A strategic collaboration between Unreasonable and Mars Snacking
The world we want tomorrow starts with how we do business today.
“Mars is investing behind innovative front-line entrepreneurs to feed a just and sustainable tomorrow.”
– Andrew Clarke, President of Mars Snacking
26
%
Food production is responsible for over a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions.
1/2
Half of the world's habitable land is used for agriculture.
70
%
of global freshwater withdrawals are used for agriculture.
Feeding a just and sustainable tomorrow.
1.
Shape the Future of Food
Science and entrepreneurship have the potential to revolutionize our food systems. New moonshot technologies—from nanotechnology to blockchain, fermentation to synthetic biology—need to be responsibly nurtured to help take us into a regenerative and equitable food future. We know that together we can inspire moments of everyday happiness in how we grow, manufacture, deliver and consume food – today and in the future.
2.
Improve Farmer Livelihood
Roughly 2.5 billion people around the world derive their livelihood from agriculture. The majority struggle to make ends meet. From financial inclusion to the dissemination of sustainable farming practices, we must support producers in regenerating the soil while increasing their yields and income.
3.
Transform Food Supply Chains
To drastically reduce and remove greenhouse gas emissions across our food system, we must bring traceability to supply chains, harness the power of renewables, halt deforestation, and minimize the use of water.
4.
Reimagine Sustainable Packaging
To prevent packaging from ending up in a landfill or in our oceans, it’s time we adopt and design for circularity. Creating a world where packaging never becomes waste, but rather is recycled, reused, or composted. We need to use science and nature to re-imagine packaging.
Unreasonable Food Ventures
80 Acres Farms
Designing, building, and operating indoor farms with industry-leading controlled environment agriculture (CEA) technology.
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Mike Zelkind
CEO, cofounder
Absolute
Creating carbon negative, 100% traceable, nature and biotech products for Agriculture, Ingredients, Materials and Healthcare
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Agam Khare
Founder & CEO
Air Protein
Using microbes to convert elements of air into a sustainable protein product
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Lisa Dyson, PhD
CEO at Air Protein
Farmerline
Helping the farmer grow their wealth through quality inputs, training, and markets.
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Alloysius Attah
Co-founder & CEO
LandScan
Opening the frontier to close productivity gaps in agriculture.
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Dan Rooney, PhD
Founder & CEO
Loliware
Advancing the planet towards a plastics-free future
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Sea Briganti
Founder & CEO
MycoTechnology, Inc.
Increasing the availability of healthy, sustainable, and high-quality food options through mushroom fermentation.
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Alan Hahn
Board Member and co-founder
Nitricity
Electrifying the production of climate-smart fertilizer.
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Nicolas Pinkowski
Cofounder & CEO
Regrow Ag
Accelerating scope 3 decarbonization through resilient agriculture.
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Anastasia Volkova
Co-Founder & CEO
Sea Forest
Abating climate change using seaweed feed to reduce livestock emissions.
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Sam Elsom
Co-founder & CEO
String Bio
Leveraging biotechnology to convert methane to everyday products, including feed and food
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Vinod Kumar
Cofounder & Managing Director
Voyage Foods
Designing a future where food isn’t constrained by problems with cultivation and production.
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Adam Maxwell
CEO
Xampla Ltd
Creating natural replacements for polluting plastics
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Alexandra French
CEO
Yard Stick PBC
Measuring soil carbon accurately, instantly, and affordably.
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Chris Tolles
Co-Founder & CEO
With our global community of 1,150 mentors—from industry experts to renowned executives and policy makers—we will help guide and grow these growth-stage ventures to maximize their impact on the world.
See all our mentors »Recent Press
June 15, 2023
How I Built This Podcast with Guy Raz: E525: Saving the f#$%ing rainforests with Shara Ticku of C16 Biosciences
Palm oil is a wonder ingredient, used in almost everything from toothpaste and oat milk to biodiesel and laundry detergent. But to keep pace with rising global demand, producers have burned down...
Read on Wondery - Feel The Story »May 19, 2023
San Leandro startup Air Protein triples funding, partners with crop giant ADM
Air Protein and ADM are deepening their relationship as the San Leandro climate tech and alt-protein startup works toward launching its first consumer product.
Read on Bay Area Inno »May 12, 2023
The EVERY Co. partners with Alpha Foods to deliver cleaner label plant-based products
The EVERY Co. has partnered with Alpha Foods to create cleaner-label plant-based products, tapping into the hybrid trend. The collaboration will include vegan meat and egg whites.
Read on foodnavigator-usa.com »May 8, 2023
TIPA Compostable Packaging acquires Bio4pack
Tipa, a compostable packaging company, has acquired Bio4Pack, a Dutch sustainable packaging firm. The acquisition will expand Tipa's presence in Europe and strengthen its position in the...
Read more »July 12, 2023
80 Acres Farms displays its strawberry systems at Wimbledon
"Strawberries and cream is an iconic pairing at one of the world's most famous tennis tournaments—Wimbledon. With all eyes on strawberries🍓Barclays asked us to demonstrate our sustainable, highly...
Read more »May 9, 2023
New Coalition Prioritizes Action to Transform Food Systems – Food Tank
The Forum for Farmers and Food Security is investing in the future of food producers, while a new coalition prioritizes action to transform food systems.
Read on Food Tank »Frequently Asked Questions
Why have you created Unreasonable Food?
