A strategic collaboration between Unreasonable and Mars Snacking

The world we want tomorrow starts with how we do business today.

And at Mars Snacking, our Purpose is inspiring moments of everyday happiness. Which is why we joined forces to create Unreasonable Food.
Unreasonable Food seeks to become the world's premier global initiative focused on supporting rapid growth companies positioned to re-define our food systems—for a more regenerative, inclusive, and equitable future of food for all.
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.

“Mars is investing behind innovative front-line entrepreneurs to feed a just and sustainable tomorrow.”

– Andrew Clarke, President of Mars Snacking
With advances in regenerative and biodynamic agriculture, agroforestry, machine learning, nutritional sciences, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, renewable energy, cloud computing, cellular biology, synthetic biology, fermentation, hydroponics, blockchain technology, and indoor agriculture, the global food system is being re-imagined by entrepreneurs on the front lines.
And yet, even with a more sustainable future at our fingertips, how we produce, transport, and consume food is arguably one of the greatest accelerators and contributors to climate change. This is where Unreasonable Food comes into focus.

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.

Although new technologies have the promise of a brighter future, the supply chains we utilize, the materials we package our food in, the health and safety of the ingredients we eat, and the treatment of farmers worldwide leave much to be desired.
Unreasonable Food is a collaborative movement dedicated to transforming Mars' operations and inspiring the broader industry across four pillars: Shape the Future of Food, Improve Farmer Livelihood, Transform Food Supply Chains, and Sustainable Packaging.

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.

Mars Snacking logo
We are a global business of people and brands with a clear purpose. We believe the world we want tomorrow starts with how we do business today. It is this vision that rests at the heart of our Sustainable in a Generation Plan—one where the planet is healthy, people are thriving, and society is inclusive.
We are transforming the way we work - from how we source raw materials like palm oil and cocoa, to ensuring every part of our operations and extended supply chains help people and the planet thrive. But we can't do it alone.
We recognize that solving the world's collective challenges is a generational dilemma, and one that calls for collaboration over competition. This has led Mars to partner with Unreasonable Group to co-create Unreasonable Food - a global movement and coalition dedicated to creating a more regenerative and just food future.
We find ourselves in a critical moment and we are working to ensure Mars is a positive force in the world for years to come. We hope you will join us to help transform the systems that have made climate change and farmer inequality so pervasive. Together we can, and we must, inspire moments of everyday happiness to bring forward a bright future.

Unreasonable Food Ventures

We seek entrepreneurs who are already wielding the most effective solutions positioned to re-define our food systems. We handpick and invite these entrepreneurs and their impactful growth-stage companies into the Unreasonable Fellowship. We then give select investors, mentors, and partners the opportunity to help them scale the impact of these ventures.

80 Acres Farms

Designing, building, and operating indoor farms with industry-leading controlled environment agriculture (CEA) technology.

View Profile »

Mike Zelkind

CEO, cofounder

Absolute

Creating carbon negative, 100% traceable, nature and biotech products for Agriculture, Ingredients, Materials and Healthcare

View Profile »

Agam Khare

Founder & CEO

Air Protein

Using microbes to convert elements of air into a sustainable protein product

View Profile »

Lisa Dyson, PhD

CEO at Air Protein

Farmerline

Helping the farmer grow their wealth through quality inputs, training, and markets.

View Profile »

Alloysius Attah

Co-founder & CEO

LandScan

Opening the frontier to close productivity gaps in agriculture.

View Profile »

Dan Rooney, PhD

Founder & CEO

Loliware

Advancing the planet towards a plastics-free future

View Profile »

Sea Briganti

Founder & CEO

MycoTechnology, Inc.

Increasing the availability of healthy, sustainable, and high-quality food options through mushroom fermentation.

View Profile »

Alan Hahn

Board Member and co-founder

Nitricity

Electrifying the production of climate-smart fertilizer.

