Top 20 Food Startups That Have Disrupted the Market

Swiggy Logo. Photo by स्विग्गी. Wikimedia Commons

Top 20 Food Startups That Have Disrupted the Market

The global food ecosystem has been expanding exponentially due to latest innovations in the food startup industry.

Food startups such as  Swiggy have digitized supply chains, business models and customer journeys in the industry by leveraging on new technologies.

All startups innovating on products, distribution, marketing or business models within the food industry in essence define the food startup ecosystem.

New food startups are reimaging and reinventing the whole industry by harnessing new technological advancements.

While some startups are offering new innovative services and customer tools others are undertaking the process of creating food and related products and services.

Food startups are actively trying to improve the food sector while challenging the status quo from modernistic farming to enhanced delivery services.

The top 20 food startups that have disrupted the market include the following.

1. Deliveroo

Will Shu, CEO Deliveroo. Photo by 10797bkr. Wikimedia Commons

Deliveroo is a London based food startup founded by Will Shu who is the company’s Chief Executive Officer.

When Will Shu moved to London in 2013, he discovered that even though the city was full of great restaurants very few actually delivered food to their customers.

He therefore saw an opportunity to start a business that offers delivery services to restaurant customers and hence Deliveroo was started.

The startup offers fast and reliable delivery services that customers can track using their mobile devices from the comfort of their homes or any other preferred location.

Deliveroo in effect brings to people’s doors, the city’s best local restaurants.

Deliveroo operates a hyperlocal three-sided marketplace which connects restaurants and grocers, riders and local consumers to ensure within 30 minutes it fulfils a mission critical, emotional purchase.

The company works with thousands of restaurants and grocers, thousands of riders, and serve millions of consumers in eleven markets worldwide.

Due to its exponential growth estimated to be 650% annually, the company has created thousands of new jobs in the food industry.

Deliveroo streamlines the delivery experience with machine learning through ‘Frank’ algorithm which is based on predictive technology.

The algorithm evaluates the most efficient way of distributing orders based on customers, restaurant locations and riders and has cut delivery time by 20%.

2. Swiggy

Bangalore. Photo by Kushagra140. Wikimedia Commons

The largest food ordering and delivery platform in India’s growing market is Swiggy, a Bangalore-based food startup.

Customers order meals from their favorite restaurants using a platform operated by Swiggy.

Users can track their shipments in real-time through the opportunity provided by the platform.

Food ordering has been made as simple as possible for customers by the startup’s platform.

Customers can be updated with order information like preparation time, approximate delivery time, and the estimated arrival time through their mobile phones.

Apart from following their order status in real-time, customers can get food delivered at their doorsteps within 40 minutes

Swiggy was founded by Sriharsha Majety, Nandan Reddy and Rahul Jaimini in 2014; about eight years ago.

 Swiggy has partnered with internationally recognized brands such as Burger King and Google Local Guide to provide delivery services and facilitate customer reviews respectively among others

3. Wolt

Helsinki. Photo by Mikko Paananen. Wikimedia Commons

The next food startup that has disrupted the market is Wolt; a Finnish based startup.

The company is based in Helsinki in Finland and was founded in 2014 by Miki Kuusi, Elias Aalto, Mika Matikainen, Oskari Pétas, Lauri Andler and Juhani Mykkänen.

Wolt provides last-mile logistics to businesses in the food industry.

The company is building a platform that connects restaurants and retailers who want to make and sell quality food to their customers with couriers who finally make the deliveries.

Wolt provides a powerful same-day delivery service that enables restaurant businesses expand by making on-demand deliveries to their customers to boost sales.

Wolt is known for delivering fast, reliable and affordable service to its clients.

4. Upside Foods

Upside Foods. Photo by Unknown author. Wikimedia Commons

 Headquartered in Berkeley in California, Upside Foods formerly known as Memphis Meats is a food technology company that produces cell-based meat which is widely available, affordable and delicious.

