FoodTech Weekly #12 by Daniel S. Ruben

FoodTech Weekly #12

Hi there,

Peter Miller of Farm Immersive wrote a great, quick-read blog post on VC blind spots -- that a lot of good food and ag innovations don't get the attention (and investment) they deserve because of where they're based (AgFunder News commented on this conversation here). I actually have some personal experience on investing in VC blind spots. There used to be a crowdfunding startup for agriculture in Somalia called Agrikaab - where one could buy/trade goats, sheep, camels, shares in greenhouses and water ponds, etc. Here's how it worked. In terms of investing in the most risky geographies, Somalia is definitely up there; the country lacked a central government from 1991 to 2004, ranks #190 out of #190 in World Bank's Doing Business Report, and is actively fighting violent extremists.

Given this context, naturally I invested. In greenhouse shares, but also in some camels, which I quickly gave appropriate names. While Agrikaab folded earlier this year, I hope that somewhere on that rugged Somali terrain, Camel Chameleon, King Arthur of Camelot, and Camelron Diaz are proudly pacing onwards. And that legacy is priceless.

Highligths

• Conversations: Benjamina Bollag (Higher Steaks)

• Noteworthy: DouxMatok will launch in the U.S. to bring down sugar use; Plenty vertical farm scores deal with 430 Albertsons stores; ocean-focused investment funds raise big bucks.

• The Profile: Dr. Mark Manary

• Random Stuff: Lion pooh; smoked mackerel ice-cream; a new Healthy Food Guide. And more.

Conversations

• I recently covered Higher Steaks, that produces pork and bacon using cellular agriculture. This week, I had a chance to chat with the startup's Founder, Benjamina Bollag. Originally from Switzerland, she moved to London to pursue a MSc in Chemical Engineering at Imperial College. She first came across the concept of cultivated meat 3 years ago, and almost immediately founded Higher Steaks, as she felt it could make a big impact. Just three years later, they've raised funding, build a stellar core team, and started a lab in Cambridge. More importantly, they've already done some public tastings of their pork (the test panelists seem to agree that the texture is great, but the taste can still be optimized -- which isn't surprising, as the fat component still hasn't been added). During the next year, Higher Steaks will focus on lowering production costs and improving the prototypes, making sure that the product is reproducible in ever-larger bioreactors. The company is hiring, so if you're a stem cell scientist, tissue engineer, or a bioprocess engineer, get in touch with Benjamina or Higher Steaks. 

Noteworthy

• Last year, AgFunder launched its GROW accelerator in Singapore to support the region's agrifood tech ecosystem; now, AgFunder is adding an impact fund to support Seed and Series A-stage ventures. The new fund, which links its impact to the SDGs, is targeting $20-30M, and will invest in companies digitizing agriculture and addressing food waste, greenhouse gas emissions, soil health and food insecurity.

• Meanwhile, Chicago-based FoodTech VC firm S2G Ventures has closed a $100M Oceans and Seafood Fund, with an explicit sustainability focus. S2G, which has previously invested in companies like Beyond Meat and Apeel Sciences, currently has just one seafood investment, FishPeople. The new fund will back early- and growth-stage startups in alternative proteins, aquaculture, supply chain innovation, traceability and transparency, algae and seaweed, ecosystems services and ocean health. Despite the huge importance of oceans in providing billions of people food, there are just a handful of oceans and seafood focused investment funds; some of the leading ones are Aqua-Spark, HATCH (technically an accelerator), Pontos Aqua, Meloy Fund, Pescador Holdings, CI Ventures, and the Sustainable Oceans Fund (the latter of which, as reported in FoodTech Weekly last week, just reached its $132M target raise).

• GFI just updated its impressive list of (hundreds of) companies working on cultivated and plant-based meat/dairy/egg products, as well as fermentation-based products. On a related topic, the FDA/USDA say they're making progress on how to label cell-based (cultivated) foods.

• Israeli startup DouxMatok is gearing up for its U.S. launch. The Israeli startup has developed a method that makes sugar taste sweeter, meaning the amount of sugar in products like chocolate, baked goods and gummy bears can be cut by 35-60% with maintained taste.

• Agrivoltaics -- the practice of farming crops under solar panel installations -- is an efficient use of land, while it can also help protect crops from extreme weather and reduce evapotranspiration. But there's also a major drawback: The shadows cast by solar panels inhibit photosynthesis, limiting plant growth. Anthropocene reports on a new potential breakthrough however, with a new design of transparent, tinted panels that filter certain wavelengths of light to the crops below, while maintaining electricity generation above. Basil and spinach grown during the study had 65% and 35% respective higher above-ground mass, and had richer protein content.

