As major universities look to spin-out and license key discoveries, global food and pharma businesses open up venture funds and external innovation programs and incubators to draw innovative entrepreneurs into their orbit – there are rich pickings for probiotic, prebiotic, and microbiome pioneers in search of money, experience and a global platform for their ideas. 

NutraIngredients was on the hunt for entrepreneurial consumer-facing, science or technology based start-ups to join them at the IPA World Congress + Probiota in Dublin, February 2026.  The competition was free to enter and is open to entrepreneurial, consumer-facing, science or technology-based start-ups in the microbiome field and is a great opportunity to elevate your company’s profile, gain industry recognition, and connect with potential partners and investors.

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Luvbiotics® is the UK’s No.1 probiotic oral care brand, created by microbiologists to promote a balanced oral microbiome for long-term health. Our formulations use scientifically supported probiotics and natural ingredients, free from SLS, parabens, and alcohol, to protect microbial diversity. Unlike antibacterial products that “kill everything,” Luvbiotics® supports beneficial bacteria essential to oral and systemic wellbeing. With probiotic toothpastes, mouthwashes, and lozenges, the brand is globally trusted, expanding through professional partnerships, education, and strong consumer reviews.

Microvitality is pioneering non-invasive gastrointestinal sampling with an ingestible capsule designed to access the small intestine, a traditionally a “blind spot” in gut health diagnostics. Leveraging microbiome insights and clinical-grade data, the company enables research partners and biopharma clients to drive precision medicine, biomarker discovery, and therapeutic development. Founded at Tufts University and backed by early-stage programmes, Microvitality focuses on delivering high-quality data, deep physiological insight, and scalable collaborations that bridge research and commercial pipelines.

Totality Biosciences is transforming microbiome health with the world's first full-spectrum solution for human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs). Today's microbial manufacturing limits access to just a few of these powerful, evolutionary-designed bioactives. Totality's breakthrough plant-based PHOMO Platform for photosynthetic milk oligosaccharides was spun out of UC Berkeley to create all 200 HMOs at unlimited scale We are delivering next-generation prebiotics to combat chronic inflammation and optimize gut, immune, and brain health across the