An interview with Courtney Boyd Myers, the founder of AKUA, one of Forward Fooding’s top 500 Food Tech startups.

Matt Lebo and Courtney Boyd Myers, the co-founders of AKUA

It’s time to put a face to the name…

We asked our FoodTech 500 top-runners to give us a bit of insight into how they started out as a company and their thoughts on the role of technology in Food innovation. Meet Courtney Boyd Myers and Matt Lebo, the mastermind behind AKUA, a sustainable food company that makes delicious, clean foods from seagreens – starting with their first product: Kelp Jerky. Let’s see what he had to say.

So tell us a little bit more about you! Where did the idea for your FoodTech company come from?

Courtney: I’m CBM, the co-founder and CEO of AKUA. I started the company when I was an adviser to GreenWave, a nonprofit that trains ocean farmers. When I asked the farmers what they truly needed, they answered, “We need your help creating a consumer market for kelp.”

So, I started sending out 5lb bags of frozen kelp to all my chef friends across the U.S. We came up with dozens of cool products and hosted tastings in New York, LA, and SF. One chef came up with kelp jerky, burgers, and sausages — all vegan and made from kelp and mushrooms — that made me think, “Wow, what if we could create a line of meat alternative products from one of the most sustainable sources of food on the planet?

How is tech central to your business?

Courtney: We are an e-commerce company and focused on selling our products directly to our consumers. Given the newness of Kelp as a product, it’s essential for us to rely on email marketing and social media to tell our story, and on online advertising channels to retarget and reach new customers.

Why do you think it’s important to see the food industry embrace tech?

Courtney: By embracing technologies – whether that’s D2C or new tech distribution companies like Pod Foods, we are able to earn higher margins on our products and connect directly with consumers. Getting into grocery and large scale retail can be crushing to a new food brand and so by starting to leverage technology and better tools out there, we have a real leg up on incumbent brands!

 

Want to know more? Check out AKUA’s full profile here.

Congratulations again to AKUA for ranking third in the category “Next-Gen Food & Drinks” of the Foodtech 500 list!

To find out who else made it into the FoodTech 500; the top Food Tech companies in the world, click here.

For more FoodTech news, join our Food Revolution community here.