Bellyfood (Denmark), the foodtech startup that offers organic meals in tubes made from natural ingredients, focusing on real food options for people with feeding tubes, has been named the winner of the first stop of Culinary Action! On The Road, held in Copenhagen. This international entrepreneurship program for foodtech startups was organized in partnership with local partners, Food & Bio Cluster Denmark, Danish Startup Group, and TechBBQ.

Jens Erik Nissen, a member of the Food & Bio Cluster Denmark Council, and Ander López, head of entrepreneurship at Basque Culinary Center, opened the event, which was part of the larger startup gathering of TechBBQ that took place from September 11-12 in Copenhagen.

The event brought together various industry profiles, including entrepreneurs, investors, and agritech experts. Ander López, head of entrepreneurship at Basque Culinary Center, shared key insights into the new strategic project GOe–Gastronomy Open Ecosystem, which connects science and gastronomy under the title “GOe: connecting the dots.”

The participating startups – Connecting Grounds, Bellyfood, NordInvent, and Nocla – presented their projects on September 12 in front of a panel of expert judges, including Ander López, head of entrepreneurship at Basque Culinary Center; Henrik Boelsmand, CTO at Ejendom; Marc Hansen, CEO of Økoskabet – a finalist startup in the 3rd edition of On The Road; Louise Heiberg, Managing Director at Nordic Foodtech VC; Claus Mortensen, Head of Business Growth at Food & Bio Cluster Denmark; and Mette Johnsen, CEO at Spora CPH.

The next competitions will take place on October 24 in Rotterdam, November 6 in Tokyo, November 19 in Bahrain, February 2025 in London, and at the end of March 2025 in Boston. The startups winning at each local event will have the opportunity to work on research and innovation projects for 20 hours at BCC Innovation, the gastronomic technology center of Basque Culinary Center. Additionally, during this time, startups will have access to the network of experts and mentors within Basque Culinary Center and GOe ecosystem and will receive support in various areas, such as access to the center's investor network, local networking, and landing support in the local ecosystem.

Finally, the six local finalist startups will compete in a grand final to be held in April 2025 in Donostia-San Sebastián, where the overall winner of the fourth edition of "On The Road" will be chosen. The winner will receive six months of residence in the startup incubator and an additional voucher for 25 hours for research and innovation projects at the gastronomic technology center.