The company was founded by Uma Valeti, Nicholas Genovese, and Will Clem in 2015 with the aim of growing sustainable cultured meats as the flagship product.  

Valeti was a professor at the University of Minnesota and a cardiologist. 

In the future, the company plans to manufacture the meat products in bioreactors and also produce various meat products using biotechnology.

The company is committed to keeping the process of making high-quality cultivated meat sustainable in the long run.

The company takes a small sample of healthy chicken cells and allows it to grow into pure clean meat by placing it in a nutrient-rich environment.

The cultivated meat uses 77% less water and 62% less land than conventional meat and from one chicken the company makes a chicken to feed everyone.

5. Mosa Meat

Maastricht. Photo by de:Benutzer:Mussklprozz. Wikimedia Commons

Headquartered in Maastricht, Netherlands, Mosa Meat is a Dutch food technology company.

The company which creates production methods for cultured meat was founded in May 2016 by Peter Verstrate and Mark Post.

The food startup produces meat alternatives and supplies them to its customers.

The company is moving away from the traditional agriculture process to a more sustainable process and as such they are rethinking the entire process.

The company’s process is environmentally friendly, available everywhere and sustainable.

The company is focusing on shaping the product to make if affordable as producing meat takes up 80% of all agricultural land.

6. Good Catch

Another startup that is disrupting the market is Good Catch. The startup brings innovation to the way seafood is made in an environmentally friendly process.

The company uses plant-based and environmentally friendly ingredients to produce high-quality sea food.

The company delivers its high-quality sea foods to its customers using its delivery means.  

The company uses protein-packed six-legume blend of peas, chickpeas, soy, lentils, navy beans, and fava beans to make its sea foods which appear like they are not sea foods but also are.

7. Solar Foods

Headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, Solar Foods is a Finnish fast food startup that seeks to produce edible protein.

The company seeks to use electricity to produce hydrogen which is combined with carbon dioxide, water, vitamins and minerals to feed and grow a microbial biomass.

The microbial biomass that is produced can then be used as edible protein by customers.

The company was founded in 2015 by Juha-Pekka Pitkänen, Pasi Vainikka, Sami Holmström, Jero Ahola, Janne Mäkelä and Jari Tuovinen.

The company develops processes to manufacture a protein powder called Solein. Solein is a protein ingredient in food production and can be added to other foods to enhance their nutritional value.  

From their unique biotech solution that’s also environmentally friendly, the company produces food out of thin air.

The startup assists in cutting CO₂ emissions by using solar to produce its edible protein.

8. ClusterTruck

One the food startups that can best be described as a delivery-only kitchen is ClusterTruck. The company makes its food in addition to delivering it unlike majority of the competition.

The company offers convenient group ordering to its customers in addition to its main business activity.

ClusterTruck cooks across multiple menus, and as such can satisfy everyone’s tastes and dietary needs as they can provide something for every customer.

9. Shiok-Meats

Shiok-Meats uses technology to grow meat from healthy cells instead of animals which enables the company to provide delicious, sustainable, and healthy seafood for its customers.

The startup uses cellular agriculture technology to produce foods like shrimps, crabs, and lobsters.

Shiok-Meats is focused on providing healthy, nutritious, and tasty sustainable seafood to the masses.

The company invented a technology that results in a completely animal-free product which makes the Singapore based company unique in South-East Asia and the entire region at large.

10. Olio-Food

One of the startups that has built a platform that connects neighbors as well as with businesses so surplus food can be shared and not thrown away is Olio-Food.

The company’s app makes it easy for users to add and access items for pick up by the company staff.

The company found that food worth $1 trillion is thrown away throughout the world while over 800 million people go to sleep hungry every night.

The app enables people with excess food to add a photo, description, and when and where the food is located for collection.

 11.  Winnow

Winnow is a food startup which connects commercial kitchens to inspire chefs to stop food wastage and create a movement of the chefs.

