Call for Demo company applications - Deadline is February 18

Tickets to FoodBytes! Brooklyn available now

Rabobank, the world's premier food & agribusiness bank, has announced the first five of ten companies to present at FoodBytes! Brooklyn and they are LoveTheWild, Masienda, Kakaxi, FreshTemp, and Arable Labs. FoodBytes! Brooklyn is scheduled for Thursday, March 3, 2016 at The Hall at MP in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

As part of their selection, each company will have the opportunity to present for five minutes to an audience filled with investors, technologists, media, and others. After the presentation, each company will then have the opportunity to answer questions from the audience for another five minutes.

The first five companies presenting at FoodBytes! Brooklyn are:

  • LoveTheWild – pairs sustainable fish with bold flavors and easy cooking instructions for an all-in-one solution to cooking great, healthy meals at home. Increasing seafood consumptions will have a meaningful impact on population health, and lighten our agricultural footprints on the earth.
  • Masienda –sell Mexican corn to meet the demands of chefs producing high quality Mexican food in New York, Los Angeles and beyond. Their core mission is to source, import and purvey the highest quality products while creating a fair market that promotes agricultural biodiversity, sustainability and supports smallholder farmers in Mexico.
  • Kakaxi - a 21st century solution to the growing disconnect between farmers and consumer. The Kakaxi smart-farm monitoring device and mobile App provides valuable information to farmers through data collection and satisfies consumer curiosity through time-lapse video and social news feed.
  • FreshTemp – temperature management technology with cloud connectivity that provides complete food safety and operations management for commercial kitchens - from large-chain, quick service restaurants to independent dining services to food retailers.
  • Arable Labs – Created the Pulsepod - a complete solution for crop management that provides scientific quality measurements such as rainfall, crop water demand, water stress, microclimate, canopy biomass and more. Jam-packed with sensors that fit into the palm of your hand and weighs under a pound with integrated mounting so it can be used anywhere in vegetables, field crops, perennials or pastures.

“We are proud to announce the first five companies that will come from across the country to present at FoodBytes! Brooklyn. From seafood to food safety these companies are truly innovating in their fields and we are excited to hear more when they take the stage at our event,” said Manuel Gonzalez, Head Western Region, Rabobank North America Wholesale. “We look forward to announcing the next group that will round out the top 10 demo companies later this month – we expect it will be a diverse group that will showcase future possibilities in food and ag.”

Startups in food, agribusiness and beverages that are interested in presenting at FoodBytes! Brooklyn are encouraged to review the event criteria and apply via the FoodBytes! website by Thursday, February 18 at 5pm PT. The remaining five companies invited to present at FoodBytes! Brooklyn will be announced after applications close.

FoodBytes! Brooklyn is the first summit in the series to be held on the East Coast. SF New Tech, San Francisco's largest and longest-running tech showcase company, and Food + Tech Connect, the New-York based site of record and community for the food tech and innovation sector, are partnering with Rabobank to bring FoodBytes! to New York.

FoodBytes! Brooklyn is the latest in a series of transformational conferences designed to foster new ideas in food, innovation, technology, and bring them together with investors. Previous FoodBytes! events were held in San Francisco in 2015.

Investors looking to finance the next bright idea in food will meet new and innovative companies that are disrupting across the food chain and in food-related software and applications, distribution, manufacturing, production and more. Approximately ten entrepreneurs and startup companies will be chosen to present live demos of their ideas to FoodBytes! Brooklyn attendees - investors, technologists, media, and will have the opportunity to network with food and agribusiness executives and opinion leaders, among many other industry influencers.

FoodBytes! Brooklyn is expected to draw over 350 attendees and tickets are available to purchase via the FoodBytes! website and the media partners for the event are Edible Brooklyn & Gothamist. For coverage of FoodBytes! Brooklyn, follow FoodBytes! and Rabobank on Twitter @FoodBytes and @RaboWholesale or view curated content via the hashtag #FoodBytes.

About Rabobank

Rabobank Group is a global financial services leader providing wholesale and retail banking, leasing, and real estate services in more than 40 countries worldwide. Founded over a century ago, Rabobank today is one of the largest banks in the world, with nearly $1 trillion in assets, and ranks among the 10 safest banks globally. In the Americas, Rabobank is a premier bank to the food, agribusiness and beverage industry, providing sector expertise, strategic counsel and tailored financial solutions to clients across the entire food value chain. Rabobank. The financial link in the global food chain.® NAW.Rabobank.com @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 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, Twitter, DoubleDutch, Telerik, Macworld, The New York Times, and many others. For more information, visit http://www.sfnewtech.com @sfnewtech.

About Food + Tech Connect

Food+Tech Connect is the site of record and world's largest community for the food tech and innovation sector. Over the past five years, Food+Tech Connect has worked with game changing companies like Applegate, Google and Chipotle to build the world’s largest community of innovators working at the intersection of food, agriculture, foodservice, technology, design, investment, media, retail and policy. Food+Tech Connect gives innovators the tech and business insights, connections and skills they need to transform the food industry through its website, newsletters, events, consulting and business courses. Join the community at foodtechconnect.com and @foodtechconnect.

Wise Public RelationsJohn McCartney, 415-480-4059john@wisepublicrelations.com