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- FoodTech Weekly #139 by Daniel S. Ruben
FoodTech Weekly #139 by Daniel S. Ruben
News on FoodTech, food, and society
Daniel S. Ruben
March 17, 2023 • Estimated Reading Time: 12 minutes
FoodTech Weekly #139
Hi there,
Last week, I asked for your thoughts on Estonian politician Rain Epler's haircut. Turns out 48% of you said "10/10 Would", and 52% said "Wouldn't". Obviously a polarizing issue, just like my previous poll on pineapple on pizza.
Business in front, party in the back
This week's rundown:
Oatly secures $425M in additional financing in effort to become profitable
Cultivated meat startup MeatAfora of Israel bags $5M in fresh funding
German Ph.D. student finds way to treat dairy manure slurry, cutting methane emissions by 99%
Let's go!
Conversations
Sat down with Philip Marthinsen, co-founder of Djuce Wines (full disclosure: I'm an advisor). He spent 10-15 years starting and running Swedish creative agency House of Radon, where he built brands and founded various new ventures. In 2021 Radon was acquired by Valtech. Philip then turned his attention to physical products; how can they be decarbonized? He, and some partners, eventually zoomed in on bottled wines, which have a big climate footprint (and which packaging limit how one can experience the actual wine). 'If you change the packaging, you open up for new experiences. You can't really bring a 700 gram (25 oz) bottle on the dance floor, let alone for hiking, trekking, or skiing (and then shlep it with you back home), but you can bring a 9 gram (0.3 oz) wine can', Philip says. Thus, Djuce was born, where Philip could go all-in using his branding and marketing experience. 'If we can take the most traditional, strongly culturally iconic product like wine, and decouple it from its packaging, then you can really do it for any vertical and product type. About 50% of the climate impact from wine is from packaging and transport, and if you switch to a can, you cut the packaging emissions by about 80%. 'If you move 10% of global wine consumption from bottles to cans, it's like removing 2.5M cars from the roads', Philip explains. Djuce has a B2B distribution model, buying wine from ethical and sustainable top-winemakers, packaging it, and selling it in the EU, U.K., U.S. and Canada. The first products were released in June 2022, and to date Djuce has launched 17 unique wines; whites, reds, sparkling, orange, rose, and more. 'We're now available in 12 countries, and have sold 250,000 cans. We plan to grow 3x this year vs. last year. The partners we have in NYC and L.A., like Erewhon and Chateau Marmont, are really second-to-none', Philip says with a smile. Djuce is eager to talk to new importers, e.g. in the Netherlands, Southeast Asia, China, Japan, and South Korea, as well as resellers in e.g. NYC, LA, and Sweden. And for people to try their wine (consumers in SE, DK, and DE can use code FOODTECHWEEKLY for a 15% discount on Djuce.com). Philip can be reached via [email protected].
Philip Marthinsen, Djuce Wines
Noteworthy
Pieter Pot of the Netherlands, a circular-economy startup providing packaging-free groceries using reusable pots and jars, has been acquired by its washing partner Delicatessenfabriek. The startup, which has raised €12.2M, was never profitable and is on the verge of bankruptcy (h/t DigitalFoodLab).
Israeli FoodTech startup Saffron-Tech has harvested $2M from Korean investor Dreamtech; the company produces saffron through indoor vertical farming.
Swedish carbon management software startup Klimato has raised a €4.2M round, led by Global Cleantech Capital and joined by existing investor Almi Invest Greentech. Klimato enables food service providers, restaurants, and food producers to measure, report, and reduce carbon emissions from food. The company's platform is used by 500+ food companies in 12 countries.
Cultivated meat startup MeatAfora of Israel has bagged $5M in fresh funding, led by New Gate Capital. MeatAfora grows cells on 'scalable edible carriers' made using vegetable fat and proteins, resulting in a 'scalable, lower-cost, and sustainable process.' A GFI research grant laid the foundation for the company's creation.
U.K. personalized nutrition startup Zoe has extended its previous $38M Series B with another $2.5M, from Flight Fund. Zoe offers an at-home test that analyzes blood sugar, blood fat responses, and the gut microbiome. It then provides the user with tools to build daily habits geared towards helping the individual to eat the best possible foods for their bodies and their health goals.
Zoe
According to a new study in Science, AI can be used to predict food insecurity outbreaks long before they turn into critical humanitarian disasters. By analyzing 11M news articles between 1980 and 2020, researchers found that they could predict food insecurity outbreaks up to a year ahead of time. The researchers now hope to be able to build an early warning system.
FoodTech VC funding may be stabilizing after falling for three straight quarters, a new Pitchbook report finds. Pitchbook also expects investment activity to 'fully recover' as broader market conditions improve.
U.K. food retailers Waitrose and Tesco are launching new initiatives to upcycle nutrients from food waste; Waitrose will send surplus food to become either animal feed or pet food, while Tesco will explore sending food waste to become feed for insects, that then become animal feed.
Releaf of Nigeria recently secured a $250K investment from Plesion Capital, following a $3.3M pre-Series A round. Smallholder farmers can access financing, sourcing and processing solutions through Releaf, boosting yields and incomes -- while helping FMCG companies to get high-quality inputs cheaper.
Swiss Agtech startup xFarm Technologies (which has raised over $20M) has received a €1M grant from the EIC Accelerator to further develop xTrap, a smart insect trap that provides farmers with insect insights that can help cut pesticide use. xTrap is equipped with a high-res camera that can monitor insect species in a given field.
Image: xFarm
Oatly has secured $425M in new financing, as the oat-based alt milk giant is struggling to become profitable.
AguroTech from Amsterdam, Netherland has raked in €1.5M round from ROM InWest and Navus Ventures; the company develops sensors, weather stations, and applications that offer farmers real-time insights on e.g. soil conditions and local weather that help support decisions on what crops need for optimal growth.
A Ph.D. student in Germany has found that treating dairy manure slurry with calcium cyanide suppressed the production of methane by over 99% (in pig slurry, the methane reduction was 81%).
'Superfoods of the Future, From Cockroach Milk to DNA-Personalized Meals' -- interesting read in MIT Press.
WRI has written a very helpful Q&A on beef and climate change.
News from the FoodTech Weekly community
Michroma (US/Argentina) is hiring for a number of roles... The Kitchen Hub (Israel) is looking for a CTO for one of its portfolio companies... Higher Steaks (U.K.) has several open positions, and so does Gourmey (France) and Cultivated Biosciences (Switzerland), for example a Sr. Fermentation Scientist.
Want to share some FoodTech news/project with other FoodTech Weekly subscribers? Hit reply.
Random Stuff
Zipline has unveiled a new delivery drone system that's pretty cool, check out this Twitter thread.
A Japanese youtuber, Yoshikazu Higashitani (aka GaaSyy), who was elected as member of parliament seven months ago has been expelled for never showing up (this was the first such expulsion in 72 years).
How to turn anyone into a kid using generative AI tool Midjourney (I find these portraits really innocent and disarming):
A new study suggests that brands with unconventionally spelled names -- Lyft, Tumblr etc -- are less likely to be chosen by consumers. Simply substituting e.g. a 'k' for a 'c' decreased selection by 12-14 percent. Consumers perceive unconventionally spelled brands as less sincere, the researchers say.
Polish people are cosplaying Americans and the pictures made me smile:
Food-themed décor (interior design) is a thing on TikTok. Some fun pictures here.
I love you.
Daniel
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This issue was produced while listening to Défiler (bande originale de la capsule n°5 Mosaert by Stromae. 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.