Mars' ingredient program halves its applicant pool
Big Idea Ventures and Mars Petcare picked EcoBean, Loopworm and Space Ark Biomedical for the third Next Generation Pet Food Program, from 83 applications, down from 165. Mars describes the accelerator as a search for next-generation suppliers, and we found no announced Mars supply deal with any graduate so far.
Applications fell by half this year, from 165 to 83, in the third run of a pet food ingredient accelerator backed by Mars Petcare. The organizers say this year's applicants faced stricter entry criteria, though the release does not tie that to the drop. All three startups in the 2026 cohort produce protein or fat from abundant or underused feedstocks. The picks say more about where Mars may want future supply than the $15,000 prize attached to each spot does.
Big Idea Ventures and Mars name three 2026 ingredient startups
Big Idea Ventures and Mars Petcare announced the Next Generation Pet Food Program cohort on September 29th, 2026, with partners AAK, Bühler, Givaudan and Ingredion. The three picks:
Each gets expert guidance, R&D facility access and a $15,000 cash prize. The program page adds a paid trip to Singapore for finalists, covering flights and accommodation, where the cohort pitches at the Asia-Pacific Agri-Food Innovation Summit from October 27th to 29th. Neither the release nor the program page mentions an equity stake or investment commitment.
The release does not mention the decline. It says only that applicants faced stricter criteria and a request for more commercially mature ventures.
Mars is shopping for suppliers, not portfolio companies
The program has changed shape every year. The 2024 pilot, run with AAK and Bühler, named five winners including algae omega-3 maker MiAlgae, according to Bühler's announcement of the 2025 edition. The 2025 round added Givaudan, drew 165 applications from 39 countries and picked a microalgae nutrient maker, a mycelium aquafeed developer and a fermentation startup.
This year Ingredion joined. The corporate partner roster beyond Mars and Big Idea Ventures has doubled, from two companies in the 2024 pilot to four this year.
Every corporate partner besides Mars and the organizer Big Idea Ventures sells ingredients or processing equipment. And Mars has said plainly what it wants. When it opened this year's round in May, it described its Raws4Paws Accelerator as searching for the next generation of suppliers to source pet food ingredients. A winning outcome here is a qualified supplier, not a portfolio company.
The 2026 picks fit. EcoBean's process pulls coffee oil and protein additives aimed at feed and other industries, and it secured €7M through the European Funds for a Modern Economy program in 2023. Loopworm raised a $3.25M pre-Series A in July 2025 for a silkworm-based recombinant protein platform aimed first at diagnostics and animal vaccines.
Compare that with Mars' other venture channels. The $300M Companion Fund II, managed by Digitalis Ventures in partnership with Mars, recently led a $6M round for a grooming franchisor. Leap Venture Studio graduate GekkoVet is now distributed through Royal Canin, which took it into Mexico this year. This program hands out $15,000 prizes. What Mars gets back is an early look at inputs it may one day buy by the ton.
If we had to guess, the silkworm slot is the one R&D teams will study hardest. A recent market report found insect-based pet food shifting from sustainability claims toward hypoallergenic ones, and a silkworm source with its own fat stream widens the options for novel-protein formulas.
Whether any graduate ever lands on a Mars label
Across the 11 startups named in three cohorts, our search turned up one public pet food commercial placement, and it was not with Mars. MiAlgae's fish-free omega-3 went into Butternut Box's vegetarian recipe across its European markets starting in March 2026. We could not find an announced Mars supply agreement with any graduate.
That absence may say more about how ingredient qualification works than about the program. Supplier trials run slow and rarely get press releases.
The program page says winners receive recognition via letters of intent, but it does not say who issues them or what they cover. A disclosed commercial LOI, pilot or supply agreement involving Mars after the Singapore pitches in late October would be the clearest public sign yet that the funnel turns into procurement.
Until then, this is scouting with a prize attached.
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