The Sustainable Food Accelerator, a collaboration between Imperial College and Undaunted, is designed to support ambitious founders in scaling their ventures faster. The program focuses on helping startups generate the necessary data to secure corporate pilots and attract investor backing. Participants benefit from world-class funding, expertise, and an ecosystem with a proven track record, including Imperial's high global university ranking and Undaunted's significant startup survival rate. The accelerator is built for commercial viability, guiding founders from a defined corporate brief to graduation with the validation and commercial proof required for scaling through a global network.
Program Offerings
• Funding: Startups receive £100k in equity-free funding with access to up to £2M in follow-on investment.
• Corporate Pilots: The program facilitates pilots with industry partners who have committed budgets to tackle real-world corporate challenges.
• Scale-Up Infrastructure: Founders gain access to facilities, expertise, and technical support to progress from lab validation to commercial readiness.
• Investor Network: Participants can build relationships with leading foodtech VC investors through mentoring, office hours, and fundraising support.
• Expert Support: The program provides technical translation, business integration, regulatory guidance, and bespoke grant writing support to secure non-dilutive funding.
• Workspace: Startups are provided with offices and lab space at the Imperial Incubator and the Bezos Centre for Sustainable Protein.
• Community and Facilities: Located in WestTech London, the program offers access to a DeepTech ecosystem, world-class facilities like the Royce Institute, and prototyping support through the Imperial Incubator and Advanced Hackspace. Support continues post-graduation via an alumni program and the Imperial Investor Network.
End-to-End Scale-Up Infrastructure
• Discovery and Strain Engineering (Microplate → 20L): Facilities at Imperial College London and the University of Cambridge for strain engineering, fermentation, proteomics, and microbial system characterisation.
• Process Development and Bioprocessing (2mL → 100L): End-to-end pilot bioprocessing and a full downstream processing suite at University College London.
• Pilot Scale-Up and DSP (2L → 340L): An industrial biomass pre-treatment and fermentation pipeline at Aberystwyth University, including a food-grade Future Food Centre.
• Analytical Characterisation (Multi-Scale): Advanced structural, compositional, and metabolic analysis at the Quadram Institute and the University of Greenwich.
• Food Application and Product Prototype (Product Scale): Food-grade pilot manufacturing, including extrusion, UHT, and dairy processing, at the University of Reading and the University of Greenwich.
• Pilot-to-Demo Scale Fermentation: Connections to scale-up partners across the UK and Europe with GMP manufacturing suites.
Focus Areas and Industry Challenges
The program targets key areas shaping the future of sustainable ingredients:
• Making sustainable ingredients cost-competitive at scale.
• Developing ingredients that meet consumer expectations for taste, nutrition, and performance.
• Transforming waste streams and low-carbon feedstocks into high-value food inputs.
• De-risking the scale-up process from laboratory to industrial manufacturing.
Corporate partners are actively seeking solutions to specific industry-defined challenges:
• Cargill: Technologies to transform ethanol production side-streams into ingredients for food, pet food, and animal nutrition.
• Danone: Ingredient innovations such as natural sugar-reduction solutions, plant-based proteins and lipids, precision-fermented tropical fats, and protein solutions using CO2 as a feedstock.
• Kerry Group: Cost-effective, clean-label alternatives for functional ingredients, naturally sourced bioactive compounds, new methods for recovering enzymatic processing aids, and human-identical proteins via precision fermentation.
• Mars: Novel ingredients and technologies to enhance nutrition, flavor, and texture across its snacking, food, and pet care portfolio, with a focus on alternative proteins and functional fibers.
Program Timeline
• Call for Projects: 13 July – 21 August
• Selection Bootcamp: 22 – 23 September
• Programme Start: October
• Foundation Programme: October 2026 – February 2027 (Seven sprints covering key business and technology areas)
• Monthly Sprint Programme: February 2027 – October 2027 (Focused sprints on commercial, technology, and fundraising)
• Demo Day: October 2027 (Final showcase to investors, corporates, and ecosystem partners)
Eligibility and Selection Process
Applicants should meet the following criteria:
• Be developing a technology in sustainable food with clear commercial potential.
• Have technology validated to approximately TRL 3-5, with a clear plan for further validation.
• Be able to participate in key in-person program activities at Imperial College London (applications are welcome from founders worldwide).
• Be able to commit at least one day per week to the 12-month programme.
• Typically be pre-Series A with limited institutional or commercial investment raised.
• The program actively encourages applications from women, people from minority ethnic backgrounds, disabled founders, and entrepreneurs from all backgrounds.
The selection process is multi-staged:
• Application Review: Teams are assessed based on their application form and pitch deck, focusing on food impact, innovation, scalability, team capability, and program fit.
• Selection Bootcamp: A two-day, in-person event on 22–23 September for shortlisted teams. It includes coaching, peer review, and presentations to provide a deep view of each venture. Up to six startups will be selected following the Bootcamp.
• Selection Panel: The final decision is made by a panel comprising representatives from the Bezos Centre, Undaunted, and Premium Partners.
This accelerator provides a comprehensive platform for startups working on the future of food, backed by world-class research and venture support. With significant funding, state-of-the-art facilities, and direct access to corporate partners, the program is structured to accelerate commercial readiness and de-risk the path to market. For more detailed information on the program and application process, interested parties are encouraged to review the complete information pack.