These 15 Food Techs Are Building The Future Of Protein, From Microbial Seafood To Cultivated Whole-Cut Turkey

Food tech accelerator and investor Big Idea Ventures (BIV) has recently welcomed its third cohort of disruptive startups to join its programs in New York and Singapore. Laser focused on addressing some of the most critical challenges in our global food system and protein supply chain, these startups are tapping novel plant-based, cell-based and fermentation technologies to develop innovative solutions. Without further ado, let’s take a look at the fifteen food techs taking on everything from cultured whole-cut turkey to plant-based cheese and vegan-friendly microbial fermentation seafood. 

Startups joining the Singapore accelerator 

1. Angie’s Tempeh

Founding date: 2020

Founders: Angeline Leong & Andrew Goh

Headquarters: Singapore

Angie’s Tempeh is the first Asia-Pacific startup dedicated to using tempeh fermentation technology to create minimally-processed protein-rich foods. They are modernising traditional tempeh making by automating the process, and are selling their range of tempeh and tempeh-based Asian ready meals like dim sum and bak kwa via both retail, direct-to-consumer and foodservice channels. 

2. Animal Alternative Technologies

Founding date: 2020

Founders: Clarisse Beurrier & Yash Mishra

Headquarters: Cambridge, United Kingdom

Animal Alternative Technologies (AAT) is a spin-off from the University of Cambridge and is focused on developing a scalable platform for cell-based meat services, including bioreactors, optimisation software, tissue engineering and analytics. Called Renaissance Farm, the automated AI-driven platform is designed to enable large-scale cultured meat production commercially viable for food manufacturers, restaurant chains, retailers and governments. 

3. GreenGourmet Foods 

Founding date: 2020

Founder: Dr. Ritu Chhatwal

Headquarters: Singapore

GreenGourmet Foods is a Singapore-based restorative food startup that is leveraging bio-enriched indigenous ingredients to recreate nutritious Asian dairy alternative products. Their first product is a vegan-friendly replacement for traditional Indian dahi, a plain yoghurt, which will be made from ancient grains. Called “Jogut”, it will also be high in protein and gut-friendly microbiota. Other products the company is developing include alternatives for lassi, makhan butter and kulfi ice cream. 

4. Haofood

Founding date: 2020

Founders: Astrid Prajogo, Professor Shaowei Liu, Jenny Zhu & Kasih Chen

Headquarters: Shanghai, China

Haofood is among the world’s first startups to develop plant-based chicken and other meat alternatives with peanut protein as its primary ingredient. Their first product is a fried plant-based chicken, developed specifically for familiar Asian dishes, such as Chinese street food style fried chicken, chicken katsu and Indonesian specialty ayam geprek. Their ultimate goal is to help flexitarians swap out meat without needing to sacrifice the foods they love. It has recently launched its product at restaurants across Shanghai.

5. MAD Foods

Founding date: 2019

Founders: Angelique Teo & Bobby Randhawa

Headquarters: Singapore

MAD Foods is a plant-based beverage startup creating functional, nutritious drinks. Their current product line-up includes three vegan-friendly oat milk-based coffees, which they plan to make available in multiple channels including supermarkets, corporate offices, educational institutions, co-working spaces and via e-commerce. Currently sold in Singapore, the startup is aiming to take their plant-based functional beverages to China, Australia and New Zealand as well. 

6. Farmsow

Founding date: 2020

Founder: Nitya Amarnath, Parth Suthar & Ankit Ratna

Headquarters: North America

Farmsow, a business-to-business ingredients company that is developing sustainable alternatives to tropical oils and animal fats.

Startups joining the New York BIV accelerator

7. AquaCultured Foods

Founding date: 2020

Founders: Anne Palermo & Brittany Chibe 

Headquarters: Chicago, Illinois, United States

AquaCultured Foods is a startup developing whole-muscle seafood alternatives using microbial fermentation. Their product is vegan-friendly, free from the top eight allergens, sustainable and inexpensive to manufacture, and is targeting a B2B client base by supplying fast-casual restaurants and QSR chains with its seafood alternatives. 

