Royal Dutch Jaarbeurs completes acquisition of Foodbytes, adding a digital layer to VIV Worldwide’s global network

Mr van Hooff’s September post confirms the deal has now closed and that Foodbytes has moved into Jaarbeurs’ JIM Innovation Hub, based in the Beatrix Building on the Utrecht show grounds.

From pitch competition to matchmaking platform

Foodbytes began in 2015 as a Rabobank-run pitch competition for early-stage food and agri startups. It grew over the following decade into a fuller innovation platform, connecting startups, scale-ups, corporates and investors through curated matchmaking and dealflow tools.

Jaarbeurs’ June press release put the network at more than 10,000 corporates, investors and startups, active in areas including regenerative agriculture, alternative protein, farm robotics and automation, and seaweed-based innovation.

Rabobank is not exiting the business entirely. The bank stays on as a strategic partner, and Jaarbeurs said existing Rabobank customers will keep using Foodbytes as before. Foodbytes will run as an independent company within the Jaarbeurs group rather than being merged into existing VIV operations.

Why Jaarbeurs wanted a digital platform

Jaarbeurs has run live trade fairs and conferences for more than a century, and VIV Worldwide carries that model into livestock and poultry markets across Europe, the Americas, Asia and the Middle East.

In the June release, Mr van Hooff said live events remain central to the business, and that Foodbytes gives Jaarbeurs a year-round way to keep decision-makers, investors and entrepreneurs meeting each other between shows. He described it as broadening Jaarbeurs’ digital strategy and its position in the sector, not replacing the trade shows themselves.

Mr van Hooff also said Jaarbeurs plans to test the same online-hub approach in Health and Energy, two sectors outside its current agri-food base. In his September post, he separately thanked the VIV Worldwide team for taking on the role of digital partner as Foodbytes integrates.

A new home at the JIM Innovation Hub

Mr van Hooff’s September 1 post included a photo of the Foodbytes team with him at the JIM Innovation Hub, standing next to a large Foodbytes sign while the space was still being set up.

He welcomed the team into what he called the Jaarbeurs family and said the acquisition was, in his words, about people, ideas and communities as much as it was a corporate transaction.

Neither company has disclosed the financial terms of the deal. Rabobank had also backed Foodbytes as an investor through Rabo Ventures, according to a statement on the Foodbytes website, and both companies say that relationship continues now that Jaarbeurs owns the platform.