55 Start-Ups You Will Want to Meet at Future Food-Tech

February 24, 2022 - 6 min read

Food-tech start-ups are trailblazing the future of food. As talented innovators leverage new technologies to bring novel foods to consumers on a global scale, there has never been a more exciting time to touch, taste and smell the breakthrough novel foods.

Future Food-Tech reveals 55 start-ups for your innovation radar, as they take the global summit spotlight in San Francisco on March 24-25.

“The wait is almost over! 55 food-tech innovators will vie for attention through innovation challenges, start-up pitches, product launches and tastings. This summit will bring you closer than ever to the future of food,” says Jet Luckhurst, Start-Up Partnerships Manager at Future Food-Tech.

Entrepreneurs at the cutting edge of innovation present solutions including: precision fermentation, plant-based whole cuts, functional protein ingredients, food waste and cultured meat scaffolding:

Innovation Challenge Finalists

Givaudan has selected three finalists to tackle its Innovation Challenge: Natural ingredients that support immunity, energy and sleep:

  • Comet Bio produces healthy ingredients from crop leftovers for use in supplements, foods and beverages
  • Nutrition Innovation is the inventor of NXP which is unleashing the power of polyphenols to boost immunity
  • Tait Labs upcycles high value food waste components into novel ingredients using clean extraction technology

Danone North America has selected three finalists to tackle its Innovation Challenge: Technologies to improve the texture and melting properties of plant-based cheese:

  • Alfred’s Food Tech makes yellow cheese with 25% protein without sandiness and protein aroma
  • Cultivated Biosciences develops a fat ingredient from oleaginous yeast, which offers the creaminess needed for plant-based dairy
  • The Melt makes a compelling product for the flexitarian market, the saturated-fat conscious and lactose intolerant using the existing dairy food production system

Gone in 60 Seconds Presenters

Six early-stage innovators reveal their technology’s potential in just 60 seconds, with four favorites, voted by the audience, presenting later the same day at the summit:

  • Done Properly develops bioprocessed ingredients through fermentation technology
  • Libre Foods bridges the gap between plants and animals through fermentation to replicate the taste and texture of animal products
  • Liven Proteins offers animal-free, functional protein ingredients through precision fermentation to enhance the sensory qualities of alternative proteins
  • Maya Milk produces animal-free dairy proteins and fats through precision fermentation
  • No Palm Ingredients ferments any waste stream that contains sugar, fatty acids or alcohol into an oil that has similar characteristics to palm oil
  • Tender Food develops whole muscle cuts with the goal of enabling replacement of 90% of the meat types that our society currently consumes by 2030

TechHub Exhibition

At the TechHub Exhibition, powered by ICL Planet, the founders of 10 early-stage companies will demonstrate their technology and be ready to meet with summit delegates:

  • Alfred’s Food-Tech uses Protein Layering and Nutrient Embedding Technology (PLANET) to create 100% plant-based whole cuts
  • Demolish recreates and replaces whole-cuts of meats, starting with fish, using plant-based ingredients
  • Change Foods creates animal-free dairy foods by leveraging precision fermentation technology, starting with cheese
  • ClearCogs helps restaurants to reduce food waste and stockouts through predictive forecasting
  • Defined Bioscience brings fully defined, animal-free, high-functioning and scalable ingredients to the cultured meat industry
  • MyAir offers a solution for stress management through personalized nutrition
  • Nfinite Nanotechnolgy develops smart nanocoatings for sustainable packaging
  • Opalia makes whole milk and milk ingredients using mammary cells
  • Umami Meats crafts delicious, nutritious and affordable cultivated fish
  • Yo! Egg has developed a proprietary production technology that enables it to produce first-of-a-kind sunny side up and poached eggs from plants

Step-Up to the Plate

Innovators at the forefront of chicken alternatives and ingredient innovation share their insights in a ‘kitchen-to-fruition’ Q&A. Chefs will create dishes with novel foods on stage using Meati Foods’ mycelium whole cuts, Sundial Foods’ plant-based chicken wings, Umiami’s plant-based whole cuts, MeliBio’s alternative honey, QOA’s alternative chocolate and Evo Foods’ plant-based eggs.

