Scentian Bio, a New Zealand biotech company, won the Institute of Food Technologists’ (IFT) The Pitch, a multi-stage, rapid-pitch competition staged during last week’s IFT FIRST show in Chicago.
Using a synthesized insect olfactory receptor biosensor that can measure smell and taste, Scentian won the grand prize of $10,000 for its portable, handheld biosensor, which offers real-time and super-sensitive measurement capabilities to ensure product quality, safety, and sensory satisfaction.
Chainparency (Houston, Texas) and NuCicer (Davis, California) each were awarded $2,500 as the runners-up in the competition. Chainparency is a blockchain technology solutions startup that offers granular tracking of key data elements and critical tracking events. NuCicer is a biotech company that uses an extensive genetic library to precision breed a variety of underutilized types of chickpeas that are nutritionally rich, sustainable, and climate tolerant.
The prizes were courtesy of the Seeding The Future Foundation, a private, non-profit organization devoted to universal, equitable access to safe, nutritious, affordable, appealing, and trusted food. It seeks to inspire innovative solutions that can help transform the global food system to be more sustainable and benefit the health of people and the environment.
The foundation provides seed funding and support to promising ideas and high impact innovations to improve food systems globally, technologies to reduce post-harvest losses in developing regions, as well as foundational work in academia and research.
Participants were limited to 90-second pitches in the first round, but in the finale, the length was expanded to 2:30. Finalists from each round were decided by a panel of judges spanning academia, venture-capital investment groups, government, incubators, industry leaders, startup coaches and consultants.
