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Radar · Food and Agriculture in Madison

Best Food and Agriculture Companies in Madison, United States

The 49 best Food and Agriculture companies in Madison, United States in 2026, ranked by funding and momentum. Funding, investors, founders, valuation, tech stack and live signals. Top: WP Beverages.

49companies tracked
$26.4Mdisclosed funding
0unicorns
7have raised
FLIAR INTELLIGENCE · FOOD AND AGRICULTURE × MADISON

Our analysis of 175 Food and Agriculture companies

$22.9b in tracked funding; 93% of the stack-profiled cohort runs cloud-native; funding activity peaked in 2025.

175companies analysed
93%cloud-native stacks
2025funding peak (by rounds)
7unicorns
2015median founding year

Ranked: Best Food and Agriculture companies in Madison

#CompanyDisclosed fundingLast roundStageFounderFoundedTech stackPatents & IP focusRecent signals
1WP Beverages
Distributor of pepsi
$23M99 mo agoSeries B—2004WordPress Block EditorWordPressMySQL+2311 patents
Innovative beverage bottle and portable container designs for natural-product drinks
—
2Aova Technologies
Provider of fish & animal feeds and feeding equipment services
$2M191 mo agoSeedJesus Martinez
CEO
2005—5 patents
Aquaculture feed additives that boost fish and shellfish growth and health
—
3Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese
Brand of cheese
$506K197 mo agoFunding Raised—2002Wix eCommerceWixSentry+12——
4SpayVac
Provider of immunocontraceptive vaccines for animals, utilizing a patented liposome based antigen delivery…
$426K15 mo agoSeedUrsula Bechert
Co-Founder
2018———
5Milio’s
Chain of limited service restaurant offering sand-wiches
$400K144 mo agoAcquiredMike Liautaud
Founder
2006Cart FunctionalityWordPressMySQL+22——
6Delta Beer Lab
Craft brewery and community social hub supporting local nonprofits
$342K98 mo agoSeedMichelle Riehn
Owner
2017Cart FunctionalitySquarespace CommerceSquarespace+14——
7101
Provider of agriculture and livestock feed programming services
—47 mo agoLate StageCory Peter
CEO
1984WordPressMySQLPHP+1810 patents
Footwear design and manufacturing technologies
—
8FeedX
Provider of feed additives and byproducts to poultry and livestock farms
—71 mo agoSeedRyan Robichaud
Co-Founder
2018———

Top 10 Food and Agriculture companies in Madison

#1
Seed · Madison, Wisconsin · founded 2018 · 2 employees
$426.2Kraised
▾

SpayVac is a biotechnology company that develops and commercializes humane fertility-control vaccines for animals, utilizing a patented liposome-based antigen delivery platform technology. The company's flagship product, SpayVac, is a porcine zona pellucida (pZP) vaccine that has been proven to achieve multi-year efficacy with a single dose, without boosters. SpayVac's innovative approach focuses on immunocontraception as a sustainable and humane solution for managing overabundant wildlife populations. The company's mission is to provide a safe, effective, and eco-friendly method for population control, with a focus on animal welfare and conservation.

LinkedIn Pulse recent public activity · Jul 2026
Audience: 100 LinkedIn followers
Funding rounds
  • May 2025Seed$426.2K
  • Jun 2022Seed—
Founders & team
Ursula BechertCo-FounderMark FrakerCo-FounderThomas D'orazioBoard Member / cofounder / investor
Investors
BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation
#2
Series B · Madison, Wisconsin · founded 2004 · 532 employees
$23.1Mraised
▾

Operator of a beverage company intended to distribute local Pepsi. The company's product includes coffee, soft drinks, sports drinks, energy drinks, juice, water, and tea, enabling people to experience a refreshing way to quench their thirst.

LinkedIn Pulse recent public activity · Jul 2026
Audience: 1k LinkedIn followers — 6.9% of this cohort's audience
Activity: 1 partnerships (incl. Tundra Lodge Resort) announced in 12 mo
Funding rounds
  • Apr 2018Series B$15.4M
  • Nov 2017Series A$7.7M
Tech stack
AhrefsAlpine.JsCdnjsCloudflareCloudflare Bot ManagementFlickity
#3
Seed · Madison, Wisconsin · founded 2005
$1.6Mraised
▾

Provider of fish & animal feeds and feeding equipment services

Founders & team
Jesus MartinezCEO
#4
Funding Raised · Madison, Wisconsin · founded 2002
$505.8Kraised
▾

Brand of cheese

Funding rounds
  • Feb 2010Grant (prize money)$252.9K
  • Sep 2008Grant (prize money)$252.9K
Investors
United States Department of Agriculture
Tech stack
BootstrapGoogle CloudGoogle Cloud CdnGsapHstsHttp/3
#5
Seed · Madison, Wisconsin · founded 2017
$342.5Kraised
▾

Craft brewery and community social hub supporting local nonprofits. It operates as a brick‑and‑mortar brewery and taproom that brews and serves its own craft beers, runs special events and rentals, and runs social‑impact programs such as nonprofit‑partner donations and weekly “Change It Up Tuesdays.”

