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Radar · Food and Agriculture Tech in Charlotte

Best Food and Agriculture Tech Companies in Charlotte, United States

The 44 best Food and Agriculture Tech companies in Charlotte, United States in 2026, ranked by funding and momentum. Funding, investors, founders, valuation, tech stack and live signals. Top: Ekos Brewmaster.

44companies tracked
$44.5Mdisclosed funding
0unicorns
10have raised
FLIAR INTELLIGENCE · FOOD AND AGRICULTURE TECH × CHARLOTTE

Our analysis of 81 Food and Agriculture Tech companies

$13.5b in tracked funding; 93% of the stack-profiled cohort runs cloud-native; funding activity peaked in 2025.

81companies analysed
93%cloud-native stacks
2025funding peak (by rounds)
7unicorns
2016median founding year

Ranked: Best Food and Agriculture Tech companies in Charlotte

#CompanyDisclosed fundingLast roundStageFounderFoundedTech stackPatents & IP focusRecent signals
1Ekos Brewmaster
Developer of business management software for beverage producers and distributors
$29M56 mo agoAcquiredGreg Forehand
Co-Founder & CIO
2002Cart FunctionalityWordPressMySQL+38——
2Cloosiv
Provider of self-checkout solutions for offline retailers
$13M72 mo agoSeries ATim Griffin
Founder & CEO
2017———
3Grocery Shopii
Platform offering personalized meal planning solution for grocery eCommerce businesses
$1M62 mo agoSeedKatie Hotze
Co-Founder & CEO
2018———
4The Good Kitchen
Online subscription platform for food ordering
$650K83 mo agoSeed—2011ShopifyAmazon Web ServicesShop Pay+31——
5Entogenetics
Provider of genetically engineered spider silk from silkworms for commercial-scale production
$540K157 mo agoDeadpooledDavid Brigham
Founder & CEO
2007—9 patents
Biotechnological production of recombinant spider silk proteins for advanced biomaterials
—
6Druid
Provider of monitoring systems to automate plant growing process
$100K19 mo agoSeedDesmond Irby
Co-Founder
2019———
7Freshlist
Online distributor of fruits and vegetables for consumers and chefs
$50K55 mo agoSeedJesse Leadbetter
Founder
2013Cart FunctionalityShopifyAmazon Web Services+16——
8Astor Farms
Fish farming using recirculated aquaculture system and supply of produce
$20K55 mo agoDeadpooledRob Ellis
Founder & President
2010———

Top 10 Food and Agriculture Tech companies in Charlotte

#1
Seed · Charlotte, North Carolina · founded 2019 · 4 employees
$100Kraised
▾

Provider of monitoring systems to automate plant growing process. They use machine learning technology paired with computer vision to grow hydroponic crops. Their growing systems integrate both horizontal and vertical farming methods.

LinkedIn Pulse recent public activity · Jul 2026
Audience: 308 LinkedIn followers
Activity: 1 awards announced in 12 mo
Funding rounds
  • Dec 2024Seed$100K
Founders & team
Desmond IrbyCo-FounderJulian WalkerCo-Founder & CEOCameron HowardCo-Founder
#2
Acquired · Charlotte, North Carolina · founded 2002 · 80 employees
$29Mraised
▾

Developer of business management software for beverage producers and distributors. The software streamlines inventory, production, sales, and accounting. It connects and tracks data across operations for informed decisions. The platform offers features such as order management, sales analysis, and enterprise resource planning. Additional tools include keg tracking and reporting for compliance.

LinkedIn Pulse recent public activity · Jul 2026
Audience: 9k LinkedIn followers — 14.7% of this cohort's audience
Funding rounds
  • Dec 2021Series B$21M
  • Oct 2019Series A$8M
Founders & team
Greg ForehandCo-Founder & CIOJosh McKinneyCo-Founder & President
Investors
Catalyst Investors, Noro-Moseley Partners
Tech stack
AosAzureAzure Front DoorCart FunctionalityCloudflareCloudflare Bot Management
#3
Series A · Charlotte, North Carolina · founded 2017 · 5 employees
$13.2Mraised
▾

Provider of self-checkout solutions for offline retailers. It provides a scan and pay solution to customers shopping at multiple retail stores via a mobile-based app. Customers can use the app to scan barcodes on the items they want to shop for and add them to their shopping list. Payment for the same can be made through the app using credit cards or online payments. The app can be used to carry out self-checkout in other places such as restaurants where customers can scan their bills and can proceed to pay for the same through the app.

