CDL-Doha AgriFood
For founders building the future of food systems, where production is regenerative, resilient, and designed for a resource-constrained world and positive health outcomes.
The AgriFood stream at CDL-Doha is an industry-oriented initiative focused on advancing next-generation food and agricultural systems. The global agrifood system is under increasing pressure from climate change, resource scarcity, soil degradation, and rising demand for healthier and more sustainable food. These challenges are particularly acute in climate-stressed regions such as the Middle East, North Africa, and Southern Europe. The CDL-Doha AgriFood stream supports ventures addressing these structural constraints, with applications across biological innovation, intelligent production systems, and resource-efficient food production.
The mission of the AgriFood Stream at CDL-Doha is to accelerate the transition from extractive and resource-intensive agriculture to regenerative, resilient, and scalable food systems. Our goal is to enable the creation of ventures that improve food system resilience, enhance human health, operate within planetary boundaries, and increase efficiency – particularly in environments defined by water scarcity, heat, and limited arable land.
CDL achieves this by providing structured mentorship from a global network of entrepreneurs, experienced operators, scientists, technologists, and investors who have played critical roles in building leading agrifood deep-tech companies. Participating startups work closely with these mentors to refine objectives, prioritise time and resources, validate technical and commercial assumptions, raise capital, and engage with experts operating at the forefront of research and industrial deployment.
Startups participate in five in-person objective-setting sessions held between October and June.
CDL is a non-profit organisation. There are no fees for participation and CDL does not take any equity. Learn more about the CDL program.
Qui doit poser sa candidature ?
The AgriFood Stream is best suited to ventures or projects developing novel solutions in three main areas: Biological Performance Platforms, Autonomous & Intelligent Systems, and Resource-Decoupled Production Systems. This stream is tailored towards early-stage companies (early venture or growth) or even projects (pre-incorporation). However, startups at all levels of maturity will be considered.
Example Innovation Areas
- Biological Performance Platforms: Ventures engineering biological systems to improve soil health, plant performance, and resilience under environmental stress, including bio-inputs, microbiome engineering, and climate-resilient crop solutions.
- Autonomous & Intelligent Systems: Startups building robotics, sensing, and AI-driven systems that improve precision, efficiency, and decision-making in agriculture and aquaculture, particularly under labour constraints and environmental volatility.
- Resource-Decoupled Production Systems: Companies developing technologies that decouple food production from land and freshwater constraints, including controlled environment agriculture, aquaculture systems, and bio-manufactured food and inputs such as precision fermentation.
The list above is not exhaustive. Contact giovanni.rolandino@creativedestructionlab.com to discuss the program and your venture with someone from the AgriFood Stream.
Nos mentors
CDL mentors include accomplished entrepreneurs, experienced operators, active angel and venture investors, and world-leading scientists and engineers
Mentors meet every eight weeks to help founders set and refine objectives over the program’s nine-month duration.
Companies accepted to the CDL-Doha AgriFood Stream benefit from a uniquely curated group of experts combining:
- Deep technical expertise
- Real-world deployment experience
- Investment and scaling experience
For more information or to schedule an introduction meeting with the CDL team, email cdl-doha@creativedestructionlab.com