78 start-ups to meet at Future Food-Tech San Francisco

78 featured start-ups trailblazing their way in the field of food-tech will present ground-breaking solutions live at Future Food-Tech in San Francisco on 16-17 March.

The summit has become a global hub, connecting 1500 international food brands, ingredient providers, investors, start-ups and technology leaders, and digging deep into the most critical issues facing the food industry now and in the future.

Callum Alexander-Lindsay, Start-Up Partnerships Manager across the Future Food-Tech series comments: “With rising food prices, insufficient access to nutritious foods, climate change and consumer adoption of alternatives to farm-based meats, our food system is in need of innovative solutions at scale. This is why it is so hope-inspiring to bring this dynamic group of start-ups together in San Francisco; we have the changemakers needed to solve the challenges for a more sustainable and healthier food system.”

Start-up arena

NEW for 2023, the start-up arena will showcase even more ground-breaking innovator action, with a dedicated pitching stage, start-up exhibition and investor lounge.

• Ani Biome is an age tech start-up offering a personalised approach to metabolic health and longevity through gut health.
• Arkeon turns CO₂ into functional, carbon-negative protein ingredients for food.
• Bactolife is an industrial biotech company in the field of gut microbiome health in the food and feed industry.
• Biolumen is the only GRAS (generally recognised as safe) approved natural material able to decrease sugar, carbohydrate and fat adsorption while feeding the microbiota and increasing healthy short chain fatty acids.
• Cellva painlessly collects animal tissue, using the cells with the highest nutritional performance as a source for application in nutrient solutions for cell culture.
• Clean Crop Technologies’ novel cold plasma technology uses electricity to remove contaminants and boost seed and food performance, increasing yields, improving food safety and reducing food waste.
• Clear Meat is India’s first ISO certified cell based meat initiative organisation.
• Edge has developed cell factories capable of self-supplying and reliably producing the most expensive inputs in cultivated meat production – the growth factors.
• Ergo Bioscience is a biotech-based startup focused on the production of complex animal proteins by Plant Cell Precision Fermentation.
• Filtricine is a clinical stage biotechnology company that develops food to treat cancer and metabolic diseases.
• Forte Protein uses molecular farming and its proprietary replicating technology platform to produce non-GMO animal proteins for alternative meat, dairy and seafood products.
• Hyfé Foods enables regional production of low cost, alternative protein that is shielded from supply chain disruptions and resilient to climate change.
• ImpacFat develops omega-3 rich cell-based fish fat as a novel ingredient to supplement plant-based products and improve the taste, texture, aroma and nutrition.
• Index uses baker’s yeast to create agricultural supply chains that are measurable, verifiable and sustainable.
• Kyomei is a molecular farming company engineering optimal crop species to express valuable protein ingredients and molecules at low cost.
• LiVA extends fresh produce shelf-life by more than 100% during logistics, using a pre-biotic blend to reduce microbial spoilage naturally and safely, while preserving great flavour.
• Liven Proteins creates sustainable, animal-free and functional ingredients, manufactured through upcycling and precision fermentation.
• Lypid is creating a line of fats made from vegan oils that can be tuned to precise textures and melting points.
• MAOLAC combines proteomics and bioinformatics to create precision proteins inspired by breast milk that enable impact nutrition.
• Mewery is the first European cell-based food tech start-up developing cultivated pork on a microalgae base.
• Michroma creates fungal biofactories to produce natural ingredients using cutting-edge synbio and precision fermentation technology.
• Micro Meat’s cell encapsulation technology improves product yields, decreases production costs and creates product consistency for cultivated meat producers.
• Mimio Health is a nutritechnology company creating cutting-edge biomimetic supplements designed from human biology to recreate our bodies’ innate regenerative systems.
• Miruku is applying its molecular farming process to program climate resilient crops to be mini factories for producing proteins and other molecules traditionally made by animals.
• MOA Foodtech combines biotechnology and artificial intelligence to transform waste and by-products of the agri-food industry into a “next generation protein”.
• The Mushroom Meat Co transforms gourmet mushrooms and upcycled plant proteins into mushroom-based meats and whole-food ingredients.
• NoPalm Ingredients produces oils and fats by fermenting agri-food sidestreams to provide an alternative to the use of palm and other tropical oils in food, cosmetics and detergents.
• nth Bio by Perfect Day offers enterprise biology services to allow its partners to grow their projects from beginning to end.
• Rainfed uses its unique proprietary technology platform to create nutritionally dense ingredients and clean label solutions for alternative proteins.

