What are agrifoodtech startups tracking as we head into 2026? To find out, we fired off a few emails to companies we’ve covered on AgFunderNews this year.
Unsurprisingly, AI was high up the list, which spans everything from MAHA to mushrooms to GLP-1 drugs, ultra-processed foods, continuous fermentation and biologicals…
👉 Check out part two of our vox pop, which is all about what’s keeping founders awake at night.
Frank Jaksch, CEO, Ayana Bio: In 2026, the fast-moving shift away from ultra-processed foods (UPFs) is the trend to watch. The recent San Francisco lawsuit against UPFs and The Lancet’s report linking UPFs to harm across nearly every organ system are creating increased consumer awareness resulting in pressure for reformulation. We’re already seeing the first wave: major brands like PepsiCo are removing synthetic colorants, as shown in their NKD Doritos and Cheetos launch. I believe the wave to re-design UPFs is coming fast with synthetic preservatives as the industry’s next major target. Technologies that deliver natural, scalable, and supply-chain-secure alternatives will define who wins in this new landscape, and plant cell culture is uniquely positioned to deliver.
David Mazar, chief revenue officer, SiFly: The broad application of AI is the piece that continues to be so exciting, with model advancements across all domains, the use is truly ubiquitous. We see the value of AI in our aerial operations continuing to expand. Everything from improved autonomous flight to onboard algorithms enabling truly edge decision-making.
Robotics is another area that ties into AI and expands across operating domains from ground to air and beyond. We see opportunity in the collaboration between different types of robotic systems. Imagine a scenario where a ground robot is deployed to provide operational support and maintenance [for an] aerial robot, which in turn can complete numerous airborne tasks enabling a truly autonomous use case. This is where we see things going in 2026 and beyond.
Mike Messersmith, CEO, Lasso: I think GLP-1s will continue to have a massive impact on the consumer packaged good space, how consumers prioritize claims and nutritional content, how greater accessibility through lower price points and medicine delivery mechanisms increase the growing base of users. There are categories across the store that are being fundamentally reshaped in massive ways that create huge opportunity for challenger brands.
Michelle Ruiz, cofounder and CEO, Hyfé: The ingredient sales players strongly believe that fiber demand will skyrocket, and I am monitoring signs of consumer sales data that can support those expectations. I’m also watching how CPG companies are approaching product strategy in a GLP-1 world and monitoring regulatory bans on chemical additives in food, personal care, and agriculture.
Tony Martens, cofounder and CEO, Plantible: AI is obviously big, especially when it comes to manufacturing automation and supporting operators in becoming more efficient.
Viraj Puri, cofounder and CEO, Gotham Greens: I am keeping an eye on whether consumer trends around GLP-1s are here to stay. Many GLP-1 users want ready-to-cook or pre-made meals, easy-to-prepare snacks, and grab-and-go options. Taste, portion size and ease of digestion are also considerations. We’re taking all these consumer insights into consideration as we map out our product portfolio.
Beth Zotter, CEO, Bluekey Bio: Trends I’m watching include the Bühler partnership with Pow.Bio for continuous fermentation technology implementation. Moving from batch to continuous manufacturing has for decades been the target for achieving a dramatic cost reduction in the unit economics of bioproducts made via fermentation. I predict that with this technology, we will start to see bioproducts competing on price in categories from food to biobased materials where they were previously niche or priced out.
Ross Milne, CEO, Leaft Foods: The global requirement for protein has been steadily increasing with the rise in global population. While this led to a flurry of attempts to find alternative protein sources, few have had the ability to move the needle in the short term. The introduction of GLP-1 drugs has only furthered the demand for protein, which has led to a dramatic increase in product development of high protein products. Despite the negative headlines that frequent the alt protein news pages, this is an area of the sector that has significant demand and is chasing innovative solutions.
Paul Shapiro, cofounder and CEO, The Better Meat Co: Fungi are in. Alt-protein may still be in the early rounds, but mycelium is the Rocky Balboa of the sector: taking the hits and still moving forward. For example MyBacon and Prime Roots (both mycelium-based) are among the alt-meat brands that are growing right now, and the rare fundraising announcements—Better Meat Co, Protein Brewery, Matr Foods, as a few examples—seem concentrated in the mycelium corner too.
Renuka Karandikar, cofounder and CEO, BioPrime: We’re closely tracking how biologicals can become the backbone of regenerative agriculture and unlock verified carbon credits at scale for farmers. The convergence of biology + digital MRV + carbon markets is the trend with the greatest transformative potential.
Louise Parlons Bentata, cofounder and CEO, Bluemethane: Like everyone else, we are closely examining AI to understand how we can optimize operations and streamline activity by reducing friction. We are also monitoring how carbon markets link up with methane and how a ton of methane is valued when it is mitigated from liquids. [Disclosure: AgFunderNews’ parent company AgFunder is an investor.]
