The company you have never heard of is inside almost everything you eat. Here is how a linseed-crushing shop from 1902 became the invisible spine of the global food supply.
IQBAR is a Boston-based 'brain + body' nutrition company that makes plant-protein bars, electrolyte hydration mixes (IQMIX), and adaptogenic mushroom coffee (IQJOE) formulated with brain nutrients like Lion's Mane and Magtein magnesium L-threonate. Founded by Harvard psychology grad Will Nitze, IQBAR pairs low-sugar, vegan, keto-friendly snacks with functional ingredients aimed at sustained mental clarity and energy, sold direct-to-consumer and across 8,000+ retail locations including CVS and Kroger.
Kathryn Cook is the CEO and co-founder of NuCicer, a Davis, California agtech and food-tech company breeding chickpeas with up to 75% more protein than ordinary varieties. A former Boeing materials engineer and Facebook technical program manager, she left big tech to commercialize 35 years of her father's chickpea genetics research at UC Davis, applying machine learning and data analytics to plant breeding. NuCicer has raised roughly $23 million in total funding, planted across multiple US states, and aims to cut the cost of plant protein in half.
Kerry Song is the founder and CEO of Abbot's (formerly Abbot's Butcher), a Costa Mesa, California plant-based meat company she launched in 2017. A Princeton economics graduate who once worked in finance at Morgan Stanley and Citigroup and spent five years as a brand strategist for Tony Robbins, she built Abbot's around a strict clean-label promise: no gluten, no soy, no gums, no synthetic flavors, no preservatives. The brand became the only Whole30 Approved plant-based meat and grew from a Venice farmers-market table into a category leader stocked in thousands of retailers including Sprouts, Publix and Target.