As part of EIT Food’s Empowering Women in Agrifood (EWA) Grow Programme 2026, which supports women entrepreneurs, we delivered a training session on “Legal Foundations for Food and Agriculture Startups” to founders building ventures in food and agriculture. The session was led by Ceren Düzovalı and Gülşah Bostan of Vircon Legal. Vircon Legal’s Managing Partner Erdem Mümtaz Hacıpaşaoğlu also held a live Q&A with programme participants attending Istanbul Ignited by Slush’D.
What is EWA Grow?
EWA is EIT Food’s programme supporting women at the early stages of entrepreneurship in agriculture and food. EWA Grow is the track that helps women with early-stage startups or business ideas develop, validate and grow their ventures.
The 2026 cohort brings together entrepreneurs from Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Italy, Lithuania, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Türkiye and Ukraine. Up to 120 participants, with no more than 10 per country, follow a six-month programme between May and November 2026. It combines expert training, one-to-one mentoring, matchmaking events, masterclasses and a Demo Day with prizes. Training topics include business fundamentals, market development and agrifood trends, as well as financial and legal aspects. Our session was part of the legal track.
Why a separate legal session?
Working with hundreds of startups over more than a decade, we see the same pattern: food and agriculture startups face every legal question a software startup faces, plus a layer that comes with a physical product. A SaaS founder thinks on day one about company structure, founder equity and contracts. A food founder must also think about registration and approval of the production site, labelling and claims rules, liability along the supply chain, and protection of the recipe or formula.
In the session we went through these layers along a startup’s life cycle.
Core legal topics for agrifood startups
Company structure and founder relations. The choice between a limited company and a joint stock company should be made with the fundraising plan in mind. A founders’ agreement that puts vesting, roles and decision-making rules in writing is the cheapest insurance against future disputes.
Trademarks and intellectual property. In food, the brand is often the company’s most valuable asset. Run a trademark search before the product name goes on the packaging, and file early. Recipes, formulas and production methods are usually protected as trade secrets rather than patents, which calls for strong confidentiality clauses in employee, manufacturer and co-packing agreements. See Intellectual Property.
Food regulation. In Türkiye, food businesses are subject to registration or approval under Law No. 5996 on Veterinary Services, Plant Health, Food and Feed. Which procedure applies to the product, the labelling rules and the limits on health claims should be settled before sales start.
Supply and sales contracts. When sourcing from farmers, producers or contract manufacturers, quality standards, delivery terms and liability for defective products should be set out clearly. Returns, listing fees and payment terms in contracts with retail chains and distributors have a direct effect on cash flow.
Direct-to-consumer sales and data. Startups selling through their own e-commerce channel face distance selling rules and KVKK obligations: privacy notices, consent for commercial electronic messages and security of customer data.
Investment readiness. In grant, accelerator and investment processes, a clean cap table, well-kept contracts and a registered trademark shorten due diligence and strengthen the founder’s hand in negotiation. For early-stage instruments, see our Startup Investment Terms Glossary.
Topics for startups developing formulations
The session also covered questions faced by startups that develop their own food formulations and offer them to brands.
Licensing a formulation. The right to use a formulation can be licensed to a brand without transferring ownership. The licence should state the scope (which product, which channel, which country), whether it is exclusive, its term, whether sublicensing is allowed and how the brand stops using the formulation when the agreement ends.
Protecting the IP. Formulations can be patented, but a patent application discloses the formula and not every formulation meets the novelty requirement. Many food formulations are therefore protected as trade secrets. That protection holds only with confidentiality agreements that restrict access, access logs and confidentiality clauses in employee and manufacturer contracts. When co-developing a product with a brand, separate the startup’s existing know-how (background IP) from the results of the joint work (foreground IP) before work starts, and agree in writing who owns the new formulation, on what terms the other party may use it and who owns later improvements.
R&D and consulting agreements. Custom formulation development, prototyping and technical consulting are usually structured as a framework agreement with a statement of work (SOW) for each project. The SOW sets the scope, milestones and delivery criteria, acceptance, number of revisions, confidentiality and ownership of results. It should also say who may use the know-how shared during the engagement after it ends, and how.
Pricing and licence fees. A licence can combine an upfront fee, a royalty as a percentage of sales or per unit, and a minimum annual guarantee. Project-based R&D usually uses a fixed project fee or milestone payments; ongoing technical consulting a monthly retainer or hourly rates. Without sales reporting and audit rights in the contract, it is hard to verify that royalties are paid correctly.
Combining licensing with ingredient supply. If the licensee is also to buy the ingredients from the startup, the relationship can be set up as separate sections of one agreement or as two linked agreements. Price adjustment, quality specifications, delivery times and what happens if supply is disrupted should be covered. Exclusive supply clauses requiring the licensee to buy only from the startup should also be assessed under competition law, and their term and scope set accordingly.
Live Q&A at Slush’D
After the training, Erdem Mümtaz Hacıpaşaoğlu met EWA Grow founders attending Istanbul Ignited by Slush’D at the venue for a live Q&A. The session was driven by participants’ questions about their own ventures. The format reminds us each time of the same thing: most legal questions, asked at the right time, can be settled with brief guidance; asked late, they can cost months and significant money.
We thank the EIT Food team running the programme and all the founders who joined the sessions, and wish the startups taking the stage at Demo Day every success.
Source. EIT Food: Call for Empowering Women in Agrifood (EWA) Grow Programme 2026 Participants.
This article is general information and not legal advice. For your food or agriculture venture, book a call with us.
