Editor’s Note: Lesley Stonier is CMO at Forward Fooding, the collaborative platform for FoodTech Data Intelligence and Corporate Startup Collaboration.
The idea for the FoodTech 500 first came over a team lunch at Forward Fooding HQ, where we were debating the recent IPO of Beyond Meat and wondering who will be the next big player in AgriFoodTech to IPO.
This question led me to realise that although we all had our own ideas of who the next big industry players would be to make it big, we had, in fact, all picked different companies, in completely different categories of FoodTech. Although there were uniting factors in our choices, we were basing this on our opinions, not on data.
This sparked a thought. Could we set out to discover the AgriFoodTech businesses that have the potential to transform the Food Industry as we know it and become tomorrow’s household names? Through this process, could we create a set of criteria to unify, rank and score the businesses which in our opinion are the entrepreneurial success stories worth keeping an eye on in AgriFoodTech?
The answer to that question, I’m pleased to say is yes, and today we proudly unveil the FoodTech 500 finalists, with the full ranked list available on 4th February 2020.
Methodology
Our methodology for FoodTech 500 blends human vetting with tech-powered data crunching to deliver the ultimate FoodTech 500 list.
We have manually validated each entry to create a shortlist of finalists.
Now the hard work begins, and we let take technology take the lead.
The process involves uploading key data from each individual application into Forward Fooding’s FoodTech Data Navigator to let the system assign a score to each company in scoring and ranking every single business based on a business size score, a digital footprint score and a sustainability score.
BUSINESS SIZE: The first criterion the FoodTech Data Navigator generates is a Business size score. This is a prediction of business growth based upon financial performance indicators. We take into account the number of employees, stage of funding and funding raised.
DIGITAL FOOTPRINT: The second criterion the FoodTech Data Navigator generates is a Digital FootPrint Score which is a prediction of business growth based upon each company’s digital presence, social media performance and visibility on the web.
The final score we generate is a SUSTAINABILITY SCORE. We have chosen to base this on environmental sustainability and the positive impact they can bring to the planet
We then aggregate the three individual scores (business size, digital footprint, sustainability score) giving each finalist (across each category) a ranked position on the list, allowing us to deliver the ultimate Food Tech 500 list.
Want access to the full list?
Download ‘Creating The FoodTech 500’, to see the full list, learn more about our methodology, and how we are crafting the final ranking. The final list will be officially released on the 4th of February 2020.
Each FoodTech 500 finalist will have an overall ranked position, and the list will also be able to pivot based on the different scoring criteria.
Congratulations
So here’s to the innovators and disruptors. The young startups and scaleups that are building and scaling AgriFoodTech businesses, and addressing the rapid need for change across our food ecosystem. All of the companies that have made it as a FoodTech 500 finalist have in our opinion become entrepreneurial success stories worth keeping an eye on, which is why we have made it our mission to share them.
