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- FoodTech Weekly #108 by Daniel S. Ruben
FoodTech Weekly #108 by Daniel S. Ruben
News on FoodTech, food, and society
Daniel S. Ruben
August 05, 2022 • Estimated Reading Time: 10 minutes
FoodTech Weekly #108
Hi there,
I wrote about Sweet Victory earlier this year. This Israeli startup has created a line of chewing gums designed to stop sugary cravings; it's supposed to work within two minutes by blocking the sugar receptors on the tongue, and the effect can last up to two hours.
I've been eager to try this, and Marie Dollé (who publishes the excellent newsletter In Bed with Social in English and French) was kind enough to pick up a Sweet Victory package in France and send it to me.
I tried it -- and it works. After having chewed the gum for a minute or two, spitting out the gum and then reaching for anything sweet (like chocolate), suddenly that usually cravable item tasted bland, even disgusting. I actually had to spit out the chocolate I tried to eat. It was a very weird sensation. I had friends and family members try the gum, and all (but one) had the same experience. And some were even upset that I had ruined their ability to enjoy something sweet, at least for the next hour or two.
Will this product take off? I have no idea, but I can imagine it could help treat e.g. some people suffering from obesity.
How to ruin your sugar craving in two minutes
Since it's summer, I'm trying to power through my saved podcasts. Marina Schmidt just dropped a new episode for Red to Green, this time on how monocultures destabilize our food system, using the banana as a case in point. Listen to this quick 12 min episode on Spotify, iTunes, or wherever you find your podcasts. This week's rundown:
Spread of Japan banks $30M to expand vertical farming operations
Food rescue platform Goodr scores $8M to reduce food waste and address hunger in the U.S.
FoodTech investment is down 43% year-of-year according to new report
Let's go!
Conversations
I'm still on semi-vacation, and it's glorious. Conversations will hopefully be back soon :)
Noteworthy
Japanese vertical farming startup Spread has brought home $30M in new funding. The company, founded already back in 2007, sells its lettuce in thousands of stores across Japan. Spread claims it uses just 1% of the water used in conventional farming. The company aims to use the new funding to automate operations, and expand to more crops.
Wheelocity of India has taken in $12M in new capital; the company provides supply chain solutions for fresh produce actors, processing 700 tons of fruits and vegetables daily
Livin Farms of Vienna, Austria has secured €2.5M in funding from the European Innovation Council. The company grows mealworms, which are then processed into animal feed.
Image: Livin Farms
U.K. startup Deep Branch has announced a £4.8M ($5.8M) government grant, to scale up its efforts to produce a single-cell protein for the animal feed industry. The company uses microbes that feed on carbon dioxide, and then become animal feed. Deep Branch hopes to start commercial sales in 2027. Other notable companies in this industry include e.g. Unibio and Calysta.
U.S. plant-based cheese startup Bandit has raised $1.5M in Seed funding. The company uses cashews as a base for its products, and now plans to expand across the U.S.
U.S. Shrinkei Systems announced it has raked in $1.3M (and plans to raise more); the startup has developed what it says is a more humane fish slaughter machine. Instead of letting the fish suffocate (which is common practice), a machine quickly processes the fish.
Australian compostable stretch wrap startup Great Wrap has banked $11M in Series A funding, as well as $13M in non-dilutive capital from Rabobank's asset financing arm DLL Group. Great Wrap plans to produce 30,000 tons of compostable stretch wrap next year (made from e.g. potato waste), for use as food and pallet wrapping. The wrap breaks down into carbon and water in less than 6 months.
CropBiome of Ireland has landed €1.3M; the company produces coatings for raw seeds of mass-produced crops, protecting them from e.g. droughts and reducing the need for chemical use.
Lyro Robotics in Australia has raised $1.5M in funding backed by Japan's Toyo Kanetsu, Artesian, and AgFunder. The company develops robotic packers that can help farmers efficiently pack produce.
Image: Lyro
Goodr has scored an $8M Series A round, led by Precursor Ventures and backed by e.g. Emerson Collective, Kimbal Musk, and Backstage Capital. The company was launched in Atlanta, Georgia in 2017 to reduce food waste and address hunger; Goodr's logistics platform collects edible food waste from restaurants, airports and the like, and then donates it to local nonprofits. Inedible food is composted. In the last five years, some 30M meals have been served thanks to Goodr, and 3M lbs (1.3M kgs) of food has been diverted from landfills.
The Irish government has set a 25% climate emissions reduction target for its agriculture sector by 2030; local farmers are upset there are no financial incentives to help them make the transition. Meanwhile, the Dutch government has introduced new legislation on nitrogen pollution, demanding cuts of up to 70%, which means roughly 30% of the country's cows and pigs will be made redundant. The government says it will pay the full value of any land, cattle, or machinery that's taken out of production, but many farmers are still planning to resist.
Dealroom's Q2 2022 FoodTech report is out. Combined FoodTech investment in Q2 was $5.7B, down 43% year-on-year. M&A activity was also down, and there were no traditional IPOs, the fewest since Q2 2020. The share of early-stage investment rounds ($4M to $15M) is increasing, and the share of large rounds of $100M+ have decreased.
Image: Dealroom Foodtech Q2 2022 report
Root Global of Germany has received €2.5M in new funding; the company helps food value chain companies understand and reduce their carbon footprints. The round was led by Project A and supported by Nucleus and a group of angel investors.
SIMA of Argentina has closed a $2M investment round. The company has developed a mobile app used by farmers to monitor. 100M+ fields of soy, wheat, and other crops across Latin America, helping farmers boosting yields.
Dealroom's Q2 2022 FoodTech report is out. Combined FoodTech investment in Q2 was $5.7B, down 43% year-on-year. M&A activity was also down, and there were no traditional IPOs, the fewest since Q2 2020. The share of early-stage investment rounds ($4M to $15M) is increasing, and the share of large rounds of $100M+ have decreased.
Fascinating read on vanilla farming, from Anthropocene Magazine.
News from the FoodTech Weekly community
The Rockefeller Foundation (USA) is hiring a Project Manager, Global Nutrition Security...Root Global (Germany) is recruiting for a number of roles, including Tech Lead, Backend Engineer, Climate Intelligence Specialist, and Founding Product Designer.
Want to share some FoodTech news/project with other FoodTech Weekly subscribers? Hit reply.
Random Stuff
A tenant in Germany moved out, and then sued to get the equity value of the rental deposit -- which had grown in value from 400 D-Mark in 1960, to €115,000 today. The tenant won the case, although the verdict is not yet legally binding. Full story in German here.
This food carbon cost calculator from the Financial Times is pretty fun to play around with:
I love you.
Daniel
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This issue was produced while listening to Fireflies by Owl City. Follow me on LinkedIn and Twitter. And here's the Appetizer which I co-host. Did your brilliant friend forward this to you? Subscribe here.