• French startup Aryballe can turn odors into digital data, which is then used for quality control, to detect product freshness, and much more. The company, which recently closed a $7.9M round, has developed a handheld device which has 64 receptors for scent (vs. the hundreds of receptors in the human nose).

• Mexican state Oaxaca has banned the sale of junk foods (e.g. candy and potato chips) and sugar-sweetened beverages to minors, becoming the first state in the country to do so. About 28% of children aged 5 to 11 are currently obese in Oaxaca, the highest rate in Mexico. Obesity has been linked to increased severe illness from COVID-19.

• We've all heard the stories of how automation and robots will displace millions of human jobs (especially so in restaurants). Well, humanity struck back: Due to COVID-19, some poor robots of Cafe X lost their jobs at San Jose and San Francisco airports. 

• Seed funding: Bayer and Temasek have launched a new venture, Unfold, to accelerate vertical farming. Powered by a $30M investment, Unfold will develop new seed varieties optimized for indoor growing conditions, by using gene editing (note: this is not the same as GMOs). Initially, Unfold will focus on lettuce, spinach, tomato, pepper, and cucumber; the seed varieties will be selected for flavor, nutrition, and plant growth characteristics valued by vertical farmers. 

• More vertical farming news: In a huge breakthrough deal, Plenty will supply vertically-grown greens to 430 Albertsons stores all across California. Plenty, backed by SoftBank's Vision Fund, has raised over $400M.

• Indonesian aquaculture startup eFishery has secured an unspecified amount of Series B financing (sources say it's around $15M). Founded in 2013, the Aqua-Spark portfolio company offers automatic fish feeding devices, a fish feed, farming financing, and an online platform that connects farmers with its customers. 

• British plant-based meat startup THIS raises at least £4.4M ($5.7M) in a crowdfunding campaign ($5.7M as of Aug 14; the campaign is still open). Andy Shovel, co-founder of THIS says: 'I haven’t clicked ‘refresh’ this often since my online dating days.'

The Profile
Not all heroes wear capes. Dr. Mark Manary might sound like an unlikely hero. Professor in Pediatrics at the Institute for Public Health at Washington University in St. Louis. But he's one of the world's leading experts in childhood malnutrition. He has worked in Sub-Saharan Africa (Malawi in particular) since 1985. Back in the early 1990s, malnutrition was very high. One in three children diagnosed with severe acute malnutrition was dying. The milk-based nutrition they were offered wasn't adequate. Dr. Manary needed to come up with some sort of food which had to edible without needing to be cooked, with adequate levels of protein and fat, that was stable in hot conditions, and resistant to the growth of bacteria on it. Working together with French pediatric nutritionist André Briend, Dr. Manary developed, and ensured distribution for, the first RUTF (ready-to-use therapeutic food), which was based on peanut paste, milk powder, vegetable oil and sugar. It was portable, calorie-dense, nutrient-rich, and required no refrigeration or cooking - and it was tasty. In 2004, the NGO Project Peanut Butter was established to ensure wider distribution. Since then, levels of malnutrition have halved, and the rate of infant mortality from malnutrition is down from 23% to 6%, even though Malawi is still one of the poorest countries in the world. Some estimates say over 1 million children are saved each year by the RUTF developed by Dr. Manary. His advice for young people wishing to make a difference? "Always, always go after a really big problem."

Random Stuff

• Germany's Krone Circus has found a new way to raise money during coronavirus restrictions; selling jars of lion pooh. Says lion tamer Martin Lacey: "I am told it keeps cats away from the garden." 

• So what do cats do when they can't roam around in the garden? These ones are paid actors.

• Smoked mackerel, spinach and tarragon, and pine needle, are just some of 12 unusual ice cream flavors that Lithuanian chefs have tinkered with.

• The Nutrition Advisory Committee at Tuft University's Friedman School of Nutrition just released this neat Healthy Food Guide (h/t: Dary Mozaffarian).

​​I love you.
Daniel
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Disclosures: I'm a consultant to the Rockefeller Foundation Food Team. I'm a mentor at accelerators Katapult Ocean, Big Idea Ventures, and Bloomer. I'm an advisor to Noquo Foods, BIOMILQ, Volta Greentech, Veat, IRRIOT, Rootically, Holistal, Vultus, and Ignitia; in some of these startups, I have equity. 

Boring disclaimer: The newsletter content is intended only to provide general and preliminary information to folks interested in FoodTech, and shall not be construed as the basis for any investment decision or strategy. I assume no liability as regards to any investment, divestment or retention decision taken by readers of this newsletter content.