View Profile »

Nicolas Pinkowski

Cofounder & CEO

Regrow Ag

Accelerating scope 3 decarbonization through resilient agriculture.

View Profile »

Anastasia Volkova

Co-Founder & CEO

Sea Forest

Abating climate change using seaweed feed to reduce livestock emissions.

View Profile »

Sam Elsom

Co-founder & CEO

String Bio

Leveraging biotechnology to convert methane to everyday products, including feed and food

View Profile »

Vinod Kumar

Cofounder & Managing Director

Voyage Foods

Designing a future where food isn’t constrained by problems with cultivation and production.

View Profile »

Adam Maxwell

CEO

Xampla Ltd

Creating natural replacements for polluting plastics

View Profile »

Alexandra French

CEO

Yard Stick PBC

Measuring soil carbon accurately, instantly, and affordably.

View Profile »

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

Read on Wondery - Feel The Story »

May 19, 2023

San Leandro startup Air Protein triples funding, partners with crop giant ADM

Read on Bay Area Inno »

May 12, 2023

The EVERY Co. partners with Alpha Foods to deliver cleaner label plant-based products

Read on foodnavigator-usa.com »

May 8, 2023

TIPA Compostable Packaging acquires Bio4pack

Read more »

July 12, 2023

80 Acres Farms displays its strawberry systems at Wimbledon

Read more »

May 9, 2023

New Coalition Prioritizes Action to Transform Food Systems – Food Tank

Read on Food Tank »

Frequently Asked Questions

Why have you created Unreasonable Food?

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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

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Why look to entrepreneurs to solve these issues?

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Entrepreneurs have always envisioned the world as it could be, not as it presently is. Through our research and experience, we have come to believe that entrepreneurs often operate on the edge of new solutions to societal and environmental problems that we formerly thought were unsolvable. The challenge is that while there are brilliant innovators and entrepreneurs (and many of their models are already working at scale in the market), they need investment, mentorship, exposure, and strategic partnerships to achieve global scale. This is where Unreasonable Food, and the experience and scale of one of the world's largest food companies, Mars Snacking, comes into focus.

Beyond basic criteria, what do you look for in the entrepreneurs you'll bring into Unreasonable Food?

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Logical Path to Achieving the Impossible: We invite entrepreneurs who challenge our conceptions of what we thought was possible in terms of impact, scale, business models, and growth. Simultaneously, we look for a logical and convincing model to enter the market that matches this unguarded ambition.

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”?

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Most incubators and accelerators focus on working with idea, seed, and early-stage companies. We don't think of ourselves as an incubator or an accelerator because we focus on working with growth-stage companies. We have more than 403 ventures already in the Unreasonable Fellowship. They have raised $14 bn dollars, generated more than $13 bn in revenues, have sequestered more than 114,193,897 metric tons of CO2 or greenhouse gas equivalent, and they are positively impacting the lives of more than 1  people across more than 180 countries. For Unreasonable Food, Mars and Unreasonable will team up to identify ventures that are already wielding the most effective solutions to specific challenges seen across the food industry. In short, we will focus on scaling what works. By working with significantly later stage ventures than an accelerator or incubator, we can identify more avenues for investment, licensing, and partnership between the investors and partners in our community and when appropriate, specifically with the Mars Snacking team.

Are entrepreneurs guaranteed investment or partnership with the Mars team?

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No. The only thing we can guarantee is relational access to the leadership of Mars Snacking. Whether or not a venture bridges a formal business relationship will be determined when, and only when, the benefit to all parties involved is truly based on mutuality and good timing. That said, all entrepreneurs who participate in Unreasonable Food will gain access to the Unreasonable Fellowship. For more details, see our Fellowship page. It's important to remember that we don't charge entrepreneurs anything for participation in the Unreasonable Food initiative or in the ongoing Unreasonable Fellowship.

What does Mars Snacking get out of this?

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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?

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​​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?

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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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