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FoodTech Weekly #133 by Daniel S. Ruben
News on FoodTech, food, and society
Daniel S. Ruben
February 03, 2023 • Estimated Reading Time: 11 minutes
FoodTech Weekly #133
Hi there,
Michal Klar of Better Bite Ventures asked 50+ alt protein insiders (myself included!) on their predictions for some key 2023 alt protein trends. Some key takeaways:
The experts see an 80% probability (on average) that Singapore will approve another cultivated meat or seafood product in 2023, and a 70% probability that the U.S. will approve, this year, a product from at least one cultivated meat or seafood company to be sold in the U.S.
About 55% of the experts think Israel will be the second market after Singapore to issue regulatory approval for cultivated meat or seafood in 2023
The experts believe around $3B will be invested into the alt protein sector this year, which is about the same as the 2020 number, but down from $5.1B in 2021
Finally, the experts say mycelium / mycoprotein will be the new technology with the biggest impact on the industry this year
Check out the full article here.
This week's rundown:
U.K. sugar tax reduces obesity levels amongst 10-year old girls, new research shows
No click bait: New School Foods catches $12M funding round
Dutch vertical farming company Future Crops the latest victim in industry slump
Let's go!
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Noteworthy
Toronto, Canada-based New School Foods has reeled in a $12M Seed round, joined by e.g. Lever VC, Hatch, Good Startup, Blue Horizon, and Hack Capital. New School Foods has developed a proprietary technology that enable them to produce e.g. ultra-realistic plant-based salmon products.
Entocycle of the U.K., which provides technology solutions for insect farming companies, has banked a $5M Series A from investors such as Climentum Capital, Lowercarbon Capital, and ACE & Company. Here's a nice 3 min video on Entocycle's founder & CEO, Keiran Olivares Whitaker:
Michroma of San Francisco (with Argentinean founders) has raised $6.4M in Seed funding, led by Supply Change Capital, and joined by e.g. SOSV's IndieBio, GRIDX, Be8, Siddhi Capital and Hack Capital. The company uses precision fermentation to produce natural colorants that can be used in food and beverage applications. Michroma currently produces a red color, and plans to eventually offer other colors like orange, yellow, blue, and white. I spoke with Ricky Cassini, founder and CEO of Michroma, about a year ago for FoodTech Weekly #81 -- read that conversation here.
Danish startup Kanpla, which was founded in 2019 and focuses on reducing food waste in canteens, has closed a $2.4M Seed round led by HenQ of the Netherlands. Kanpla e.g. enables commercial kitchens and canteens to plan better, to sell surplus food from their lunch or buffet as takeaway, and help chefs understand how much food is actually wasted.
SJW Robotics of Canada has scooped up a $2M Seed funding round. The company produces autonomous robotic kitchens. Here's 90 sec video on how it works. The system contains enough ingredients to cook 350 meals like wok, and can make up to 60 meals per hour.
Image: SJW Robotics
Israeli-Dutch vertical farming company Future Crops, based in the Netherlands, was declared bankrupt on Jan 24. Founded in 2016, the company had raised at least $30M in funding. Yesterday, struggling U.S. vertical farm startup Kalera (formerly known as &ever) sold its international assets to Dutch indoor ag company Growy. And last week, U.S. vertical farming company Plenty also announced the closure of its South San Francisco farm; the company, which has raised over $900M, will continue to produce in its Los Angeles facility.
Scientists at the University of Leeds have found that chocolates with a high-fat exterior but low-fat center could provide the same pleasing taste and melting consistency, but with fewer calories. (Apparently, in this case it's not what's inside that counts, but the surface).
Interesting article from the BBC on how to make fruits and vegetables last longer using various technologies.
About 19 months after a U.K. sugar tax was implemented on the soft drinks industry, researchers found an 8% relative reduction in obesity levels in 10-11 year old girls. The greatest reductions were found in girls from schools in the poorest areas.
Cool video of an apple harvesting robot (h/t Ulf N).
News from the FoodTech Weekly community
Climax Foods (U.S.) is looking for a Chief Marketing Officer... Fermify (Austria) is hiring for a number of roles, and so is BIOMILQ in the U.S.
In the sixth year of the program, Techstars Farm to Fork program, in partnership with Ecolab, works with entrepreneurs solving the biggest problems across the food tech ecosystem. The program is focused on five key areas; Sustainability, Labor, Supply Chain, Human & Animal Health, and New Alternatives. Applications for the 2023 program are open until April 5th, 2023.
One in four people do not have access to clean drinking water. Current water testing systems are expensive, complex to use and bulky. WaterScope has developed a lightweight, simple to use and affordable test for detecting harmful bacteria in water and is currently looking for partners to trial their system around the globe. In addition, they are looking for impact-driven investors who can support them in their scale up journey. For more info, contact Sammy Mahdi at [email protected]
Want to share some FoodTech news/project with other FoodTech Weekly subscribers? Hit reply.
Random Stuff
A U.S. company is looking for five volunteers, to test the theory that eating cheese before going to sleep gives you nightmares. The job includes eating cheese every night at the same time, and log how you slept and if you did indeed have nightmares. Upon completion, you'll be paid $1,000.
Well, this one sparked joy for me: Marie Kondo has given up on keeping a tidy home. We can all relate.
It turns out that most compostable plastic actually doesn't break down.
A Japanese gamer called Mutekimaru installed motion detection software in his pet fish tanks, enabling the fish to remotely control a Nintendo Switch console. However, when he stepped away from the screen for 7 hours, the fish managed to log on to the Nintendo Switch store, set up a PayPal account, approve the Terms & Conditions, and add a 500 yen ($4) purchase to Mutekimaru's credit card. And they livestreamed the whole thing.
This fish looks gillty to me
In related news, a 6-year old boy in Michigan was given his dad's phone to play mobile games; instead he went on GrubHub and ordered $1,000 worth of food, including a $183 order of shrimp. Says the boy's dad: 'I was trying to explain to him that this wasn't good and he puts his hand up and stops me and says 'Dad, did the pepperoni pizzas come yet?'
I love you.
Daniel
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This issue was produced while listening to Bulletproof by FARR. 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.