FoodTech Weekly #198 by Daniel S. Ruben

FoodTech Weekly #198

Hi there,

Stockholm School of Economics and Sweden FoodTech have released ‘A Basic Guide to Food Systems Transformation’. While aimed at college students, it’s actually a great (weekend) read for anyone interested in this topic:

This week's rundown:

• Enifer of Finland pulls in €36M in funding for novel mycoprotein

• Wanda Fish of Israel unveils cultivated bluefin tuna toro sashimi

• A $400 limited-edition pineapple is now for sale in California

Let's go!

Conversations

Noteworthy

• Enifer Bio of Finland, which upcycles industry sidestreams from the food and pulp industry into a mycoprotein the company calls PEKILO®, has secured €36M (appr. $39M) in new funding — including a €15M Series B round led by Taaleri Bioindustry (and joined by e.g. Nordic FoodTech VC, Voima Ventures, and Valio), a €12M grant from Business Finland, and a €7M loan from The Finnish Climate Fund. The company will now build a €33M factory in Kirkkonummi, Finland, and scale up production to 3,000 tons of its sustainable protein, enough to meet the protein needs of appr. 40K people.

• Niqo Robotics of Bangalore, India has raked in $13M in fresh funding led by Bidra Innovation Ventures and joined by Fulcrum Global Capital and Omnivore. The company develops an AI-powered spot spraying technology that can be integrated with existing ag equipment, and save up to 60% of chemical use.

• Danish FoodTech startup FÆRM, which ferments and coagulates soy milk into cheese curds (and then makes cheese) has scored €1.3M (appr. $1.4M) in funding from The BioInnovation Institute.

• OSY Group of Manchester, U.K. has raised £750K (appr. $950K) for its antimicrobial packaging technology that increases the shelf-life of fruits and vegetables (h/t DigitalFoodLab).

• Cell-based seafood producer Wanda Fish of Israel has unveiled its first cultivated bluefin tuna toro sashimi. The filet is a combination of muscle/fat from bluefin tuna, as well as a ‘plant-based matrix.’ The company believes it can reach price parity with traditionally wild-caught bluefin tuna (which can cost $100 or more per kilo / 2.2 lbs).

• Montréal-based startup Relocalize has brought home another $2.3M CAD from Desjardin Capital and RGS Ice, bringing its total Seed round to $5.8M. Ice production and distribution generates significant GHGs. Relocalize develops micro-factories that help grocery retailers solve this problem through hyper-local ice production.

• Peruvian alt meat startup Veef has fetched $280K in first funding, backed by U.S. funds Ahimsa Capital and Sustainable Food Ventures. The company offers 11 different plant-based products, including alternatives to e.g. beef, chicken, sausages, and traditional Peruvian dishes such as anticucho and pollo parrillero.

• French startup Harvy, which offers a new decentralized local food distribution system owned by farmers, has harvested €1M (appr. $1.1M) from Antler, Tivoli Capital, family office FBFC and a number of angels.

• Starship Capital has closed a $35M fund which will invest in early-stage, high-impact companies in food and ag, materials, chemicals, and the built environment.

• Japanese food giant Kirin will start selling an ‘electric salt spoon’ in June (for $127 each) that amplifies food’s saltiness by applying an electric current to the tongue. The company hopes to sell 1 million spoons within five years.

• Swiss startup Mimic has netted €2.3M (appr. $2.5M) in pre-seed for its collaborative robot with humanoid arms, hoping to solve the labor shortage in e.g. food service. The investment round was led by Founderful, and joined by another.vc, Tiny.vc, and angel investors.

• U.K. plant-based meat startup THIS hopes to hit profitability by the end of 2024, its new CEO says. The company reported £24M (appr. $30M) in annualized revenue earlier this year.

• Carbon13 has invested in three FoodTech companies via its accelerator; Fermtech (converting food industry side streams to nutritious products), Future by Insects (insect protein for animal feed), and Remy (uses AI and automation to help households cut food waste by up to 70%).

• A new AI tool has been launched for pig farms in the U.K. and Ireland; the solution ‘listens’ to the frequency and intensity of coughs in pigs, which helps vets and farmers intervene with treatment before the infection can spread across the herd.

• Estonian delivery bot scaleup Starship Technologies just celebrated one year of operations in Finland; during these 12 months the company’s robots have made 150K deliveries there, with groceries being the most popular use case.

News from the FoodTech Weekly community

• OlsAro (Sweden) is hiring a Business Developer… Reel Foods (U.S.) is recruiting a Research Associate… Aquaconnect (India) is fishing for a Marketing Manager… Cordon (U.K.) is on the hunt for a Senior Electronics Engineer (and has a number of open roles).

• Tom Cohen Ben-Arye, CTO of Meat-Like, is looking for a Co-Founder.

• The 99 people shaping Italian FoodTech (by Antonio Iannone)

• Foodsteps and GFI have launched an automated LCA tool designed specifically for alt protein companies.

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

Random Stuff

• Yamauchi No. 10 Family Office (of the Nintendo founder family) has the trippiest website, arcade machine music and all (make sure you click Sound on).

• How should you plan your team’s growth? Index Ventures has made a helpful, comprehensive guide/app to scaling team and leadership from 1 to 500 employees.

• Dad combining three baby strollers into a triplet stroller:

• France is honoring the baguette with a scented stamp.

• There’s no such thing as vegetables.

• The future of dating is having your AI date other people’s AI and recommend matches for you to meet:

• A California grocery store is selling a limited-edition $400 pineapple. Me:

I love you.
Daniel
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This issue was produced while listening to Maybe I’m Amazed by Nils Landgren, Michael Wollny, and Lars Danielsson. 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.