Best Food and Agriculture Companies in Johannesburg, South Africa
The 41 best Food and Agriculture companies in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2026, ranked by funding and momentum. Funding, investors, founders, valuation, tech stack and live signals. Top: Merensky Timber.
Our analysis of 653 Food and Agriculture companies
$71.7b in tracked funding; 82% of the stack-profiled cohort runs cloud-native; funding activity peaked in 2025.
Ranked: Best Food and Agriculture companies in Johannesburg
| # | Company | Disclosed funding | Last round | Stage | Founder | Founded | Tech stack | Recent signals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Merensky Timber Leading forestry and timber processing company supplying Pine and Eucalyptus timber | $20M | 45 mo ago | Late Stage | Johan De Graaf CEO | 1949 | WordPressMySQLPHP+18 | 4 job openings |
| 2 | Refreshhh Carbonated soft drink brand | — | 112 mo ago | Late Stage | Mike Benjamin CEO | 2006 | WordPressMySQLPHP+23 | — |
| 3 | abagold Abagold is a seafood hatchery specialized in the cultivation of Abalone and provides live, canned, and… | — | — | Private | — | 1995 | WordPressMySQLPHP+16 | — |
| 4 | Aces Brew worx Premium beer brand | — | — | Deadpooled | Lliam Co-Founder | 2013 | — | — |
| 5 | bce foodservice equipment BCE Foodservice Equipment is the supplier of kitchen utensils, commercial kitchens to the hospitality & food… | — | — | Acquired | — | 1987 | Cart FunctionalityWooCommerceWordPress+23 | 2 launchs |
| 6 | Biodx Provider of synthetic chemicals for food products | — | — | Funding Raised | Burt Rodrigues Founder & CEO | 2005 | WordPressMySQLPHP+31 | — |
| 7 | Bliss Juicery Cold-pressed juice brand | — | — | Unfunded | Samantha Eldridge Co-Founder | 2014 | — | — |
| 8 | Botha Roodt Producer and trading of fruits & vegetables | — | — | Acquired | Gallie Roodt Co-Founder | 1963 | — | — |
Top 2 Food and Agriculture companies in Johannesburg
#1
Late Stage · Johannesburg, Gauteng · founded 1949 · 167 employees$20Mraised▾
Producer and supplier of pine and eucalyptus timber intended for construction, furniture, joinery and other uses. The company offers a wide variety of hardwood and softwood timber adhering to local and international standards for environmentally-sustainable forestry management practices for local DIY enthusiasts, handymen, hobbyists and small-scale builders.
#2
Late Stage · Johannesburg, Gauteng · founded 2006—raised▾
Refreshhh is a carbonated soft drink brand. Its products include various flavors such as apple, coco pine, cola, cream soda, ginger beer, granadilla, grape, iron brew, lemon, lemonade, litchi, orange, pineapple, and raspberry. Also offers energy drinks and water. Sells its products through retailers. Its products are available in South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Namibia and Lesotho.
- Apr 2017PE—
Funding & investor landscape
Market landscape — 10 sub-themes by coverage
Share of Food and Agriculture coverage by sub-theme.
Regulatory-risk over time rising
Funding & growth over time
funding rising · growth rising
How research on Agritech is moving in South Africa
A read on the academic research around Agritech — which themes are gaining ground, the institutions and researchers driving them, and how the tone is shifting. Based on 124 South Africa-affiliated papers.
- University of KwaZulu-Natal15
- Council for Scientific and Industrial Research14
- North-West University14
- University of Fort Hare11
- University of the Free State10
- Agriculture5
- Sustainability2
- Vulnerability (computing)2
- Resilience (materials science)2
- Disaster risk reduction2
- Agriculture4→23
- Agricultural productivity2→5
- Productivity4→5
- Agriculture11→37
- Climate change2→18
- Food security1→8
Where agritech is researched across South Africa
Location clusters by institution affiliation — each city's volume, stance tone, and a quick read on its hot topic, what's advancing, the opening opportunity, and the main concern.
Common questions
Rohit lives in the feed. He covers what's moving right now — the funding rounds, launches and shifts breaking across the trade press — and ties them back to where the sector is heading.