FoodTech Weekly #2 by Daniel S. Ruben

FoodTech Weekly #2

Hi there,

Time for some positive news, because 2020 does not spark joy.

First, thanks for all the words of encouragement, after last week's inaugural FoodTech Weekly! Many of you provided helpful ideas, which I'll try to incorporate, going forward. I also really appreciate all the social media shares of the signup link - please keep doing that.

Second, a few of you asked that the Conversations and the Profile should be expanded into full interviews. I'm not sure I could deliver that, but I will continue to make sure FoodTech Weekly is your gateway drug into the FoodTech space, and the entire food system (note to self: do not use words like 'drug' - these keywords is the reason Tinyletter initially blocked distribution of last week's newsletter for two days).

Highlights

• Conversations with Erik Månsson, Sorosh Tavakoli, and Anja Leissner

• Noteworthy: Volta Greentech raises $500K; Nestlé's burger is no longer Incredible

• The Profile: Taylor Quinn of JUST, Inc

• Random Stuff: A robot dog is now herding sheep. And more.

Conversations

• Grabbed vegan pad thai for lunch with Erik Månsson, CEO of Innoscentia. In essence, the company has developed a super cheap (like $0.01) analog strip, with can be put on a sealed environment food package. It indicates when the food is starting to go bad -- and can be used on any sealed package with a single type of food in it (e.g. meat, fish, fruits, vegetables, anything). How cool is that? They also do connected sensors that connect to your smartphone. Imagine a future where your avocado can no longer play tricks on you (firm, firm, firm, TOO RIPE!). Erik is based in Sweden; the rest of the team, doing R&D, is based in Hyderabad, India. Innoscentia's solution increases shelf life and food safety, and improves traceability, while reducing food waste. The food system needs this. If you know of someone with expertise in food packaging (meat, or any other food product), shoot Erik a note - they'll need experts for their Board, Advisory Board, and for operations. 

• Caught up, over avocado tacos, with Sorosh Tavakoli (CEO) and Anja Leissner(Head of R&D), co-founders of Noquo Foods (full disclosure: I'm an advisor to, and angel investor in, Noquo). They're developing plant-based cheese. There are actually a lot of plant-based cheese companies out there; most of these products aren't cravable. Noquo is trying to change that. Sorosh used to run a big tech company which he sold some years ago. He decided to do something in the impact space, so he tinkered with microalgae, fell in love(and broke up with) duckweed), before settling on plant-based cheese. And when meeting with biotech geek / food scientist Anja, it didn't take long before they'd founded a startup, and had raised $3.6M from a bunch of very cool investors (Northzone, Creandum, Astanor, Purple Orange Ventures, Inventure, etc). Now they're busy in the lab, developing various types of cheese. I'm not a cheese person, but I've had the chance to try some samples, and I am excited. Noquo is hiring for a bunch of positions (food scientists, lab manager, etc), and is looking for production partners in Northern Europe, so if that's you or someone you know, write Sorosh or Anja.

  

  Spike (Chief Barketing Officer), Anja (Head of R&D/Co-Founder) and Sorosh (CEO/Co-Founder)

Noteworthy

• Volta Greentech raised a SEK 5M (appr. $500K) round, which I participated in, together with e.g. Peter Carlsson of Northvolt and super angel Hampus Jakobson. The full story in e.g. FastCompany, Sifted, and Feed Navigator. The world's 1B+ livestock represent 14.5% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Volta grows an algae which when fed to cows reduces cow methane emissions by 80% (cows burp and fart methane, a very potent greenhouse gas). Plant-based foods advocates in my network raised the point that Volta's solution justifies an industry which is inherently unsustainable in various ways. That's a valid perspective, but here's how I look at it: Many decades ago, we knew exhaust gas from cars was very toxic. We also knew that at some point, the industry would switch from internal combustion engines to something more sustainable (e.g. electric). Yet, from the 1970s onwards, we mandated catalytic converters for new cars (and retrofitted many old cars too) - keep in mind there are over 1B cars, trucks, and buses in the world. Catalytic converters reduced environmental harm. Today, we have 1B+ cows emitting methane. Even if slaughter was banned tomorrow, these cows would still emit methane for many years to come (a cow can live for 20+ years). In May, atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration reached 418ppm, the highest ever recorded in human history, and likely the highest in the last 3 million years. So I think Volta's solution - sort of a catalytic converter for cows - is needed to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and I hope they can scale.

• A European court blocked Nestlé from naming it's plant-based burger the 'Incredible Burger', as it sounded too much like Impossible Foods' 'Impossible Burger'. Burger King in Sweden previously had to rename its 'Unbelievable Whopper' to 'Rebel Whopper', likely for the same reasons. (Impossible, by the way, is gearing up for direct-to-consumer sales).

• French/Tunisian insect-for-feed producer NextProtein raised a €10.2M round, and plans to scale up to 100,000 tons produced by 2025. BetaHatch, based in Washington state, meanwhile raised $3M in a Series A. Insects as animal feed has gained traction in recent years; insects can reduce the amount of organic waste (they eat pretty much anything) and can be used as feed for e.g. poultry or aquaculture - industries looking to find alternatives to e.g. fishmeal and soy. Protix, AgriProtein, and Ynsect have all raised huge sums of money 2018-2020 to expand production in the Netherlands, South Africa, and France, respectively.

• KFC did a trial with vegan chicken nuggets in China. They sold out within an hour.

• Swedish plant-based fish startup Hooked is looking to develop a shredded salmon product.

The Portrait

• JUST, Inc (formerly Hampton Creek) is known for its JUST Mayo, and for its cultured chicken (with an elusive launch date) - but most people don't know that they also set up a cool business in Africa, Power Gari - run by Taylor Quinn (JUST's Emerging Markets Director). Taylor is a social entrepreneur dedicated to deploying nutritious low-cost food systems. He moved to Liberia in 2015 (during the Ebola outbreak) to build and launch the Liberian-owned and operated Power Gari - which produces flavored cassava-based porridges, targeting the poorest of the poor consumers. He's worked across the African continent, and plans to continue to do so - hopefully continuing to drive positive nutrition impact.

Taylor Quinn in Liberia.

Random Stuff

• The Wolf and the Lamb: Catherine Lamb, The Spoon's amazing FoodTech (and more) writer, is going to business school. So Michael Wolf, the CEO/Founder of the Spoon, is hiring a part-time FoodTech writer. More info here!

• I recently read two really helpful blog posts by super angel Hampus Jakobsson (who has invested in 100+ startups), on how to write good investor update emails, and how to get your investors to add value. I think his advice is relevant more broadly though - so if you have advisors, mentors, funders, etc that you engage with, you may enjoy these posts.

• EAT Stockholm Food Forum was cancelled this year. But EAT will host an online session together with the Rockefeller Foundation, 'Reimagining Food Systems: Driving Action for a Post-COVID World'. To get some new visions, solutions, perspectives, announcements, and to engage in a dialogue, register for the June 24, 9am EDT (3pm CET) event here - it's free to attend.

• A robot dog is now herding sheep in New Zealand -- don't miss the video.

I love you.
Daniel
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Disclosures: I'm a consultant to the Rockefeller Foundation Food Team. I'm a mentor at accelerators Katapult Ocean, Big Idea Ventures, and Bloomer. I'm an advisor to Noquo Foods, BIOMILQ, Volta Greentech, Veat, IRRIOT, Rootically, Holistal, Vultus, and Ignitia; 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 as regards to any investment, divestment or retention decision taken by readers of this newsletter content.