Plug and Play Topeka Selects New Cohort of Nine Animal Health Startups for Accelerator Program

Emerging companies from six countries begin the 18-week startup program in Kansas’ capital city

TOPEKA, Kan., Aug. 13, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — In collaboration with GO Topeka, the economic development group for Kansas’ capital city, Plug and Play Topeka, a global industry-specific accelerator program, has selected 13 animal health startups for its ninth cohort.

The program’s newest cohort comprises global startups focusing on animal health diagnostics or therapeutics, food safety and quality, packaging, or novel ingredients, and represents six countries, including the U.S., Turkey, Sweden, Singapore, China, and Germany. The 18-week program will include pitch opportunities, an introduction to mentors and corporate entities, a series of business development workshops, and cohort collaboration.

“We are excited for our continued partnership with Plug and Play and to work with this talented group of startups,” said Stephanie Moran, senior vice president of innovation for the Greater Topeka Partnership. “This opportunity to showcase the amazing resources in Topeka and the surrounding region, including the new Link Innovation Labs, is important to the innovation strategy for Topeka and Shawnee County.”

The nine startups selected for the program are:

• Arterra Pet Science (Austin, Texas): Elevates canine health and longevity through evidence-based functional wellness, while simplifying the lives of pet parents.
• Branvine (Gardena, Calif.): Combines science and technology to deliver personalized nutrition and body composition tracking for healthier, longer lives for pets.
• ChemCode (Ankara, Turkey): Provides a food safety system with a food loss prevention feature, utilizing a lab and specialist-free, portable, and mobile app-integrated system to combat the $1.25 billion worth of loss per year caused by mycotoxins.
• Green-On (Gothenburg, Sweden): Making edible fats and oils by bypassing agriculture altogether.
• Hoomanely (Palo Alto, Calif.): Precision health for preventive pet care and pet longevity.
• N&E Innovations Pte Ltd (Singapore): The world’s first natural and sustainable antimicrobial VIKANG^® technology, upcycled from food waste.
• Pet Portal AI (Woodland Hills, Calif.): Delivers trustworthy, AI-powered pet health and pet nutrition guidance, bridging the gap between worried pet parents and veterinary expertise through our no-hallucination technology.
• Petalife (Hong Kong): AI-powered pet health platform turning daily habits into early health insights — combining smart hardware and trusted vet support for preventive care.
• Pointer Health (New York): The most advanced disease prediction system in medicine.
• RSLNT (San Leandro, Calif.): Functional ingredients without the supply chain.
• testblu diagnostics (Berlin): The most comprehensive liquid biopsy tests for dogs that detect tumors when they’re still treatable.
• Treat (New York): Solving pet clinical trials to unlock human health.
• Vetabolics (Huntington Beach, Calif.): A simple test to rewrite fates and give our dogs more tomorrows.

“Being selected for the Plug & Play accelerator alongside Hill’s Pet Nutrition is incredibly exciting—we’re joining a community of people who have dedicated their lives to improving pets’ lives, which inherently makes human lives better too,” said Ryan Gruzen, founder of Pet Portal AI. “What I’m most looking forward to is learning from partners who understand that the best technology doesn’t make us less human, it helps us be more present and connected with the animals we love. Together, we’re building a world where pet parents feel more confident and less alone in caring for their companions.”

Topeka is centrally located within the Kansas City Animal Health Corridor, the world’s largest concentration of animal health companies and related industries. More than 300 animal health companies located between Manhattan, Kansas, and Columbia, Missouri, including four of the top 10 animal health companies in the world, generate 56% of the total animal health, diagnostics and pet food sold globally, totaling $21.5 billion in annual sales.

Since its start in the spring of 2021, over 100 startups have graduated from the Plug and Play Topeka accelerator program. 

About GO Topeka
GO Topeka creates county-wide economic success for all companies and citizens through the implementation of an aggressive economic development strategy that capitalizes on the unique strengths of the community. GO Topeka operates under the Greater Topeka Partnership and is the leading economic development agency in the area. For more, visit GoTopeka.com.

About Plug and Play 
Plug and Play is the leading innovation platform—connecting startups, corporations, venture capital firms, universities, and government agencies. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, we’re present in 50+ locations across five continents. We offer corporate innovation programs and help our corporate partners in every stage of their innovation journey, from education to execution. We also organize startup acceleration programs and have built an in-house VC to drive innovation across multiple industries where we’ve invested in hundreds of successful companies, including Dropbox, Guardant Health, Honey, Lending Club, N26, PayPal, and Rappi. For more information, visit https://www.plugandplaytechcenter.com/

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SOURCE GO Topeka