Food-X, who runs one of the most well-known startup accelerators in the food industry, announced today via press release the eight companies chosen to participate in Cohort 10 of its Food Innovation Accelerator program.
The three-month-long program offers participating companies initial capital (up to $65,000 this year) along with curriculum, mentorship and networking opportunities as well as coworking space in Food-X’s hometown of NYC. Since its inception in 2014, Food-X has nurtured more than 85 companies up and down the food chain, from Ingest.ai to Planetarians to Halla.
Given the program’s popularity in the food world, getting accepted into it is not exactly a breeze. Food-X sifts through more than 500 applications when choosing cohort participants. As Program Director Peter Bodenheimer told me back in April, Food-X carefully evaluates how companies apply advanced technology to the food system. It also looks at the individuals in each company, to ensure chosen startups are made up of teams that can actually execute on a concept. “You can have the best idea in the world, but if the team can’t execute, it won’t happen,” Bodenheimer said.
The program doesn’t limit itself to a specific area of food (e.g., agtech) but health and sustainability are recurring themes that surface with each new Food-X cohort. Food safety and traceability, supply chain efficiency, and decreasing food waste are also issues chosen startups tend to be tackling.
Food-X picked eight companies for Cohort 10:
- AI Nutrition: An AI-powered precision nutrition platform that integrates with online grocers
- Bevv: An online e-commerce and logistic platform for craft breweries and cideries
- Edi Health: A health and wellness marketplace
- Farma Genetix: A food-as-medicine startup making “genetically tuned” supplements and personalized diets
- Hidden Gems Beverage Company: A beverage startup that makes drinks from upcycled ingredients like avocado seeds
- Millennia TEA: “An entirely new category of tea,” according to the press release
- YoFiit: A startup that makes milk products from chickpeas and flax that matches the macronutrients of cow’s milk
- YourLocal: A food-rescue startup that works with restaurants to supply neighborhoods with discounted surplus food
Food-X says 50 percent of Cohort 10 companies are led by females, and 25 percent are led or co-led by minorities.
Meanwhile, the program is already taking early applications for Cohort 11.
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