The Appetizer

Sara Marquart is Co-Founder and CTO of QOA. The startup produces cocoa-free precision-fermented chocolate. The goal is to replace mass-market chocolate, and enable people all over the world to continue to enjoy the experience of chocolate, without the adverse impacts of cocoa production such as deforestation and child labor. Simply put, a more guilt-free chocolate. In this episode, we speak to Sara about QOA -- the technology, the journey, and the aspirations for the coming years.

Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu is Founder and CEO of ColdHubs. Globally, 1/3 of all food produced is wasted. ColdHubs operates 100% solar-powered walk-in cold rooms in Nigerian markets and farm clusters. The Hubs are used by smallholder farmers, retailers and wholesalers, to store and preserve fresh fruits, vegetables and other perishable foods 24/7, extending shelf life from 2 to 21 days, thus saving tens of thousands of tons of food from spoilage every year. ColdHubs serves thousands of customers using the 50+ installed cold rooms, and now plans to expand across Nigeria and the entire continent.

Haven Baker is cofounder of Pairwise. The company uses gene-editing technology CRISPR to improve the traits of fruits and vegetables -- e.g. increasing yields, making harvests easier, improving taste and convenience, and extending shelf life. Haven, and Pairwise, hopes that this can help drive consumption of fruits and vegetables, and thus improve health and environmental outcomes everywhere.

Daphna Nissenbaum co-founded TIPA in a quest to develop flexible, compostable packaging, which would have the same qualities as conventional plastics in terms of durability, transparency, barrier, sealability, printability, and shelf-life. A decade later, TIPA has come a long way in turning that vision into reality.

Hjalmar Ståhlberg Nordegren co-founded Karma in a desire to help reduce the 30% of food that gets wasted. Now his company has helped millions of meals from going to waste.

Michelle Egger is the co-founder of BIOMILQ, which produces cultured breastmilk to supplement nutrition to mother's milk -- with the convenience of formula.

Fredrik Åkerman co-founded Volta Greentech to help battle global warming, by making cows burp and fart less methane gas -- using seaweed.