Funding rounds
  • Aug 2020Series A$12M
  • Oct 2019Angel$1M
  • Jul 2019Seed$150K
Founders & team
Tim GriffinFounder & CEO
Investors
Y Combinator, ZNL Ventures, Catapult, VentureSouq, DO Venture Partners, VentureOut
#4
Seed · Charlotte, North Carolina · founded 2018 · 15 employees
$1Mraised
▾

Platform offering personalized meal planning solutions for grocery eCommerce businesses. It offers an online meal planning solution for the existing e-commerce platform. Using the proprietary recipe to cart process, enabling shoppers to plan meals on the weekly basis. It also offers solutions for brands with proprietary machine-learning recipe technology transforming recipes into recommendation engines within eCommerce platforms.

Funding rounds
  • Jun 2021Seed$1M
Founders & team
Katie HotzeCo-Founder & CEOLouise PritchardCo-Founder
Investors
Johnson Venture Partners
#5
Seed · Charlotte, North Carolina · founded 2011 · 8 employees
$650Kraised
▾

Online subscription platform for food ordering. Offers subscription plans in three packages namely, The Couples Plan, The Anti-Cook Plan, and The All in Pain. Users can also create a customized plan based on the meals required per week.

Funding rounds
  • Aug 2019Conventional Debt—
  • Jun 2017Seed$650K
Investors
White Oak Global Advisors, Whitestone International Group
Tech stack
Amazon S3Amazon Web ServicesApple PayBabelCdnjsCloudflare
#6
Deadpooled · Charlotte, North Carolina · founded 2007 · 11 employees
$540.2Kraised
▾

Provider of genetically engineered spider silk from silkworms for commercial-scale production. The company has developed a process for large scale, inexpensive spider silk production from genetically engineered silkworms. EntoGenetics’ technology removes the silk gene from a silkworm and replaces it with spider silk gene. The inserted spider silk gene is then used by the silkworm to make its cocoon.

Funding rounds
  • Jul 2013Seed$540.2K
Founders & team
David BrighamFounder & CEOTeresa BrighamCo-Founder
#7
Seed · Charlotte, North Carolina · founded 2013 · 7 employees
$50Kraised
▾

Online distributor of fruits and vegetables for consumers and chefs. Its platform enables home customers and chefs to place orders on a day-to-day basis, which are delivered to their doorstep . Its product offerings include strawberries, carrots, potatoes, apples, cabbage, mushrooms, garlic, and onions. It also offers meat and poultry products.

LinkedIn Pulse recent public activity · Jul 2026
Audience: 557 LinkedIn followers
Funding rounds
  • Jan 2022Grant (prize money)$20K
  • May 2018Seed$50K
Founders & team
Jesse LeadbetterFounder
Investors
United States Department of Agriculture
Tech stack
Amazon S3Amazon Web ServicesApple PayCloudflareCore-JsFacebook Pixel
#8
Deadpooled · Charlotte, North Carolina · founded 2010
$20Kraised
▾

Astor Farms is an integrated business involved in the fish farming using Recirculated Aquaculture System(RAS) and supply of produce. It claims that the environment of cultivation for fishes is monitored and controlled on a real-time basis. It also claims that fishes farmed in its system are fed high protein feed and water in the system is filtered mechanically and biologically on a continuous basis. The product portfolio has Tilapia fishes.

Funding rounds
  • Jan 2022Grant (prize money)$20K
Founders & team
Rob EllisFounder & President
Investors
United States Department of Agriculture
Tech stack
WordpressMysqlPhpBootstrapWebfactory Under ConstructionNginx
#9
Seed · Charlotte, North Carolina · founded 2015 · 3 employees
$10Kraised
▾

Developer of an online platform intended for connecting chefs with customers. The company's platform leverages digital channels to connect users with local professional chefs to come to their home or party site, enabling customers to have access to a customized chef experience.