8. The Frauxmagerie

Founding date: 2017

Founder: Marie-Catherine Marsot

Headquarters: Meaford, Ontario, Canada

The Frauxmagerie is a plant-based startup using bacterial cultures to develop its artisanal dairy-free cheese alternatives. Applying the same traditional aging process and cheesemaking techniques to make their vegan and gluten-free range, the startup’s high-end vegan cheeses bear a similar taste, structure and appearance to real cheese wheels. Currently, the brand’s products are sold across stores in the U.S. and Canada, and is looking to expand to the European market. 

9. Innocent Meat

Founding date: 2020

Founders: Laura Gertenbach & Patrick Nonnenmacher

Headquarters: Rostock, Germany

Innocent Meat is a German B2B cell-based meat startup offering an end-to-end automated production system for meat companies that want to make the sustainable switch. Their platform makes it easy for animal meat processing companies to opt for a cost-efficient and sustainable way of making meat without having to invest huge sums in R&D, training and technology. So far, the firm has already signed agreements with two major German meat processors and is now in the process of developing animal-free growth factors. 

10. IncrEDIBLE 

Founding date: 2018

Founders: Dinesh Tadepalli, Sudheshna Vuppala, Kruvil Patel

Headquarters: California, United States

IncrEDIBLE is a startup with a zero-waste solution to single-use cutlery. It has created vegan-friendly edible spoons, made from non-GMO grains, which can maintain its shape and form in hot foods for up to 30 minutes. Coming in both sweet and savoury flavours, their spoons are currently sold across the U.S. through B2B and B2C channels, including on Amazon and Shopify. 

11. Blue Ridge Bantam 

Founding date: 2020

Founders: Carson Bone & Khanh Nguyen

Headquarters: Durham, North Carolina, United States

Blue Ridge Bantam is a cultured meat firm developing the most “original” animal protein in the U.S. – turkey breast. The food tech’s core platform is built around avian muscle and fat cells and aims to compete in retail, foodservice and B2B markets. In addition to developing whole-cut turkey meat, the startup plans to offer other avian meats such as cell-based chicken, duck, pheasant and quail. 

12. New Breed Meats

Founding date: 2018

Founders: Samantha Edwards & Rochelle Mekowulu

Headquarters: Lexington, Kentucky, United States

New Breed Meats is the first Black woman-owned startup making plant-based burgers, grounds and sausages that are both delicious and nutritious. Their strategy is to target the fast-growing market of African Americans, offering their first product, a plant-based burger that contains 75% less saturated fat than its competitors, through popular foodservice chains in the U.S. As an impact-driven food tech, New Breed aims to use its profits to fund educational programs and community gardens for underserved communities. 

13. Plant Ranch

Founding date: 2016

Founders: Gary Huerta, Carmen Santillan, Mike Simms

Headquarters: California, United States

Plant Ranch is a food tech that has developed a range of plant-based alternatives to authentic Mexican meats, which are currently available in retail, foodservice and online platforms in the U.S. nationwide. Currently, the startup is in the process of scaling-up production through a co-manufacturing model to meet rising demand. 

Startups joining the hybrid Singapore-New York program 

14. Wellme

Founding date: 2021

Founders: Yong Liang, Dr. Jin Zhou, Dr. Hang Xiao, Sujuan Zhao

Headquarters: Shanghai, China

Wellme is the food tech behind the plant-based yoghurt brand Berrywell, which contains healthy microbiotics to support gut health. In addition to containing a proprietary blend of probiotics and prebiotics, the vegan-friendly yoghurt alternative is also high in fibre. The company plans to launch its product via e-commerce before launching in retail. 

15. Meat. The End 

Founding date: 2020

Founders: Dr. Yishai Mishor, Moshe Nesher, David Bensal, Beny Striem

Headquarters: Tel Aviv, Israel

Meat. The End is a plant-based startup using new production techniques to develop meat alternatives that can realistically mimic the mouthfeel and taste of its animal counterparts. Their technology overcomes the “spongy” or “gummy” texture that consumers often associate with existing plant-based meats on the market. Meat. The End will license their patented platform to other plant-based meat alternative producers.

Lead image courtesy of New Breed Meats.