More than 25% of global greenhouse gas emissions caused by human activity can be attributed to the way we produce, process, and package food. As one of the world's largest food companies with some of the world's most admired brands, Mars Snacking, in partnership with Unreasonable, is uniquely positioned to put this statistic where it belongs—in a museum.
Both the team at Mars and our team at Unreasonable are dedicated to ushering in a more sustainable and equitable future. We also believe that when it comes to challenges like our changing climate, winning slowly is the same thing as losing. We have come together to co-create Unreasonable Food with the goal of building the premier global initiative focused on supporting rapid growth companies positioned to re-define our food systems. Through our multi-year partnership we will support a portfolio of globally scalable solutions that sit at the intersection of science, technology, sustainability and regeneration. Each of the entrepreneurs who join us will become part of the Unreasonable Fellowship—gaining access to our global network of advisors and mentors, connections to the more than 2,400 investors that Unreasonable has direct relationships to, and support through our global community. Most notably, each of the participating entrepreneurs will gain relational access to Mars Snacking's global leadership team who is looking to integrate solutions uniquely positioned to help them achieve their sustainable goals into their products, supply chains, brands, and operations. Mars has a goal of defining what it means to be a sustainable company in the 21st century and our aim, together, is to make that a reality
.Why look to entrepreneurs to solve these issues?
Beyond basic criteria, what do you look for in the entrepreneurs you'll bring into Unreasonable Food?
Unrelenting Dedication: We invite ventures whose leadership team demonstrates a clear conviction that they will stop at nothing to ensure they put a positive dent on history. We want to be convinced that the problem they are solving is baked into their DNA.
Shared Goals: We will ensure that all the entrepreneurs we align with demonstrate a commitment to the vision of this partnership. We will ensure they are eager to collaborate to feed a just and sustainable tomorrow.
Strong Beliefs Held Loosely: Although we are looking for entrepreneurs who are obsessed with creating a more regenerative society, we also want to ensure that we only select entrepreneurs who are willing to admit when they are wrong and who have the humility to be coached and mentored. We select for a mix of confidence and humility
Eagerness to Collaborate with Mars Snacking: Although a partnership or investment opportunity is not guaranteed, we want to work with entrepreneurs who are exciting by the notion of helping one the world's largest and most admired companies, Mars, transition towards a more sustainable, nutritious and just future.
What makes this different from other “accelerators”?
Are entrepreneurs guaranteed investment or partnership with the Mars team?
What does Mars Snacking get out of this?
It supports their purpose: Mars Snacking believes that sustainability is the new digital, that it will transform how we live and work, drive incredible new value and growth, and permeate everything we do. That is why Mars Snacking is making sustainability its greatest responsibility. Not only because it is the right thing to do, but because it will be the most powerful force for change in our generation.
To be credible advisors, and to stay a step ahead of its clients, Mars Snacking needs to be in the market collaborating with companies such as yours. To unleash this change and to drive 360 degree value with all stakeholders, Mars Snacking knows that business as usual is no longer enough. Collaboration and innovation are essential to creating sustainable pathways forward. Unreasonable Food is focused on creating collaborative advantage through an ecosystem of support to the world's most impactful growth—stage entrepreneurs that are solving sustainability challenges.
Mars Snacking is a services company, and its clients need access to a collection of solutions like yours to solve their end to end challenges. Unreasonable Food will also allow Mars Snacking to strengthen its innovation-led client relationships and create momentum and leads for further work and solutions. Through convening world-class entrepreneurs, Mars Snacking hopes to identify new ventures that can join Mars Snacking's Spotlight programme and through this deliver further value across Mars Snacking and for clients. This collaboration also offers an incredible opportunity for Mars Snacking to develop its own capabilities, network and credibility in line with its sustainability value promise.
How will you measure success of this initiative?
We will consider this initiative a success based on the amount of positive impact the Unreasonable Food ecosystem is able to have on the world. Though not the full exhaustive list, below we've included a few of the indicators we will track over time in an effort to measure our impact:
Direct Social Impact: We will track the number of farmers who are able to lift themselves, and their families, out of poverty due to the work of the ventures we support through the Unreasonable Food initiative. We will also track the deduction of sugar we are able to make across the confectionary space because of new science-based solutions in nutritional science.
Direct Environmental Impact: We will track the number of total greenhouse gas emission reduction (in metric tons CO2 equivalent) resulting from the products or services of the ventures we support. For solutions that are focused on removing plastic packaging from the consumer goods food space, we will also measure (in metric tons equivalent) how much plastic is eliminated from otherwise ending up in a landfill, our waterways, or our oceans.
Accelerate high-growth ventures: We will publish data around aggregate revenue, financing, geographic reach, users, customers, and team size across all the Unreasonable Food entrepreneurs.
Increase the flow of investment dollars: We will monitor the amount of financing raised by the entrepreneurs that is attributable to the Unreasonable Food initiative.
Unleash a movement: By taking a lead on innovating their own supply chains, products and operations towards a more sustainable and just future, Mars Snacking also hopes to inspire the broader food and consumer packaging industries towards planet positive practices. We want to unleash a business that ensures our global food systems are fit for purpose — bringing us into a more regenerative and just future.
Measurable social and environmental impact: Each venture we support will designate and track at least one leading indicator of social or environmental impact. We will track this impact indicator on an annual basis.
I want to get involved. How do I reach out?
We are privileged by your interest. Admittance into the Unreasonable Food initiative is by invitation only but if you are an interested partner, investor, mentor, entrepreneur, or journalist, please feel free to reachout to us via the contact form below.
Contact Unreasonable
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