SYRACUSE, N.Y. — A company based in Chicago, Illinois is the winner of the $1 million grand prize in the third round of the Grow-NY food innovation and agriculture technology business competition. Every Body Eat makes, markets, and sells food that is free from corn, sugar, and the most common 14 allergens, “so that people […]
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — A company based in Chicago, Illinois is the winner of the $1 million grand prize in the third round of the Grow-NY food innovation and agriculture technology business competition.
Every Body Eat makes, markets, and sells food that is free from corn, sugar, and the most common 14 allergens, “so that people can enjoy it, together, regardless of dietary restrictions or preferences,” the office of Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a Nov. 17 news release announcing the winner.
Every Body Eat was one of eight finalists to take home prize money during the Grow-NY Food and Ag Summit’s awards ceremony held Nov. 16-17 at the Oncenter in downtown Syracuse.
Grow-NY is focused on the food, beverage, and agriculture-innovation cluster in Central New York, the Finger Lakes, and the Southern Tier.
“We are absolutely honored to be selected — from such an incredible pool of food and agriculture startups — as this year’s $1 million top prize winner at Grow-NY,” Nichole Wilson, co-founder and president of Every Body Eat, said in the release. “We look forward to leveraging this award and all of the connections we have made in the region to take our company to the next level, expand our market, and hire more talent.”
The winning teams must commit to operating in the Central New York, Finger Lakes, or Southern Tier regions for at least one year, while providing Grow-NY with a small equity investment stake in each entity. Funding for the competition, which is administered by Cornell University’s Center for Regional Economic Advancement, is provided through the state’s Upstate Revitalization Initiative.
The competition attracted a group of startups from around the globe to compete in its two-day pitch competition and symposium.
Additional funding winners
In addition to the $1 million top prize, two $500,000 prizes and four $250,000 prizes were also awarded at the finals event.
Ascribe Bioscience from Ithaca secured one of the $500,000 prizes. That firm uses naturally occurring signaling molecules from the soil microbiome to produce a novel class of broad-spectrum, non-toxic biopesticides that prime plants’ immune systems to enhance resistance to pathogens and increase crop yields.
Neupeak Robotics of Surrey in British Columbia, Canada, won the other $500,000 prize.
Companies from Webster in Monroe County; Buffalo; Houston, Texas; and Copenhagen, Denmark won the $250,000 prizes, Hochul’s office said.
“By creating new jobs and sharing new ideas, the winners of the first two rounds of the Grow-NY food and ag competition have made an important difference in our region’s food and ag ecosystem in less than two years,” Jenn Smith, program director of Grow-NY, said. “We’re confident that this year’s winners will continue that growth. The quality of the startups vying for awards this year was incredible — congratulations to all the winners!”
The 20 finalists received dedicated mentorship from hand-selected regional business advisors leading up to the competition.
In all, 330 startups applied from 32 countries including Singapore, Israel, and Switzerland.
In the U.S., 23 states were represented, including 138 entries from New York.
Grow-NY also noted that 44 percent of applicants had a female founder and 51 percent included a founder from an underrepresented minority group, which is a “significant” increase from last year’s applicant pool.
About the summit
For year three of the Grow-NY Food and Ag Summit, more than 1,200 people registered for the event and audiences had the option to attend either in-person at the Oncenter or virtually.
The in-person event featured panel discussions on the biggest issues facing the food and agriculture industry, a summit showcase of vendors and organizations supporting the startup community, and a pitch competition where the top 20 finalists presented their business ideas to a live audience.
A panel of five independent judges — reflecting a depth and breadth of agriculture, food production, and entrepreneurial expertise — listened to each presentation and presented questions before determining the top winners.