At the iba.START UP AREA, new company founders will showcase their ideas for the baking industry, in Hall 13, in an area complete with a forum space where companies can pitch their concepts. The area is dedicated to young, not yet established companies, to support their products. ‘We are delighted to be able to implement this exciting area again after the successful premiere in 2023 and to present new ideas, ’ emphasizes Susann Seidemann, Head of iba.
The iba.START UP AREA is designed as a complete area for start-ups, including a stage and an open-space community area. The spectrum of ideas found here ranges from ordering apps and services to food utilization, the organizers anticipate.

The start-ups will also be able to share a two-minute pitch of their business ideas on a stage, every day of the trade fair. The presentation of this year’s iba.START UP AWARD will also take place on the stage of the iba.START UP AREA – Wednesday, May 21, at 3.30 pm.

Met the startups

• Pre-order and pay – the tech start-up from Aachen presents how an app ensures a fast ordering process: The Snaggit app eliminates waiting times, optimizes processes and increases efficiency.
• Finding skilled workers and trainees from Southeast Asia, qualified and motivated professionals – the German agency Go German organizes help in this regard. The service provider takes on the placement work, including applicant selection, arranges intensive courses, helps with visa applications and provides support in dealing with the authorities. 
• The Swiss start-up ProSeed will be presenting how food waste can be turned into valuable products. Using a new stabilization technique, barley flakes are produced from brewing by-products, which are then processed into flour or protein concentrate – from which a protein baguette, for example, is then baked. 
• Brazilian-British start-up Fonte Ingredientes shows an innovative approach to reducing food waste by keeping food fresh for longer.

2023 iba startups: business update

The startups from iba 2023 will report on their experiences since then in a panel on May 21. Among them, WeCarry, the winner of the iba.START UP AWARD 2023, will explain how iba, as a platform, has advanced them and how its business model with reusable bread bags for bakeries has developed since then. Peerox, a spin-off of the Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging, will also be on the panel with ‘Maddox’, a digital assistant for production. Reusable gloves instead of disposable plastic? The start-up HY5 has developed a glove made from organic cotton fabric that supports sales staff. The system provider FairCup focuses on sustainability and environmental protection, with its efficient reusable system as an environmentally friendly alternative, for example, to coffee-to-go.

Last call to register: exhibiting at iba.START UP AREA
Creative start-ups can still register to join this space, German and international startups that have newly developed or significantly improved products, processes, or services.

The following criteria will apply:

• The exhibiting company must be less than 10 years old (founded in 2015 or later)
• The company employs a maximum of 50 employees and the annual balance sheet total or annual turnover is a maximum of EUR 10 million

Support opportunities for start-ups
The state subsidizes companies based in and operating in Germany to participate. The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) supports young companies with the ‘Young Innovators’ trade fair program.

Photo credit: GHM