The Snickers owner announced the latest cohort for its accelerator program, prioritizing firms advancing solutions in fiber, protein and nutrition.
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Dive Brief:
- Pringles and M&M’s owner Mars is partnering with more than half a dozen startups focused on gut health and ingredient innovation as part of the company’s <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mars-and-unreasonable-group-welcome-thirteen-new-ventures-to-unreasonable-food-302876635.html” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank”>annual accelerator program that looks to scale promising ventures in food tech.
- The food giant chose 13 startups for its third iteration of Unreasonable Food, a collaboration with startup accelerator Unreasonable Group. More than half of startups in this year’s cohort focus on innovation within nutrition, fiber or protein fortification.
- Other startups include firms working in food safety, sustainability as well as data and wellness. Chosen startups will gain access to Mars leadership for the potential for formal collaborations.
Dive Insight:
Started in 2024, Unreasonable Food seeks to grow later-stage startups that advance nutrition and sustainability. Many companies in this year’s cohort are working to increase production of ingredients such as protein or fiber, but through less agriculturally intensive methods.
For example, Biovit extracts vitamins and minerals from plants grown on organic farms that can be used to fortify foods. Lasso Labs, another cohort member, spins simple ingredients into fibers that can give foods the texture of meat without additives or high heat.
“At Mars, our ambition is to create better snacks and a better planet — and that requires innovation across the entire food system, from soil to snack,” Amanda Davies, Chief R&D and commercial and sustainability officer for Mars Snacking, said in a statement. “This year’s Unreasonable Food cohort brings the bold, scalable thinking we believe can help advance nutrition, ingredient innovation, food safety, circularity and supply chain resilience.”
This year’s startups also are focusing on gut health and nutritional research. Radicle Science, for example, runs placebo-controlled trials on wellness products to help companies back up their health claims, while FoodHealth scores products on factors such as nutrient density to give consumers and companies a shared language for food quality.
Mars’ first cohort in 2024 has reported nearly an additional $200 million in revenue since joining the program, In addition, they have saved 140,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent while conserving 310 million liters of water.
The full list of startups in Unreasonable Food’s accelerator program is:
- Superbrewed Food: Creates postbiotic ingredients made from microflora native to the microbiome, which support digestive health and deliver protein nutrition comparable to dairy
- Myota: Manufactures prebiotic fiber blends to boost gut health.
- Holobiome: Developing a tech platform to enable discovery of new gut health solutions in food and other industries
- Kuli Kuli: Cultivates the superfoods, including moringa, in partnership with small communities of growers
- BIOVIT: Creates natural vitamin and mineral ingredients from plants, fungi and algae.
- Lasso Labs: Produces texture from protein and fiber to redefine how processed food is made
- Nutrition from Water: Uses microalgae to grow protein and other nutrient-rich ingredients
- Revyve: Makes texturizing ingredients from yeast that mimic the functionality of eggs
- FoodHealth: Platform that scores food items on nutrient density and ingredient quality for shoppers, retailers and brands
- HowGood: Maintains a database on food sustainability to help brands measure the footprint of ingredients
- Radicle Science: Runs large-scale trials on ingredients to help brands back up wellness claims
- SporeBio: An AI technology that can detect contamination on the factory floor within minutes
- Without: Turns multi-layered plastics and mixed textiles into premium recycled materials
Filed Under:Corporate Operations,Ingredients,Innovation