Bosco Emparanza García, founder and CEO, MOA Foodtech: By 2026 and beyond, the combination of AI, industrial fermentation, and circular bioeconomy principles will fundamentally reshape how food ingredients are designed and produced.
Po Bronson, general partner SOSV: The reshoring boom will stall in 2026 as renewed steel tariffs make US manufacturing prohibitively expensive. Projects once hailed as symbols of industrial revival will be delayed or canceled, forcing companies to maintain or even expand production in China rather than bring it home.
In 2026, the next wave of critical resource innovation will focus on extracting valuable materials from dilute sources, aka turning waste streams and low-concentration deposits into viable supply. From lithium in brines to methane and copper in trace environments, breakthroughs in separation and recovery will reduce dependence on foreign mines like those in Chile.
By 2026, next-generation fertilizer will be half the cost and half the size, replacing today’s wasteful, high-emission formulations that slow crop performance. Agriculture will finally start treating nutrients like precision-engineered materials, not commodities.
Pål Johan From, founder and CEO, Saga Robotics: We keep a close eye on what solutions have most traction in the market, for example in what areas autonomous systems seem to work best and where tractor implements seem to have better adaptation. We are particularly interested in how AI—more traditional AI, not so much large language models—can be used in enhanced safety systems for autonomous operation.
Julia Streuli, cofounder and CEO, FUL Foods: One of the most consequential shifts we’re watching is the global color transition, accelerated in the US by the MAHA movement. We’re entering what is likely to be one of the largest reformulation cycles in modern food history, as brands move away from petroleum-derived artificial colors and toward natural alternatives across grocery, convenience, and drugstore shelves.
We’re also closely tracking supply-chain localization and resilience, particularly increased emphasis on US-based production. The disruptions earlier this year were a wake-up call, and in 2026 we expect brands to prioritize more dynamic, diversified supply chains that can produce within the United States.
Finally, I think we’re on the cusp of “alternative proteins 2.0.” The demand for protein has never been stronger, but this next wave of protein innovation will be shaped by hard-earned lessons from the past five years – focusing on taste, affordability, and regulatory viability, not just novel science.
Dan Even, founder and CEO, Asterix Foods: We’re closely watching the expansion of bioactive proteins into new use cases, particularly at the intersection of food and health. As protein production platforms like plant cell culture mature, we see a major opportunity to rethink food not just as nutrition, but as a personalized, functional tool for improving human health, with many new bioactive targets emerging in the years ahead.
Daan Raemdonck, cofounder, Koppie: I’m monitoring functionality in general. Protein, energy, mind, mood, skin… what is the winning ingredient?
Simo Ellilä, cofounder and CEO, Enifer: I think the headline at this year’s Future Food-Tech event in London captured it well: “Healthy and resilient food systems.” Sustainability as a priority has clearly declined while securing supply chains and providing products to increasingly health-conscious consumers has come to the fore.
Elén Faxö, CEO, OlsAro: AI and increasingly accessible multi-omics are accelerating biology in ways that felt impossible just a few years ago. The convergence of AI-driven trait discovery and advanced molecular tools is poised to unlock the next generation of truly climate-resilient crops.
Across the value chain, the momentum behind climate-smart cereals is becoming real. It’s no longer a vision statement — it’s shaping both customer demand as well as supply-chain commitments. That alignment between technological possibility and market pull is what excites me most. [Disclosure: AgFunderNews’ parent company AgFunder is an investor.]
Francisco Martin-Rayo, cofounder and CEO, Helios: In 2026 I’m watching how verticalized AI reshapes agricultural forecasting and supply-chain resilience from hyper-granular climate-risk modeling to AI-driven procurement co-pilots that change how buyers make decisions. The quiet trend is that enterprise adoption is finally catching up to the technology, and the companies pairing proprietary data with domain-specific AI will define the next decade.
Alexia Akbay, founder and CEO, Symbrosia: I’m tracking bioactive functionality, mineral chelation techniques, and consumer dismay with synthetic additives.
Thijs Bosch, CEO, The Protein Brewery: I believe that during 2026 longevity nutrition will gain further momentum. As our population continues to grow and age, consumers are looking for nutrition with proven health benefits. It is no longer just about expanding lifespan, but more about health span.
George Peppou, founder and CEO, Vow: GLP-1s are a trend I’m watching closely, it increasingly seems like it’s here to stay and cultured meat seems like a potentially interesting companion food for both macronutrient and micronutrient optimization.
Michael Fox, cofounder and CEO, Fable Food: I’m incredibly excited by the interest and take up from consumers, retailers and food service operators for ground beef blended with shiitake mushrooms. In channels where our shiitake mushrooms are successful and we then launch our beef with shiitake mushrooms products, the latter are often selling over 10x the volume of the former. [Disclosure: AgFunderNews’ parent company AgFunder is an investor.]
