Agrifood Breakthrough 2026 - Solving Post-Pilot Manufacturing Bottleneck & Role of Scale-Up Innovation
The Roundtable Session Series returns to the Bay Area!
Our 1st event for 2026 will feature 2 of the most prominent experts in alternative protein scale-up challenges! - A food scientist-entrepreneur who won Mark Cuban’s Shark Tank in 2019, and one of the top food commercialization expert behind iconic brands like Kite Hill, Impossible Foods, Ripple Foods etc.
Finding scalable manufacturing partners/infrastructure and overcoming the related hardware and scientific challenges puts startups on the brink of success or failure.
This is one of the very critical, timely and universal challenges in food innovation space where manufacturing/hardware-related knowledge, combined with scientific expertise, are critically needed.
In conjunction with the Future Food-Tech Conference held in San Francisco, come join us in-person alongside top-notch representatives for this major theme.
Hosts
Featuring Amanda Stiles, co-founder of UMARO Foods, and Matt Tom, founder of MTCC LLC.
Moderated by Nobu Kumagai, Founding Managing Partner, Wildcard Incubator
Our intimate roundtable format allows attendees to discuss directly with our featured speakers on the "inconvenient truths" and challenges facing alternative protein and other emerging food manufacturing businesses.
Let's go deeper to determine market solutions that solve this "supply-side" issue through - possibly with the latest AI and hardware technologies and implementing them into the real world manufacturing facilities.
Agenda
5:30p Doors Open with Light Bites and Beverages
6:30p Panelist Intros from Nobu Kumagai, Wildcard Incubator
6:35p Kick-Off Fireside Discussion with Key Speakers
7:00p Split into Roundtable Group Discussion
7:45p Closing Remarks and Networking
8:30p Doors Close
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Key Speakers
Amanda Stiles is one of the high profile plant biochemist with a mission to transform our food production towards plant-based protein and away from factory-farmed animals, and is best known as co-founder at UMARO Foods, plant-based meat alternatives using red seaweed that made headlines as the winner for Shark Tank in 2019 and currently sold through Whole Foods etc. Prior to UMARO Foods, she led the research team at Ripple Foods, where she developed and patented the process for making Ripptein, a highly purified pea protein. Amanda has a Ph.D. in plant molecular biology from Virginia Tech, where she also earned her B.S. in biology.
Matt Tom is the president at MTCC LLC., where he focuses on product design, product market fit, and manufacturing scale-up. With over fifteen years of experience from post-harvest through to marketplace and full life-cycle testing, MTCC specializes in R&D and Commercialization, especially Integration, Testing, & Validation; and Manufacturing Scale-up, both in-house as well as Technology Transfer to co-manufacturers. Matt brings rich experiences in assisting iconic Food Tech Alt Protein brands including Kite Hill, Impossible Foods, Eat Just, and Ripple Foods etc. for their commercializing and scale-up manufacturing.
Moderator
Nobu Kumagai, Founding Managing Partner, Wildcard Incubator
Nobu is the founding managing partner at Wildcard Incubator, a Tokyo and Silicon Valley-based agrifood business accelerator. He also serves as Japan Representative at Union Kitchen, one of the leading food business accelerators in the U.S., and a featured guest editorial contributor to NewsPicks - one of Japan’s largest online news media. Previously he spent a decade in investment banking and 3+ years in VC. He was also part of the co-founding team at a successful food service business in Japan. Nobu earned his MBA from Cornell University.
The Venue
informal spaces - Oakland - We are creating supportive environments for teams to grow. Each space is unique, so check out what we have to offer for your team.