Lena Mareike Wenzel
Innovation Manager, EIT Food. On 1 show, 1 appearance. The Shows tab opens the full record on each.
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She manages startup and scaleup support programs at EIT Food's RisingFoodStars, collaborating with agrifood tech companies. In addition to consulting at Vertical, she has contributed academic research to European sustainable food initiatives such as the FoodSHIFT 2030 project at the University of Copenhagen.
1shows
1appearances
12statements
1resolved
1supported
0contradicted
100%fully supported
Everything Lena Mareike Wenzel said on any show that made the record, most notable first. Each card names its show and opens the statement there.
Wenzel: Startups Alone Cannot Disrupt the Food System
“Because you can't just have only startups, because they just won't be able to disrupt the system, right? So you need everybody else on board as well.”
EIT Impact Fund invests €500K to €1.5M in EIT Food companies
“We do have, for example, our own, we call it EIT impact fund basically operates as a VC and they invest in companies that are part of EIT food. So that's a prerequisite and they invest Anything up to 1.5 million euros per company, usually starting with about 5…”
Wenzel: Scaling Founders Must Transition to CEOs or Risk Failing
“Also you as a founder, right? You're not a founder anymore. You're basically becoming a leader, a CEO. That's a switch that people also just have to do. And sometimes, yeah, sometimes miss to do correctly.”
Wenzel: FoodTech startups struggle with commercialization rather than creativity
“Most companies come out of R&D, right? So you have a very heavy R&D focused companies usually that then all of a sudden have to be become sales organizations, right? So I think it's rather the opposite challenge that you have rather creative, inventive people …”
Wenzel: RisingFoodStars supports later-stage scale-ups aligned with EIT Food missions
“And so also within Rising Food Stars, it is our scale-up It is one actually of three of our flagship entrepreneurship programs. We work with the latest stage companies, and so any of our companies that we support in that program has to basically fulfill one of…”
Wenzel: RisingFoodStars focuses on IP-heavy tech over B2C consumer apps
“What we work with is quite IP heavy. So we don't work with the usual B to C consumer apps though I'm sure there's great solutions out there, but what we really focus on is more of a tech heavy focus, right?”
Wenzel: RisingFoodStars onboards only 15 new companies annually
“We onboard only 15 new companies each year, but companies can stay with us for up to three years.”
Wenzel: EIT Is Europe's Largest Network of Food System Actors
“EIT is actually the largest network of food system actors in Europe.”
Wenzel: Food as Medicine Is Strongly Increasing in Popularity
“That's also an area that's really strongly increasing in popularity right now.”
Wenzel: Early-Stage Startups Underestimate Corporate Bureaucracy and Budget Constraints
“Startups, especially the younger they are, they often have a very, yeah, wishful thinking about how to interact with corporates, right? They're basically just cool. We just have to pitch and they will love our product, but that's just not how the world works. …”
Wenzel: All crop and meat nutrients originate in soil health
“All of the nutrients that are in our crops and that subsequently are in our meat come originally from the soil, right? So we really need to find solutions on how to nurture that soil and not let it die.”
EU Food Projects Partner With Africa and Asia Over the US
“There is a lot of, yeah, cross continent work going on specifically a lot with African countries, but also with Asia. With the U S I actually haven't come across so many projects. I have to say, I wonder if that's just my bias or general industry.”
One line per show, most statements first. The link opens Lena's full record on that show: the calibration, argument clarity, speaking style and every statement made there.
| Show | Role there | Eps | Statements | Record | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 INNOVATORS & INVESTORSLEDGER | Innovation Manager, EIT Food | 1 | 12 | 100% 1/1 | full record on Innovators & Investors → |