Over the past few months, we’ve been working closely with the pladis team to bring their ambitious vision for the inaugural Accelerator Programme to life. When we spoke with Tim Ingmire, Vice President of Global Innovation & Technology at pladis, he articulated the company’s passion for supporting early-stage startups “pushing the boundaries in three key areas: personalised nutrition, advancing functional foods, and future ingredients.” 

Today, we’re thrilled to celebrate the culmination of that collaborative vision with the announcement of the first pladis Accelerator cohort with 12 pioneering startups that embody everything the pladis team envisioned and more.

 

The Journey from Concept to Cohort

Forward Fooding served as the strategic partner for this groundbreaking initiative. We had the privilege of witnessing firsthand how pladis’ commitment to innovation has translated into tangible action. Our role in scouting and evaluating applications has given us insights into the future of snacking.

Nearly 300 applications were received from five continents, all responding to pladis’ call for solutions addressing obesity, food waste, sustainable sourcing, and the growing demand for personalised nutrition. 

The partnership with pladis exemplifies Forward Fooding’s commitment to its mission, connecting corporate innovation needs with breakthrough startup solutions. This collaboration extended beyond application review as it leveraged Forward Fooding’s deep understanding of foodtech trends to identify startups that could genuinely transform the industry. 

Our partnership with pladis also goes beyond their inaugural Accelerator Programme by having them as the Official Sponsor of the 2025 FoodTech 500. 

The Technologies Redefining Snacking

The selected cohort reads like a preview of the future food landscape, including innovations using AI and genomics to unlock bioactive plant peptides and water lilies turned into popcorn-like snacks. These are ready-to-scale innovations that caught attention for their scientific rigor and commercial viability.

What’s particularly noteworthy is how these startups align perfectly with the three focus areas pladis Team outlined in their discussion with Forward Fooding:

Personalised Nutrition

• BIOVIT provides food companies with the world’s most effective and sustainable vitamins and minerals.
• PulseON Foods is a patented, legume-based ingredient offering manufacturers and consumers a natural way to support digestive wellness, satiety regulation, and weight management via metabolic pathways used in recent weight management medications.

Advancing Functional Foods

• Nuritas (2021 FoodTech 500 finalist) is on a mission to improve billions of lives. The company uses AI, deep learning, and genomics to discover and unlock precision cell-signalling peptides from natural plant sources, creating a new category of bioactive ingredients.
• Shiru (2022 & 2024 FoodTech 500 finalist) transforms product innovation by using AI-driven discovery to unlock natural, scalable, high-performance ingredients.
• Zya uses the power of enzymes to transform how our bodies use food. Their first ingredient is called Convero – an enzyme that converts 30% of sugar into fibre after eating.
• Supernatural Foods is revolutionising snacking with its proprietary process that creates truly healthy snacks by pressing vegetables in a way that preserves their nutritional value while delivering the satisfying crunch of a crisp.

Future Ingredients 

• Fermtech (2024 FoodTech 500 finalist) creates food without traditional farming by converting food industry side streams into nutritious, great-tasting ingredients. Their Koji Cocoa, a cocoa replacement, can fully substitute up to 75% of cocoa powder at a 1:1 ratio—while boasting a 98% lower carbon footprint than conventional cocoa.
• MicroLub (2024 FoodTech 500 finalist) uses next-generation protein technologies to revolutionise texture in fat replacement and plant-based food products.
• Pack2Earth (2023 & 2024 FoodTech 500 finalist) has developed the first materials that compost at ambient temperatures almost anywhere, while being suitable for packaging long-life dry, semi-liquid and liquid products – including food. These materials reduce CO2 emissions and protect both the environment and human health from toxins and microplastics.
• Sun Bear Biofuture (2024 FoodTech 500 finalist) is bioengineering the future of ingredients through microorganisms and precision fermentation.
• Kyomei uses technology to valorise crop waste green leaves into healthy, sustainable food ingredients for consumers.
• Just Nosh offers Water Lily Pops – crunchy like potato chips, fluffy like popcorn, but even better.

As Forward Fooding’s Co-founder and CEO Alessio D’Antino noted:

“This selection process has been a highly collaborative and rewarding journey. The 12 companies selected for this programme truly represent breakthrough innovations that are well aligned with pladis’ mission to revolutionise snacking while addressing wellness and sustainability challenges.”

What differentiated these startups wasn’t just their innovative technology, but their readiness to scale. Each company demonstrated not only scientific excellence but also commercial viability and alignment with real market needs.

 

Looking Ahead: The Eight-Week Accelerator Program

As these 12 startups enter their eight-week intensive programme, they’ll gain access to pladis’ extensive expertise across R&D, supply chain, regulatory affairs, and marketing. More importantly, they’ll have the opportunity to test their innovations in real-world scenarios with a company that reaches over 110 countries.

The future of snacking is being written right now, and Forward Fooding is proud and humbled to be part of that story. 

Find out more about pladis Accelerator Programme. 

 

For more insights into food tech innovation and corporate-startup collaboration, explore Forward Fooding’s FoodTech Data Intelligence,  Consultancy and Scouting Services, and our Startup Network.