FoodTech Weekly #194 by Daniel S. Ruben

FoodTech Weekly #194

Hi there,

ClimateHack just listed 60 Climate Thought Leaders to Know. I’m one of them. Imposter syndrome is very real.

DigitalFoodLab asks whether a FoodTech investment rebound is in sight, forecasting that investments will increase again as interest rates come down towards the end of the year:

Still on the fence about whether to attend HackSummit in Lausanne 🇨🇭 in June? Use the code FoodTechWeekly20 for a 20% discount as you sign up.

This week's rundown:

• Vertical Harvest Farms scores $59.5M for big new hydroponic farm in Maine

• Moolec secures regulatory approval for plant-grown meat proteins

• The condition auto-brewery syndrome (ABS) can make a human body produce alcohol.

Let's go!

Conversations

Noteworthy

• U.S. indoor ag company Vertical Harvest Farms has secured $59.5M in project financing from the USDA and others to develop and operate a 51K sq. ft (appr. 4,700 sq. m) hydroponic vertical farm in downtown Westbrook, Maine. In related news, Canadian modular vertical farm startup Growcer has clinched $3M in funding.

• German FoodTech startup Cultimate Foods, a B2B cultivated fat supplier for the alt protein industry, has scored €2.3M (appr. $2.5M) in a round led by High-Tech Gründerfonds and joined by Big Idea Ventures, Kale United, Life Science Valley Wachstumsfonds, and b.value AG. The startup produces a a fat that it says elevates the taste and texture of plant-based meat.

• BioLumic of New Zealand has raised $5M from AgriZeroNZ to develop a high-producing, low-emissions farm pasture using ultraviolet light. The company targets a 2-3% increase in lipids (fat) in e.g. ryegrass; this cuts livestock methane emissions by over 12%.

• Würzburg, Germany-based AIPERIA has hauled in €7.5M (appr. $8M) in Series A funding, led by ETF Partners and LBBW VC, alongside existing investor Earlybird VC. AIPERIA develops tech that optimizes fresh food ordering for retailers and suppliers, thus reducing waste. Investment in food waste solutions in the U.S. dropped 33% ($1.8B to $1.2B) from 2022 to 2023, AgFunder reports, but the space is maturing.

• Serve Robotics has generated $40M through an IPO on the Nasdaq and is now preparing to deploy 2,000 delivery robots on U.S. streets by the end of 2025, delivering restaurant items to customers. The company currently has 100 robots serving 300 restaurants in Los Angeles.

  

• AmphiStar of Belgium has pulled in €6M (appr. $6.4M) from the European Circular Bioeconomy Fund, Qbic, and others, to turn agrifood waste into biosurfactants — a key ingredient for cosmetics, chemicals, and construction materials typically made from fossil-free fuels.

• Vitalfluid of Eindhoven, The Netherlands has bagged €5M (appr. $5.3M) in Seed funding from Future Food Fund and others for its sustainable alternative to pesticides and fertilizers.

• Senoptica of Ireland has gained FDA approval for its tech that uses optical sensors created by food-safe ink, to measure oxygen levels inside packaged foods to predict spoilage before it happens.

• Conservation group IDEF has found evidence that cocoa farmers from the Ivory Coast are clearing forests in Liberia, before trafficking the beans back and mixing them with Ivorian supplies; all in an effort to bypass EU regulations against deforestation-free supply chains. In related news, Orange, GIZ, and the EU are committing €7.6M (appr. $8.2M) in funding to back AgriTech startups, specifically in sustainable cocoa.

• Argentina-founded Moolec, which uses molecular farming to grow animal protein in plants, has received regulatory approval from the USDA for its plant-grown meat proteins. The company e.g. grows what it calls Piggy Sooy, bioengineered soybeans that produces porcine myoglobin.

News from the FoodTech Weekly community

• Chunk Foods (Israel) is hiring an R&D Food Technologist… Essential (Kenya) is recruiting a Fermentation Scientist.

• Gilai N (on the FoodTech Weekly Community Discord) is looking for exciting startups and good reads in the nexus of Healthy Ageing and FoodTech. Join the Discord and respond to him here.

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

Random Stuff

• Some bumblebees can survive underwater for up to a week, a new study shows.

• Pepsi-style marketing for ordinary fruits and vegetables is a new trend.

• A UX design flaw on the UK’s new divorce portal is blamed for an unintended divorce.

• Some cool visuals on the evolution of CO2 emissions by country (page in French, Google Translate it if needed. H/t Marie Dollé):

• A Belgian court has acquitted a man of drunk driving because he has auto-brewery syndrome (ABS), an extremely rare condition whereby the body produces alcohol. This can result in symptoms such as slurred speech, stumbling, loss of motor functions, dizziness, and belching.

• My life as a vending machine — fun little 3 min video on Tao Bin of Thailand, which serves 250,000 drinks per day.

• What happens when you quit obesity drugs?

• Farmers use Axe Body Spray (known as Lynx in the U.K./Ireland/Oceania) on their sheep to make the rams stop fighting each other, and to convince ewes to mother orphaned lambs. Says sheep farmer Sam Bryce on the deodorants effects: ‘There’s no argy-bargy, no rowing.’

​I love you.
Daniel

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This issue was produced while listening to Το Τραγούδι Του Καιρού (To Tragoudi Tou Kairou - Happy Day) by Kostas Doxas. 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.