Opportunity Spotlight: Science-backed functional ingredients and innovative beverage formats that can shape the future of health and wellness drinks

Impact Sips 2026 – EIT Food x Hijos de Rivera

EIT Food and Corporación Hijos de Rivera (the company behind Estrella Galicia) have launched Impact Sips 2026, an open innovation call connecting high-potential startups with real beverage innovation opportunities.

They're looking for science-backed functional ingredients and innovative beverage formats that can shape the future of health and wellness drinks.

Focus Areas

• Healthy Ageing – ingredients supporting longevity and skin health

• Mental Wellbeing – solutions for mood, focus and stress management

• Metabolic Health – ingredients supporting satiety, metabolism and digestion, including solutions complementary to GLP-1

What They're Looking For

• A market-validated functional ingredient for drinks, or a complementary format (soluble delivery systems, smart caps, etc.)

• Strong scientific or technical differentiation

• Sufficient production capacity to support a pilot collaboration

• Genuine interest in co-developing with Hijos de Rivera

Terms

• Open to all EIT Food regions within the EU – Bulgarian startups are eligible

• At least one startup will be selected for a pilot project worth €50,000+

• 5–6 finalists will present at a Demo Day in A Coruña, Spain (travel costs covered for up to two representatives per startup)

Application deadline: 10 July 2026

For more funding opportunities like this, visit agriventures.co

The role of Agriventures in supporting agrifood innovation

As the agritech startup ecosystem grows across Europe, initiatives such as Agriventures are helping connect entrepreneurs, researchers, investors, and policymakers working in agriculture and food innovation.

Agriventures focuses on supporting agrifood startups, biotechnology innovation, and access to European funding for agriculture, while also helping entrepreneurs navigate the complex landscape of startup financing, venture capital, and research commercialization.

By strengthening connections between startups, research institutions, investors, and farmers, Agriventures contributes to building a stronger agricultural innovation ecosystem that can accelerate the transition toward sustainable agriculture and resilient food systems.

Through knowledge sharing, events, and ecosystem building, Agriventures helps ensure that promising agritech innovations can scale and reach farmers, food producers, and global markets.