FoodTech startups have become increasingly popular in recent years, as they offer unique solutions to improve the way food is produced, distributed, and consumed.
These startups are focused on leveraging technology to create better systems for food production, from agricultural innovations to new methods of delivery and tracking.
They often target specific problems like food waste or sustainability and devise ways to address them with the help of technology.
FoodTech startups are often part of larger initiatives to reduce food insecurity, create more efficient production methods, and improve the quality of food available to consumers.
They can make use of blockchain or artificial intelligence technologies to track and manage inventories and make sure that no excess or waste is created.
Some are even developing new methods of food production that reduce the need for chemical pesticides, while others are focused on creating better ways to store and transport food.
Additionally, they can make use of data to create predictive models that better inform decision-making and help companies adjust their prices and availability accordingly.
FoodTech startups are leading the way for a more sustainable, efficient, and healthful food industry. They’re creating innovative solutions to tackle some of the most pressing issues in food production, from improving access to fresh produce to reducing food waste.
As the sector continues to grow, these startups will continue to shape the future of our food systems.
Here are some of the most exciting FoodTech startups to watch in 2023!
INSEACT
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Almost all seafood is farmed, and almost all farmed seafood uses wild-caught fish as the protein component of feed.
INSEACT changes this by replacing fish protein with insect protein. INSEACT grows black soldier fly larvae fed with waste from the palm oil industry that was otherwise destined for landfill.
INSEACT’s unique protein application in shrimp aquaculture performs more profitably than traditional feed options.
This improved performance allows INSEACT to achieve impact at scale, with a focus in Asia. The high-performance protein product INSEACT offers diverts agri-waste back from landfill back into the foodstream to close the circular economy loop.
The INSEAD mission is to provide sustainable and healthy food sources for the world through innovative technologies.
Vow
Vow is a collective of innovators, engineers, scientists, artists and foodies working to improve the quality of life for people, animals and planetary health, by reinventing food from the ground up.
Vow recently raised $49.2 million in Series A funding.
The building block of biology is a cell, and by starting here all needs can be met. By taking an entirely new approach, we can now bypass raising animals and find tastes, flavors and textures completely new to us.
This new category of food will be sustainable, abundant and irresistible.
Vow creates real and delicious meat from cells, instead of breeding and killing animals. Six weeks is all it takes from a handful of cells to plating the finished meal. It’s a logical and considerate alternative from which more people enjoy the highest quality meat.
Fyto
Fyto leverages automation to unlock the potential of unique aquatic plants. They partner with farmers to build a new foundation for food, feed, and fertilizer that supports a healthy planet and resilient food system.
Their automated cultivation and harvesting technologies grow highly nutritious crops at scale, which drastically reduce input costs for food producers.
Standing Ovation
Standing Ovation is a company dedicated to making animal and lactose-free substitutes for cheese using fermentation process without any recourse on products derived from milk including but not limited caseins -the proteins which give it its unique taste texture nutritional values.
Unfortunately current alternatives fall short when compared against those made with animals’ milks because they lack these key features that make up what we love about eating this type of food!
The founders are experienced biotechnologists in the field of precision fermentation, who have surrounded themselves with specialists in the food and cheese industries.
With their expertise, Standing Ovation was able to develop a truly innovative technological process that represents a paradigm shift for the animal-free dairy market.
WhatIf Foods
WhatIF Foods offers an authentic, nutritious basket of regenerative foods – foods that replenish the nutrients we need throughout an active day; foods that regenerate land and reconnect us with our values and communities; foods that appreciate the interdependency of our well being because we need nature in cities, life in food, and a purpose in communities.
WhatIF Foods aren’t designed for baby boomers, Gen X, Millennials, or Gen Z – but for the Regeneration. Finalist at the Liveability Challenge 2020 and winner of the MIT Solve Food Sustainability Challenge 2020.
Klim
The Klim digital climate platform offers farmers documentation and financing options for regenerative methods, as well as access to knowledge and a community.
They cooperate with the entire value chain, from agriculture and food producers to retailers and consumers. They also make the progress of farmers visible and enable a direct relationship with them.
Klim makes agriculture climate-compatible by removing CO2 from the atmosphere, hectare by hectare, and storing it in the form of carbon in the soil. To date, they have convinced over 2000 farmers to register on the Klim platform and take the step towards regenerative agriculture.
Because, Animals
Because, Animals is a startup with a big mission: To make the most nutritious and sustainable pet food for dogs and cats on the planet — without ever harming any animals or the environment.
By supporting Because Animals you will help bring an end to the raising of farm animals for slaughter. With fewer factory farms, we will lessen the devastating impacts of them – to our rainforests, oceans and climate. And, importantly, you’ll also be aiding in the creation of safer and more nutritious food for our pets.
Umaro Foods
Umaro is on a mission to build an entirely new food system that supports a wild and thriving planet – starting with the ocean. Instead of using land, they are looking underwater to create a new protein source – protein from seaweed.
Instead of growing protein in tiny bioreactors, the ocean is the bioreactor, and the protein requires no land, no freshwater, and no fertilizer to grow.
It’s a superfood for people and the planet.
They have already started the mission by developing an innovative application of seaweed hydrocolloids to mimic bacon fat.
Umaro was co-founded by two experts in the seaweed and plant-based protein industries. They’re funded by leading industry and impact investors who want to make a difference.
