New Zealand-based tech manufacturer Scentian Bio won the Pitch competition at the 2024 IFT FIRST Annual Event and Expo and will take home the $10,000 grand prize, sponsored by the Seeding the Future Foundation.

Thirteen startup founders and executives gave two and a half-minute pitches to a panel of judges on their company and its potential impact on the food value chain. Judges for the finale included Sean Leighton, global vice president of food safety, quality, and regulatory affairs at Cargill and IFT 2023–2024 president; Ashley Hartman, managing partner at Bluestein Ventures; Jim Slama, managing director at Naturally Chicago; Karuna Rawal, chief revenue officer and chief marketing officer at Nature’s Fynd; and Nadav Berger, founding general partner at PeakBridge.

Scentian Bio is a technology company that combines insect biology with nanotechnology in sensor devices. These handheld devices mimic insect odorant receptors to analyze a sample and then uses machine learning to interpret the results. The company claims that the technology can be easily applied in commercial settings for the food and beverage industry.

“So where you needed a large GC/MS (gas chromatography/mass spectrometry) before, we can run on a small-flow cell,” CEO Jonathan Good explained in his pitch. “The information streams in real time, and we can deliver results in minutes, not hours.”

Good further explained that the physical shells of the sensor are made in partnership with Oxford Nanopore Technologies. Each cell can be used five times and then recycled through Scentian Bio’s program.

“We’re selling a bundle for testing,” Good said in response to the judges’ question about scalability. “So the idea is that we’ll deliver the consumable component and the software to interpret the data for a certain number of attributes.”

The two runners-up at the competition were NuCicer and Chainparency. NuCicer is an ingredient manufacturer specializing in chickpea flours and proteins, and Chainparency is a blockchain-enabled traceability software company. Each of the runners-up will receive $2,500 from the Seeding the Future Foundation.ft

About the Author

Emily Little
Emily Little is an associate editor of Food Technology ([email protected]).