When Jort Maarseveen, CEO of Hippotainer, stepped onto the stage at StartLife’s Demo Day, he didn’t begin with technology or business models. He began with a number that made the audience pause. “More than 2.3 billion people are food insecure right now,” he said. “They either have no access to food, no availability, poor quality diets, or unstable food supplies.

Jort Maarseveen and Tijmen Blok started as two WUR students who believed that everyone should have access to fresh nutritious food anywhere in the world and ended up with Hippotainer.

Hippotainer’s mission is to design and implement smart vertical farms inside shipping containers to enable people anywhere in the world to access fresh vegetables. “We enable food production anywhere on the globe, regardless of the location, whether it's on the North Pole or in the Sahara Desert, we want to be able to make it possible to produce fresh vegetables”

The concept of Hippotainer began while cofounders Jort Maarseveen and Tijmen Blok were doing their Masters at WUR with backgrounds in biology, business, and biosciences.

"We faced some tough questions from the jury regarding the feasibility and market potential of Hippotainer, but being well-prepared made all the difference," shares Tijmen Blok, founder and CTO of Hippotainer. "This recognition is a strong validation of the innovative capabilities and potential impact of our solutions in container farming."

Winning the Wageningen Entrepreneurship grant doesn't just come with prestige; it also opens doors to valuable networks. "The grant gives us and other participants an introduction to important connections we can use immediately to take Hippotainer further," he explains. One notable opportunity linked to the event is the Unstuck Award, hosted by Willem Sodderland, which helps young entrepreneurs overcome obstacles by connecting them with audience members who can provide support through their networks.

Shipping containers that provide communities in war zones or desolate places with fresh and sustainable vegetables. Bee hotels in urban areas that provide up to date information on the state of biodiversity. With a practical solution, the winning initiatives of the Wageningen Entrepreneurship Grant make a difference in two of the most pressing current societal issues: biodiversity loss and food insecurity. An award of €25,000 each supports these young Wageningen entrepreneurs in growing the impact of their innovation.

During a well-attended finale of the Wageningen Entrepreneurship Grant on 21 May 2025, six young WUR entrepreneurs presented their initiative to the public and a jury consisting of experts in investment and agrifood.