Most competitive European grant goes to Austrian bioprocessing pioneer Holloid
Holloid wins EIC-Accelerator Grant
“It is very much like Shark Tank (Höhle der Löwen, 2 Minuten, 2 Millionen) - just more in-depth and professional.” says Holloid’s CEO Marcus Lebesmühlbacher and explains: “We saw that the jury was impressed by the transformative impact that Holloid’s technology can have.”
The jury of the prestigious “EIC Accelerator” appreciated that Holloid is set to become a key player in building a sustainable, nutritious, and affordable food system for Europe and the world: creating a positive environmental impact; improving the societal well-being by ensuring food safety and water quality; enhancing the efficiency and productivity of food industry.
Holloid receives the grant as one of only 2 Austrian startups that made it after the competitive pre-screening, coming out in the top tier of all European technology startups.
Founded in 2022 in Vienna as a spin-off from BOKU University, Holloid is a pioneer in developing real-time monitoring systems. The company develops an innovative bioprocess control system including a fast and automated in-line holographic microscopy combined with AI-based learning algorithms to distinguish microorganisms and their phenotypic states in real-time.
Beyond the food industry, Holloid serves an even broader range of industries: pharma, chemical, water, environmental monitoring, and others. Due to its groundbreaking potential, the startup has been supported by some of the most reputable incubators, grants and mentors, and won various awards internationally.
The EIC evaluators valued that the company can count on an impressive record of paying beta customers, a long list of companies interested in the development of the innovation, and that the proposed technology is a breakthrough and highly novel compared to existing solutions.
“It has been the most competitive funding round so far since the launch of the Accelerator under Horizon Europe.“ writes the European Innovation Council (EIC) and explains “In addition to financial backing, all projects benefit from Business Acceleration Services, which provide access to leading expertise, corporate partners, investors, and ecosystem actors.”
Holloid’s submitted project, "Revolutionary OnLine Fermentation Monitoring" (ROLF), states its mission and also reflects its founding team: Erik Reimhult, Peter van Oostrum, Marcus Lebesmühlbacker, and Pinar Frank.
The potential of precision fermentation and microalgae cultivation to transform food value chains is vast. These technologies decouple food production from soil and environmental limitations, allowing for precisely tailored nutritional profiles with enhanced health benefits. Furthermore, they enable the use of by-products from traditional agriculture as inputs for bioreactor-based food production. The efficiency gains are staggering: up to 50-100 times more efficient land use, 1,000 to 100,000 times higher protein production efficiency, and up to 20 times more efficient vitamin production, with 30% lower environmental and economic costs than traditional chemical processes.
Yet, the absence of real-time monitoring systems capable of characterizing different microorganisms and cells, including their states has long hindered breakthroughs from transitioning beyond the lab. Current bioprocesses are often a “black box,” with no direct monitoring of the microorganisms. Holloid’s revolutionary bioprocess monitoring system is the missing link for breakthroughs in scalable precision fermentation and cultivation.
The EIC’s evaluation criteria cover the fit to the grant programme, “Excellence” and “Impact”. To win the grant, the startups have to receive 9/9 points by a jury of three evaluators before convincing a high-profile international jury of entrepreneurs and scientists at a 45 minute live presentation and interview in Brussels.
Marcus Lebesmühlbacher explains that Holloid “provides a key enabling technology for the food, pharma, chemical and other industries to transform their value chains. This got the jury rightfully excited. These value chains need to be improved to become more sustainable while producing better products for healthier people.”
Co-founder Pinar Frank underlines the importance of their team: “Every time we present our team, we receive impressed looks and nodding heads. We are so grateful for our amazing team. As founders, it feels like we are standing on the shoulders of giants.” As we are continuing to grow research and develop, we have a final message: “We’re hiring!”
Contact
Holloid GmbH
Muthgasse 11/2/1
A-1190 Vienna
Austria
www.holloid.com