Top 14 Agri-FoodTech Startups from Disrupt Startup Battlefield

Every year, TechCrunch’s Startup Battlefield competition attracts thousands of applicants. We narrow these entries down to the top 200 contenders, and among them, the top 20 compete on the big stage for the Startup Battlefield Cup and a $100,000 cash prize. But the remaining 180 startups also impressed us, in their own categories and in their own competition.

Here’s the full list of agtech and food tech Startup Battlefield 200 people selected, along with a note on why they made it into the competition.

ÄIO

What does: Äio has developed a method to produce edible fats from agricultural waste.

Why it’s noteworthy: Äio has developed a strain of yeast that converts abundant agricultural waste such as sawdust into fats suitable for food and cosmetics.

Aquaways

What does: Aquawise provides AI-powered water quality monitoring for shrimp and fish farms using satellite imagery.

Why it’s noteworthy: The startup eliminates the need for expensive sensors while providing real-time insights and predictive analytics.

The stick

What does: Clave offers AI agents that help fast food franchise owners better interact with their data.

Why it’s noteworthy: Clave analyzes historical and real-time store data to help franchise restaurants quickly develop promotions that increase sales.

Credo Sense

What does: CredoSense offers a portable, AI-powered plant diagnostic system that measures crop health.

Why it’s noteworthy: Crop health diagnostics are confined to silos, but CredoSense handles a wide range of crop diagnostics technologies and data in one small, low-power device.

Forti Biotechnology

What does: Forte Biotech has created a patented technology to test for diseases among shrimp in fish farms.

Why it’s noteworthy: Developed in partnership with the National University of Singapore (NUS), this technology helps shrimp farmers quickly diagnose common diseases without the need to hire experts.

Genesis

What does: Genesis offers a business intelligence platform for soil data that helps agricultural companies make better, regenerative decisions about their land assets and crops.

Why it’s noteworthy: Genesis says it has compiled one of the most comprehensive databases of raw materials that maximize soil analysis to increase yields through regenerative practices.

Greene Solutions

What does: Greeny Solutions offers AI-powered software and IoT tools for indoor commercial agriculture.

Why it’s noteworthy: Greeny’s technology promises to automate nutrient dosing, climate control, and disease monitoring to increase yields.

Instagroups

What does: Instacrops uses artificial intelligence, IoT sensors, and satellite images to monitor and optimize agricultural fields.

Why it’s noteworthy: Y Combinator grad Instacrops uses sensors and AI agents to help farms respond to crop health indicators — irrigation, fertilization, etc. — in real time, boosting productivity and reducing water use.

Cadia

What does: Kadeya runs beverage vending stations for offices that use reusable bottles, which can be returned and then cleaned and reused.

Why it’s noteworthy: This startup is working to eliminate single-use plastic bottles (or cans) from the workplace, while also saving the bottle and cleaning it, thus eliminating the need for companies to buy drinks in plastic bottles to begin with.

MUI-Bots

What does: MUI-Robotics is developing AI odor detection technology for robots.

Why it’s noteworthy: MUI-Robotics is working to digitize smell, which not only paves the way for multi-sensory robots, but also has commercial applications for scent/odor detection in food, chemical, medical and environmental applications.

Shin Star Robotics

What does: Shin Starr Robotics builds robots that automate food preparation for meal delivery.

Why it’s noteworthy: Autonomous kitchens cook meals in a truck driven by a human, while they are on their way to the delivery destination. The idea is to serve restaurant-quality Korean BBQ at the time it arrives.

Tensorfield cultivation

What does: Tensorfield uses AI-powered robots to identify and kill weeds without pesticides in densely packed crop beds such as carrots, spinach and lettuce without disturbing the crop or its soil.

Why it’s noteworthy: It can recognize weeds when they are just sprouting and inject them with superheated vegetable oil instead of herbicide.

Unibayo

What does: Unibaio develops biodegradable polymers that deliver agrochemicals more efficiently.

Why it’s noteworthy: Microparticles are a natural polymer derived from shrimp waste and are suitable for over 35 crops.

Fairly

What does: Verley manufactures bio-identical dairy proteins using precision fermentation technology.

Why it’s noteworthy: Verley helps maintain the supply of dairy protein while reducing the environmental impact of dairy farming.