Climate change poses a significant threat to the future supply of cacao (the unprocessed version of cocoa), with the majority of farmland predicted to become unfit for production by 2050. Recent severe weather events have negatively impacted cacao harvests in Ivory Coast and Ghana, the world’s biggest producers, causing significant shortages and high prices. But Kokomodo, a startup leveraging plant cell technology to “cultivate cocoa’s future” aims to ensure a stable, year-round cacao supply of sustainable premium cocoa. To do so, Kokomodo is developing a platform to produce cacao locally with cells and advanced bioreactors independently from land (deforestation), climate, and tropical regions. The startup, which operates a pilot-scale lab in Israel, not exactly a tropical country with cacao bean plantations, has already developed its first …