This fall, the world's top food and agriculture startups will vie for $3 million in prize money in the seventh annual Grow-NY business competition in Canandaigua, NY. The 20 selected finalists represent the potential for technology innovation and economic development to build a robust food system, both locally in upstate New York and globally.
Funded by Empire State Development and administered by Cornell's Center for Regional Economic Advancement (CREA), Grow-NY aims to foster economic growth in the food, beverage and agriculture sectors in upstate New York. Finalists commit to creating jobs, forging partnerships or setting up operations in the 22-county region of Central New York, the Finger Lakes, or the Southern Tier.
During the program's accelerator phase from August to November, finalists will engage one-on-one with expert mentors, receive pitch training and embark on a fully funded trip to the region. The three-day business development trip is designed to help each startup connect with potential strategic partners and resources in the region.
Finalists will pitch their business plans, including how they intend to make a positive impact on the region, to a live audience at the Grow-NY Summit on Nov. 12-13 at the Hotel Canandaigua. One grand prize winner will receive $1 million, two will win $500,000 and four will win $250,000.
This year's finalists represent seven different states and five countries, with seven coming from New York. Six finalists have connections to Cornell:
- Brekland (Brooklyn, NY), a startup developing frost protection products, and Frost Methane (Juneau, AK), a methane management company, are participants in hardware accelerators at Rev: Ithaca Startup Works, which CREA administers.
- Full of Beans (New York City), a company offering high protein packaged foods made with fava beans, completed the Food Spark program through Cornell AgriTech's New York State Center of Excellence for Food and Agriculture and completed the eCornell Food Product Development certificate program in 2023.
- Seen Nutrition (Ithaca, NY) was co-founded by Adrienne Bitar, a food studies lecturer in American studies in the College of Arts & Sciences. The company, an alum of CREA's Dairy Runway program and a Rev member, has utilized Cornell AgriTech's Food Innovation Lab and Seneca Foods Foundation Pilot Plant to develop its bone health-promoting calcium chews.
- Co-founded by sisters Lori Luckow Gitomer '01 and Tracy Luckow '99, Whipnotic (New York City) worked with the Center of Excellence to develop a nozzle for their whipped cream products, identify a manufacturer for a filling device, and ensure the product complied with food safety requirements in 2020.
- Keithanne Mockaitis, Director of Innovation at ZILA BioWorks (Renton, WA), earned her Ph.D. in biochemistry, cell and molecular biology from Cornell in 1999. The startup develops bio-epoxy resins from vegetable oils.
