From Gulfood Dubai to the World: Forward Fooding’s NXT Stage Recap and Key FoodTech Insights

We just wrapped five incredible days at Gulfood 2026 as the official Startup Programme Partner, and we’re here to talk all about it!

With 8,500+ exhibitors from 195 countries converging in Dubai, the event was a masterclass in where food innovation is heading, who’s driving it, and how the rules of the game are fundamentally shifting.

And the highlight was the unveiling of the 2025 FoodTech 500 finalists, the definitive list of the world’s most innovative AgriFoodTech companies reshaping the global food systems. But beyond this list, what we witnessed at the NXT Stage was something bigger: a new era of FoodTech maturity, where integration beats disruption, and where the Global South (particularly the GCC) is emerging as a scale-up powerhouse.

MENA as a FoodTech Hub: The Strategic Context

If you’re not paying attention to the GCC, you’re completely missing out. This region is past the point of merely buying innovation and has become a laboratory for scaling it.

The GCC ecosystem moves fast. Decision-making cycles that take 18 months in Europe happen in 6-8 weeks here. The adoption rate of new technologies is remarkably high, with COVID a massive wake-up call that turned food security from a talking point to a strategic imperative backed by government capital.

The region has its infrastructure advantages, including cheap energy, strong logistics networks, a relatively affordable skilled workforce, solid tech infrastructure, and stable legislation that’s evolving to accommodate innovation. Unlike Silicon Valley’s focus on consumer apps or Europe’s regulatory caution, MENA is betting on “real tech”: 

• For infrastructure, the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) is a transformative initiative aimed at boosting connectivity, trade, and sustainability across three regions.
• For production systems, TA’ZIZ enables the full manufacturing of end-products across critical industries like construction, healthcare and agriculture, within the UAE for the first time.
• For food system transformation, NEOM, through its food company Topian, is building resilient agricultural and aquacultural systems to reduce carbon emissions and improve food security.

Food security drives everything. Saudi Arabia represents the largest market opportunity with Vision 2030 pouring capital into food system resilience. The UAE, particularly Dubai, excels in capital markets and ecosystem connectivity. Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi is positioning itself as one of the leading AI hubs globally.

Despite the promise of innovation, the region still faces complexities.

The GCC imports 85% of its food while also posting some of the world’s highest food waste rates. One in three calories ends up in the trash. Each of its countries faces distinct structural, climatic, and regulatory challenges that prevent it from being treated as a single market.

Additionally, regulatory fragmentation slows innovation, which makes identifying the right ecosystem players a challenge. Risk aversion at scale also remains high, and talent retention is critical; without local capacity and expertise, ecosystem maturity can’t be sustained. To de-risk long-term system transformation, the region is in great need of institutional capital, and not just venture funding.

The FoodTech Reality Check: Insights from Our Keynote

Throughout the week, our founding partners Alessio D’Antino and Max Leveau took the stage multiple times at the NXT Stage and at the Future Food 500 Stage to unveil the 2025 FoodTech 500 finalists and share insights from tracking this industry’s evolution across 11,700+ applications and $311 billion in investments.

The 2025 FoodTech 500 keynote provided a reality check based on seven years of data, revealing a sector undergoing a significant structural correction. Global investment fell by 70% from its previous peak, marking the end of high-speed, hype-driven growth in the food space. This decline exposed a fundamental misunderstanding of the industry: food does not function like code. Unlike software, the complexities of biology, chemistry, and safety protocols prevent the industry from scaling with digital speed, leading to a period that filtered out companies lacking strong economic fundamentals.

Several key lessons emerged from this market shift:

• Integration over Disruption: Success now favors working within existing systems to achieve incremental wins rather than attempting to eliminate entire industries.
• Behavioral Realities: Entrepreneurs underestimated the difficulty of changing consumer behavior, as people maintain deeply personal and resistant relationships with food.
• B2B Dominance: Business-to-business collaborations and partnerships have outperformed direct-to-consumer models, particularly in technical fields like precision fermentation.
• The Limits of AI: While artificial intelligence serves as a valuable tool for efficiency and timeline compression, it cannot solve core challenges like product-market fit or sensory performance.

Consequently, the industry saw many closures across sectors such as cultivated meat and vertical farming. These failures underscore the necessity for a more grounded approach to innovation that respects the unique logistical and cultural constraints of the global food system.

The industry is now entering FoodTech Wave 3.0. This phase focuses on integration instead of disruption. Earlier waves concentrated on delivery platforms and alternative proteins. However, investment in those areas dropped from 66% to 38% recently. The current era prioritizes the resilience of the food system. Growth is now found in Ag Biotech and circular economy solutions. These companies address issues like soil health and food waste. Success currently depends on partnerships with established industry leaders.

