RocketSpace + Rabobank Announce Startups Selected for TERRA Cohort II

In Collaboration With Nestle, AgroFresh, BASF, Beta San Miguel, Givaudan, GrainCorp, Griffith Foods, Grupo Azucarero Mexico/CULTIBA, and OSI Group

We’re thrilled to announce that RocketSpace and Rabobank have selected 18 food and agriculture startups to participate in the second cohort of TERRA, the Food + Ag Tech Accelerator. A unique pilot-focused accelerator program, TERRA brings together the industry’s most disruptive startups and progressive corporations to fuel cross-industry innovation.

Cohort II kicks off in San Francisco today with the corporate collaborators and cohort of startup companies, a diverse group of international industry leaders meeting to explore potential partnerships. Following the Kick Off Event, there will be a pilot validation phase. During the program, cohort companies will have the opportunity to work from RocketSpace’s tech campus and global headquarters in downtown San Francisco, amongst the curated community of tech startups which has included 18 “unicorns.” The program is expected to culminate in March with Demo Days at which the cohort companies and corporates will co-pitch their pilot progress.

Founding partners Rabobank and RocketSpace, along with TERRA’s corporate collaborators — Nestle, AgroFresh, BASF, Beta San Miguel, Givaudan, GrainCorp, Griffith Foods, Grupo Azucarero Mexico/CULTIBA, and OSI Group — selected Cohort II from a competitive applicant pool of hundreds of startups from around the world.

The TERRA Cohort II startups are:

Afresh Technologies (San Francisco, CA, US) enables grocers to optimize their fresh inventory management with machine learning-powered software. This software forecasts demand at the item and store level using millions of data points and creates intelligent inventory recommendations using perishable inventory replenishment algorithms.

Biome Makers (San Francisco, CA, US) takes advantage of advanced DNA sequencing methods to enable winemakers to identify, quantify and compare all microorganisms that are at work in their soil, grapes and wines.

Cellana (Kailua-Kona, HI, US) is a leading developer of algae-based bioproducts from the most productive plants on earth - marine microalgae - to produce Omega-3 EPA, high protein meal for food and feed, and long term biofuel feedstocks.

Health Warrior Inc. (Richmond, VA, US) is a superfood snack company that uses the most nourishing foods on the planet as the #1 ingredient in all of their products.

Kakaxi (Campbell, CA, US) is the first loT climate-monitoring-camera designed to deliver transparency and traceability to clients using time lapse video. KAKAXI helps corporations and farmers track production, predict yields, and minimize waste by collecting and analyzing micro-climate data.

Know Brainer Foods (Lafayette, CO, US) makes ketogenic coffee creamers, instant coffees, teas and hot chocolates with non-GMO MCT oil and organic grass fed ghee to fuel the mind and metabolism with fat, not sugar so you stay fueled,d alert and satiated throughout your day.

Livestock Water Recycling, Inc (Calgary, AB, Canada) is focused on creating value within the food production industry by reducing the expense and impact of waste liquids on the environment. The LWR System is the only proven commercialized patented technology that reduces the overall volume of manure, concentrates nutrients into a valuable solid fertilizer, a crop additive liquid fertilizer, and delivers a renewable, high-quality water source.

Milis Bio (Cork, Ireland) s creating protein based sweeteners; low calorie, high protein and natural solutions for our sweet teeth.

Native State Foods (Santa Monica, CA, US) is changing the way Americans power their day by introducing real food powered by ancient ingredients. Their journey starts with their Purely Pinole line of hot cereal and snacking products made from pinole, an Aztec power food dating back 500 years.

Nom Noms World Food (London, United Kingdom) a multi-award winning healthy world food brand that feeds the body, mind & soul through its innovative 2 course prepared meals concept & high protein hot wraps that take taste buds to 13 exotic destinations around the world.

Novolyze (Dijon, France) mission is to improve the safety and the quality of our food supply while helping companies use less of our planet’s resources. They propose an integrated offer based on 3 products and services: SurroNov, Food safety SaaS, and Laboratory services.

Provenance (London, United Kingdom) empowers brands to increase trust, using revolutionary technologies for greater supply chain transparency. Powered by mobile, blockchain and open data, their software lets brands bring the origin and histories of products to the point of sale.

Pycno (London, United Kingdom) helps tackle one of the biggest challenges of this century: Food Security, by building a network of wireless sensors for growers that are simple to use and maintenance free. Pycno also includes predictive analytics, diseases, calculations, etc that let its customers not only reduce their utility bills, but also their risks while increasing the quantity and quality of their crops..

Pyur Solutions (Los Angeles, CA, US) has developed 100% safe pesticides/insecticides, herbicides, fungicides for the phpm and cpg markets. Pyur Solutions cuts out the ubiquity of synthetic chemicals with non-toxic, biodegradable, plant-based solutions and in doing so, collapses a trade-off between natural, good-for-you solutions and solutions that work.

ReGrained (San Francisco, CA, US) is creating the circular economy for food through edible upcycling. They are a CPG brand, powered by patent-pending technology, that is closing the nutrient loop between the brewing industry and the food system.

Remedy Organics (Englewood Cliffs, NJ, US) is a delicious health and wellness platform focused on creating clean label products with meaningful functional benefits. Their mission is to bring convenient, affordable functional nutrition to the world in the form of plant based food and beverages and reduce dependence on pharmaceuticals and traditional medical care.

Sugarlogix (Berkeley, CA, US) creates prebiotic sugars that restore balance to the gut microbiome, enhance the immune system, and reduce inflammation. Their prebiotic sugars are ideal premium functional ingredients for infant formulas, gut health supplements, and functional food & beverage products.

Vibe Imaging Analytics (Capitola, CA, US) develops, manufactures and sells machine vision sensor and complementary cloud-based solutions enabling data collection, analytics and applications in the post-harvest grain and seed markets.

 “Our partnership with TERRA is one way that Nestlé can play a leading role in meeting quickly-evolving consumer needs,” said Rui Barbas, Chief Strategy Officer, Nestlé USA. “When we combine the resources and expertise of Nestlé with the ingenuity and agility of startups, we can create real change in our industry and shape a healthier future.”

"Food moves fast, meaning consumers, while slow in retail, but the opportunity to bring more radically convenient real food to Americans is unprecedented right here, right now. We are fired up for TERRA to help accelerate our innovation initiatives,” said Shane Emmett, Founder and CEO of Health Warrior, a superfood company based in Richmond, VA and a Cohort II company.

“By joining TERRA, companies will be tapping into RocketSpace’s global startup and corporate ecosystem so they can create impactful pilots, share best practices, and leverage each other’s strengths — Scale (corporates) + Innovation (startups) — while exploring potential investment opportunities. It’s a great opportunity for everyone involved and we can’t wait to see what game changing ideas come out of this cohort,” said Duncan Logan, Founder and CEO of RocketSpace.

“Rabobank is thrilled to welcome 18 pioneering startups and our new collaborators GrainCorp and Nestlé to TERRA Cohort II. TERRA is all about bringing the nimbleness and creativity of innovative startups together with the ability to scale of big corporates, and Rabobank is excited to add its global food and ag expertise and network to that mix. We can’t wait to see the collaborative, game-changing solutions that come out of Cohort II,” said Manuel Gonzalez, Head of Startup Innovation at Rabobank.

TERRA does not require equity for startups to participate, and selected cohort companies can participate in the program virtually or in person. Applicants must have a product in market or ready to launch and must have raised a minimum of seed-funding, which better positions them for productive pilots with the collaborators.

To learn more about TERRA, go to terraaccelerator.com. Follow @terraccelerator on Twitter for the latest updates about the program.