Pyxo
Pyxo is a French startup that has been thinking about single-use plastic food packaging for three years now. The company offers an easy and cost efficient service at scale by providing reusable storage containers in exchange of your current disposable ones!
The big market opportunity for Pyxo is happening now, because the French government is passing an anti-waste law with some drastic changes.
Starting in 2019, all restaurants must switch to reusable food containers by January 2023 or else face fines up 500 euros per day!
This means that fast food chains such as McDonald’s won’t be able use paper and plastic cups anymore – they need something stronger.
MicroHarvest
MicroHarvest is leveraging nature’s most efficient bacteria to make better, healthier and tastier protein.
With their novel production system for single cell protein they address the pressing need of sustainable alternatives that can meet our global demand by 2030 when it will have grown nearly four times in just over 100 years!
As an added bonus this invention also enabled MicroHarvest with unmatched speeds: raw materials turned into final products within 1 day (compared months) which means more nutritious food available at anytime anywhere you are.
Demi
While food culture is huge online, it is not representative of food as we see and experience it in our daily lives.
Food online is way more of a show than a dinner party.
Demi is on a mission to change that, building the tools for culinary entrepreneurs to easily connect their food people, get them talking and ultimately create thriving communities.
Demi’s platform is giving chefs and customers a way to connect and build community, transforming social media into a deeply meaningful and mutually beneficial experience.
The platform provides chefs with the simple tools to share content, foster dialog, build direct connections with their fans and earn revenue.
Consumers get the chance to engage with their favorite chefs and one another, receive exclusive content, share their own stories and creations and explore new ideas in a positive environment.
Solynta
Solynta is a hybrid potato breeding company based in Wageningen, the Netherlands. The Solynta Team is developing hybrid potato varieties with superior traits and performance at a speed that is faster than can be achieved by traditional breeding.
The successful application of hybrid breeding allows for the use of Hybrid True Potato Seeds or HTPS. This revolution in breeding not only greatly enhances the speed of product development but also provides huge logistical and phytosanitary advantages.
Although people have been breeding new potato varieties for centuries, the ability to use hybrid breeding is the ‘Holy Grail’ of potato improvement – something which many believed would not be possible.
iFarmer
iFarmer can connect farmers, space/landowners, investors, and crop buyers to create a complete farming supply chain.
To date, the app and platform is used by 71,000+ farmers in Bangladesh and growing rapidly month over month.
Bangladesh alone has 20 million small-scale farmers!
The company has developed an innovative online platform that enables anyone in Bangladesh to easily sponsor in farming and livestock. Being a part of the iFarmer community is more than earning returns.
Food, Energy, and Water are peoples primary needs, that’s always decreasing.
By 2050 world Population will reach 9.1 billion and 70% of world population will be living in urban space.
In Bangladesh, there is an urban population of 30%, which is likely to increase up to 50% by 2030.
The question is who will feed this growing population? That’s why we need new ways to create scalable and efficient agriculture farming.
Current Foods
Meticulously formulated over two years by a team that has spent decades working in food science, Current Foods has always gone one step further than making plant-based seafood – the company makes seafood…that just happens to be made from plants.
Their next-generation tuna and smoked salmon provide nutritious, plant-based seafood options without the environmental and ethical consequences.
Current Foods uses 100% plant-based ingredients including algae, bamboo, peas, and radish to provide consumers a taste of the ocean while staying true to its plant-powered roots.
Micro Meat
Micro Meat macro carriers are one of the most efficient and environmentally friendly ways to produce cultivated meat. With macro carriers, producers can generate any type of meat or fat, using animal-free, sustainable and plant-based ingredients, making it easier to finally produce meat that is healthy, nutritious, and never needs to use antibiotics or hormones.
Macro carriers improve the yield among any reactor type, from compact units used in the lab, to massive reactors used on a production scale. Inside each macro carrier, cells enjoy an ideal biological environment, that is independent of scale, ensuring an ideal production no matter the size of your business.
With macro carriers, growing cells at 3x to 4x higher densities is possible, which in turn allows producers to make more while keeping production costs to a minimum.
Numi Foods
Numi foods was founded in 2022 by Marilena and Anton. From different ends of the world, both foodies, Marilena, a German-Japanese hybrid and Anton stemming from Australia, met in Berlin, to solve one of world’s largest problems:
Reducing pressure from the food system.
Numi is a consumer facing biotech company using the power of plant protein and biotechnology to deliver the next generation of sustainable seafood. Their mission is to bring balance back into our food system by empowering people to make greener choices one bite at a time.
UrbanKisaan
UrbanKisaan is transforming the fruits and vegetable shopping experience of every Indian through India’s first farmers’ marketplace that connects users directly with farmers across the country.
They work with farmers at the grassroots to improve their yields using the core IP they’ve built over the years on precision farming, hydroponics and core agronomy.
Solar Foods
For the first time in history, humankind can produce food without burdening our home planet.
Solein is a game-changing protein for the global food industry. Produced from air – CO2, water, nitrogen – and electricity, our unique natural single-cell proteins are not dependent on agriculture, weather or the climate.
Solar Foods unique bioprocess can grow a single microorganism, one of the billions found in nature, into an endless supply of edible food with air, electricity and fermentation. This bioprocess may not be traditional, but it is as natural as the air we breathe.