Funding rounds
  • May 2018Seed$342.5K
Founders & team
Michelle RiehnOwner
Tech stack
AngularCart FunctionalityCore-JsFacebook PixelGodaddyGoogle Analytics
#6
Acquired · Madison, Wisconsin · founded 2006 · 200 employees
$400Kraised
▾

Operator of a chain of restaurants based in Fitchburg, Wisconsin. The company bakes its bread freshly every four hours and provides a wide range of sandwich products, enabling customers to get freshly prepared food every time.

Funding rounds
  • Aug 2014Seed$400K
Founders & team
Mike LiautaudFounder
Tech stack
Beaver BuilderCart FunctionalityCloudflareCloudflare Bot ManagementCore-JsFacebook Pixel
#7
Late Stage · Madison, Indiana · founded 1984
—raised
▾

Provider of agriculture and livestock feed programming services. The company emphasizes customer-first principles, solving challenges in food byproduct management while upholding agricultural values. It provides customized solutions for the food lifecycle, including landfill diversion, organics recycling, secure product destruction, and converting waste into animal feed and biofuels.

Funding rounds
  • Sep 2022PE—
Founders & team
Cory PeterCEO
Investors
Altamont Capital Partners, Maranon Capital
Tech stack
CloudflareCloudflare Bot ManagementContact Form 7CookieyesGodaddyGoogle Analytics
#8
Seed · Madison, Wisconsin · founded 2018
—raised
▾

Provider of feed additives and byproducts to poultry and livestock farms

Founders & team
Ryan RobichaudCo-FounderCarl LippertCo-Founder
Investors
Techstars
#9
Acquired · Madison, Wisconsin · founded 1981 · 1288 employees
—raised
▾

Papa Murphy's International, LLC is a franchised and corporate-owned fresh pizza chain in the United States, Canada and United Arab Emirates. The company was formerly known as Papa Aldo's Pizza and changed its name to Papa Murphy's International, LLC in 1995. Papa Murphy's International, LLC operates as a subsidiary of Papa Murphy's Holdings, Inc.

Funding rounds
  • Aug 2017Post IPO—
Investors
Vintage Capital Management, Charlesbank Capital Partners, Nonantum Capital Partners
Tech stack
Adobe Audience ManagerAmazon AdvertisingAmazon S3Amazon Web ServicesAmazon WebstoreAngular
#10
Funding Raised · Madison, Wisconsin · founded 2014 · 3 employees
—raised
▾

Provider of caffeinated mints intended to offer instant energy and fresh breath. The company's mints do not contain additives, sugar, or calories which has a minty taste and does not leave coffee breath or temperature loss, enabling customers to purchase their mints that dissolve in the mouth and are easy to carry.

Founders & team
Matthew StarrFounder & GM
Investors
Madworks

Funding & investor landscape

$26.4Mtotal disclosed funding
6companies funded
7disclosed rounds
0rounds last 90 days
Most active investors
Altamont Capital Partners1 rounds
Austin Ventures1 rounds
BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation1 rounds
Charlesbank Capital Partners1 rounds
Madworks1 rounds
Maranon Capital1 rounds
Nonantum Capital Partners1 rounds
Techstars1 rounds
United States Department of Agriculture1 rounds
Vintage Capital Management1 rounds

Notable founders

Ursula Bechert
Co-Founder · SpayVac
Mark Fraker
Co-Founder · SpayVac
Jesus Martinez
CEO · Aova Technologies
Michelle Riehn
Owner · Delta Beer Lab
Mike Liautaud
Founder · Milio’s
Cory Peter
CEO · 101
Ryan Robichaud
Co-Founder · FeedX
Carl Lippert
Co-Founder · FeedX
Matthew Starr
Founder & GM · Rally Energy
Prism market signals · United States · country-scoped Prism corpus, 2,042,753 docs

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

RESEARCH SIGNALS · United States

How research on Agritech is moving in the United States

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 652 United States-affiliated papers.

