NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Rabobank, the world's premier food and agribusiness bank, has announced that Whole Foods Market will be the Presenting Sponsor for the 2016 FoodBytes! events in Brooklyn, San Francisco and Boulder, Colorado. The sponsorship with FoodBytes! will commence with FoodBytes! Brooklyn scheduled for Thursday, March 3, 2016 at The Hall at MP in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
“Supporting FoodBytes! gives Whole Foods Market the chance to help budding brands make connections and grow their businesses, which is what we strive to do within our stores and communities every day,” said Betsy Foster, Global Vice President of Growth and Business Development. “We are also thrilled to see the groundbreaking ideas at FoodBytes!, and look forward to sharing ideas with fellow disruptors of the food industry.”
“We are honored to receive this incredible support from a true leader in the organic food space,” said Manuel Gonzalez, Head of Rabobank’s San Francisco office. “Through FoodBytes!, we are shining a spotlight on the most innovative ideas across the entire food chain, from farm to fork, that will bring the food and agribusiness industry into the future. As a pioneer on that front, we know that Whole Foods Market’s involvement will help to make FoodBytes! even more exciting by inspiriting both our guests and presenting companies across our 2016 events.”
FoodBytes! is a series of transformational summits designed to foster new ideas in food, innovation, technology, and bring them together with investors, which started in San Francisco in early 2015.
At the FoodBytes! summits, investors looking to finance the next bright idea in food will meet new and innovative companies that are disrupting across the food chain and in food-related software and applications, distribution, manufacturing, production and more. Ten entrepreneurs and startup companies have been chosen to present live demos of their ideas to FoodBytes! attendees - investors, technologists, media - and will have the opportunity to network with food and agribusiness executives and opinion leaders, among many other industry influencers.
The FoodBytes! Brooklyn demo companies are:
- LoveTheWild – pairs sustainable fish with bold flavors and easy cooking instructions for an all-in-one solution to cooking great, healthy meals at home. Increasing seafood consumptions will have a meaningful impact on population health, and lighten our agricultural footprints on the earth.
- Masienda – sell Mexican corn to meet the demands of chefs producing high quality Mexican food in New York, Los Angeles and beyond. Their core mission is to source, import and purvey the highest quality products while creating a fair market that promotes agricultural biodiversity, sustainability and supports smallholder farmers in Mexico. Masienda will begin offering a catalog of value-added products in 2016, including fresh heirloom tortillas, masa harina and chips.
- Kakaxi - a 21st century solution to the growing disconnect between farmers and consumer. The Kakaxi smart-farm monitoring device and mobile App provides valuable information to farmers through data collection and satisfies consumer curiosity through time-lapse video and social news feed.
- FreshTemp – temperature management technology with cloud connectivity that provides complete food safety and operations management for commercial kitchens - from large-chain, quick service restaurants to independent dining services to food retailers.
- Arable Labs – created the Pulsepod - a complete solution for crop management that provides scientific quality measurements such as rainfall, crop water demand, water stress, microclimate, canopy biomass and more. Jam-packed with sensors that fit into the palm of your hand and weighs under a pound with integrated mounting so it can be used anywhere in vegetables, field crops, perennials or pastures.
- True Made Foods - uses fresh vegetables to naturally sweeten their products (such as True Ketchup, True BBQ Sauce and Veracha Hot Sauce) whilst drastically cutting back on added sugar, providing you with a tasty healthy alternative.
- The Chaat Co - recently launched a line of savory yogurt snacks inspired by the unique flavors and ingredients of Indian street snacks commonly known as "chaat". The company intends to extend the $8 billion American yogurt market, consisting primarily of a sweet product for breakfast, into a savory snack with no-added sugar and crunchy lentil puffs as toppings.
- Sophie's Kitchen Vegan Seafood - produces ready to eat vegan/vegetarian plant-based food products by using a patent-pending process out of pea protein and the superfood konjac root.
