Mars Snacking, Unreasonable Group Announce Sustainable Food Cohort

Mars and Unreasonable Group have selected 15 purpose-led, growth stage ventures and their leaders, for an inaugural cohort of companies that they say are positioned to redefine food systems.

Mars recently unveiled its open-source action plan—the Mars Net Zero Roadmap—to accelerate action toward achieving Net Zero emissions, which includes a new target to cut carbon in half by 2030 across its full value chain. The Year 1 cohort includes ventures dedicated to helping jump-start this reduction in greenhouse gasses and carbon emissions. 

"At Mars Snacking, our Purpose is inspiring moments of everyday happiness," said Amanda Davies, Chief R&D, procurement and sustainability officer for Mars Snacking, in a statement. "We're thrilled to deliver on that mission through Unreasonable Food in support of innovative ventures that have the potential to transform our food systems and contribute to Mars sustainability goals."

Following is the list of companies selected. They are headquartered across five continents, operating in nearly forty countries around the globe.

1. Mootral produces a feed additive that reduces methane emissions from dairy cows by up to 30 percent while increasing milk yields. Mootral believes in producing food in a way that is good for people, mindful of animal welfare, and helps restore the earth.
2. Sea Forest produces red seaweed-based feed additives that reduce cattle emissions by up to 90 percent.
3. Yard Stick provides a low-cost solution for directly measuring carbon in the soil, with 70-90 percent lower cost per acre compared to lab testing. 
4. Regrow Ag uses satellite imagery modeling to measure and reduce Scope 3 emissions in agriculture. Regrow unlocks the power of resilient agriculture to combat climate change and grow profitability.
5. LandScan enables precision agriculture by providing a digital twin of the farm that provides targeted soil data on a field map. The resulting information infrastructure is used to perform analytics that enable novel insights and decision support for crop and land management.
6. Nitricity produces distributed fertilizer production systems that make nitrogen fertilizer using air, water, and renewable energy. Nitricity focuses on GHG emissions to create products that are better for fields, farmers, and the environment.
7. Absolute is a bioscience company harnessing nature's evolutionary intelligence to produce innovative and sustainable agri-inputs, dairy, and other biomaterials. Absolute leverages billions of years of intelligence straight from nature to reimagine what's possible across Agriculture, Biomaterials, and Biocare.
8. Xampla develops plant-based materials that mimic properties of traditional plastics but are biodegradable and environmentally friendly across both marine and soil environments.
9. Loliware creates seaweed-based packaging materials that are biodegradable and home compostable, advancing a plastic-free future with their patented Sea Technology resins.
10. Farmerline provides farming education, access to inputs, and traceability solutions to improve smallholder farmer incomes. 
11. 80 Acres Farms is a leader in vertical farming and innovation in agriculture. 80 Acres Farms uses 100 percent renewable energy and 95 percent less water to produce a similar quantity of produce and grow up to 300 times more food per square foot.
12. MycoTechnology increases the availability of healthy, sustainable, and high-quality food ingredients through mushroom fermentation.
13. Voyage Foods uses reverse engineering and molecular biology to recreate popular foods like chocolate using sustainable ingredients. 
14. String Bio provides carbon-negative ingredients derived from methane for human and animal consumption. String is driven by a strong vision to leverage nature's solutions to solve some of mankind's pressing challenges regarding food, feed, health, environment, and everyday living.
15. Air Protein creates protein and other sustainable food ingredients using a revolutionary carbon-negative gas fermentation process. Air Protein's landless protein farming reduces time to market, highly scalable, and cost effective.

To identify the Unreasonable Food inaugural cohort, the selection committee reviewed a host of disrupters in the food space, all focused on Shaping the Future of Food, Improving Farmer Livelihood, Transforming Food Supply Chains, and Reimagining Sustainable Packaging.

"We are excited to welcome these ventures to the Unreasonable Food family," said Daniel Epstein, CEO of Unreasonable Group, in a statement. "Their innovative solutions and commitment to creating a more regenerative, inclusive, and equitable future of food align perfectly with our mission. We look forward to supporting their growth and connecting them with Mars to drive lasting mutual impact and value."

The cohort will participate in a comprehensive program that includes mentorship, access to resources and networks, and opportunities for collaboration with Mars and other industry leaders. The program aims to provide a catalytic effect on the growth and impact of these ventures towards the goal of more sustainable and resilient food system for all.