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- FoodTech Weekly #160 by Daniel S. Ruben
FoodTech Weekly #160 by Daniel S. Ruben
News on FoodTech, food, and society
Daniel S. Ruben
August 18, 2023 • Estimated Reading Time: 15 minutes
FoodTech Weekly #160
Hi there,
I spent part of the summer in the heartland of Sweden, where IKEA is from. You know you’re in south Sweden when someone helps you cook dinner and says: ‘Do we have potatoes or do you want me to dig some up [from my field]?’
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After 3+ years of writing Foodtech Weekly, and many more years of angel investing in startups, mentoring startups in accelerators, and advising several funds and family offices in foodtech and sustainability, I’ve decided to launch my own Syndicate to start backing some of the most high-impact foodtech and sustainability focused startups -- irrespective of geography -- in a more meaningful way.
Not least through this newsletter I’ve been able to meet so many incredible founders from all over the world who are working on truly transformative solutions that can help make e.g. our food system more nourishing and sustainable. As an angel investor and/or advisor in 40+ startups I’ve made some important learnings that I want to leverage. I’ve started to lead a few investments myself; the first one is for an Argentina-based startup.
If you’re an accredited investor who wants to learn more and join me on my first investment, apply here to get access.
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I hate hearing my own voice — and now you can too! I was recently interviewed by Alex Shandrovsky on his Investment Climate Podcast, for a 20 min conversation on the current fundraising climate and my various engagements in the FoodTech ecosystem. Full episode here.
Speaking about fundraising, current valuations in the tech space have pretty much tanked compared to Q1 2022, according to CB Insights. Valuation reduction per stage: Seed/Angel🔻5%, Series A 🔻30%, Series B 🔻46%, Series C 🔻44%, and Series D+ 🔻63%.
Sifted also noted that downrounds (raising a funding round at a lower valuation than the previous round) are coming; some 26.2% of all deals done are now downrounds according to Pitchbook, which is the worst quarter since Q4 2014. (Don’t miss the article ‘Institutionalized Belief In The Greater Fool’, linked further down).
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This week's headlines:
Phospholutions scores $10M for its solution that can cut phosphorus use and runoffs
Fieldwork Robotics picks up $1.9M for raspberry-harvesting robot
Why some French wine producers are adding water to their wines
Let's go!
Conversations
Well, the newsletter was getting too long this week too. So am saving the conversations for coming editions instead 🤷
Noteworthy
Phospholutions of Pennsylvania, U.S. has bagged $10M+ for its sustainable phosphorus fertilizer solution. Excess nitrogen and phosphorus runoff from fertilizers can help trigger toxic algae blooms; Phospholutions has developed an additive that can help cut runoffs, delivering the same amount of phosphorus with half the amount of fertilizer. Investors in the round included e.g. Advantage Capital, Conti Ventures, Keytrade, and Tekfen Ventures.
U.K. biotech startup Clean Food Group has banked £2.3M (appr. $2.9M) in fresh funding; the company develops sustainable alternatives to e.g. palm oil. Investors include e.g. Doehler Group, Agronomics, Alianza Team, and SEED Innovations Ltd.
Fieldwork Robotics of the U.K. has harvested £1.5M (appr. $1.9M) for its AI-powered raspberry-harvesting robot, backed by Elbow Beach Capital and Frontier IP, as well as existing investors. The round is still being topped up on Seedrs. The robot has worked 24/7 on farms in Portugal to pick raspberries (13 sec video of the robot in action).
Netherlands-based B2B ingredients startup Vivici has raised a Seed round backed by DSM-Firmenich Venturing and Fonterra; the company produces dairy proteins using precision fermentation. In somewhat related news, California startup New Culture which uses precision fermentation to produce animal-free casein for cheese says it has cut production cost by 80%, and scaled up production so that they can make enough casein in one run for 25,000 pizzas.
Adjusting font sizes can nudge consumers toward healthier food choices, a new study from Washington State University shows (h/t Sophie Attwood).
Image: Washington State University
A research paper has found that melatonin (the sleep-calibrating hormone) can help fresh produce survive the journey from farm to fork, by reducing ‘chilling injuries’ by between 21% and 42%.
Canadian producer of black soldier fly larvae, Goldbloom, has sold 50% of its shares to Eat & Beyond. Goldbloom has a 20k sq. ft. (1,800 sq. m) production facility in Ontario, that can produce larvae for e.g. livestock feed, aquafeed, and pet food.
