FoodTech Weekly #192 by Daniel S. Ruben

FoodTech Weekly #192

Hi there,

I’ve been hanging out at Sweden FoodTech Big Meet this week. Moderated a startup pitch stage, listened to fantastic panels and presentations, attended a top chef side event dinner in a garage (!), sampled way too much food. And met so many great people from all over the world — chefs, entrepreneurs, investors, activists, food system actors. Hats off to the Sweden FoodTech team (Johan, Antonia, Daniella, Anders) for organizing.

Three reflections:

• Food system change takes such a long time.

• Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

• Many people I expected to be at the event weren’t there. The tougher market environment has made it harder for many folks to commit the time and money necessary to attend things like this.

Max Leveau of Forward Fooding shared some of his activities and takeaways from Big Meet. And here’s a few snapshots from the week:

What else? The FoodTech Weekly Discord now has 150+ members and keeps growing. Join the fun here - to post jobs, events, meet other FoodTech folks, share dealflow (accredited investors only) and much more.

This week's rundown:

• Hakuna matata: SunCulture of Kenya scores $27.5M for solar-irrigation for smallholder farmers

• Torg, the German ‘Tinder for food sourcing’, bags €2.7M in funding

• The Italian island overrun by goats

Let's go!

Conversations

Next week, hopefully!

Noteworthy

• Robovision of Ghent, Belgium has secured a $42M round led by Target Global and Astanor Ventures; the company’s AI-powered automation platform enables e.g. the planting of 1B tulips annually.
  

• SunCulture of Nairobi, Kenya has raised $27.5M in Series B funding to expand solar irrigation for smallholder farmers. The round was led by InfraCo and joined by e.g. Acumen’s Resilient Agriculture Fund, the Schmidt Family Foundation and (Netflix founder) Reed Hastings. Founded in 2013, SunCulture sells low-cost irrigation systems starting at 20K Kenyan shillings (about $150) and also offer pay-as-you-go systems for e.g. backup battery storage, home lighting, and TV.
  

• Biotech startup Liberation Labs of New York has banked $12.5M in fresh funding (mainly from Agronomics but also from e.g. Siddhi Capital), to help support the construction of a new precision fermentation facility in Indiana capable of producing 600K liters of protein for food and industrial use.
  

• German startup Torg has landed €2.7M (appr. $2.9M) in Seed funding led by Connect Ventures. The company runs an AI-powered platform which helps foodservice and private label buyers to connect with 100K verified food and beverage suppliers, simplifying the entire sourcing process.
  

• Europe saw €5.6B (appr. $6B) in AgriFoodTech investments in 2023, a 60% contraction vs 2021, and a 44% decrease vs 2022, Forward Fooding reports. At the same time, Europe’s total share of global AgriFoodTech investments increased from 23% in 2021 to 36% in 2023. The leading European ecosystems in terms of startup deals closed in 2023 were the U.K. (115 deals), France (76), Germany (54), and the Netherlands (52), followed by Spain, Italy, and the Nordics.

• Pepbiotics of Singapore has scooped up $6.2M in a Series A round led by Hatch Blue; the company combats overreliance of antibiotics in farming and aquaculture by using recombinant antimicrobial peptides, which are naturally occuring bacteria-inhibiting proteins.
  

• Windfall Bio of California has raked in $28M in Series A from Prelude Ventures and Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, for its methane eating microbes that help farmers turn methane into organic fertilizer, thus cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
  

• U.K. food retailer Marks & Spencer is investing £1M (appr. $1.3M) to help provide a feed supplement to cows (derived from mineral salts and a byproduct of fermented corn) that will cut the carbon footprint of the M&S fresh milk by 8.4%, or 11K tons annually.
  

• Green ammonia startup Ammobia of San Francisco has clinched $4.2M in Seed funding, led by Starlight Ventures. Ammonia (a.k.a. NH₃)is a key ingredient in fertilizer.
  

• Dutch startup Time-Traveling Milkman has bagged €850K (appr. $910K) in Seed funding, from Alianza Team, Oost NL, SHIFT Invest, and Oterap. The startup has developed Oleocream, a sunflower fat designed to replace palm and coconut oil in plant-based dairy, meant to improve the mouthfeel and creaminess of dairy-free products.

News from the FoodTech Weekly community

• OlsAro Crop Biotech (Sweden) is hiring a Business Operations Manager… Win-Win (U.K) is recruiting a Head of R&D.
  

• ProVeg is looking for seasoned and aspiring founders to join the second edition of Kickstarting for Good. Explore and execute on one of eleven high-impact areas, including Food Waste, Farming Transition, and Culinary Engagement. Applications for the 2024 cohort are now open. 
  

• Andy C has an odd request (see image). Have a good answer? Join the FoodHack Weekly Discord and help him out!

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

Random Stuff

• Food environments matter: There’s a 16% increased risk of heart failure if you live near a pub, bar, restaurant, or fast food outlet (based on a sample of 500K people from the U.K. biobank), new research shows (h/t Dr. Sophie Attwood). The more take-out restaurants nearby your house, the higher the risk. Risks are reduced if you are more educated and if you also live near a gym (!).

• Ozempic and other weight loss drugs seem to give individuals a physiological defense against much of our food environment, Helena Bottemiller Evich observes in FoodFix.

• Using AI apps to help ID edible mushrooms could kill you, WaPo warns.

• GOAT: The Italian island of Alicudi has been overrun by wild goats, and the mayor is offering the animals for free to anyone willing to take one in.

• Researchers are exploring bringing earthworms to the Moon to help us grow food there in the future.
  

• Speaking about the Moon: NASA has been asked to create a New Time Zone for the Moon, called Coordinated Lunar Time. Finally a good excuse to miss some Zoom meetings (‘you had sent the invite for Moon time!’).
  

• MTA, the transportation authority of New York City, wants participants in the annual NYC Marathon to pay a bridge toll.

• Ramzan Kadyrov, Head of the Chechen Republic, has banned all music slower than 80 beats per minute or faster than 116 beats per minute, targeting Western pop and techno songs. The goal is to ensure that all music aligns with Chechnya’s ‘mentality and musical rhythm’.

​I love you.
Daniel

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This issue was produced while listening to Wicked Game by Tenacious D (113 beats per minute, so A-okay in Chechnya). 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.