10 Innovative Coffee Startups to Follow in 2024

Every year, new startups pull to the forefront of their industry through exciting innovation and industry-disrupting business models. We’ve rounded up the most exciting coffee startups of 2024 that startup-lovers, investors, and aspiring entrepreneurs should follow.

Disclaimer: With so many exciting coffee companies launching and growing worldwide, we aren’t able to cover them all. Furthermore, the startups that are listed below are not officially ranked and are listed in no particular order.

• Location: Brooklyn, New York
• Founders: Issam Freiha, Vinay Menda
• Founded In: 2020
• Funding: Series B, $113.8 Million
• Investors Include: General Catalyst, Tiger Global Management, Left Lane Capital

Blank Street is a coffee chain taking on giants such as Starbucks through automation, tech, and quality. The innovative coffee company started as a small coffee cart in 2020, focused on lean operation costs and high-quality coffee. Since then, the company has expanded wildly, opening locations in New York, London, Boston, and Washington D.C..

• Location: Silicon Valley (San Mateo, California)
• Founders: Erik Pfleiderer
• Founded In: 2012
• Funding: Series A, Undisclosed Amount
• Investors Include: Sequoia Capital, Kyber Knight Capital, Maveron

BrewBird is a sustainable coffee program that partners with top roasters such as Equator Coffees, Counter Culture Coffee, and Verve Coffee Roasters. Their zero-plastic pods made with artisan coffees reduce coffee waste while providing companies with a valuable incentive for their employees. Companies deploying the BrewBird coffee program include Pinterest and Meta.

• Location: Oakland, California
• Founders: Adam Maxwell
• Founded In: 2021
• Funding: $63.8 Million
• Investors Include: Valor Equity Partners, Horizons Ventures, Social Impact Capital

California food startup Voyage Foods is on a mission to reinvent two of the world's favorite things: coffee and chocolate. Their vision is to create a future where enjoying food and drink is never constrained by problems with cultivation or production. That means products like cocoa-free chocolate and bean-free coffee. 

• Location: Little Rock, Arkansas
• Founders: Joe Ford, Scott Ford
• Founded In: 2009
• Funding: Post-IPO Equity, $692 Million
• Investors Include: HF Capital, Wells Fargo, Meaningful Partners

Westrock Coffee Company is the leading supplier of coffee beans, tea, ready-to-drink options, and extracts for retailers, consumer goods companies, and foodservice businesses. A powerhouse in the coffee industry, Westrock offers partners unparalleled traceability and end-to-end services for their inventory needs.

• Location: New York City, New York
• Founders: Yianni Mamtsaderis
• Founded In: 2021
• Funding: Product Crowdfunding, $280,000
• Investors Include: N/A

savepod is a sustainable coffee startup taking on the coffee pod industry with compatible pods for popular single-serve coffee makers without the use of plastic. The savepod system isn't just compostable and adaptable, it also saves consumers money on expensive coffee pods.

• Location: Berkley, California
• Founders: Ricardo Lopez
• Founded In: 2013
• Funding: Grant, $60.1 Million
• Investors Include: Tandem Capital, RSE Ventures, California Energy Commission

Bellwether Coffee is an innovative coffee tech startup with a small batch roasting system that allows businesses to roast small batch, low-carbon coffee for their coffee shop or business. The startup is bringing sustainable roasting to the coffee industry with the lowest carbon coffee roasting system available today.

• Location: Gloucester, Massachusetts
• Founders: Matthew Roberts
• Founded In: 2015
• Funding: Series B, $85 Million
• Investors Include: Greycroft, Avenir Growth Capital, Tao Capital Partners

Cometeer's coffee line is built on convenience without sacrificing quality. The brand takes specialty coffee roasters and flash freezes their exceptional products. Then, customers simply place a frozen cube of just-brewed, flash-frozen artisan coffee into a mug with hot water to enjoy exceptional coffee with ease.

• Location: San Francisco, California
• Founders: Jake Miller
• Founded In: 2013
• Funding: Series B, $40.3 Million
• Investors Include: Nextworld Evergreen, Context Ventures

Fellow is a coffee equipment startup famous for their electric kettles. The brand blends beautiful design with high-performing tech to create sleek, hard working equipment for home brewing. Their product line includes travel mugs, kettles, grinders, and brewers as well as coffee beans you can order directly from the website.

• Location: Barcelona, Spain
• Founders: Beatriz Lopez, Francesc Cot, Francesc Font, Joaquim Mach
• Founded In: 2020
• Funding: €11.5 Million
• Investors Include: ICF Capital, Bynd Venture Capital, P101

This coffee startup is changing the way consumers make coffee at home. Incapto Coffee offers super-automatic espresso machines and specialty coffee subscription plans. The company's coffee machines grind and prepare high-quality coffee delivered straight to your door, no capsules or pods.

• Location: Los Angeles, California
• Founders: Clay Alexander
• Founded In: 2012
• Funding: $88 Million
• Investors Include: Goldtek Technology, Crescent Cove Advisors, Gozde Tech Ventures

While not strictly a coffee company, Ember Technologies offers temperature controlled drink ware. Their primary product, the Ember Mug, allows consumers to adjust the temperature, ensuring their beverage is consistently at an optimal temperature through patented sensors, long-lasting battery, and smartphone connection.

Recommended: Check out our full list of the top startups to watch!

With exciting movement in the coffee industry, such as Chobani's acquisition of La Colombe coffee roasters or the immense success in acquiring venture capital by coffee companies such as Blank Street, the specialty coffee space has exploded with growth.

These exciting coffee startups have disrupted the industry to reimagine everything from preparation of coffee grounds to new ways to prepare at-home cold brew. With coffee startups innovating every day, this list will continue to expand to cover the range of imaginative companies taking on the industry and the world.