Four Startups from KSA, UAE, Austria and the UK Awarded $1 Million Through UAE FoodTech Challenge

Tamkeen has announced that four startups will share its $1 million FoodTech Challenge grant, which targeted startups tackling food and water scarcity issues with sustainable solutions. The winning startups were Saudi Arabia-based Red Sea Farms, UAE-based QS Monitor, Austria’s Has Algae and UK-based SafetyNet Technologies. Not only did the teams win the cash prize, but they will all be joining the UAE-based accelerator, Catalyst, to help them further their business development plans and scale. 

“The Foodtech Challenge helps us deliver our long-term commitment to achieving greater food security in the UAE,” said Mariam bint Mohammed Almheiri, UAE’s Minister of State for Food and Water Security. “These types of cross-border collaborations are key to enhancing a certain degree of self-sufficiency and improving our efforts toward sustainability. Throughout the competition we have seen a number of new and promising ideas emerge which can contribute towards tackling global food security challenges.” 

Since its inception in 2019, through a joint partnership between the UAE Food Security Office and public authority, Tamkeen, the FoodTech challenge has been finding the most innovative, sustainable and commercially viable solutions to help address the UAE’s food security and water scarcity challenges.