FoodTech Weekly #187 by Daniel S. Ruben

FoodTech Weekly #187

Hi there,

Pitching your story to the media and getting coverage can be hard. So I wrote a comprehensive guide, with step-by-step instructions on crafting the perfect pitch, as well as insider tips on catching journalists’ attention. The guide includes a curated list of 50+ top publications across AgriFoodTech, Food, Ag, Food Policy and Generalist media, complete with contact info.

I hope people will find this guide as helpful as the Ultimate FoodTech Resource Guide which I published back in January. I care about supporting and strengthening the global FoodTech/AgTech startup ecosystem and wider community.

Speaking of which: I often refer to FoodTech Weekly as a community. It’s perhaps more of an audience. There’s 4,000+ of you who consume the content I produce, but you don’t really have a platform to network, to discuss stuff, and to share your knowledge with — and learn from — others in the audience. So what if there was a platform that would foster a community? To share and discuss news, trends, and startups? To post and find jobs? To network around in-person events? I’m thinking about starting a free Discord — so my question to you is:

On March 18 I’m going to Anuga Foodtec (Cologne) to rub shoulders with 50,000 others — but don’t worry, I heard the Germans are taking extra precautions to avoid COVID infections:

I’m also attending Sweden FoodTech Big Meet (Stockholm) in April and HackSummit (Lausanne) in June, let me know if you’re going to any of these three events and we’ll meet up. Also, for Sweden Foodtech Big Meet, use DSR20 for 20% off (startups, get in touch, I can give you a bigger discount).

This week's rundown:

• French food rescue platform Bene Bono bags €10M

• Bon Vivant secures €5M in non-dilutive funding

• Guinness World Record holder has now eaten 34K Big Macs

Let's go!

Conversations

Spoke with Nathan Pyne-Carter of aquaculture technology company Ace Aquatec in Dundee, Scotland. He joined the company in 2006 and became its CEO in 2021. Today, Ace Aquatec has 40 employees and is active in 26 countries worldwide.

Aquaculture is a $280B market; salmon alone is $20B annually. But there’s a lot of unknowns in fish farming which leads to unnecessary waste, costs, and high insurance premiums. Ace Aquatec develops precision aquaculture tech to make fish farming more efficient and humane while protecting the environment. For example, the company develops and sells underwater biomass cameras that provide farmers with accurate biomass of their fish, which helps to improve feeding and harvesting (historically, farmers have hand weighed fish every couple of months). The solution provides data around e.g. fish average weight, health, and behaviour; this helps cut waste and losses of profit. ‘We want to make aquaculture a responsible source of protein, by e.g. reducing the environmental footprint’, Nathan explains.

Ace Aquatec also has developed in-water electric stunners that have won awards for being the only systems that can guarantee humane harvesting of fish.

The company's systems, which are rented out B2B, are used all over the world; from salmon farms in Scotland, to farming seabass in the Mediterranean, cod in Australia, and shrimp in Thailand, just to mention a few places. 

Ace Aquatec, which is backed by investors such as Aqua-Spark, Earth Capital and Chroma Ventures, is currently raising an investment round, and is eager to connect with further ESG focused investors. The company is also hiring for talent in e.g. sales and operations in Norway and Chile. Nathan can be reached via LinkedIn.

Noteworthy

• Paris, France startup Bene Bono which runs a platform that saves ‘ugly’ organic fruits and vegetables rejected by supermarkets and sells it to consumers, has banked €10M (appr. $11M) in fresh funding. AXA Ventures Partners led the round, and it was joined by e.g. 2050, Stride VC, and Project A. The company raised €7M just last year.

• Lyon, France-based biotech startup Bon Vivant has secured €5M (appr. $5.5M) in non-dilutive funding from BNP Paribas, CIC, and Societe Generale. Bon Vivant, which closed a €15M in Oct 2023, produces animal-free dairy proteins using precision fermentation.

• Opalia of Montréal, Canada, has bagged CAD$2M (appr. $1.5M) in new funding. The company produces real dairy milk using bovine mammary cells. The round was led by Hoogwegt Group of the Netherlands, and joined by e.g. Ahimsa Foundation, Box One Ventures, Cycle Momentum, Kale United, and the Québec government’s Impulsion PME Program.

• Food Brewer of Zurich, Switzerland has scored CHF 5M (appr. $5.7M) in Seed funding from e.g. Zürcher Kantonalbank and chocolate manufacturer Max Felchlin AG; the company produces cocoa, coffee, and sustainable fats using plant cell culture.

• Biotech startup Cultivated Biosciences, also of Zurich, Switzerland has pulled in $5M in Seed funding in a round led by Navus Ventures and joined by Founderful, HackCapital, Joyful VC, Mandi Ventures, Zürcher Kantonalbank, and Lukas Böni. Cultivated has developed a cream derived from yeast, which mimics the texture and mouthfeel of traditional dairy cream.

