World Food Day 2025: 10 Startups Redefining Food

Today is World Food Day, a day designed to commemorate the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in 1945.

Every year, World Food Day is designed to raise awareness around food inequality, encouraging people to take action towards better food security for all. As this year marks 80 years of World Food Day, there’s no better time to look at some of the startups driving forward food security worldwide.

How Have Startups Contributed To Food Security?

Startups have played a key role in tackling food inequality across the world.

In general, they do this by:

Improving food growth: Many agritech startups have developed new technologies to improve farming yield, helping to create more food. By using tech like drones, vertical farms and satellite imagery to monitor soil health, these companies are improving food production, meaning that there is more to go round.

Improving food distribution and reducing waste: But there’s no point creating more food if it can’t get to the people that need it. Many startups have found new ways to redistribute surplus food, meaning less gets wasted. Other companies have improved access to food for rural communities, who may have had to pay large sums to cover the cost of transport.

Developing new food types: Growing more food isn’t the only way to create more food. In fact, many startups have set out to create alternative food types, that can be made without animals or farmers. These plant-based proteins allow companies to create more food without worrying about supply, the environment or disease outbreaks.

Turning food into new resources: Food isn’t just hard to grow, it’s expensive too. One of the main ways companies are helping to curb this is by turning bad, rotten or wasted food into new resources. For example, some companies may turn food waste into animal feed, fertiliser or compost, helping turn unused food into ways to grow it.

So, who are some of the startups redefining food? We take a look…

Redefine Meat

Redefine Meat has created a new, plant-based meat that is not only good for the environment but kind to animals too.

With a product range including burgers, shawarma, steak, kofta and more, Redefine Meat has created a product with the same taste, texture and aroma as regular meat.

Through this, they are developing a new food group that can be created at scale, without relying on farmers.

GreenPod Labs

GreenPod labs is an Indian company that is helping fruits and vegetables live longer through activating their defence mechanisms.

Currently, 40% of fruits and vegetables are wasted and never reach consumers. To tackle this GreenPod labs has created a way to naturally slow down the ripening rate, extending the shelf life of fruits and vegetables.

Flybox

Flybox has developed a new way to deal with food waste using insects, specifically Black Solider Fly larvae.

These larvae eat leftover food and agricultural waste (things that would normally be thrown away) and turn it into useful products like animal feed, bio-oil and fertiliser. That way, organic waste can be recycled to create a more circular food system.

Nilus

Nilus is an Argentinian social enterprise that uses tech to connect producers with schools and community kitchens that can buy their food waste for a fraction of the price.

Every year, a huge amount of food is wasted, Nilus helps to reduce this by helping producers sell it to those that need it, for a much lower cost.

Chanzi

Chanzi uses Black Soldier Fly larvae to convert food waste into nutritious protein for animal feed.

By reducing organic waste and creating a more cost-effective way to provide animal food, Chanzi is helping develop a more circular food economy.

Dogtooth

Dogtooth Technologies has created fruit-picking robots designed to only pick ripe fruits.

Their robots are able to navigate along crop rows and reduce labour costs, making picking more accurate, less wasteful and more affordable. Through this, farmers know they are always picking ripe fruits, meaning none are left to rot on the vine.

Vivent Biosignals

Vivent Biosignals allows farmers to make data-driven decisions by listening to their plant’s natural bio signals in real time.

By using AI to interpret the readings, Vivent Biosignals help farmers boost yields and grow food more sustainably.

Phytoform Labs

Phytoform labs is on a mission to make agriculture more sustainable. By creating resilient and sustainable crops, farmers will be able to create a better and more secure food system.

Through partnering with companies and using AI, Phytoform Labs genetically modifies crops to make them stronger and more resilient.

BlueNalu

Blue Nalu has created cell-cultured seafood to provide a real alternative to traditional seafood products that are high in contaminants and can be overfished, imported or difficult to farm-raise.

With bluefin tuna toro as their hero product, they allow people to indulge in safe, nutritious seafood while letting our ocean regenerate.

Fyllo

Fyllo helps farmers increase farm productivity using data. They install devices on farms that provide farmers with real-time numbers around soil, climate and crops, sending them to the Fyllo server. This data then gets processed for insights, which show on an easy to read dashboard.

This allows farmers to increase production, reduce costs and grow real, quality food.