Eatable Adventures co-leads three seed rounds in Italy worth over €4.6 million
Europe’s agrifoodtech investment contracted 3.7% in 2025. Italy grew 18%, reaching €121.6 million, according to The State of Agrifoodtech in Italy 2025, the report published by Eatable Adventures. Three startups from FoodSeed, the national accelerator program run with CDP Venture Capital, just closed seed rounds that help explain why.
Aflabox, Nous, and Alkelux raised a combined €4.6 million. Eatable Adventures co-led all three rounds through Accelera Ventures. Each startup came out of FoodSeed with validated technology, filed IP, and a defined industrial application, the profile the fund looks for before it commits capital.
Aflabox: €1.35M to detect mycotoxins in under 90 seconds
Aflabox, an agritech startup with operations based in Nairobi, closed a €1.35 million seed round to scale a portable platform that combines UV imaging, AI, and geolocated data to detect mycotoxins and assess grain and oilseed quality on-site, with results in under 90 seconds.
The company has already supplied 20 units to the World Food Programme in Kenya and holds a patent on its detection technology. The new capital funds certification, commercial expansion into Kenya, Nigeria, and Italy, and a microplant to manufacture the devices.
Nous: €2.315M to commercialize its functional ingredient
Nous, based in Cantù, closed a €2.315 million seed round to accelerate commercialization of Koncentra, a functional ingredient for energy applications built on proprietary extraction technology. dsm-firmenich co-led the round and signed a distribution agreement that opens Koncentra to new markets.
The company will invest in new clinical studies, expand its supply chain across Europe and Asia, and enter the US market in November 2026. It’s targeting three published clinical studies and 60 tonnes of annual production capacity by the end of 2027.
Alkelux: €970K to extend fresh produce shelf life 3x
Alkelux, a deeptech startup based in Sassari, closed a €970,000 seed round for its antimicrobial nanoparticle technology, derived from licorice industry waste, that extends the shelf life of fresh produce like strawberries and blueberries by up to three times.
The round funds a pilot plant in Sassari, a production capacity increase of more than 400x, and progress on regulatory certifications. Alkelux already has proof-of-concept agreements with two international packaging companies and is targeting a Series A above €3 million by the end of 2026.
What this signals for corporates evaluating Agrifoodtech
For a corporate weighing where to place its next innovation bet, the relevant fact isn’t that three startups raised money. It’s that all three came out of the same structured pipeline, with patents filed, pilots running, and a co-investor (in Nous’s case, dsm-firmenich) willing to put commercial weight behind the technology before it left the program. That’s the difference between sourcing a deck and sourcing a company that’s already been stress-tested.
Since launching in 2023 with €15 million in funding, FoodSeed has run four editions and accelerated 28 startups. Those companies have raised more than €10 million in follow-on funding and built over 50 industrial collaborations. FoodSeed sits inside Eatable Adventures’ broader network, alongside Raíces in Spain and Latin America and NOVO, the new deeptech accelerator built with Beaz (Diputación Foral de Bizkaia) and AZTI, giving startups a path to validate and scale technology outside their home markets.