• Umaro Foods of Berkeley, California has reeled in $3.8M in a Seed II round led by AgFunder. The company develops and sells seaweed-based bacon.

• Jupiter Ionics of Australia has secured $9M; the startup produces green ammonia which can help decarbonize agriculture. And industry peer NitroVolt of Denmark which is working on a similar technology just clinched €750K (appr. $840K).

• Hatch Blue has secured €75M for its Blue Revolution Fund, which invests in sustainable aquaculture. The Fund has backed e.g. alt seafood startup New School Foods, and alternative animal feed producer DeNova — both companies are Canadian.

• Single-use plastic packaging will soon be banned in the EU; all packaging in the European market will have to be recyclable by 2030. In related news, San Francisco-based Sway which makes a seaweed-basd, home-compostable alternative to plastic packaging recently landed some dosh — $5M from Seed investors incl. BAM Ventures, Alante Capital, and Third Nature Investments.

• Smart Farm Robotix of Bulgaria, which develops a solar-powered weeding robot, has netted €2.36M (appr. $2.6M) in funding from the European Innovation Council (EIC).

• Plant-based dog food brand PawCo of California has fetched $2M in funding from e.g. Elevate Ventures.

• Israeli startup Liva has developed a sticker that, when applied to the package, can extend the freshness of fruits and vegetables by up to seven days.

• Gene-edited, virus resistant pigs are nearing U.S. approval.

• “This sci-fi device knows exactly how long an avocado will last” (note to self: I think Khaby Lame still could make a fun video just peeling back the avocado stem/top or something).

• German biotech startup Kynda has introduced what the company says is the first-ever vegan, zero-waste, mycelium-based food solution in Europe. The company teamed up with sustainable food brand Raging Pig to launch ‘Kynda meat’, a highly nutritious (37% protein in dry matter, all 9 essential amino acids, rich in high-quality fiber and vitamins), low-cost burger patty made from food industry by-products through just 48 hours of fermentation.

News from the FoodTech Weekly community

• REBL Eats (Finland) is hiring e.g. a freelance Copywriter/Community Manager… The Rockefeller Foundation (U.S.) is looking for a Program Manager, Food is Medicine… Klim (Germany) has a number of open roles… Sobo Foods (U.S.) is recruiting for two positions including Field Marketing Associate.

• Zinc has backed 500+ founders to start new innovative, mission-led commercial ventures. Their 8th Venture Building cohort, kicks off in June. Zinc will invest up to 300K to support those who wish to start a venture in climate or health —  apply now or refer someone now.

• Better Bite Ventures has opened applications for the latest funding round of First Bite, offering early-stage investments to food tech startups in APAC, focusing on 5 categories; rice production, palm oil, cocoa and coffee, fertilisers, and food waste. Funding per startup ranges between $50,000-$150,000. Apply by March 20.

• DigitalFoodLab’s annual FoodTech unicorns report is out. There are now 59 unicorns, down from 62 last year. DigitalFoodLab observes that the situation is better than feared.

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

Random Stuff

• Here’s where climate money goes, vs. where it should go:

• A Cambridge academic who was trapped for 7 hours in a bathroom of a medieval tower on campus escaped, MacGyver style, using an eyeliner and a cotton bud.

• Europe’s ski resorts are grinding to a halt during what some say could be the hottest February ever.

• Why is improving agricultural productivity crucial to ending global hunger and protecting the world’s wildlife? Good piece by Max Roser in Our World In Data.

• Do happy hens make better eggs? Interesting NatGeo article with some beautiful pictures.

• Don Gorske, 70, holds the Guinness World Record for having eaten 34,000 Big Macs in his lifetime (he has kept a receipt of every single Big Mac he has eaten since 1972, and has also retained each of the burgers’ containers). He has however cut down his intake from nine to ‘just’ two burgers per day — one for lunch, and one for dinner. ‘Many people thought I’d be dead by now’, Gorske says. He tried a Burger King Whopper, once, in 1984 but didn’t lose his allegiance to Big Mac. ‘When I like something, I stick with it all the time’, Gorske says. ‘People who have watched me eating a Big Mac often comment that I look like I’m eating one for the very first time.’

​I love you.
Daniel

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This issue was produced while listening to The Way by Manchester Orchestra. Follow me on LinkedIn and Twitter. Did your brilliant friend forward this to you? Subscribe here.

Disclosures: I'm founder of Solvable Syndicate. I’m an operating advisor to VC/investment firms Nordic FoodTech VC, Mudcake, and Blume Equity. I'm a mentor at accelerators Katapult Ocean, Big Idea Ventures, and Norrsken Accelerator. I'm an advisor to BIOMILQ, FoodHack, Hooked, Ignitia, Improvin, IRRIOT, Juicy Marbles, Lupinta, NitroCapt, Oceanium, petgood, Rootically, Stockeld Dreamery, Transship, VEAT, and Volta Greentech; 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 in regards to any investment, divestment, or retention decision taken by readers of this newsletter content.