Sustainable food: discover the winners of the third edition 🌾

The “innovating for sustainable food” program, run by H7, SUEZ and Lyon Métropole Habitat, welcomes four new winners. For this third edition, the companies Oligofeed, La Ferme Intégrale, SFaire and Foodzilla will be coached for 9 months on their financial, strategic and operational challenges.

October saw the official launch of the third edition of the “innovating for sustainable food” program, run by H7 and SUEZ in partnership with Lyon Métropole Habitat.

For this third promotion, each project covers one link in the food value chain, from production to processing and distribution.

Projects serving the region and the food of tomorrow

• Oligofeed, by Aneta Ozierańska, co-founder and CEO and Sébastien Floquet, co-founder and CSO

A third of the world’s food depends on bees. Oligofeed’s aim is to halt the decline in bee numbers with patented micro-nutrients that reduce bee mortality by up to 80%.

“Our product is the result of 8 years of academic research. My partner, Sébastien Floquet, a researcher at the University of Versailles, worked to design the shape, calculate the dosages and evaluate the product’s efficacy,” explains Aneta. To achieve this, over 1,000 tests were carried out with professional farmers.

“Oligofeed faces a number of challenges: we’ve only just validated the technology, and everything remains to be done about production, logistics, financing and so on. By joining the “innovating for sustainable food” program, we want to be supported in tackling these challenges, and to learn from the experiences and exchanges of entrepreneurs working on subjects close to our own.”

• La Ferme Intégrale, by Gabriel Faysse, co-founder and president

Ferme Intégrale produces high-quality vegetables and fish using a sustainable production technique known as aquaponics. This closed production system enables fish and plants to live in co-culture, in an ecosystem where the waste from one (fish) becomes the resources for the other (vegetables).

“Our agri-food production solution is set up on the outskirts of towns and urban areas, so that people can feed themselves whatever happens, whatever the weather,” explains Gabriel.

Thanks to this environmentally-friendly production system, La Ferme Intégrale aims to make towns and cities more self-sufficient in food, supplying 200,000 balanced fish and vegetable meals a year.

“La Ferme Intégrale was launched in 2019, and four years on, we need a real gas pedal. By joining the “innovating for sustainable food” program we hope to obtain the keys to roll out to other French cities, and thus contribute more widely to the food autonomy of territories.”

• SFAIRE, by Bénédicte Picquart, Assistant Manager and Amélie Roux, Market Garden and Floriculture Manager

SFAIRE is an employment company. Its aim is to help people who have been out of work for more than a year back into employment, through a market gardening and floriculture activity in Vénissieux, a priority urban district (QPV).

“Our project was created as part of a national experiment to create jobs by meeting local needs. Since our creation seven months ago, we’ve recruited 20 people, including 18 employees who are far from employment”, explains Bénédicte.

The mini-vegetables produced by SFAIRE are sold to gourmet and semi-gastronomic restaurants in the region, with the aim of promoting the local and circular economy and raising awareness of eating well.

“We’re joining the “innovating for sustainable food” program to work on our business model, get support on the technical side and legal standards, and develop our commercial strategy. Meetings with other winning projects, speakers and program partners will enable us to expand our network, take a step back and remain innovative in our practices.” concludes Amélie.

FoodZilla, by Michael Duarte-Moutinho, CEO

FoodZilla is an innovative ecosystem that connects wholesalers, farmers, retailers and consumers to simplify the food shopping experience.

“Today, students are skipping meals, families are increasingly turning to low-quality products, and producers and wholesalers can no longer make a decent living from their work. For all these reasons, we want to give everyone access to quality food at the right price.” explains Michael.

In B2C, consumers have access to all available farmers within a 25-kilometer radius of their home. With B2B, retailers and wholesalers can buy and sell anywhere in France, opening up to a wider customer base than just their local ones.

“FoodZilla is the first food monster. By joining the “innovating for sustainable food” program, we hope to sign a partnership with a region to industrialize and test our solution on a large scale.”

Oligofeed, La Ferme Intégrale, SFAIRE and FoodZilla are helping to build a more sustainable, resource-efficient and circular food and farming system.

“The richness of this new promotion lies in the variety of projects selected, which encompass disruptive innovation initiatives, optimizations of existing solutions and projects with a strong social impact,” adds Adrien Levrat, program manager.

A 9-month program to accelerate

Over a 9-month period, Oligofeed, La Ferme Intégrale, SFaire and FoodZilla will be supported in their strategic, financial and operational challenges.

The program is divided into five main support pillars:

• Events: the winners will pitch their projects twice to Lyon’s sustainable food ecosystem, at the launch and closing events.
  
• Individual follow-up: projects will receive individual guidance on their challenges from an H7 start-up manager and a mentor from SUEZ or Lyon Métropole Habitat.
  
• Group activities: visits, workshops, meetings, the winners will benefit from group activities throughout the program.
  
  Emmanuel Brehier, co-founder of HARi&CO, will talk about his experience as one of the region’s leading companies; program alumni will share their progress since completing the program; SUEZ and Lyon Métropole Habitat will open the doors of their companies for an immersion session.
  
• Inspirational times: several entrepreneurs from the food ecosystem will be on hand to offer their advice.
  
  Winners will be able to talk to OÉ about communication issues, FarmLeap about partnerships and Funky Veggie about branding.
• Experimentation: the 9 months of support will end with a test of the solutions, depending on the issues, with Lyon Métropole Habitat tenants.