The ingredients list on a food package tells you what’s inside. It rarely tells you what was done to it. That distinction, between whole foods and their industrially transformed counterparts, sits at the heart of a growing public health debate and a new Dutch startup’s bet. FLTRD, a mobile app from Amsterdam, is trying to make the invisible visible by giving every supermarket item a processing score [Tech.eu, October 2026].
For more than 35,000 users in the Netherlands, the workflow is simple: scan a barcode, see a PureScore. The rating, developed with the nutrition and dietetics program of the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, assesses a product based on its ingredients, the techniques used to process them, and whether it holds organic certification [4impact capital, October 2026] [Fundup.ai, Unknown]. A low score flags an ultra-processed food, and the app suggests a less-processed alternative from the same aisle. The goal is to shift the decision-making lens from just calories and macros to the structural integrity of the food itself.
The PureScore as a new food label
The company’s core intellectual property is its scoring algorithm, which it calls PureScore. While many health apps focus on tracking calories or sugar, FLTRD’s differentiation rests on categorizing foods by their degree of industrial processing, a classification system popularized by researchers like Carlos Monteiro [Tomorrow's Bites, Unknown]. The app database already covers more than 150,000 products across seven major Dutch supermarket chains, providing a critical mass of local data [4impact capital, October 2026]. This isn’t just a digital nutrition panel; it’s an attempt to create a new, standardized metric for food quality that can sit alongside existing labels.
From consumer app to B2B licensing
FLTRD’s current model is a freemium consumer app, with a subscription unlocking features like a recipe library and personal filters for allergies [FLTRD, Unknown]. But the longer-term strategy, and the reason venture firm 4impact capital led a €500,000-plus pre-seed round in October 2026, is to license the PureScore system to food producers and retailers themselves [Tech.eu, October 2026]. The vision is for the score to appear directly on packaging or on digital shelf tags, transforming a tool for informed shoppers into a potential industry standard for clean-label marketing and product formulation.
This licensing wedge is plausible because of a significant regulatory tailwind. The European Commission is actively examining how to define ultra-processed food at the EU level, and FLTRD’s co-founder and CEO, Anke Kuik, has been consulted for input [Tech.eu, October 2026]. If Brussels moves toward stricter labeling or marketing rules for such foods, a validated, science-backed scoring system could become highly valuable to manufacturers seeking to reformulate or differentiate their products.
The team building a food data platform
The founders bring complementary backgrounds to the challenge of building a food data company. Anke Kuik, the CEO, developed the product from a personal interest in nutrition, spurred by learning that more than half of Dutch citizens live with a preventable chronic disease [Laura de Veth - Mafait - TopMondzorg | LinkedIn, retrieved 2026]. Her prior experience includes co-founding a blockchain identity management platform and holding senior roles in programmatic advertising at Vivaki [Forbes, July 2018] [Business Insider, August 2014]. The technical co-founder, Laurens Janssen, previously worked at Picnic Technologies and Crisp, an app-only supermarket focused on fresh food, giving him direct experience in the grocery tech stack [Laura Batalla - Qinera Group | LinkedIn, retrieved 2026].
| Role | Name | Key Background |
|---|---|---|
| Co-Founder & CEO | Anke Kuik | Former co-founder of Faktor (identity management); ex-Vivaki; developed FLTRD from personal nutrition study. |
| Co-Founder & CTO | Laurens Janssen | Previously at Picnic Technologies and fresh-food supermarket Crisp; ex-Entrepreneur in Residence at Antler. |
The path to scale and its inherent friction
The roadmap is clear: expand geographically, deepen retailer integration, and sign the first B2B licensing deals. The pre-seed capital is earmarked for a launch in Belgium before the end of 2026 [Tech.eu, October 2026]. Yet the company faces a classic two-sided challenge. For consumers, the app must maintain a database that is comprehensive and current across multiple countries and retailers, a significant operational lift. For the B2B licensing business to take off, FLTRD must convince large, conservative food conglomerates that adopting its score is in their commercial interest, not just a compliance burden.
The competitive landscape is also nascent but could intensify quickly. While no direct competitors are named in the company’s sources, the space for food transparency apps is crowded. FLTRD’s bet is that its specific focus on processing, backed by academic collaboration and early regulatory engagement, provides a defensible moat.
- Database scale. Covering 150,000 products in one country is a strong start, but replicating that depth across Europe is a data logistics challenge [4impact capital, October 2026].
- Industry adoption. The leap from a consumer tool to a B2B standard requires navigating slow-moving procurement cycles and competing internal priorities at food manufacturers.
- Scientific consensus. While the concept of ultra-processed foods is gaining traction, its definition is not yet universally codified, leaving room for debate over the PureScore’s methodology [Tech.eu, October 2026].
What a new label could change
The patient population here is broad: it is anyone making a weekly grocery run, particularly those managing or seeking to prevent diet-related chronic conditions. The standard of care today is a confusing patchwork. Shoppers are left to decipher tiny-print ingredients lists, interpret marketing claims like “natural” or “artificially flavored,” and cross-reference separate nutrition labels for calories, sugar, and fat. It’s a cognitive load that often defaults to habit or price. FLTRD’s intervention is to collapse that complexity into a single, scannable score, offering a heuristic for a healthier basket. If the company succeeds, the act of choosing a yogurt or a loaf of bread may no longer be just about taste or brand, but about understanding the journey from farm to foil wrapper.
Sources
- [4impact capital, October 2026] 4impact leads Pre-Seed round in FLTRD to make ultra-processed food visible | https://www.4impact.vc/articles/4impact-leads-pre-seed-round-fltrd-ultra-processed-food
- [Tech.eu, October 2026] As Brussels scrutinises ultra-processed food, FLTRD raises €500K+ to scale across Europe | https://tech.eu/2026/10/29/fltrd-raises-eur500k-to-help-shoppers-cut-through-ultra-processed-food
- [Women Disrupting Tech, September 2026] How FLTRD's PureScore Makes Healthy Food Choices Easy | https://womendisruptingtech.blog/2026/09/17/episode-170/
- [Fundup.ai, Unknown] FLTRD company profile | https://fundup.ai/recently-funded-startups/company/cf53231386077465f4ba0573811abed4d78649cd7535143dd5d7f9fae6ea626c/fltrd
- [Tomorrow's Bites, Unknown] Tomorrow's Bites podcast episode featuring FLTRD | https://podtail.com/en/podcast/tomorrow-s-bites/
- [FLTRD, Unknown] FLTRD website and terms | https://www.fltrd.nl/
- [Laura de Veth - Mafait - TopMondzorg | LinkedIn, retrieved 2026] LinkedIn post on Anke Kuik's motivation | https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-de-veth
- [Forbes, July 2018] 100 Women Founders In Europe To Follow | https://www.forbes.com/sites/allysonkapin/2018/07/24/100-women-founders-in-europe-to-follow-on-twitter-and-linkedin/
- [Business Insider, August 2014] 10 Things In Advertising You Need To Know Today | https://www.businessinsider.com/10-things-in-advertising-today-august-20-2014-8
- [Laura Batalla - Qinera Group | LinkedIn, retrieved 2026] LinkedIn profile referencing Laurens Janssen | https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-batalla