Dr. Gabe Sibley, cofounder, Verdant Robotics: We continue to track and push advances in ML/AI that allow for better performance, reduced operational cost, and reduced time-to-deployment.[Disclosure: AgFunderNews’ parent company AgFunder is an investor.]
David Brown, COO, Chinova Bioworks: We’ve been keeping a close eye on the MAHA movement and how it’s overlapping with the clean label movement. What’s been relevant for us is that it has increased the pressure on food and beverage producers to stop the use of harmful chemical preservatives. We’re continuing to advance our natural ingredient portfolio to replace chemical preservatives across the F&B industry as we see that this will only continue to be a major topic in 2026 and beyond. [Disclosure: AgFunderNews’ parent company AgFunder is an investor.]
Douglas Martin, CEO and Founder, MiAlgae: One of the biggest shifts I’m watching is the transition of select food and ingredient technologies from lab and pilot scale into early commercial production. After years of R&D, a growing number of solutions are now reaching a point where they can be manufactured reliably, at scale, and integrated into existing supply chains.
A clear example of this is sustainable omega-3 production. Global demand continues to rise across pet food, aquaculture, and human nutrition, while reliance on wild-caught fish oils is placing increasing pressure on already fragile marine ecosystems.
David Henstrom, CEO, Unibio: With the challenges facing dedicated single-cell protein production hard to ignore, I am encouraged that the biggest impact in 2026 and beyond will come from a few proven players with the most viable commercial models, who are truly ready to scale and address global food security challenges. We will finally see real growth taking shape, with the Middle East as the starting point.
At the same time, it is inspiring to see momentum building around uncovering the functional health benefits of biomasses from bacteria. We are making strong progress in this field, and it is becoming a unique capability for us: the ability to maximize the value of any bacterial biomass.
Eric Smith, founder and CEO, Edacious: I’m monitoring the move from quantity to quality: total protein and total fat to protein quality and fat quality. This underlies everything from the impacts of GLP-1 on consumer purchasing to the conversation around seed oils and impact on human health.
Aviv Wolff, cofounder and CEO, Remilk: GLP-1s have ended volume growth in US food, prioritizing protein over empty calories. As legacy incumbents struggle to pivot to this ‘less but better’ reality, insurgent brands are capturing the growth.
Eben Bayer, cofounder, MyForest Foods: I’m closely watching functional foods, fiber, and climate control—not climate change. On functional foods, I’m trying to see when the intersection with scientifically supported claims and marketing might intersect—or not—in consumer sentiment.
Owen Ensor, founder and CEO, Meatly: I’m watching how food price volatility, driven by climate change, zoonotic disease risk and geopolitics, will continue to threaten traditional food supply chains. 2026, I hope, will be the year that big brands and manufacturers start to get serious about exploring alternative ways to make critical foods that offer greater stability, safety and predictability.
On the tech side, we can expect more second wave companies to progress in developing low-cost bioreactors, affordable media and more robust cell lines. We’re now at a point where we have answered a lot of the big questions and the hard work lies in showing how to scale this with bigger production runs, to get this to consumers to try and buy.
Gerit Tolborg, cofounder and CEO, Chromologics: First, we are closely following the industry’s response to the recent ban of Red 3 in the US. This has accelerated the urgency among food manufacturers to identify natural, stable, and future-proof alternatives. It’s a major regulatory shift, and it’s shaping food ingredient strategies across several categories.
Second, we’re seeing a rapidly growing demand for replacements for carmine, which is driven by the need for vegan and insect-free colorants as well as the necessity for greater supply stability.
Ibrahim Ashqar, cofounder and CEO, Lumi AI: I’m incredibly excited about our upcoming H1 roadmap. The rollout of true self-service, expanded data hosting, and our new “Missions” capability will be absolute game changers. Users will be able to onboard without our involvement, connect to one of 700 supported databases (up from seven today), and assign Lumi autonomous tasks e.g., “Alert me when you find issues or opportunities in our inventory data”. This will fundamentally change how customers extract value from their data. [Disclosure: AgFunderNews’ parent company AgFunder is an investor.]
Nathan Rosenberg, cofounder and CEO, Farmblox: Everyone’s talking about tariffs, drought, and labor shortages, but theft is quietly becoming one of the costliest threats to American farms. Copper, pumps, and fencing are being stolen at record rates, and many farms sit in remote areas with little connectivity or law enforcement presence. Farmers are standing in the middle of a perfect storm: economic pressure, environmental stress, and now, criminal risk. Technology will play a decisive role in helping them protect their operations, safeguard their livelihoods, and keep their farms running.
👉 Read part 2 of our vox pop.
👉 Watch the editorial team’s festive roundup video.
