🏆 FoodTech World Cup

The FoodTech World Cup is back.

By popular demand, we’re teaming up once again with Nestlé Research to host the 2026 FoodTech World Cup.

This year’s global competition spotlights the most promising talents in Food BioTech for the future of the Food System.

Advances in biology are transforming how food is produced and scaled. From next generation proteins to programmable ingredients and FoodBiotech Platforms, a new generation of startups are building the biological infrastructure behind more resilient and climate-positive food value chains.

If you are (or know someone) building at the intersection of food and biotechnology, this is your moment.

Apply for the chance to become a FoodTech World Cup Semi-Finalist or Finalist and pitch your solution to Nestlé, leading investors and global corporates.

🏟️ Semi-Finals: Virtual Pitch to VCs and corporates
🏆 Final: HackSummit Main Stage, April 23rd

Let’s make sure you’re in the mix 👇

Pitch to Investors and Corporates

Pitch to a global jury of leading investors and industry pioneers spanning FoodTech, BioTech, and venture capital. The panel brings together top VCs and scientific leaders from Nestlé Research, Flora VC, Kost Capital, Synthesis Capital, Mista and Givaudan, who are all actively scouting the next wave of breakthrough food technologies.

Now’s your chance to get in front of the people funding, scaling, and deploying the future of food.

Are you Working on The Next Big Thing?

The global search spans 5 core pillars of Food BioTech. We’re looking for stealth to seed startups who are scaling:

• Next-Generation Proteins: Unlocking biotechnology to deliver sustainable, scalable alternatives to animal-based foods.

• Food BioTech Platforms: Building the biotech foundations that make the next generation of food, ingredients, and sustainable solutions possible. 

• Gut Health and Microbiome: Harnessing beneficial microbes and fermentation processes to improve food quality, nutrition, safety, and gut health.

• Functional and Bioactive Ingredients: Creating biotech-enabled ingredients that enhance nutrition, functionality, taste, or health benefits in food and beverages.

• Circular and Climate-Positive BioTech: Using biological processes to upcycle food waste, reduce emissions, and create circular, climate-friendly food systems.

If you are working on 1 (or more) of these 5 solutions, enter your startup today for the chance to be selected as a Semi Finalist, Grand Finalist or Crowned the Winner.

Join the FoodHack Community IRL on April 22-23rd

What originally began in 2020 as the FoodHack Summit, the HackSummit has welcomed 1,000s of Food and Climate Founders and Funders to our hometown, Lausanne in Switzerland.

For our 5th anniversary of the HackSummit, we’re staying true to our origins and hosting a dedicated FoodHack Day on April 23rd.

Join us for a full day dedicated to Food Sovereignty, exploring crop stability, regenerative practices, ingredient supply, metabolic health, and the connections between food, longevity, and social well-being, culminating in a celebration at the FoodTech World Cup Final.

Or get the 2-day ticket to reconnect with the broader HardTech ecosystem and find investors and Founders beyond FoodTech as we unlock infrastructure and industrial capacity as a strategic power.

As a FoodHack weekly reader, we’ll be sure to keep you up to speed as we announce the Semi Finalists and Finalists for the FoodTech World Cup.

And if you want to be first in line to hear who’s joining, what’s planned and get a discount on your ticket for the HackSummit, sign up here.

We’ll be back in your inbox on tomorrow with your weekly dose of FoodTech milestones and funding rounds.

As always, hit reply to get in touch anytime.

Laura at Hack