The 2022 FoodTech 500

The FoodTech 500 highlights the most groundbreaking companies in AgriFoodTech selected among those leading innovation and transformation at the intersection of food, technology and sustainability. This year marks the Fourth Edition of our competition, four years where we’ve seen the sector grow, evolve, and adapt to new challenges, showing a great deal of resilience. During this time, the FoodTech 500  has significantly contributed to shedding light on the ‘underdogs’ and helped raise awareness about their solutions. The list reflects the ambition of FoodTech entrepreneurs and the breadth of innovative solutions currently populating space. But it’s also a testament to the great work done by supporting organizations and enablers to empower talent and speed up the food system’s transformation. So, as we prepare to publish the final ranking on March 1st 2023 and engage with all these amazing players during our Unveiling European Tour, let’s take a quick peek at this year’s finalists. 

Finalists at a glance

Last year marked a major milestone for the FoodTech 500. Thousands of entrepreneurs worldwide sent in their applications (2,253, to be precise), more than in any previous year. The outcome of the 2022 edition was just as impressive. Once again, this year we received 2,000+ applications from 67 countries, representing a broad range of solutions across all areas of FoodTech. Overall, we were particularly impressed with the quality of the applications. Remarkably, 250+ of these came from companies that weren’t yet ‘officially’ part of our network and introduced a whole new range of interesting solutions to the mix. 

This year has been a tumultuous one for startups around the world: economic woes and reduced venture capital funding, especially in H2, have caused many entrepreneurs to struggle. Despite the challenges, FoodTech still managed to raise a considerable amount of capital. In the case of FoodTech 500 finalists, shortlisted companies raised $11B cumulatively over time, higher than the $9.6B+ they raised in 2021. In terms of business model viability, 75% out of the 500 companies we selected are currently generating revenue.

Looking at the type of solutions being developed, all Forward Fooding activities are represented in the list, as seen in the above chart. AgTech and Next Generation Food & Drinks make up the largest share of companies, representing 29% each. Surplus & Waste Management and Food Delivery also stand out, with approximately 9% of finalists working in each area (you can learn more about our proprietary taxonomy here).

The 2022 list features 8 unicorns and 7 publicly listed companies, up from 6 Unicorns but down from 9 publicly listed companies in 2021. With valuations dropping and uncertainty rising in the past twelve months, it became harder for companies to hit the $ 1 billion mark and follow through on IPO plans. For this reason, ‘Soonicorn’ and future IPO count is expected to drop in the coming months as more and more companies adjust to the ‘corrected’ market scenario we’re living in.

Methodology

Our methodology for FoodTech500 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 from the finalist companies 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. To learn more about our methodology visit: https://forwardfooding.com/foodtech500-2020/methodology/

Business size

The business size score is generated via a proprietary algorithm from The FoodTech Data Navigator that predicts the business growth based on financial performance indicators. We use data acquired from independent sources such as the company’s headcounts, funding activities, and the number of office locations they operate from.

Sustainability score

In the absence of a global framework to measure the business sustainability impact specifically for FoodTech companies, we have chosen to create, in collaboration with sustainability experts from the Department of Management of the University of Turin (Italy), a unique survey and a scoring framework based on a selected number of Sustainable Development Goals from the United Nations. Thus, based on self-assessment from each applicant, a certain number of points were attributed to each question to derive each company’s sustainability score with regard to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) they are achieving with their solutions.