- DouxMatok Ltd - has developed sugars with enhanced sweetness allowing for a considerable reduction in the consumption of sugars in foods and beverages whilst retaining the same “full sugar experience”. DouxMatok sugars have been successfully tested by leading global companies in baked products, morning cereals, dairy products, chocolates & other confectionery and in a number of beverages.
- NOA Potions – produce a beverage (NOA Relaxation) with natural herbs that lessens stress and increases focus. They have combined cutting-edge scientific research with ancient traditions and is made from natural ingredients and inspired by the purity of the Scandinavian nature.
FoodBytes! Brooklyn is the first summit in the series to be held on the East Coast. SF New Tech, San Francisco's largest and longest-running tech showcase company, and Food + Tech Connect, the New-York based site of record and community for the food tech and innovation sector, are partnering with Rabobank to bring FoodBytes! to New York.
FoodBytes! Brooklyn is expected to draw over 350 attendees and tickets are available to purchase via the FoodBytes! website and the media partners for the event are Edible Brooklyn & Gothamist. For coverage of FoodBytes! Brooklyn, follow FoodBytes! and Rabobank on Twitter @FoodBytes and @RaboWholesale or view curated content via the hashtag #FoodBytes.
About Rabobank
Rabobank Group is a global financial services leader providing wholesale and retail banking, leasing, and real estate services in more than 40 countries worldwide. Founded over a century ago, Rabobank today is one of the largest banks in the world, with nearly $1 trillion in assets, and ranks among the 10 safest banks globally. In the Americas, Rabobank is a premier bank to the food, agribusiness and beverage industry, providing sector expertise, strategic counsel and tailored financial solutions to clients across the entire food value chain. Rabobank. The financial link in the global food chain.® NAW.Rabobank.com @RaboWholesale.
About Whole Foods Market®
Founded in 1980 in Austin, Texas, Whole Foods Market (wholefoodsmarket.com, NASDAQ: WFM), is the leading natural and organic food retailer. As America’s first national certified organic grocer, Whole Foods Market was named “America’s Healthiest Grocery Store” by Health magazine. The company's motto, “Whole Foods, Whole People, Whole Planet”™ captures its mission to ensure customer satisfaction and health, team member excellence and happiness, enhanced shareholder value, community support and environmental improvement. Thanks to the company’s more than 91,000 team members, Whole Foods Market has been ranked as one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” in America by FORTUNE magazine for 18 consecutive years. In fiscal year 2015, the company had sales of more than $15.4 billion and currently has more than 435 stores in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. For more company news and information, please visit media.wfm.com.
About SF New Tech
SF New Tech (SFNT) is a world-renowned live platform for technology startups to showcase their latest innovations in front of 100s of tech-minded founders, engineers, investors, media, and more. Since 2006, over 700 companies have leveraged SFNT to launch and/or demo their new products, services, and features, including such internet luminaries Evernote, Waze, 23andMe, Flipboard, Twilio, Splunk and many other pre-fame startups. As a cornerstone of the San Francisco technology community and as SF's largest, longest-running, and most-loved technology event, SFNT is laser-focused on putting innovators and their innovations in the spotlight in front of their peers -- and beyond. SF New Tech is been supported by amazing companies including Fathom Law, Akamai, Microsoft, Twitter, DoubleDutch, Telerik, Macworld, The New York Times, and many others. For more information, visit http://www.sfnewtech.com @sfnewtech.
About Food + Tech Connect
Food+Tech Connect is the site of record and world's largest community for the food tech and innovation sector. Over the past five years, Food+Tech Connect has worked with game changing companies like Applegate, Google and Chipotle to build the world’s largest community of innovators working at the intersection of food, agriculture, foodservice, technology, design, investment, media, retail and policy. Food+Tech Connect gives innovators the tech and business insights, connections and skills they need to transform the food industry through its website, newsletters, events, consulting and business courses. Join the community at foodtechconnect.com and @foodtechconnect.
