Last week marked World Food Day, a reminder that we need smarter, more sustainable ways to feed the planet. Climate pressure, shifting diets, and new tech are changing how food gets produced and delivered.
A handful of startups are leading that shift in the US, tackling everything from waste to nutrition to supply chain risk. Here are six companies worth watching!
Sharebite
Founders: Dilip Rao (CEO), Mohsin Memon (President & COO), Ahsen Saber (co-founder)
Founded: 2015
Total funding: $72 million
Sharebite helps companies manage meal orders for employees working in offices or remotely. What makes it different is the social piece: every meal ordered triggers a donation to someone in need, through Feeding America and City Harvest.
The New York startup raised $39 million in a 2022 Series B led by Prosus, with support from Fiserv and London Technology Club. That’s helped Sharebite grow among companies that want convenience without losing sight of impact.
Arbol
Founders: Siddhartha (Sid) Jha (CEO & Chairman), Osho Jha (Chief Data Scientist), Philippe Heilberg
Founded: 2018
Total funding: $71 million
Arbol sells weather and climate insurance for agribusinesses and food distributors. Instead of waiting for a claim review, customers get paid automatically when certain weather conditions hit: tracked through AI, satellites, IoT sensors, and blockchain.
In 2024, Arbol closed a $60 million Series B led by Giant Ventures and Opera Tech Ventures. Its customer base has grown to include large-scale farming operations and logistics companies trying to reduce climate exposure.
ALOHA
Founder: Brad Charron
Founded: 2017
Total funding: $68 million
ALOHA makes plant-based protein bars, powders, and drinks with ingredients sourced sustainably: low sugar, clean labels, and a focus on things like Ponova oil and macadamia nuts processed with renewable energy.
CEO Brad Charron took over in 2017 and turned ALOHA into an employee-owned brand built around Hawaii-inspired wellness. Last year, the company brought in $68 million from SemCap Food & Nutrition to expand retail distribution and ramp up product development.
Mission Barns
Founder: Eitan Fischer
Founded: 2018
Total funding: $60 million
Mission Barns grows pork fat in a lab and blends it with plant protein to make hybrid meat products like bacon and meatballs. The goal is real taste and texture without raising animals.
The San Francisco company raised $24 million in a 2021 Series A led by Lever VC and Gullspang Re:Food. This year, Mission Barns became the first company in the world to get FDA approval for cultivated pork, a major win for the alt-protein industry.
BIOMILQ
Founders: Dr. Leila Strickland, Michelle Egger
Founded: 2019
Total funding: $24.5 million
BIOMILQ started with a bold idea: to make breast milk outside the body using cellular agriculture. The company has since shifted focus to producing individual bioactive ingredients, like human milk oligosaccharides and osteopontin, that can be used in infant formula.
Co-founded by cell biologist Dr Leila Strickland and food scientist Michelle Egger, the Durham startup raised $21 million Series A in 2021, co-led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Novo Holdings.
BIOMILQ sits at the crossroads of biotech and infant health.
Metafoodx
Founders: Fengmin Gong, Jun Du, Wicky Zhang
Founded: 2021
Total funding: $12.4 million
Metafoodx built a 3D AI scanner that tracks food in commercial kitchens: what’s being used, what’s wasted, and where improvements can be made. The system works fast, identifying and weighing items in a couple of seconds.
The San Jose startup raised $9.4 million in a Series A this past May, led by Trustbridge Partners with BlueRun Ventures and ScalableVision Capital participating. Metafoodx says its platform can cut food waste by half in large-scale kitchen operations.