Data from the finalists shows that the ecosystem is maturing. Over 80% of the listed companies generate revenue. This indicates that capital efficiency is now a primary goal for founders. Diversity metrics also reached record highs. Teams with diverse backgrounds are navigating the current funding challenges more effectively than others.

The keynote outlined what is needed to advance foodtech innovation, defined by four strategic pillars:

• Patient & Blended Sources of Capital: Traditional venture capital timelines often mismatch FoodTech development cycles, so the industry requires patient capital and public-private partnerships to support long-term tech transfer.
• Pragmatic Integration with Short-Term Impact: Companies must balance sustainability with immediate profitability to ensure business viability while scaling innovations.
• Lean(er) Regulatory Frameworks: Streamlined frameworks and better agency coordination are necessary to reduce multi-year approval cycles and bring viable products to market faster.
• Meaningful Partnerships: The focus has shifted toward industrial pilots, mergers, and tangible outcomes rather than superficial agreements or press releases.

The next decade of innovation focuses on the intelligent integration of technology into the existing food supply chain. This grounded approach aims to transform the global food system through collaboration and proven economic fundamentals.

Day-by-Day Insights: What We Learned

Day 1 – Food Waste & Alternative Proteins

The $940B food waste problem isn’t abstract; it’s structural, systemic, and solvable. The solution would come from a real customer problem, and then building the technology. Because without a clear pain point, any innovation would struggle to scale.

On alternative proteins, the main challenge is go-to-market, not the technology. Around 150 cellular agriculture companies globally are facing scaling issues because consumers want reinterpretations and not replacements. The GCC market is particularly unforgiving, as taste and texture are non-negotiable. Consumers here are less willing to sacrifice sensory quality than in some European markets.

Transparency, cost, and clean label are key drivers. And hybrid formulations are the reality for mass markets. To scale in this region, you need localized facilities, strong partnerships, and a deep understanding of regulatory pathways.

So grateful to have learned these important insights from the following speakers from that day:

• Roland Wirth, Director at Softripe
• George Bos, Founder at The Natural Bottle
• Kristin Veriga, CEO & Founder at Karmic Global BioTech
• Maxim Haartsen, Founder at eJaby
• Sascha Dutta, Founder at Foodpreneurs Collective
• Alex Shandrovsky, Investor Relations Specialist at Ayana Bio
• Ella Ukkonen, Marketing Manager at Onego Bio
• Edward Hamod, CEO at Switch Foods
• Mazen Rizk , Founder & CEO at Infinite Roots
• Vipul Jain, Head of Commercial at Cellular Agriculture Ltd.
• Nehal Uttamchandani, Head of Quality Assurance

Day 2 – Ingredients & AI

Precision fermentation has existed since the 1980s, but scale, partnerships, and consumer-centric framing are what unlock real impact. Supply chain instability is driving innovation in novel ingredients. The key is to position these as complementary solutions, not replacements, as consumers often prefer the same flavor profile at a lower cost.

Hybrid formulations are the norm, especially in categories like coffee and chocolate. High regulatory barriers demand robust data, particularly when bioactivity claims are involved. Trust is built through NDAs, early product validation, and clear scale-up roadmaps with established partners.

On AI: it should not replace human judgment, but augment it. The critical skill emerging across the industry is prompt design. Food activates emotion and memory. Combining neuroscience with AI can reduce NPD cycles by up to 40%. But the technology must take a systemic approach: body data, societal data through ethnography, planetary impact.

These important insights come from the following speakers:

• Johnny Drain, CEO at HypeSound
• Vera Carvalho, Business Development Director at PFx Biotech
• Alex Worker, Founder at Nutrition at Nutrition from Water (NXW)
• Jake Berber, Co-founder & CEO at Prefer
• Olga Bezukladova, Head of Regional Innovation SAMEA – Taste & Wellbeing at Givaudan.
• Mario Ubiali, CEO at Thimus
• Haim Ben Hayim, Chief Revenue Officer at  AKA Foods
• Suhas Patel, Founder & CEO at Tvarit
• Semi Hakim, CEO at Kök Projekt

Day 3 – Capital & Open Innovation

MENA has brilliant startups and strong technological talent, but the ecosystem faces real challenges: strict regulation, limited international sales experience, and relatively few active investor groups compared to entrepreneurial activity. The UAE operates fast, as decision-making is quick and tech adoption is high. But this creates both opportunity and pressure.

The reality is that F&B’s 35% margins make large upfront investments difficult to pay back. That’s why corporate venture capital is retreating. What makes ideas investable is the need to solve a real problem, connect with social impact, and be supported by a clear commercialization strategy. But social impact alone isn’t enough. It must translate into profitability. B2B models are easier and more scalable; B2C is significantly harder.

The path forward for founders: pilot locally, prove traction, then scale strategically. Investor-founder fit matters as much as the idea. When investors assess companies, they triangulate across people, product, place, promotion, and price. Forward-thinking technology must be paired with a clear understanding of returns, and the founder’s vision matters as much as the technology itself.