Innovation partner cohorts

Meet leading accelerators and incubators from around the world on booths in the start-up arena, as they introduce their start-up cohorts with fresh solutions and case studies:

Fresh Start, a food-tech incubator investing in early-stage Israeli food-tech companies introduces its cohort to San Francisco:

• Blue Tree enables the production of natural beverages with reduced sugar content.
• Eggmented Reality uses its bioinformatics and precision-fermentation technology platform to identify and produce improved protein functionality over industry alternatives.
• Sea 2 Cell is developing a ground-breaking GF technology and proprietary cell lines for the commercial scale manufacturing of its cultivated fish products.
• Natural Products Canada (NPC) helps Canadian early-stage companies and researchers bring their sustainable solutions to life.

Accompanying NPC to the summit are:

• Cell Ag Tech grows cells to make seafood, instead of catching and growing whole fish.
• Crush Dynamics is focused on transformation of grape derivatives and other agricultural side streams using patent-pending targeted fermentation into high performance food ingredients.
• Genuine Taste supplies alternative meat companies with customisable fat.
• Konscious Foods develops dishes with no GMOs, clean label and short ingredient lists.
• New School Foods creates whole-cut seafood, made from plants.
• Opalia is developing technology to make milk with mammary cells.

Proveg Incubator is an incubator for plant-based, fermentation, and cultured-food startups. Meet its cohort in San Francisco:

• Bosque Foods rapidly grows mycelium in a matter of days using food-safe and edible strains, through its unique biomass fermentation process.
• Cultimate creates a game-changing alternative fat ingredient that brings the authentic meaty taste and texture to plant-based meat products.
• Cultivated Biosciences is developing an ingredient from GMO-free yeast, which offers the creaminess needed for plant-based dairy to appeal to flexitarian consumers.
• Fotortec is a biotech company dedicated to sustainable protein production.

Plug and Play connects entrepreneurs, corporations, and investors worldwide on its global innovation platform. Meet the following start-ups from its cohort:

• New Wave Foods is a developer of plant-based seafood products.
• Oobli is the first end-to-end technology platform and consumer products company to leverage through precision fermentation to unlock the power of sweet plant proteins in foods.
• Aanika Biosciences leverages the power of biology to develop tools that enhance traceability and safety within the food system.
• Journey Foods is an AI-powered portfolio management software for food and beverage companies.

On the main stage

Look out for these pioneering start-ups and scale-ups joining the main stage discussions and presentations!

• SuperMeat grows high quality meat directly from animal cells.
• Perfect Day uses precision fermentation to create animal-free milk protein.
• Onego Bio produces egg white without chickens, using precision fermentation.
• Umiami is a tech company developing a unique and proprietary technology to texturize plant proteins.
• New Culture combines traditional cheesemaking methods with modern fermentation technology to make animal-free dairy products that stretch, melt, and taste like the real deal.
• Arborea is unlocking the potential of photosynthesis, its technology facilitating the growth of microscopic plants to produce nutritional ingredients and proteins.
• Sundial Foods’ proprietary technology turns eight clean ingredients into whole cuts of plant-based meat complete with skin, meat and bone.
• The Every Company engineers, manufactures and formulates animal-free, animal proteins as ingredients for the global food and beverage industry.
• Nulixir develops, manufactures, and licenses encapsulated functional ingredients with its patented Nutrition Precision Technology to other F&B businesses.
• Helaina is the first company to bring the immunity properties of breast milk to food for all stages of life – bridging the gap between food and medicine.
• Sun Genomics aims to change the way probiotics are chosen, by making the best custom formulated probiotics.
• Mush Foods is growing the next generation of great-tasting, sustainable protein using mushroom mycelium as an ingredient for food companies and the foodservice industry.
• Upside Foods cultivates meat from animal cells. It is the first company in the world to receive US FDA approval for cultivated meat.
• AI Palette’s platform collects millions of data points from various sources such as social media, searches and user-generated content to provide deep insights into consumer needs.
• Epogee strives to improve the health of society by dramatically reducing calories in food and no tradeoffs with taste or texture.
• Comet is an award-winning food ingredients company with the IP and expertise needed to perfect nature’s best fibre, arabinoxylan, an FDA-recognised fibre with superior tolerance in the gut and clinically proven health benefits.
• ProFuse Technology develops supplements for cultivated meat media that reduces the cultivated meat cost by 40%, by increasing the produced meat mass and shortening the production time.
• Finless Foods creates delicious, healthy, and accessible cell-cultured and plant-based seafood alternatives, offering options for all palates and dietary preferences.
• Wildtype is pioneering cellular agriculture to grow delicious cuts of seafood, starting with sushi-grade salmon.
• Cana Technology is building the world’s first molecular beverage printer to bring the beverage aisle to your countertop.