research sentiment over time
201020192026
enthusiastic · positive · guarded tone
Tone is overwhelmingly optimistic and intensifying — the enthusiastic (strongly-positive) share moved 24% → 62% across 2010–2026.
top research entities
  • International Food Policy Research Institute25
  • University of California, Davis22
  • Cornell University22
  • University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign17
  • Agricultural & Applied Economics Association17
leading researchers
Saraju P. Mohanty · Bouali Et-taibi · Mohamed Riduan Abid · H.S. Jat · Andrea Cattaneo · Leslie Lipper · El‐Mahjoub Boufounas · Driss Benhaddou
▲ Breakthroughs103 · 16%
▲ 2%→22% share
▲11.0× share momentum2 median citations92% since 2021mostly methods-led
Breakthroughs are rising (2%→22% of field), led by Robot.
rising sub-themes (early→recent)
  • Robot1→19
Newly emergingAgriculture 0→51 · Precision agriculture 0→17 · Cloud computing 0→11
Landmark The Robotanist: A ground-based agricultural robot for high-throughput crop phenotyping · 151 cites
◆ Advancements253 · 39%
▲ 32%→42% share
▲1.3× share momentum3 median citations71% since 2021mostly empirical
Advancements are rising (32%→42% of field), led by Agriculture.
rising sub-themes (early→recent)
  • Agriculture24→127
  • Robot4→21
  • Climate change2→17
  • Agroforestry3→15
  • Productivity2→13
Newly emergingInternet of Things 0→18 · Agricultural engineering 0→15 · Precision agriculture 0→13
Landmark Responses of soil carbon sequestration to climate‐smart agriculture practices: A meta‐analysis · 470 cites
▼ Concerns186 · 29%
▼ 39%→25% share
▼0.6× share momentum6 median citations57% since 2021mostly empirical
Concerns are cooling (39%→25% of field), led by Agriculture.
rising sub-themes (early→recent)
  • Agriculture35→83
  • Food security7→25
  • Productivity2→10
  • Agricultural economics2→10
  • Internet of Things1→8
Newly emergingAgroforestry 0→10 · Sustainability 0→9 · Agricultural science 0→7
Landmark Climate-smart agriculture: what is it good for? · 334 cites
RESEARCH HOTSPOTS · United States

Where agritech is researched across United States

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.

New York23 · +0.10
Hot · AgricultureOpportunity · Robot
SF Bay Area15 · +0.03
Hot · Natural resource economicsOpportunity · GreenhouseConcern · Agriculture
Ann Arbor7 · +0.01
Opportunity · Cover crop
Boston6 · +0.60
Hot · AgricultureOpportunity · Agricultural engineering
Atlanta6 · +0.75
Opportunity · Internet of Things
PATENT SIGNAL · United States

Who's filing agritech patents in the United States

United States agritech patent filing is accelerating — 24 filings from 35 assignees (2016–2025), led by Microsoft, Vision Robotics, Koselka Harvey; annual filings 1→5.

24 filings35 assigneespeak 5/yr2016–2025
filing momentum (YoY 2016–2025)
top patent filers
  • Microsoft7
  • Vision Robotics5
  • Koselka Harvey5
  • Wallach BRET5
  • IBM4
  • X DEV3
  • Gerrish Steven R3
  • CROP One Holdings2

Common questions

How many Food and Agriculture companies are there in Madison, United States?
Radar tracks 49 indexable Food and Agriculture companies headquartered in Madison, United States that meet our profile-completeness bar.
What is the total funding raised by Food and Agriculture companies in Madison, United States?
The Food and Agriculture companies in Madison, United States on this list have raised a combined $26.4M in disclosed equity funding across 6 funded companies.
Which is the highest-funded Food and Agriculture company in Madison, United States?
WP Beverages is the highest-funded Food and Agriculture company in Madison, United States, with $23.1M in disclosed equity funding.
How many Food and Agriculture companies in Madison, United States are funded?
6 of the 49 Food and Agriculture companies in Madison, United States on this list have disclosed at least one equity funding round.
How many Food and Agriculture unicorns are there in Madison, United States?
None of the Food and Agriculture companies in Madison, United States on this list currently has a disclosed valuation of $1B or more.
Who are the top investors in Madison, United States Food and Agriculture companies?
The most active investors in Madison, United States Food and Agriculture companies on this list include Altamont Capital Partners, Austin Ventures, BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation, Charlesbank Capital Partners, Madworks.
Rohit KhannaTrends & Stories

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.

Coming soon