Ten agrifood teams begin an eight-week journey of validation, mentoring and venture development through EIT Food Challenge Lab: Ground2Scale+.
The EIT Food Challenge Lab: Ground2Scale+ has officially launched in Cyprus, bringing together ten selected agrifood teams for an eight-week journey of venture development, mentoring and hands-on validation.
Organised by SocialTech Lab – EIT Food Country Representative Cyprus, the programme kicked off on 12 September 2026 in Nicosia with an intensive Challenge Lab Day designed to help participants test assumptions, identify opportunities and set clear priorities for the journey ahead.
Throughout the day, participants explored food-systems thinking, customer and market validation, venture strategy and business-model development. With support from NEEMA Labs, teams examined food systems, mapped value chains and identified sustainability challenges and opportunities for innovation. The focus then shifted to venture development with The Mighty Kitchen, where participants worked on their value propositions, Product–Market–System Fit, validation strategies and approaches to building stronger, more scalable ventures.
A big thank you to NEEMA Labs and The Mighty Kitchen for sharing their expertise, challenging our participants and helping create such an engaging and collaborative first day.
The Ground2Scale+ 2026 cohort
Following the programme’s application and selection process, ten teams were selected to take part in this year’s Ground2Scale+ journey.
The cohort reflects the diversity of Cyprus’ emerging agrifood innovation ecosystem, bringing together ideas and ventures working across agritech, sustainable agriculture, food production, fermentation, circular economy, biodiversity, regenerative growing and food education.
The selected teams are developing solutions in the following areas:
AgriTech & Resource-Efficient Food Production
DIMITRA AgriTech is developing modular, automated hydroponic fodder production systems that enable livestock farmers to produce fresh green feed directly on their farms while reducing dependence on externally sourced feed and using water and other resources more efficiently.
VITAFILIS Microgreens produces fresh, nutrient-dense microgreens through local soilless cultivation, aiming to shorten food supply chains, reduce dependence on imports and make locally grown microgreens more accessible to chefs and consumers.
Farmland CY is developing hydroponic production of green leafy vegetables using floating-raft and recirculating-water systems, with a focus on reducing water consumption and chemical inputs while supporting more resource-efficient local food production.
FoodTech, Fermentation & Circular Production
Freyia Labs is developing FiX (F.O.R.S.E.T.I.X.), a software platform for fermentation-led food and beverage producers that brings production workflows, batch data, traceability, food-safety evidence, monitoring and analytics into one structured system, supported by governed AI and machine-learning capabilities.
Ella Bacteria is an established fermentation-focused food venture producing handcrafted kombucha, kimchi, sauerkraut, kvass and seasonal fermented vegetables. The venture is exploring how to scale its reach while preserving its artisanal, naturally fermented approach and circular reusable packaging model.
To Pervoli produces organic herbs and herb-based iced teas and is exploring new approaches to circular production by transforming herb material remaining after extraction into higher-value applications, including potential use in animal nutrition.
Regenerative Agriculture, Biodiversity & Local Ecosystems
Happy Bees is developing an ecological bee-farming model integrating herbs and diverse flowering vegetation into agricultural land to improve forage availability for honeybees, strengthen biodiversity and explore farming practices adapted to challenges such as water scarcity.
Feed4Food is developing a cooperative infrastructure for regenerative urban edible gardening in Cyprus. Building on its Living Lab experience, the initiative aims to connect growers, practitioners, municipalities, institutions and communities to transform underused spaces into productive gardens through collective cultivation, training, composting, water reuse and community stewardship.
Eco Retreat is developing a nature-based model combining permaculture, organic food production, regenerative land management and sustainable tourism. The concept aims to create a self-sustaining space where visitors can engage with food production, nature, wellbeing and practical approaches to sustainable living.
Food Education & Community Engagement
Food in Schools is developing a family-focused educational concept connecting children with food, nature and sustainable living through school-based growing and cooking challenges. The model encourages children and their families to grow vegetables and herbs together, learn where food comes from and build stronger connections with nature through practical experiences supported by digital tools.
Together, the selected teams demonstrate the breadth of innovation emerging across the agrifood sector, from technology-enabled production and resource efficiency to fermentation, circularity, regenerative agriculture, biodiversity and food education.
The journey continues
And the Challenge Lab Day was just the starting point.
Over the coming weeks, the cohort will continue to test, refine and strengthen their ventures through expert-led masterclasses, personalised mentoring and hands-on customer and market validation.
Each team will receive a minimum of eight dedicated mentoring hours, with support tailored to areas including business-model development, go-to-market strategy, financial planning, investment readiness, validation and pitch preparation.
The programme will conclude with a Demo Day and awards ceremony in November, where participants will showcase their progress to investors, industry representatives, researchers, mentors and ecosystem stakeholders.
We’re looking forward to seeing how the ideas, insights and connections developed during the Challenge Lab Day translate into stronger ventures and meaningful transformation for our food system.
Strengthening agrifood innovation in Cyprus
Ground2Scale+ forms part of SocialTech Lab’s wider work to strengthen Cyprus’ agrifood innovation ecosystem by connecting entrepreneurs, researchers, startups and SMEs with the expertise, mentoring and European innovation networks needed to develop and grow impactful solutions.
EIT Food Challenge Lab: Ground2Scale+ is supported by EIT Food and implemented by SocialTech Lab in its role as the EIT Food Country Representative Cyprus.
