WNWN Food Labs Startup, Winner of the London Stage of "Culinary Action! On The Road"

WNWN Food Labs (United Kingdom), the FoodTech startup that produces chocolate without cocoa from plant-based ingredients, has been chosen as the winner of the fourth stop of Culinary Action! On The Road held in London. This international entrepreneurship program for FoodTech startups was conducted in collaboration with the local partner University College London (UCL). Dr. Johnny Drain, co-founder of the startup, expressed gratitude, stating, "Winning this Culinary Action! On The Road stop will help us reach many more people."

The event brought together various profiles from the sector, including entrepreneurs, investors, and educators. Asier Alea, Director of Global Development at Basque Culinary Center; Ander López, Entrepreneurship Manager at Basque Culinary Center; and Pierre-Jean Hanard, Associate Professor and Entrepreneurship Education Leader at University College London, inaugurated the day.

The gathering featured a roundtable discussion titled "Local Agents" with participants such as Itxaso del Palacio, General Partner at Notion Capital; Felipe Peñacoba, CIO at Revolut; Mo Khodadadi, Founder and CEO at Satis AI; Fred Gifford, Strategy & Partnership Manager at Sony AI; Ali Morrow, Venture Partner at Clay Capital; and Josh Hatfield, Product Development Chef at Hoxton Farms. They discussed the need for different agents to work together in the entrepreneurial ecosystem and the importance of talent.

Sejal Ravji, Partner at Cardumen Capital, emphasized the need for innovative proposals impacting the AgriTech sector and focused on strategic alliances among various ecosystem actors.

The participating startups – Eat It, Icenine, Local Meal, Meal-Lords, and Tablecoin – in this London stage on February 1 presented and defended their projects before a jury composed of Asier Alea, Director of Global Development at Basque Culinary Center; Raquel Martin, Project Manager at GOe–Gastronomy Open Ecosystem; Pierre-Jean Hanard, Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurship Education Leader at University College London; and Itxaso del Palacio, General Partner at Notion Capital.

Lastly, Juan Carlos Arboleya, Food Physicist and Director of the Master's in Gastronomic Sciences at Basque Culinary Center, and Eneko Axpe, Collaborating Scientist at Basque Culinary Center, shared their presentation titled "Science meets gastronomy." They highlighted the importance of addressing gastronomy from different areas of knowledge, with a multidisciplinary perspective combining the views of various agents. Axpe also shared some applications of Artificial Intelligence in the gastronomy sector.

The next competition will take place on February 22, 2024, in Buenos Aires. The winning startups in each local event will receive a one-month residency prize at the LABe-Digital Gastronomy Lab startup incubator in Donostia-San Sebastián. This living lab for open innovation is managed by Basque Culinary Center, offering opportunities for research and innovation projects during 20 hours at BCC Innovation, the technological center in Gastronomy of Basque Culinary Center. Additionally, during this period, startups will have the chance to develop an advanced plan on the GOe Community digital platform, joining and accessing the network of experts and mentors from Basque Culinary Center and receiving various types of support, such as access to the center's investor network, networking, or assistance in entering the local ecosystem.

Finally, the five local finalist startups will compete in a grand final scheduled for April 2024 in Donostia-San Sebastián. This event will bring together the winners from each country, selecting the winning startup of the third edition of Culinary Action! On The Road. The chosen startup will be awarded a one-year residency at LABe-Digital Gastronomy Lab and an additional voucher for 25 hours for research and innovation projects at the technological center, BCC Innovation.

Participating startups in the London stage:

• Eat It is a rewards system application that allows users to easily track the environmental impact of their food choices and receive rewards for eco-friendly choices, including discounts at small sustainable businesses.
• Icenine is an experimental beverage company based in London. They create bite-sized ice spheres with passion fruit shells filled with alcohol. The shell implodes after 9 seconds, releasing the alcohol and leaving behind ice to cleanse the palate.
• LocalMeal aims to rebuild trust in restaurant recommendations by providing personalized suggestions for small, local, and delicious places.
• Meal-Lords assists restaurants in displaying vitamin and nutritional information on their menus using artificial intelligence tools and provided information.
• WNWN Food Labs makes the world's favorite foods more sustainable and future-proof, starting with a cocoa-free alternative that tastes, bakes, freezes, and melts like regular chocolate.
• Tablecoin focuses on the cryptocurrency world for the HORECA sector.