Startupbootcamp Food Tech: How to get 452 applications from 56 countries to your accelerator

Events, travels, skype calls, thousands of e-mails and much more for Peter Kruger and his team to scout the best foodtech startups around the world. 

Over 3000 companies contacted, almost 700 startups engaged and 11 ecosystems visited in just 4 months of hard work brought into StartupbootcampFoodTech 452 applications from 56 countries.

Italy, base of the 3-month acceleration program, leads the top 10 countries rank with less than 30% of applications, followed by India (12%), US (10%), France (7%), United Kingdom (6%), Turkey (5%), Netherlands (4%), Germany (4%), Spain (3%) and Canada (1%).

“I want to be honest. As first year of program, our expectations were lower. During these 3 months, we put the heart in and we met really interesting teams from all over the world” said Peter Kruger, CEO of StartupbootcampFoodTech “From IoT devices to monitor crops till waste management disruptive ideas; from E-commerce to AI able to recognize what you have in the fridge, we are impressed by the quality of the startups and their interest in our program. But there is no time for celebrations, the hard job has just begun.”

Indeed, the StartupbootcampFoodTech team now has to choose the top 20 startups out of all applications received to invite them to the Selection Days which will take place in Rome on 20-22 October. During this 3-day working gathering, the 20 pre-selected teams will be pitching their ideas to over 70 highly qualified mentors and just the best 10 will be part of the 2016 cohort of StartupbootcampFoodTech.

Peter Kruger puts it this way: “We are really thrilled to know which startups will join our acceleration program. Supported by industry-leading partners such as Gambero Rosso, LVenture Group, Barilla, Monini, Cisco, M3 Investimenti and a network of 150+ mentors, we are ready to bring these 10 foodtech startups to the next level and get them ready for our Demo Day on March 10, 2017”.

And StartupbootcampFoodTech is thrilled too. So best luck to all applicants and stay tuned to know which will be the next foodtech startups to watch.