Critics will then give their verdict on the culinary delights live on stage.

Taste Lab

Making its debut at Future Food-Tech, the Taste Lab is where small groups of delegates will be able to attend product launches and tastings of some of the most talked-about novel foods.

Food-tech founders from Australia to Israel and Italy to USA will each host a Taste Lab serving: Microbial fermented milk (Remilk); Poppable nutrient-dense snacks (Incredible Foods); Plant-based chicken nuggets and sausage rolls (v2food); Cocoa-free chocolate and peanut-free butter cups (Voyage Foods); Plant-based salmon (Plantish); Microbial fermented protein milk (Superbrewed Food); and gene-edited lettuce (Pairwise). Thimus will also present its new hardware and software platform for quick evaluation of human response to food experiences.

On the Main Stage

Innovators are a critical part of the food-tech conversation, and the summit spotlights industry talent as entrepreneurs share their perspectives alongside food brands, investors and technology companies:

  • Rich Troyer (Comet Bio) and Matt Amicucci (BCD Bioscience) join the opening Breakfast Briefing with Kellogg company to discuss their experiences of developing prebiotics for gut wellness**.**
  • Magi Richani (Nobell Foods), Gaston Paladini (Moolec Science) and Nick Hazell (v2food) share how they are recreating the sensory experience of animal products through their novel foods.
  • Mart-Erik Martens (Gelatex Technologies) and Josh Tetrick (Eat Just) join a fireside chat to reveal how they are making cell cultured meat a reality.
  • Marty Kolewe (Incredible Foods) reveals how it is creating indulgent comfort snacks and the opportunities to create healthy foods without compromising on taste.
  • Jasmin Hume (Shiru) and Aadit Patel (NotCo) uncover how they are leveraging AI and machine learning in their R&D.
  • Aviv Wolff (Remilk) and Tom Adams (Pairwise) reveal how they are building consumer acceptance and understanding with their novel ingredients
  • Bryan Tracy (Superbrewed Food), Matt Ball (Culture Biosciences), Tal Zeltzer (Phytolon), Horacio Acerbo (Eternal), Allison Fowler (Perfect Day) and Karuna Rawal (Nature’s Fynd) speak at the pre-summit workshop focused on scaling microbial fermentation, hosted at IndieBio.

Small Breakout Groups

Innovators will host small group breakout discussions alongside the main plenary, so attendees can ask questions and learn from the ambitious entrepreneurs in an intimate session:

  • Eran Blatchinsky (Better Juice), Natasha Dhayagude and Dave Brown (Chinova Bioworks) and Michael Todd (Nutriati) host interactive breakout sessions live in San Francisco
  • Alain Revah (Ynsect) shares a partnership case study with investor, Astanor Ventures in the main plenary agenda
  • Eugene Wang (Sophie’s Bionutrients) hosts a virtual roundtable

Summit Experiences

Throughout the two days, Future Food-Tech’s summit menu will feature a cross-section of future foods and technologies for delegates to try including: Current Foods’ plant-based sushi grade raw tuna and salmon; Eat Just’s plant-based eggs, Epogee’s EPG fat alternative in peanut butter cups, Eclipse Foods’ plant-based, non-dairy ice cream, Atomo Coffee’s molecular coffee, Bespoken Spirits’ summit-exclusive whiskey and Loliware’s seaweed-based straws.

Meet hundreds of food-tech pioneers at Future Food-Tech in San Francisco (and online) on March 24-25. The summit will bring together investors, food brands, retailers, ingredient manufacturers and technology providers for two days of high impact networking and knowledge-exchange to accelerate technologies across the agri-food supply chain.

The full program, speaking faculty and delegate registration are available now at www.futurefoodtechsf.com

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