FoodTech Weekly #129 by Daniel S. Ruben

FoodTech Weekly #129

Hi there,

Happy New Year! VC investment into AgTech and FoodTech companies plunged 44% from 2021 to 2022, according to new Pitchbook data cited by the Financial Times. Overall VC funding for all sectors fell by about 30% in the same period.

Still, investments into the AgTech and FoodTech sectors were 20% higher in 2022 than in 2020. So depending how you look at it, the glass is either half empty or half full.

This week's rundown:

• Arkeon extends Seed round with another €4M, to boost production that turns CO2 into proteins

• Molecular farming scaleup Moolec begins trading on Nasdaq

• Climate labels on fast food menus may encourage more sustainable food choices, new research show

Let's go!

Conversations

Spoke with Amit Hasak, Founder and CEO, and Marcelo Oliveira, Head of Operations, at of Transship which is based in Chicago, Illinois (full disclosure: I recently became an advisor to Transship). For many years, Amit used to own and run a cold storage warehouse in Chicago. Many of his clients there kept complaining that the refrigerated container shipping/freight forwarding experience was terrible and unreliable. Amit did some research and found out that 'the industry is antiquated, enormously inefficient, and out of touch with reality -- it hasn't innovated for decades. Things aren't automated, so people have to use phones, emails, and faxes to get simple things done.' Said and done, in 2017 Amit founded Transship to help automate the refrigerated ocean shipping industry. Marcelo joined in 2022: 'After 15 years in the freight forwarding industry, I had had enough of this outdated and extremely frustrating industry', Marcelo says and continues: 'I'd been waiting for a solution like Transship to arrive for a long time, so when I met Amit and got his vision of automating the supply chain, it really resonated, and I jumped at the opportunity to join.'

Transship's solution provides transparency and lower costs, and cuts shipment processing times down from 4-5 days to as little as a few seconds. It also enables cargo and liability insurance, eBilling, and many other things. 'We're the world's first discounted freight forwarder', Amit explains.

The refrigerated container industry is a $275B market, which transports perishable goods such as fresh and frozen fruits, vegetables, meat, and pharmaceutical products, using containers equipped with refrigeration systems (AKA reefer units). These containers must maintain a constant temperature and humidity, but sometimes they can break down while in transit. When that happens, products go bad and result in food waste. Transship places devices in each container, which track location as well as temperature and humidity (and have light and motion sensors), meaning the company can flag issues to the steamship line immediately, so they can check that particular container, and reduce potential food spoilage.

Transship joined Techstars 'Farm to Fork Accelerator' in 2022. Last year, the company made about $1M in revenue, and Amit plans to do almost $6M in revenue in 2023. Transship is currently raising a Seed round, to expand the team and its geographical presence, as well as step up the marketing efforts. Amit can be reached via LinkedIn and email ([email protected]).

Noteworthy

• Austrian biotech startup Arkeon Biotechnologies has brought on another €4M, following its €6.5M Seed round from March 2022. The company uses gas fermentation to convert CO2 into proteins that include all 20 essential amino acids (more on Arkeon in this FoodHack article). New investors included ICL, Tet Ventures, FoodHack Syndicate, and aws Gründerfonds.

• Liberation Labs, based in the U.S., has clinched a $20M Seed round led by Agronomics and Siddhi Capital. The startup aims to build a number of international manufacturing sites for precision fermentation, and offer co-manufacturer services to food corporations and scaleups looking to produce proteins using precision fermentation.

• French AgTech scaleup Elicit Plants, which develops a solution that makes plants more drought resistant, has been awarded a €2.5M grant, and a €5M equity investment, from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator program.

• Turkish startup Nanomik Biotechnology, which produces biofungicides that increase the shelf life of fresh fruits and vegetables, has scored a €800K funding round. Investors include e.g. Arya Women's Investment Platform, Rockstart, TRAngels, and Coşkunöz Holding.

