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Rabobank and SF New Tech Announce Lineup for Inaugural FoodBytes! Summit
[January 27, 2015]

Rabobank and SF New Tech Announce Lineup for Inaugural FoodBytes! Summit


Rabobank, the world's premier bank to the food, beverage and agribusiness industry, and SF New Tech, San Francisco's largest and longest-running tech showcase event, today announced the lineup for FoodBytes!, a unique half-day conference to bring together new ideas in food, innovation, and technology, with venture capital.

FoodBytes! is scheduled for Wednesday February 25, 2015 at the Bluxome Street Winery in San Francisco starting at 2:00pm PT. The half-day event is dedicated to helping investors in the food industry meet new companies that are disrupting and/or innovating in food-related software and applications, distribution, manufacturing, production and more. The event is expected to draw 200 attendees. For more information, the full agenda or to purchase a ticket to attend FoodBytes!, visit: http://www.foodbytessummit.com.

FoodBytes! attendees - investors, technologists, media, and others - will see live demonstrations from rising stars who are innovating and disrupting in the food industry, converse with food industry leaders, and network with food industry peers and opinion leaders, among many others.

The event will include a fireside chat between Nick Fereday, Senior Analyst for Food & Consumer Trends at Rabobank, and Deven Clemens, Managing Partner at White Road Investments, which will be a spirited conversation on the intersection of food and technology.

Trends in Food & Technology

According to Dow Jones VentureSource, food- and beverage-related startups attracted $1.1 billion in venture capital world-wide in the first half of 2014. In all of 2013, the industry saw $1.59 billion in venture funding, which constitutes a 39% increase from the $1.14 billion the industry saw in 2012.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations predicts a 60% increase in food demand by 2050, but reduced land, water and other resources. Rabobank's 2014 report Unleashing the Potential of Global F&A calls on the global food and agriculture industry to invest in innovation to meet that demand and overcome resource limits by focusing on three core areas: R&D, new technology, and leadership.

Presenting Companies

A call for demos by companies looking to present at FoodBytes! went out in December 2014. From over 100 applicants, only 12 were selected. From consumer goods (food and beverages) to AgTech and software, these companies are innovating for a more sustainable, smart and healthy future.



Demo companies at the first-ever FoodBytes! Summit will include:

  • Kuli Kuli (Founder & CEO, Lisa Curtis) - Introducing a new superfood, moringa, to the US market.
  • Patrick's Fine Sodas (CEO, Shawn Patrick) - Drinks capitalizing on the collision of the rise of probiotics and new awareness around sugary soda.
  • Bitty (Co-Founder, Megan Miller) - Making delicious baked goods powered by cricket flour.
  • The Algae Factory (Co-Founder, Pierluigi Santoro) - Addressing the need of alternatives to animal proteins and soy based products.
  • RapidBio Systems, Inc. (CEO & President, John Erickson) - Developing a unique and fast food borne bacteria pathogen detection system.
  • Agerpoint (CEO, Thomas McPeek) - Developing industry-leading technologies that redefine data acquisition, analysis, and translation for growers of fruit bearing trees and vines.
  • Cherrysh (Co-Founder & COO, Bhushan Surve) - Bringing revolution to the soda industry by creating bubbly drink using fruits and vegetable juices with zero sugar added but tastes refreshingly sweet without a sense of guilt!
  • BagIQ (CEO, Matthew Stanfield) - Helping consumers make better informed decisions on purchases that impact health, budget and lifestyle.
  • Pantry (Co-Founder & COO, Alex Yancher) - Making fresh food accessible. Anytime. Anywhere!
  • FarmX (Co-Founder & CEO, Sanjay Rajpoot) - Solving problems in Food, Water, Education, Poverty and the Environment - deploying FarmMap Soil to create an IT infrastructure for outdoor industrial farms.
  • Rocket Brewing Company (CEO, Ulrik Lehrskov-Schmidt) - "Beer that makes consumers smart!"
  • Produce Pay (Founder & CEO, Pablo Borquez Schwarzbeck) - A payment platform that connecting Farmers, Distributors and Banks to ensure faster cash turnover and provide necessary financing throughout the supply chain.

Investor's Den


A featured component of FoodBytes! is the "Investor's Den", a special tasting room inside Bluxome Winery dedicated to providing investors and food entrepreneurs a comfortable environment to get to know each other, and where potential deals will be made.

Investors interested in participating with FoodBytes! should contact Myles Weissleder, Founder, SF New Tech at [email protected].

"FoodBytes! is a perfect example of the support that SF New Tech shows to the local tech community. With Rabobank as a committed partner, together we are thrilled to help nascent companies who are innovating in the food industry find capital and partners to help their businesses grow," said Weissleder. "We're equally excited to help investors connect with companies who may not have been on their radar screens. When we say we're bringing new food ideas and new capital to the plate, we mean it!"

"Rabobank has been investing in the food and agriculture sector for over 100 years, but new challenges are arising from increased demand for food, changing consumer preferences and the need for sustainable food production. We want to help spur the leaders and technology solutions that will help address the world's food challenges," said Manuel Gonzalez, Managing Director and Rabobank's West Coast Head of Corporate Clients. "Through FoodBytes!, we can leverage our experience and knowledge to connect innovators with investors, and create a platform to turn today's new ideas and technologies into tomorrow's solutions."

About Rabobank

Rabobank Group (www.Rabobank.com) is a global financial services leader providing wholesale and retail banking, leasing, real estate services and renewable energy financing in more than 40 countries worldwide. Founded a century ago as a Dutch farmers' cooperative, Rabobank today ranks as one of the largest banks in the world, with nearly $1 trillion in assets, and remains committed to its core mission to create customer value. Rabobank is recognized as a premier bank to the global food, beverage and agribusiness industry, providing a compelling combination of deep sector expertise, strategic counsel and specialized financial solutions to clients across the entire food value chain. Rabobank. The financial link in the global food chain.® @RaboWholesale

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 (News - Alert) 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 (News - Alert), Twitter, DoubleDutch, Telerik, Macworld, The New York Times, and many others. For more information, visit http://www.sfnewtech.com @sfnewtech


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