As part of the Unreasonable Food collaboration, Mars and Unreasonable Group are welcoming the next generation of growth stage ventures into the Unreasonable Food family.

Evolving our food system will never be a simple journey, yet it remains one of the most practical levers we have for building a more resilient future and a thriving economy. Unreasonable Food, a bold collaboration between Mars Snacking and Unreasonable Group, was born in 2024 to back entrepreneurs turning the most pressing food chain challenges into opportunities.

"Addressing the challenges in our food system is a task bigger than any one organization," Amanda Davies, chief R&D, procurement and sustainability officer for Mars Snacking, said in a relase. "That's why it's so important to build a collaborative ecosystem - connecting brilliant minds behind pioneering ventures with scaled industry leaders – so we can help unlock new possibilities and accelerate the transformation toward a more resilient future."

Mars, in collaboration with Unreasonable Group, selected 14 purpose-led ventures that represent the next frontier of sustainability advancements. The 2025 Unreasonable Food cohort will build upon the work started in 2024, with a strategic focus on reducing dairy cattle emissions, scaling sustainable ingredients and exploring solutions with partners around sustainable colors.

This critical work will continue to move us toward the next phase of developing a food system that is more sustainable and nutritious.

The 2025 Unreasonable Food Cohort:

Alpine Bio: Engineering crops like soybeans to produce dairy proteins, enabling familiar melt, stretch, and creaminess without cows.

Standing Ovation: Producing animal-free casein via precision fermentation to deliver authentic dairy textures for cheese and other foods.

Oobli: Harnessing sweet proteins from plants to create sugar-like taste with no sugar, made scalable through fermentation.

Debut Biotechnology: Fermenting high-value ingredients, including natural color alternatives, to replace unsustainable or synthetic sources.

Octarine Bio: Producing a vibrant palette of natural colors through fermentation, offering reliable, sustainable options for food and textiles.

DE3PBIO: Using AI and biotech to unlock plant-based functional ingredients that make foods cleaner, healthier, and more nutritious.

NuCicer: Breeding new chickpea varieties with up to 75% more protein, improving taste, texture, and resilience to climate stress.

Plantible Foods: Extracting Rubi protein from lemna (duckweed), a highly sustainable plant that can replace eggs, dairy, and additives.

Hydrosome Labs: Leveraging ultrafine bubbles to boost fermentation yields and nutrient delivery, making biomanufacturing more efficient.

Pow.bio: Pioneering continuous fermentation technology that reduces costs and increases capacity for bio-based production.

The 2024 inaugural cohort has continued to demonstrate what's possible when high-growth companies are supported by an ecosystem connected by shared sustainability ambitions. Since joining the program in 2024, our first cohort reported nearly an additional $200 million in revenue, 140,000 tons of CO₂e avoided, 310 million liters of water conserved, and 1.14 million kilograms of food sold. They reached 24 million more people with safe, nutritious food and educated 2 million more people on climate change mitigation and adaptation, while growing job opportunities improving working conditions across their communities.

The collective 2024 and 2025 class of ventures will engage with Mars teams across the enterprise, Unreasonable Food mentors, and a global investor network to further support their culture changing work, which will center around two shared priorities: transforming food supply chains and shaping the future of food.