• Nordic Umami Company of Finland has banked €2.6M in new funding; a $1.8M Seed round plus a €0.8M grant from the EU and Business Finland. Investors include e.g. Nordic FoodTech VC, Heino Group, Holdix Oy, Vaens Oy, and Anne Soininen. The company takes food industry plant-based by-products and use microbes to create umami-rich liquids and solids. I chatted with the team back in August 2021 for FoodTech Weekly #64.

• U.K.-based agtech/foodtech startup Moolec began trading on Nasdaq. The company genetically modifies plants to produce proteins found in animals, such as chymosin (used in cheesemaking), in a process called molecular farming (Sifted just ran a helpful primer on the topic). Moolec plans to launch ingredients on the market 2025 at the earliest. Other companies to watch in the space include e.g. Bright Biotech, Mozza, Nobell Foods, ORF Genetics, and Tiamat Sciences.

• Ittinsect of Rome, Italy raised €625K from investors LVenture Group, CDP Venture Capital, Indico Capital Partners, and Katapult Ocean. The company procures insects, microalgae, and ag by-products, and turns them into sustainable aquafeed.

• Singapore-based insect ingredient startup Protenga secured an undisclosed amount from The Yield Lab Asia Pacific, SEEDS Capital and JBI Innovations. Protenga turns black soldier flies into animal feed. The company raised $2M in venture debt in March 2022.

• More funding news from Singapore: Alterpacks, which develops biodegradable food containers from spent grains, has bagged a $1M pre-seed round led by Plug and Play APAC and joined by SEEDS Capital, Earth Venture Capital, and angel investor Alice Foo.

• New research led by a researcher at Johns Hopkins indicate that climate labels on fast food menus encourage consumers to make more sustainable choices. Thousands of participants were shown different versions of sample menus. Menus with a "high climate impact" label on burgers increased non-beef choices by about 10%. The scientists believe that menu labeling can be an effective strategy for encouraging more sustainable food choices in fast food settings.

News from the FoodTech Weekly community

• Fermify (Vienna) is hiring a Head of R&D... BIOMILQ (U.S.) is recruiting a Director of Business Operations... Mineral / Google X (U.S.) is looking for a Product Manager... NitroCapt (Sweden) has a number of open roles for engineers, and Esencia Foods (Spain) also have several open positions (and so does Nutropy, in France)... revyve (The Netherlands) is recruiting an R&D Chef... Melt&Marble (Sweden) is hiring a Bioprocess Engineer... Lamu (Israel) is looking for a Research Assistant... IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute (Sweden) has an open position for an Industrial Ph.D. Candidate in Sustainability of Future Food Production and Consumption System.

• Early Bird tickets for Sweden FoodTech Big Meet 2023 (June 1-2, 2023) are now available.

Want to share some FoodTech news/project with other FoodTech Weekly subscribers? Hit reply.

Random Stuff

• The richest pets in the world, ranked.

• In 2014, Dutch scientists left a hamster wheel in the wild for a year; all sorts of animals, from mice, shrews, rats, slugs and frogs, were observed to use it for fun (or get ripped for the beach).

• Mentioned this story in FoodTech Weekly #85, but it was one of my favorites from last year: The Swedish city of Södertälje recruited wild crows to pick up discarded cigarette butts, rewarding the birds with a little food for each butt deposited in a bespoke machine designed by a startup. More than a billion cigarette butts are left on Sweden's streets each year, representing 62% of all litter.

• This guy has found a novel way to commute (video, 15 secs):

• Kids running into walls in a house of mirrors (video, 30 secs)

​I love you.

Daniel

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This issue was produced while listening to Wildfires by SAULT. 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.

Disclosures: I'm Head of Strategy and Special Projects at Stockeld Dreamery. I'm an operating advisor to VC/investment firms Nordic FoodTech VC, Trellis Road, and Blume Equity. I'm a mentor at accelerators Katapult Ocean, Big Idea Ventures, and Norrsken Impact Accelerator. I'm an advisor to BIOMILQ, FoodHack, Hooked, Ignitia, Improvin, IRRIOT, Juicy Marbles, Lupinta, NitroCapt, Oceanium, petgood, Rootically, Transship, VEAT, and Volta Greentech; in some of these startups, I have equity.

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