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- Eatable Adventures has launched NOVO Agrifoodtech, a 12-week international accelerator designed to bring advanced technologies into agriculture and food production.
- The programme will focus on technologies including AI, biotechnology, robotics, advanced materials and quantum computing, targeting solutions to challenges across the agrifood value chain.
- Ten international startups will be selected to develop real-world applications through mentoring, technical support, industry pilots and access to investors.
- The programme reflects growing investor interest in agrifood deeptech, as advanced technologies increasingly move from research and development into practical applications across farming and food systems.
Eatable Adventures has launched NOVO Agrifoodtech, a 12-week international accelerator designed to bring advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, robotics, advanced materials and quantum computing into the agrifood sector, as deeptech’s share of global agrifood technology investment rises to 32%.
The programme, launched in Bilbao, Spain, will select 10 international startups with validated technologies and help them develop applications for real-world agricultural and food industry challenges.
The initiative comes as investment in agrifood technology becomes increasingly focused on science-based technologies with measurable commercial applications.
According to AgFunder’s Global AgriFoodTech Investment Report 2026, global agrifoodtech funding reached $16.2 billion in 2025, while deeptech’s share of sector deals increased from 22% a decade ago to 32%. Deeptech startups at early stages also raised rounds that were 78% larger than those of non-deeptech companies, although that funding advantage weakens at later growth stages.
NOVO, backed by the Provincial Council of Bizkaia and developed with technology centre AZTI, is designed around the idea that technologies developed outside agriculture can solve problems across the food value chain.
The programme is therefore targeting founders from industries including healthcare, manufacturing, automotive, aerospace, finance and logistics, rather than requiring previous agrifood experience.
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The selected companies will work on applications across several technology areas. These include AI and data technologies for agrifood challenges, biotechnology such as precision fermentation and cell culture, robotics and industrial automation, advanced materials for food packaging and preservation, and advanced or quantum computing for molecular discovery and supply-chain optimisation.
(Read Also: Heineken UK Pays Farmers to Grow More Regenerative Barley)
According to Eatable Adventures co-founder and Managing Partner Mila Valcárcel, many technologies with potential to transform food production originate outside the sector. She said the challenge is to accelerate their movement into the market through pilots in real industrial environments.
The programme will combine specialised mentoring with two in-person bootcamps in Bilbao.
Startups will receive technical support from AZTI, access to pilot opportunities with leading agrifood companies and connections to Eatable Adventures’ international investor network. Participation is equity-free, meaning selected startups will not have to surrender company ownership in exchange for the programme.
The launch points to a broader change in agricultural innovation.
Rather than limiting AgriTech development to technologies created specifically for farming, investors and accelerators are increasingly looking at whether technologies from other scientific and industrial fields can be adapted to improve production, processing, packaging and supply-chain efficiency.
For agriculture and food businesses, that could mean faster access to technologies capable of addressing challenges ranging from farm intelligence and automation to biological production and sustainable food manufacturing.
