nutrileads, Erik Dam
  • Foodpairing, Bernard Lahousse
  • Gamaya, Yosef Akhtman
  • Winners of the Wednesday pitching competition 
17:30 Networking & Farewell drinks
N.B.: Several F&A Start-ups, Partners and Facilitators will demonstrate their business, products and ideas in the marketplace that is accessible to all F&A Next participants. 
N.B.2: This is a shortened version. Subject to alterations. For more information about speakersstart-ups or investors, please visit our website
Location & Practical Information
Dominik Richter, Founder of HelloFresh
Location
F&A Next takes place at the Orion Building. Plan your trip with Google Maps.
Address: Bronland 1, Building 103, 6708WH, Wageningen. When on our campus, follow the large green parking signs. 
Parking
Parking space is available across the road of Orion building. It is marked with a P on this map. Parking is at your own risk, don’t leave any valuable items in your car.
Wifi 
Wifi will be available for everybody with a password. Please ask for a password at our hospitality-desk.
Social Media - let's make innovation in food & agriculture #trending! 
Use #fanext in your tweets, on LinkedIn and on Facebook.
Follow us on twitter
Cancellations 
If you have registered but cannot come, please be so kind to let us know: registrations@fanext.nl 
These investors will attend F&A Next
These start-ups will attend F&A Next
F&A Next founders and partners
                             
F&A Next is a proud partner of Startup Fest Europe: a European festival of events that help startups grow faster by bringing together founders, investors, business leaders and developers Join us from 24 – 28 May 2016 all around The Netherlands! Are you interested in other events? Visit www.startupfesteurope.com.
F&A Next Founders
F&A Next is made possible by
F&A Next Partners
F&A Next Supporters
Copyright © 2016 F&A Next, All rights reserved.


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