Founders & team
Blake MitkoffFounder & CEO
#10
Acquired · Charlotte, North Carolina · founded 1985 · 158 employees
—raised
▾

Data-driven solutions for agriculture, animal health, and specialty retail. The company provides a unified platform with data services and streamlined software solutions. It offers data management, marketing program management, and market intelligence. The company also provides trait license management solutions. It serves manufacturers, distributors, and retailers in crop inputs, animal health, and specialty retail markets. The company enables supply chain visibility, informed decision-making, and optimized marketing program performance. It helps clients build stronger relationships and protect market share through a data-centric approach. The company offers data processing and analytics solutions, including market survey data. It also provides solutions for grower licensing, compliance management, and reporting. The company is a trusted provider of data management and analytics.

LinkedIn Pulse recent public activity · Jul 2026
Audience: 16k LinkedIn followers — 27.0% of this cohort's audience
Funding rounds
  • 2010Conventional Debt—
  • Feb 2010PE—
Founders & team
Heffy ProvostCEO
Investors
SFW Capital Partners, Five Points Capital, Carousel Capital, Cadrillion Capital
Tech stack
AddthisApache Http ServerAzureFont AwesomeGoogle AnalyticsGoogle Font Api

Funding & investor landscape

$44.5Mtotal disclosed funding
9companies funded
12disclosed rounds
0rounds last 90 days
Most active investors
United States Department of Agriculture2 rounds
Cadrillion Capital1 rounds
Carousel Capital1 rounds
Catalyst Investors1 rounds
Catapult1 rounds
DO Venture Partners1 rounds
Detroit Equities1 rounds
Five Points Capital1 rounds
FreshTracks Capital1 rounds
I2BF Global Ventures1 rounds

Notable founders

Desmond Irby
Co-Founder · Druid
Julian Walker
Co-Founder & CEO · Druid
Greg Forehand
Co-Founder & CIO · Ekos Brewmaster
Josh McKinney
Co-Founder & President · Ekos Brewmaster
Tim Griffin
Founder & CEO · Cloosiv
Katie Hotze
Co-Founder & CEO · Grocery Shopii
Louise Pritchard
Co-Founder · Grocery Shopii
David Brigham
Founder & CEO · Entogenetics
Teresa Brigham
Co-Founder · Entogenetics
Jesse Leadbetter
Founder · Freshlist
Rob Ellis
Founder & President · Astor Farms
Blake Mitkoff
Founder & CEO · Inside Chef
Prism market signals · United States · country-scoped Prism corpus, 2,677,195 docs

Market landscape — 10 sub-themes by coverage

Share of Food and Agriculture Tech coverage by sub-theme.

Regulatory-risk over time rising

Funding & growth over time

funding rising · growth rising

RESEARCH SIGNALS · United States

How research on Food Technology is moving in the United States

A read on the academic research around Food Technology — which themes are gaining ground, the institutions and researchers driving them, and how the tone is shifting. Based on 4,142 United States-affiliated papers.

research sentiment over time
200820172026
enthusiastic · positive · guarded tone
Tone is overwhelmingly optimistic and intensifying — the enthusiastic (strongly-positive) share moved 17% → 34% across 2008–2026.
top research entities
  • Cornell University153
  • Purdue University West Lafayette134
  • University of Georgia82
  • Michigan State University81
  • University of California, Davis79
leading researchers
David Julian McClements · Martin Wiedmann · Prabhu Pingali · Valquerizo, Pamela Cristina · Semakula, Henry Musoke · Liang, Song · McKune, Sarah Lindley · Mukwaya, Paul Isolo
▲ Breakthroughs283 · 7%
▲ 3%→7% share
▲2.3× share momentum0 median citations93% since 2021mostly methods-led
Breakthroughs are rising (3%→7% of field), led by Food safety.
rising sub-themes (early→recent)
  • Food safety4→52
  • Food processing2→31
  • Food science1→13
  • Contamination1→12
  • Food products1→12
Newly emergingFood security 0→37 · Agriculture 0→30 · Production (economics) 0→21
Landmark Development of a Paper-Based Analytical Device for Colorimetric Detection of Select Foodborne Pathogens · 460 cites
◆ Advancements1,178 · 28%
▲ 19%→29% share
▲1.5× share momentum0 median citations90% since 2021mostly empirical
Advancements are rising (19%→29% of field), led by Food safety.
rising sub-themes (early→recent)
  • Food safety16→214
  • Food processing12→174
  • Agriculture14→135
  • Production (economics)7→122
  • Food security3→117
Newly emergingSustainable agriculture 0→41 · Fermentation 0→40 · Food packaging 0→30
Landmark Food-Miles and the Relative Climate Impacts of Food Choices in the United States · 1,126 cites
▼ Concerns1,665 · 40%
▼ 52%→39% share
▼0.8× share momentum0 median citations83% since 2021mostly empirical
Concerns are cooling (52%→39% of field), led by Food safety.
rising sub-themes (early→recent)
  • Food safety56→397
  • Food security40→307
  • Agriculture35→233
  • Food processing54→215
  • Food systems28→180
Newly emergingFood insecurity 0→60 · Human health 0→37 · Risk assessment 0→23
Landmark Ultra‐processed products are becoming dominant in the global food system · 1,762 cites
RESEARCH HOTSPOTS · United States

