Start-Up Award

Today’s start-ups and spin-outs are the future major players of the industry. In this award, we look to celebrate the best new companies blazing the trail in the nutrition and health market. From university spin-outs and one-man outfits making a big impact to incubators and fast-growing new companies about to make it big, this award rewards new ideas, the potential for change, and commercial success in companies established in the United States of Canada in the past 10 years.

We’re looking for start-ups that address unmet consumer health needs, demonstrate innovation in product development, technology integration, or scientific validation and show early signs of market traction and scalability

Our judges will base their decision on the following criteria:

  • Be a start-up, incubator, spin-out or new company that has been trading less than five years
  • Able to demonstrate sound science, research, and/or technological developments that back up your business
  • Commercial potential or success: Evidence of commercial interest, success, or potential market applications (if not yet launched)
  • Whether the idea, product or initiative has potential to be a ‘game changing’ innovation in the developing personalized nutrition space
  • What gives your idea, product, or initiative the ‘X factor’ – something that makes it stand out from the crowd and edge out the competition (including evidence to back up claims)

Entry Requirements for Start-Up Award:

  • Be a start-up that is founded in the United States & Canada
  • Have fewer than 20 employees
  • Have been founded in past 10 years
  • Be ‘independently owned’. This is defined as a business that is substantially owned by its founders and/or a group of independent investors; is not quoted on AIM or any other stock market; and is not a subsidiary or associated company of another business.
  • Be at Series B funding stage or earlier

To view the requirements for this category, click here to download .

SUMBIT YOUR ENTRY FOR 2026. The category is FREE to enter

SUBMIT YOUR ENTRY

Entries close on Friday, March 20, 2026 at 11.55pm CT, Chicago.

  • All entries need to abide to our Entry Terms & Conditions
  • Once all entries have been received they will be reviewed by the NutraIngredients USA Awards Judging Panel made up of independent judges from the industry.
  • The 2026 finalists will be confirmed and notified in May 2026.
  • The 2026 winners will be announced during an awards’ presentation in Chicago on Monday, July 13, 2026