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- FoodTech Weekly #212 by Daniel S. Ruben
FoodTech Weekly #212 by Daniel S. Ruben
News on FoodTech, food, and society
Daniel S. Ruben
September 06, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 10 minutes
FoodTech Weekly #212
Hi there,
That feeling when summer is hardly over, and Christmas is already around the corner (at least in Venezuela).
This week's rundown:
🧑🌾 Soil Capital scoops up €15M to help farmers improve soil health
🧀 Plant-based cheese startup Climax Foods raises bridge funding to extend runway
🫐 Why putting solar panels on berry farms boosts berry production
Let's go!
💬 Conversation with Ofek Ron of Oshi
Plenty more fish in the sea? Not really. And this is what Ofek Ron, CEO and Co-Founder of Oshi, set out to solve for. You might not know Ofek, but he probably already knows you, as he’s the definition of a superconnector and a community builder in the FoodTech ecosystem.
His company Oshi has developed one of the best plant-based salmons on the market and the first and only one available within the U.S., and now Ofek is looking to expand it into U.S. restaurant chains and corporate canteens. Read the entire conversation here.
Oshi product + team
💰 Funding
🇧🇪 Regenerative agriculture startup Soil Capital has secured €15M (appr. $16.5M) in Series B funding, led by Trill Impact Ventures and joined by e.g. Société Fédérale de Participations et d’Investissement, Sandwater, Santander Alternative Investments, Ring Capital and Edaphon. Soil Capital helps farmers improve soil health.
🇩🇰 REDUCED has announced the second closing of its A round, bringing it to €8M (appr. $8.9M). The round was led by the European Circular Bioeconomy Fund (ECBF). REDUCED transforms upcycled side streams from the food/ag sectors, via proprietary fermentation, into premium umami flavors.
🏴 Nandi Proteins has bagged £500K (appr. $650K) from investors such as Nesta and Scottish Enterprise. The company develops an egg white replacer for various applications.
🇺🇸 Climax Foods, which makes plant-based cheese, has raised bridge funding from existing investors which it will use to restructure the company and aim to reach profitability.
🇳🇴 Ocean Oasis, which develops a system that uses wave power to run a desalination process offshore, has reeled in a €6M (appr. $6.6M) grant from the European Innovation Council.
Ocean Oasis
🇮🇳 Agrim has harvested a $17.3M Series B investment from Asia Impact (and backed by early investors such as Omnivore and Accion Venture Lab). The company offers an online marketplace that connects inputs such as seeds and tools to small agricultural retailers, that in turn supply them to small farmers.
🇺🇸 Zbiotics has clinched $12M in Series A funding led by Spring Tide Capital; the company makes genetically engineered probiotics, and its first product is a shelf-stable shot with probiotic bacteria that can reduce the impacts of a hangover after drinking alcohol.
🇺🇸 HabiTerre has raised a $10M Series A first close from John Deere to continue developing its environmental systems models that can help analyze the impact of farming techniques on crop productivity and the environment.
🏴 Xias Bio has received £3.8M (appr. $5M) in Seed funding led by Happiness Capital and joined by e.g. SOSV, Good Startup, and CPT Capital. The company has developed a molecular platform that can create animal-free protein.
🇬🇧Sunswap has pulled in €20M (appr. $22M) in a funding round led by BGF and joined by e.g. Shell Ventures and Barclays. Conventional cold chain logistics involves transporting temperature-sensitive goods such as meat, dairy, fruits, and vegetables in diesel-powered refrigeration units, which lead to GHGs. Sunswap has developed Transport Refrigeration Units that combine batteries with solar power to provide a fully-electric, emission-free alternative.
Sunswap
🧐 Noteworthy
🕴🏻 The global power of Big Ag lobbying - important piece in FT.
📊 ‘8 Charts That Illustrate the Impact of Food Systems and Our Diets on Climate Change’ - good one from Green Queen.
🍓 Putting solar panels overy berry farms actually increases berry production.
🥔 There’s a potato variety called Bonnotte de Noirmoutier (a.k.a. La Bonnotte) which is more expensive than wagyu beef.
🥩 Consumers aren’t the real customers of cultivated meat — meat producers are, Steve Simitzis argues in this interesting post.
🚽 There’s a rising interest around gut health. Throne Science just revealed their upcoming toilet tracker, which has a non-contact way of analyzing your pee and poop to give you insights on your hydration levels and gut health.
Image: Snaxshot
🪲 Researchers are using sensitive microphones on farming fields to eavesdrop on the unique vibrations created when insects chew on a plant (!) or suck up sugars. ‘It kind of sounds like you stuck a straw to the dregs of a milkshake’ says Emily Bick, entomologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
🌍 News from the FoodTech Weekly community
👨🏻💻 Bettafish (Germany) is hiring a Marketing Manager… VEAT (Sweden) is recruiting a Head of Marketing… Perfat Technologies (Finland) is looking for a Food Production Engineer.
Want to share some FoodTech news/project with other FoodTech Weekly subscribers? Hit reply, or post something on our Discord!
🎲 Random Stuff
🙊 There’s a Swiss e-commerce site selling beer called https://onlycans.ch.
🩸Paper types ranked by likelihood of paper cuts (h/t Azeem Azhar):
🍅 Some lovely pics from the Tomatina festival in Buñol, Spain, where 22K people just lobbed overripe tomatoes at each other for an hour.
🧌 OK I will stop with the Raygun jokes but this one was just too cute:
📉 Battery prices have fallen by more than 50% in just 18 months.
📈 Important reminder:
Our World in Data
👶🏽 Every country in the world has a lower fertility rate today than in 1950.
🎙️ And finally, a little music for you:
I love you.
Daniel
- - -
🎵 This issue was produced while listening to Dernière danse by Indila.
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