The 2026 Class
Mars, Incorporated and Unreasonable Group have named thirteen growth-stage ventures to the 2026 Unreasonable Food™ cohort — the third class since the program launched in 2024 — as the $65 billion-plus snacking and pet-care conglomerate deepens its push to reshape supply chains across the food system. The cohort gathered in Windham, New York, September 12–18 and includes companies from the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, Portugal, and India.
The selection spans six thematic tracks: fiber and gut health, ingredients and nutrition innovation, protein enhancement and fortification, functional protein, data and wellness platforms, food safety, and circularity and recycling infrastructure. For c-store operators stocking better-for-you sets, dispensed beverage programs, and functional snack bays, several of the backed ventures address ingredient and safety challenges that run from the supplier tier straight to the forecourt shelf.
What the Ventures Do
On the ingredient side, Kuli Kuli distributes moringa-based products into 11,000 U.S. stores, a retail footprint that already overlaps with the convenience channel. BIOVIT extracts vitamins and minerals from organically farmed plants and fungi with clinically proven bioavailability — the kind of fortification claim that commands premium price points in functional beverage and snack SKUs. Lasso Labs uses a cotton-candy-style spinning process to create meat-like fiber textures without additives or high heat, a back-of-house-relevant technology as operators expand roller-grill and grab-and-go foodservice programs.
In food safety — an area of direct relevance for any operator running a foodservice program — Spore Bio detects factory-floor contamination in minutes rather than days, compressing the window between a potential hazard and a recall. On the data side, FoodHealth scores products from 1 to 100 on nutrient density and ingredient quality, and HowGood taps what it describes as the world's largest food-sustainability database to help brands and retailers measure ingredient footprints — tools increasingly relevant as c-store chains build out private-label and sustainability-positioned SKUs.
Protein alternatives are represented by Nutrition from Water, which grows microalgae-derived complete protein at up to three times lower cost than dairy protein, and Revyve, which produces yeast-based texturizing ingredients that replicate egg functionality without eggs or additives.
Program Impact So Far
The first cohort, which entered in 2024, reported nearly $200 million in additional revenue, 140,000 metric tons of CO₂e avoided, 310 million liters of water conserved, and 1.14 million kilograms of food sold since joining the program. Those ventures also reached 24 million additional people with safe, nutritious food — metrics Mars points to as evidence the accelerator model is producing measurable supply-chain results, not just pitch-deck promises.
Amanda Davies, Chief R&D, Commercial and Sustainability Officer for Mars Snacking, framed the cohort around the company's core commercial priorities. "This year's Unreasonable Food cohort brings the bold, scalable thinking we believe can help advance nutrition, ingredient innovation, food safety, circularity and supply chain resilience," she said. Daniel Epstein, CEO of Unreasonable Group, noted that the program's role is to accelerate founders' timelines by connecting them with Mars's enterprise teams, program mentors, and a global investor network built across all three cohorts.
For c-store buyers and category managers, the cohort signals where Mars — already a top-tier snack and confection supplier to the channel — is placing its ingredient and innovation bets for the next three to five years. Technologies that lower protein costs, tighten food-safety windows, and make functional fortification more scalable tend to migrate from growth-stage suppliers into branded SKUs and then onto convenience shelves within a product cycle or two.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