Where food tech 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 York206 · +0.07
Hot · Food systemsAdvancing · Greenhouse gasOpportunity · Food wasteConcern · Livelihood
Boston121 · +0.04
Hot · AgricultureAdvancing · Food scienceOpportunity · Food supplyConcern · Sustainability
SF Bay Area101 · +0.05
Hot · Fermentation in food processingAdvancing · Food scienceOpportunity · Food productsConcern · Agriculture
Philadelphia35 · -0.05
Hot · Table (database)Advancing · Food safetyOpportunity · Beverage industryConcern · Food insecurity
Chicago26 · +0.00
Hot · SodiumAdvancing · Food safetyOpportunity · Food productsConcern · Food insecurity
Los Angeles24 · +0.00
Hot · Food systemsOpportunity · Food consumptionConcern · Agriculture
Seattle24 · +0.13
Hot · Agricultural productivityAdvancing · Food securityOpportunity · Production (economics)Concern · Food processing
Atlanta23 · +0.05
Hot · Public healthOpportunity · Psychological interventionConcern · Food security
San Diego17 · +0.36
Hot · Novel foodAdvancing · Food productsOpportunity · Sustainability
Pittsburgh16 · -0.16
Hot · Food intakeOpportunity · Replication (statistics)Concern · Food safety
PATENT SIGNAL · United States

Who's filing food tech patents in the United States

United States food tech patent filing is cooling — 817 filings from 475 assignees (2016–2025), led by Whirlpool, Sharkninja Operating, Provisur Technologies; annual filings 80→68.

817 filings475 assigneespeak 93/yr2016–2025
filing momentum (YoY 2016–2025)
top patent filers
  • Whirlpool185
  • Sharkninja Operating151
  • Provisur Technologies51
  • Smartwash Solutions39
  • SAFE Foods32
  • LYCO MFG32
  • Massachusetts INST Technology20
  • Ecolab USA18

Common questions

How many Food and Agriculture Tech companies are there in Charlotte, United States?
Radar tracks 44 indexable Food and Agriculture Tech companies headquartered in Charlotte, United States that meet our profile-completeness bar.
What is the total funding raised by Food and Agriculture Tech companies in Charlotte, United States?
The Food and Agriculture Tech companies in Charlotte, United States on this list have raised a combined $44.5M in disclosed equity funding across 9 funded companies.
Which is the highest-funded Food and Agriculture Tech company in Charlotte, United States?
Ekos Brewmaster is the highest-funded Food and Agriculture Tech company in Charlotte, United States, with $29M in disclosed equity funding.
How many Food and Agriculture Tech companies in Charlotte, United States are funded?
9 of the 44 Food and Agriculture Tech companies in Charlotte, United States on this list have disclosed at least one equity funding round.
How many Food and Agriculture Tech unicorns are there in Charlotte, United States?
None of the Food and Agriculture Tech companies in Charlotte, United States on this list currently has a disclosed valuation of $1B or more.
Who are the top investors in Charlotte, United States Food and Agriculture Tech companies?
The most active investors in Charlotte, United States Food and Agriculture Tech companies on this list include United States Department of Agriculture, Cadrillion Capital, Carousel Capital, Catalyst Investors, Catapult.
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.

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