Showcasing the future of food-tech

Listen in to the hottest innovators in the future food-tech space as they pitch their solutions to judges from ICL Planet and Rabobank – followed by Q&A to delve deeper into their products, strategies and visions for the future:

• Optimized Foods harnesses its proprietary mycelium scaffold and cell biology to create cell-cultured caviar.
• Ummino’s patented technology unlocks natural compounds to optimise taste and nutrition and transform commodity ingredients into high value functional foods delivering gut health.
• Cauldron Production uses hyper-fermentation to unlock an alternative manufacturing capability for food, feed and fibre.

Step up to the plate: Whole cuts and alt-seafood

Brands showcase their innovative technologies, cooking their whole cut and alt-seafood products live on stage. While you watch the experts cook, hear directly from the innovators about how these delicious products are formulated, how best to cook them, and more about their taste and nutritional profiles:

• Demolish Foods is creating whole-cut plant meats.
• Novameat is developing no-compromise plant-based whole-cuts that are delicious, nutritious and mimic the texture of animal meat.
• Current Foods uses biotechnology to create next generation plant-based seafood.

Innovation challenge final

Watch as the three finalists for the Kraft Heinz Innovation Challenge present their solutions to ‘Unleash the Power of Tomatoes from Seed to Shelf’, before the Kraft Heinz judges choose their winner:

• Kuvu Bio Solutions is a biological herbicide technology platform.
• Green Spot Technologies has developed a fermentation platform that allows the production of the first range of fermented and upcycled flours.
• ANiNA creates unique ready-to-cook vegan meal pods: 100% natural, rich in vegetables & nutrients, easy to cook, and made from fresh, delicious and nutritious ugly produce which is molded to create the beautiful, edible pod.

Breakouts and taste labs

Throughout the two days, in addition to plenary sessions, you can have your say in small group breakout discussions or try novel foods and meet the founders in the Taste Lab:

• Aqua Cultured Foods is on a mission to offer nutrient-rich foods in the form of fungi-based seafood alternatives, creating the first “whole cut” fermentation-derived seafood alternative.
• The Supplant Company turns renewable resources and sidestreams into ingredient replacements, and is building an ingredient platform.
• Trendi is a robotics company that helps the farm and food industry rescue misfit and unused food to be upcycled it into shelf-stable ingredients.

Start-ups Comet, Mush Foods and Umiami mentioned earlier in the article will also run Taste Labs.

Join all these featured start-ups and many more among the delegate audience at Future Food-Tech San Francisco on 16-17 March, to spotlight the new technologies and partnerships that are strengthening sustainable and nutritious food systems. See the full program at http://www.futurefoodtechsf.com/agenda and register now at www.futurefoodtechsf.com/register.

About Future Food-Tech 

After returning to in-person events last year with a bang, Future Food-Tech is back in the epicentre of innovation, San Francisco, on 16-17 March, 2023. The summit has become a global hub, connecting 1500 international food brands, ingredient providers, investors, start-ups and technology leaders, whilst digging into the crucial issues facing the food industry today.

Over the two-day summit, food-tech pioneers and visionaries will discuss innovative approaches to scaling alt-proteins, new formulations for healthier, nutrient packed foods, and commercial opportunities at the intersection of food and medicine.

For editorial enquiries please contact Isabella Deith, Marketing Executive, Future Food-Tech Series:

T: +44 (0)1273 789989

isabella.deith@rethinkevents.com