The ProVeg Incubator Startup Demo Day traditionally marks the end of each edition of our accelerator programme. It’s a huge opportunity for our founders because this is the day when they will finally pitch their companies to investors.
The Startup Demo Day is the culmination of all of our hard work together. This is the point when our startups are ready to take their companies to the next level.
It’s also a great celebration of what our founders have achieved: the milestones they’ve hit, the products they’ve developed, the partnerships formed, and the teams that have been built. It’s a reminder of all they’ve accomplished, and a look at where they’re going next.
How does it work?
Our Startup Demo Day is hosted digitally. We used to host the event in person but, because of the pandemic, we moved it online. While we miss seeing people in real life, a digital Demo Day also has upsides. For example, we can invite guests from all over the world, without them having to come to Berlin to participate. That’s a massive advantage.
Alongside an audience of food-industry specialists, entrepreneurs, retailers, journalists, and innovators, we had a panel of expert investors joining us. Jury members comprised Kirsten Rocca from Unovis Asset Management, Cliff Johnson from Veg Capital, Tanmay Annachhatre from Blue Horizon, and José Luis Cabañero from Eatable Adventures.
After a short welcome and introduction from the Incubator, each startup had seven minutes to pitch. This was followed by a Q&A with the investor panel. Since we couldn’t offer tastings, each company shared a product video to give the audience a sense of their creations.
To finish up, the audience and jury voted for their favourite startups (we’ll get to the winners in a minute). Then we moved onto some good old-fashioned networking sessions.
The startups?
For this Startup Demo Day, we had nine companies pitching from India, Chile, Mexico, and countries all over Europe.
Omni (UK)
Omni is the world’s first vet-formulated plant-based pet-food brand. The company was founded by Dr Guy Sandelowsky and Shiv Sivakumar in order to create nutritionally complete and sustainably produced dog food.
Eggfield (Switzerland)
Silvan Leibacher and David Ebneter started Eggfield in order to develop plant-based liquid and whole eggs for food manufacturers. Eggfield focuses on replacing animal-based eggs in consumer products.
Kinoko Labs (Germany)
Founded by Isabella Iglesias-Musachio during the pandemic, Kinoko Labs are working on whole-cut meat and fish alternatives made from mushroom mycelium.