Scientists found that the constituent compounds of the venom from the Australian Blue Mountains funnel-web spider were only toxic to the spider’s prey (specific insects) — and that these insects also happen to be pests in agricultural production of fruits, vegetables, and crops. The company Vestaron has now developed a biopesticide based on the venom compounds, which helps reduce the use of conventional pesticides. Fascinating story. (Another way of reducing chemicals in agriculture is to zap weeds using lasers. CarbonRobotics is working on this — see this cool 2 min video. Yet another way is using electricity, like RootWave is).
Italian food producers of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese are inserting edible microchips into their cheese wheels to help combat food fraud (fake Parmesan cheese, essentially). When scanned, the cheese wheel’s authenticity is confirmed with a unique serial number.
Los Angeles startup Robomart, which develops self-driving mini-store vehicles that consumers can ‘hail’ (order), has scooped up $2M in new funding from W Ventures, Wasabi Ventures, SOSV, and Hustle Fund. Robomart’s vehicle has a 300 SKU capacity (note: I find this technology interesting as it has the potential to bring more nutritious foods to people living in e.g. food deserts).
Image: Robomart
News from the FoodTech Weekly community
GFI Europe (remote/Europe) has a vacancy for an Operations Assistant… UPSIDE Foods (U.S.) is looking for a VP, Strategic Partnerships… Revo Foods (Austria) is recruiting a Food Processing Automation Scientist… Ordinary Seafood (Germany) has a number of open roles… Nosh (Germany) is hiring a Finance Manager… Eatable Adventures (Spain) wants to bring on a Junior Marketing Associate… Essential (Kenya) is looking for a Managing Director.
The Good Food Conference returns. Gain deep insights on solutions that tackle the biggest challenges facing the alternative protein field. Meet the scientists and students leading the way. Join interactive workshops, roundtables, networking, and delicious dining experiences that will bring people together in pursuit of a future where alternative proteins are no longer alternative. Use code GFICOMMUNITY23 to save 10% when you register!
Drea Burbank of Savimbo is looking for bulk buyers of gluten-free superfoods. Chontaduro (peach palm) flour or cold-pressed oil shipped direct from the Colombian Amazon, which supports small farmers engaged in grassroots conservation. For more info, [email protected]
BoortmaltX is looking for early-stage (ideation or pre-seed) science-based startups working in food, pet food, natural supplements, or cosmetics. This 6-9 month in-person program offers access to funding and business acceleration mentoring. For more info, schedule an intro call here or visit Boortmaltx. Apply by Sept 30, 2023.
Swedish Innovation Agency Vinnova will host an info meeting on Aug 22 on funding opportunities in FoodTech between Sweden, Israel, and Switzerland. There’s an upcoming call for R&D&I projects focused on alt proteins, such as plant-based, fermentation-derived, and lab-grown proteins, or a combination of these technologies. More info on the project scope at Eureka.
New report by ImpactHub Berlin on Sustainable Food Trends 2023 (I haven’t read the report yet, but it looks promising).
Want to share some FoodTech news/project with other FoodTech Weekly subscribers? Hit reply.
Random Stuff
Some French wine producers have been adding water to their wines — against the law — to combat the rising alcohol levels (that are driven by a changing climate).
LLMs (Large Language Models) like ChatGPT have different political leanings:
Source: Exponential View
The extreme heat is killing off cactuses (!) in Arizona.
What the founder of Curb Food (€23M raised) learned from his company’s failure.
Of course, investors made lots of mistakes too in recent years. Here’s a wonderful read on that, ‘Institutionalized Belief In The Greater Fool’ (h/t Javad B).
Some 25 countries, home to one quarter of the global population, face extremely high water stress, according to the WRI. Interesting deep-dive (pardon the pun).
Image: WRI
Scientists injected a gene into monkeys’ brains, which curbed their alcohol use (here’s a crazy thought: Maybe we shouldn’t give the monkeys alcohol to begin with?)
Square watermelons in Japan; easier to stack, ship, and store in refrigerators (speaking about watermelons, they were just grown in Antarctica):
Blue bananas exist, and they taste like vanilla ice cream (h/t Marie Dollé).
Some pigs get to eat the leftovers from Las Vegas buffets. Says pig farmer Bob Combs: ‘I tell ya, you put it in front of pigs, they go for it. Once you teach ’em to eat food scraps, they’ll turn their nose up to soybean and corn, they’ll turn their nose up to that. They go for the buffets.’
AI image tool Midjourney created some inappropriate toys. Here’s for example ‘Baby’s First Circular Saw’ (click link for more examples):
I love you.
Daniel
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This issue was produced while listening to California Dreamin’ by Amason. 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.