Mapping the Turkish Agri-Food Ecosystem: Part III
An Introduction to Startups and Corporates In the Turkish Food Ecosystem
by Yekta Kuseyrioğlu
Understanding the Sector
As Kök Projekt, we are enthusiastic about knowing the future of the food and agriculture sector. We conduct research, prepare reports, follow agri-food ecosystem dynamics. We know that recognizing each actor is crucial to understand the sector. Thus we shared Turkish Agriculture Ecosystem Maps in two parts within the last months.
Now, as we are not only passionate about agriculture but also food, so we’ve decided to map the Turkish Food Ecosystem.
When we say we are passionate about the food, we mean it. As we mention above, we conduct research and follow international food trends. We also have a venture called Maide Mutfak, which operates as a cloud kitchen and aims to empower the women who are living within disadvantaged communities to become successful entrepreneurs that they are destined to. Thus we are also physically engaged with food. In our researches, by analyzing food from farm to fork, where and how it is produced, who distributes it, who transforms it, we understood that it’s quite a complicated chain.
With our first Turkish Food Ecosystem Map, we aim to understand the complex world of food, provide greater visibility of the ecosystem, and raise awareness about the startup world.
Food: A Global Challenge
Food is at the center of a global challenge: Hunger. According to the UN, over 820 million people suffering from hunger. This immense global challenge finds its place in SDGs as Goal II: Zero Hunger targets. Thus this data shows us we need a more sustainable and resilient food system. Recently, the COVID-19 crisis showed us we need to be more conscious and aware of our food systems if we want a healthy and sustainable future.
Startups: Growing the Future of Food
The history of food is as old as human history. Eating is an essential part of the human being. Food is also a culture and conversation between people. As it is at the heart of our lives, it evolves consistently. By 2050, our world will likely have two billion more people to feed nutritiously and sustainably.
Therefore we need to transform our food ecosystem into a more sustainable one. Startups, as they adapt quickly, pivot faster, use technology, and adapt their knowledge through generated data, could play a critical role in this transformation.
As Kök Projekt, we are an agri-food startup accelerator. We follow startups carefully. For the last several months, we’ve seen exciting and inspirational development for food entrepreneurship in Turkey. Biftek.co has accepted to the Big Idea Ventures’ latest cohort, and Nanomik is accepted to Rockstart’s program.
At Kök Projekt, we believe that every startup contributes to creating a more sustainable and resilient food chain. We strongly support them and work to provide greater visibility for them. We believe our map would serve to this purpose.
We begin to create our first-ever Food Ecosystem Map from our Turkish food startup database. We worked closely with Startups Watch, the Turkish Start-up Ecosystem Intelligence, and we’ve improved our data. On our next step, we collaborate with the Patent Effect. Patent Effect supports technology-driven companies and research institutes to unleash the power of patents to create an impact on their innovation journey and define the Patentpreneurs: Startups who have at least one patent/utility model applications.
The startup world is a fast-changing and evolving ecosystem. We have improved our startup data, aggregate it, and then categorize it. While classifying our data, we’ve searched for the primary purpose or value proposition of each team. Eventually, we’ve placed them into fourteen categories. We strongly believe that categorization makes understanding easier.
Corporates: Key Players of The Sector
Turkey is currently the world’s biggest producer of nuts, cherries, figs, apricots, and pomegranates. Moreover, Turkey is among the top ten in the production of 55 products in the world. Since Turkey has a vast potential for the food sector, there are many national and international firms operating in the food sector.
As Kök Projekt, we are an innovation partner of the food, agriculture, and water sector companies, thus we follow the corporates in the sector closely as well.
Corporations understand that innovation is at the heart of the sector, and they refrain from missing it. As such, the rising demand for healthy ingredients, product sourcing transparency, and sustainability have an impact on corporations’ decisions. They organize and sponsor events, support acceleration programs, and partner with famous chefs.
Hence, in our map, we have categorized corporate firms into four sections. The list includes companies that are engaged in Food Production and Manufacturing, CPG, Retail, and finally, Food Management and Services.
Quick Disclaimer
This is not an exhaustive list of all startups and corporate companies in the agriculture sector.
You can reach our 2020 Turkish Food Start-up and Corporate Ecosystem Map here.
Below is an overview of each category
CPG-Delivery: Startups offering urgent answers for delivery challenges of the food sector. It includes restaurant delivery, home delivery of drinks, food, and fast delivery options.
Coaching-Recipes/Recommendations: Startups helping customers in their search for good recipes or nutrition recommendations. It also includes startups providing quality information on food products and transparency.
Food Protection/Food Waste Management: According to FAO, 1/3 of all food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted. Food waste is a big challenge for the food industry. In this category, we put startups working on to diminish food waste, including solutions that extend shelf life and smarter and sustainable packaging.
CPG-Performance Foods/Nutrition: Startups focusing on healthy eating with their new types of meals in the form of bars or powders. Most of them offer transparent ingredients with vegan options.
Food Marketplace/E-Commerce: Startups working in e-commerce market places for consumers. Including platforms enabling direct access from producers to consumers.
Food Concepts: Startups focusing on concept restaurants such as vegan restaurants.
Micro Greens: Startups working on microgreens to provide healthier nutrition for their customers.
Cloud Kitchen: Startups managing kitchens, food production facilities without a physical restaurant space, and producing foods for customers.
CPG-Beverages: Startups reinventing drinks. Including healthier lifestyle drinks, sustainable coffee options, and plant-based milk.
Food-Tech: Startups disrupting food production. Alternative protein solutions such as lab-grown meat, insect protein, etc. Startups are working on bio-tech for advanced, smarter food options.
Food Service Platforms-Restaurant Management/Payment Services: Startups reinventing the restaurant industry, including restaurant management platforms and payment services.
CPG-Plant Based: Startups developing food products based on plants. Vegan products, including sauces, seasoning, and healthy nutrition options.
CPG-Animal Based: Startups developing food products based on animals by respecting animal welfare.
Meal Kits: Startups regularly delivering to their customers. Including weight-loss kits options or ingredients to make meals at home.
We welcome your thoughts and look forward to publishing our next maps. For any of your questions or feedback, you can shoot us an email to:
info@kokprojekt.com
(Written and Prepared by Yekta Kuseyrioğlu)
