Eight disruptive startups are shaping the future of food and technology

Meet eight innovative food disruptive startups honored by the first ReThink Food Innovator Program. The RTF’s inaugural program “recognizes eight disruptive startups shaping the future of food and technology,” according to a release from MIT Media Lab.

The honorees will be showcased at ReThink Food, an annual conference held at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Napa Valley, California, in early November. The eight companies were chosen by MIT Media Lab, CIA, and Ideo global design company. The program this year looked for the “freshest thinkers” in six focus areas: Fermented Foods & the Microbiome; Back to Basics; Urban Agriculture; Food Science for Greater Good; Eating for the Eco-System; and Culinary Confidence.

“In today’s ever-accelerating markets, there is often little time for new ideas to gain traction,” said Greg Drescher, CIA vice president of strategic initiatives and industry leadership. “We applaud these companies for correctly reading shifts in food cultures and behaviors, and designing brilliant business models and value-based connections with consumers.”

And the honorees are …

Fermented Foods & the Microbiome
 Afineur: This Brooklyn, New York, company that “produces disruptive fermentations to craft better and healthier food.”

Back to Basics
Miyoko’s Kitchen: A Fairfax, California, concern that “makes handcrafted artisan vegan cheeses made with organic ingredients.”

Urban Agriculture
IndigoAg: A Charlestown, Massachusetts, company that uses “plant microbiomes to strengthen crops against disease and drought to increase crop yield for farmers.”

Agralogics: This Walnut Creek, California, company, “Enables anyone to easily access and share information about the goods they grow, sell or eat: in the right place, at the right time and with the right people.”

Food Science for Greater Good
Nuritas: A Dublin, Ireland, company that “Discovers ingredients from food sources in a completely unique way, providing natural, sustainable and scientifically proven health solutions.”

Eating for the Eco-System
Renewal Mill: A team from the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute in New Haven, Connecticut, this startup “leads the evolution of a circular food economy and creates products using discarded material from industrial food production to deliver nutritious and wholesome ingredients.”

Australis: Based in Turners Falls, Massachusetts, Australis is “Creating a world where anyone can enjoy healthy seafood whenever, and wherever they want. Spearheading the global emergence of ocean-farmed barramundi for consumers, schools, hospitals, and businesses …”

Culinary Confidence
Handpick: Offices located in San Francisco, Shanghai, and Manila. “An innovative food discovery platform that’s solving the universal problem of what to do with ingredients that consumers have on hand, and providing affordable, sustainable recipes and meal kits that leave zero food waste.”