Winnow empowers chefs to make better decisions which leads to reduced food wastage as well as reduced costs by proving technology to help chefs achieve greater visibility in their kitchen.

When it comes to measuring food wastage, different kitchens have different requirements.

Winnow’ solutions are used to record food waste seamlessly and are used from small kitchens to cruise ships and casinos.

12.  Too Good To Go

Too Good To Go assists people save surplus food from shops and supermarkets through an app that the creative startup has developed.

The platform not only creates a movement against wasting of food but also helps in powering the company’s efforts in shaking up the global food system.

Households, businesses, schools, and public affairs are the four pillars they have created around which they have set goals to be achieved.

13. Karma Kitchen

Karma Kitchen is a food startup that creates beautiful commercial kitchens, co-working and storage from underutilized industrial spaces which they transform.

With everything from kitchen porters, community managers, to top of the range equipment, the startup builds, equips and manages the spaces.

The goal of the startup is to ensure the full needs of a food and drink business are encompassed in the workspace it creates.

14. Deliverect

One of the blooming food startups that is focused on connecting restaurants with their customers is Deliverect.

The startup integrates all of a restaurant’s online orders to its delivery manager app or existing POS system.

A company can reduce failures and mistakes while speeding up order preparation by relying on Deliverect.

A restaurant’s online order management can be done by Deliverect which gives the restaurant time to focus on its core business.

15.  FlipDish

Flipdish helps build brands and grows online ordering service for restaurants and takeaways.

The company provides end-to-end ordering, marketing and management of a business without relying on third-party marketplaces and aggregators in order to do that.

FlipDish’s goal is to help food businesses take orders online via state-of-the-art websites and apps.

The annual revenue that the company generates tops well over $250 million dollars

16.  Karakuri

Karakuri is utilizing the power of technology to create new and better restaurant experiences.

The company creates a whole new category of personalized food service through use of robotics and artificial intelligence.

Karakuri’s smart robotic kitchens handle the freshest ingredients in ways that mimic chefs and restaurants in the real world and hence there is no reheating pots of ready meals or microwaving them.  

Karakuri is considered as one of the most innovative food startups due to their vision for the future of food which is collaborative, efficient, and personalized.

17. Oatly

One of the food startups that is producing milk in an environmentally friendly method but in a different way is Oatly.

Oatly produces and sells oat milk  while aiming at changing human perception in a positive manner.

The company aims at influencing people to shift from consuming milk from animals to consuming  milk from plants mainly oat milk.

18.  Remedy Organics

Founded in 2014, Remedy Organics is a food startup located in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. 

Remedy Organics makes plant-based juices and smoothies that are packed with popular ingredients like cocoa, MCT oil and dates among others.

The company is one of the top ten companies that PepsiCo sees as the future of food and beverage in the world.

The company’s growing market share is enhanced by the sleek packaging and thoughtful, focused product lines.

19.  Goldbelly

Funded in a Series C funding of $133.1 million, Goldbelly is a food startup that was founded in 2012.

Goldbelly is a heavy display marketer and retargeting advertiser based in New York in the United States of America.

Shipping iconic dishes from famous restaurants around the U.S. directly to customers doorstep is the simple business model of Goldbelly.

Goldbelly scouts for the most popular restaurants and then present their menus to potential customers to place an order.  

Using the model, the company has been able to sell Lobster Rolls from Maine’s finest, bagels from Brooklyn and, Philly Cheesesteaks from Philadelphia among others.

20.  RightRice

RightRice is a food startup founded in 2017  and it is based in San Francisco, California.  RightRice has developed a rice alternative that is created purely from vegetables and which has disrupted the market.

The company which attracted initial funding of $5.5M, takes pride in a product that has twice the protein, five times the fiber, and significantly fewer carbs than the competitions products.

RightRice joins the category of those easy-to-cook meals that exist and is perhaps the best in that category.