On corporate-startup collaboration: trust and long-term relationships are foundational. Don’t try to absorb startups too early. Corporates bring deep R&D capabilities, scale, and institutional knowledge, while startups bring speed and agility. The value exchange requires structured mentorship, clear agreements, and shared missions with milestone alignment.

Thanks to the speakers of day 3:

• Nader Amiri, General Partner at HomeGrown Ventures
• Rinata Ilyubayeva, Founder at White Hill Capital
• Manoj Kumar Agarwal, Managing Partner at Seafund
• Roberto Viton, Founder & Managing Director at Valoral Advisors.
• Erich Sieber, Founding General Partner at Peak Bridge VC
• Christian Pichler, Managing Director at GERBER-RAUTH
• Lucio Cicerelli, Director of Strategic Projects and Products at pladis Global
• Alex Worker, Founder at Nutrition from Water (NXW),

Day 4 – Supply Chain & Farming 2.0

Food supply chains are under pressure: skilled labor shortages, low margins, and persistent consumer demand for low prices. The solution isn’t massive structural change—because that’s pretty unrealistic—but better prediction models for demand, supply, and inventory, paired with AI to accelerate efficiency and scaling.

Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 is driving major investment in food security, operational efficiency, and diversified sourcing. But it should be founded on high-quality, connected data for effective AI-driven decision-making. Bad inputs don’t lead to good outputs.

On investment priorities, there is strong interest in functional ingredients, biology-driven solutions replacing chemical approaches, and “food as medicine” narratives. Four key areas for UAE-based investors emerged: food security, AI & food system innovation, regional influence, and climate and sustainability. But investors are increasingly skeptical of AI used as hype rather than a core value driver.

The critical advice to founders: put yourself in your customer’s shoes. Be much clearer on UX, real pain points, and concrete problems being solved. Avoid tech-first narratives without clear market and user needs.

On Farming 2.0: energy efficiency and speed are key bottlenecks. Local production is no longer optional but a strategic necessity for food security. The Middle East is a high-impact innovation hub precisely because the need is real, urgent, and structural. Solutions must be context-specific, empower farmers rather than create dependencies, and support crop diversification to reduce risk.

Cell-based agriculture is showing reason for optimism, as governments globally are approving regulatory pathways. Japan’s strong innovation ecosystem and corporate involvement (players like Ajinomoto actively pushing the space) demonstrate that cultivated meat and dairy can scale once regulatory clarity emerges.

Speakers for this day are:

• Yarne De Munck, Co-founder & CEO at Polysense
• Mustafa Zaffer, Co-founder at OpenFarming
• Almuhannad AL Balushi, Co-founder & CTO at ZabonEx
• Meifan Shi, Co-Managing Partner & Chief Strategy Officer at WaterPoint Lane
• Sebastian Popik, Founder & Managing Director at Aqua Capital
• Matthew Singh, Head of Investment at Emirates Growth Fund
• Ahmad Shamieh, Managing Director at HomeGrown Ventures
• Jose Francisco, Founder & Managing Director at eMotion Foods
• Simon Miller, Government Regulatory Research & Impact Analysis Specialist at Abu Dhabi Quality & Conformity Council
• Haythem Riahi, Founder and CEO at Circa Biotech
• Sky Kurtz, CEO at Pure Harvest
• Megumi Avigail Yoshitomi, President at Japan Association for Cellular Agriculture
• Olivier Lépine, President & Co-Founder at Brad Technology
• Alberto Aguilar, Co-Founder & CEO at Plantaform
• Kerem Erikçi , Founder at Tarla.io
• Dane Hague, CEO at MyLand
• Tammy Ho, F&B Strategy Specialist at Pitch Lounge

Forward Fooding’s Role: Why We Do This

Our mission at Gulfood 2026 was validated: we’re not just curating events but building the connective tissue that makes food innovation actually work. The NXT Stage was a platform where startups, investors, corporates, and governments could have the hard conversations about what it takes to transform food systems at scale.

The FoodTech 500 has already become an industry benchmark. It’s a living dataset that tracks how capital flows, where innovation clusters, and which business models are proving resilient.

But the real work is continuous: community building, ecosystem mapping, facilitating connections that wouldn’t happen otherwise. We’re here to power the food revolution, not with hype, but with infrastructure, intelligence, and genuine partnership.

The full ranking of the 2025 FoodTech 500 drops on March 31st, and it’s going to reshape how the industry thinks about leadership. Stay tuned for more news!

Forward Fooding is the world’s first collaborative platform for the Food & Beverage industry via FoodTech Data Intelligence and Corporate-Startup Collaboration – Learn more about our Consultancy and Scouting Services and our Startup Network.