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- FoodTech Weekly #214 by Daniel S. Ruben
FoodTech Weekly #214 by Daniel S. Ruben
News on FoodTech, food, and society
Daniel S. Ruben
September 20, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 11 minutes
FoodTech Weekly #214
Hi there,
I was just at The Drop in Malmö which is a really great climatetech event (and I wrote about just what makes it great).
In terms of food, The Drop intentionally designed everything to maximize circularity and sustainability, and minimize waste. I mean, just look at this picture — after 1,200+ people had had breakfast and lunch, the total amount of food waste could fit inside a few paper bags (in that grey container I’m pointing at) — and it will be composted. I was really impressed.
Waste less, smile more (catering crew to the left, Hampus of Pale Blue Dot center, and yours truly to the right)
Today Friday I’m at THE HEAT climatetech festival at Harwell Science Campus outside of Oxford; if you’re here too, ping me!
A correction: Last week I wrote that Formo’s cheese is plant-based. It’s actually made through Micro Fermentation.
The Spanish pineapple dating story excited lots of you (it was the #1 clicked story in last week’s newsletter). FTW reader Ilkka Taponen pointed out that a Finnish supermarket chain trialed pink-colored shopping carts last year, to achieve the same goal.
This week's rundown:
💵 Crop gene-editing scaleup Pairwise has landed a $40M Series C
💶 Precision-fermented casein startup Standing Ovation scored a €3.75M Series A extension
🤌 The price of espresso shots have hit €2 and Italians are not happy about it.
Let's go!
💬 Conversation with Dr. Maya Sapir-Mir and Ido Eliashar of PoLoPo
What came first, the chicken or the egg? For PoLoPo, the answer is… potato. They are growing things like ovalbumin (found in egg white) in potatoes, through a technology called molecular farming. I recently spoke with PoLoPo’s CEO and Co-Founder, Dr. Maya Sapir-Mir, and VP of Business Development, Ido Eliashar, to learn more. Read the entire conversation here — if only to find out what PoLoPo actually means!
PoLoPo
💰 Funding
🇺🇸 Pairwise, which gene edits crops to create e.g. seedless blackberries and less bitter mustard greens, has harvested $40M in Series C funding led by Deerfield Management and joined by e.g. Aliment Capital, Leaps by Bayer, and seed giant Corteva. (I did a podcast with Pairwise’s cofounder Dr. Haven Baker a few years ago).
🇩🇰 MATR Foods, which uses fungi fermentation of local crops like lupin and peas to produce meat alternatives, has secured €20M (appr. $22M) in debt funding from the European Investment Bank (EIB). The company plans to produce 3K tons of products per year.
🇳🇿 The government of New Zealand has set up a five-year NZ$9.6M (appr. $6M) scheme to develop cultivated seafood products.
🇫🇴 Ocean Rainforest, which grows and processes sustainable seaweed on the Faroe Islands, has hauled in €2.5M (appr. $2.8M) in Series A funding, led by Triodos Investment Management and joined by e.g. Grantham Foundation, Builders Vision, Katapult Ocean, Twynam and World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
🇫🇷 Standing Ovation, which produces e.g. casein for dairy products such as cheese through precision fermentation, has closed a €3.75M (appr. $4.2M) Series A extension round from investors including Astanor.
Standing Ovation
🇮🇱 MNDL Bio has nabbed $2M in funding for its AI-powered gene optimization platform that helps companies across biotech, pharma, and food to streamline their R&D processes. The company claims it can increase protein production by up to 200x, cut development timelines by 1/3, and reduce costs by 90% compared to conventional methods. Funders in the round include Earth & Beyond Ventures, IIA (Israel Innovation Authority), and CPT Capital.
🇬🇧Plant-Ex Ingredients, which produces natural plant-derived flavors, colors, and extracts, has bagged £9M (appr. $12M) in funding from BGF.
🧐 Noteworthy
⚰️ A post-mortem from the co-founder of U.S. mushroom farming company Smallhold, which had raised $53M+ but filed for bankruptcy earlier this year (as always, I’m sure there are other points-of-view on how things played out with Smallhold).
📉 A new report from Bright Green Partners forecast that plant-based milk could be 10% cheaper than cow’s milk by 2040, and that precision-fermented dairy products are expected to become competitive as technology improves and production scales up.
😏 Despite Brexit, caps in the U.K. are now also attached to bottles, as multinational companies use the same packaging solutions for the entire European market. The EU Commission has estimated that plastic caps and lids represented about 13% of plastic marine trash caught in fishing vessel nets between 2011 and 2017.
🛑 A U.K. ban on junk food TV ads before 9pm comes into effect in October next year.
⚡ Researchers at Cornell University have discovered a way to integrate AI into environmental control systems that can cut energy consumption in indoor agriculture by up to 25%.
🍫 Great long-read of alternative chocolate and the future of chocolate from NatureTechMemos, with plenty of sweet visuals.
🌎 Why food system methane emissions are a huge problem, and how these emissions can be addressed; very helpful primer from Green Queen.
📉 Speaking of which, Azerbaijan, host country of the upcoming COP29 climate conference, has released a list of priorities that emphasize food and agriculture, e.g. an initiative around methane emissions reduction
🗑️ Food waste bans have failed to cut food waste in several U.S. states — but Massachusetts succeeded where others didn’t. Here’s why.
🌍 News from the FoodTech Weekly community
👨🏻💻 Cultivated Biosciences (Switzerland) is looking for a Head of Finance and a VP Sales.
🎤 Attending NY Climate Week? Join the FoodxClimate networking event on Wed Sep 25 at 5pm ET hosted at C16 Biosciences. Register here.
✔️ The FoodTech Bootcamp, a free, 12-week hybrid business training program, is now open for applications. Supported by SmiLe Venture Hub and Genopole, two of Europe's leading life science and research hubs, the program equips aspiring FoodTech entrepreneurs with the essential knowledge, skills, and industry connections needed to transform breakthrough ideas into successful, scalable businesses. Apply by Oct 6, 2024.
Want to share some FoodTech news/project with other FoodTech Weekly subscribers? Hit reply.
🎲 Random Stuff
🏭 Britain will shut down it’s last coal power station at the end of September, 142 years since the world’s first coal power plant was built in London (h/t Azeem Azhar).
😮 How a dropped bag of Cheetos ruined an ecosystem.
☕ Italians are freaking out about the price of espresso going to €2 per shot, as coffee supply chains are under pressure. Italians pay some of Western Europe’s cheapest coffee, typically paying around €1.2 for an espresso or €1.50 for a cappuccino.
🛒 There’s a grocery store in Nebraska run by teens.
🚚 Sometimes, getting food delivered is actually better for the climate.
🍑 Researchers at Bryant University have published a study that found that purchases of ugly vegetables go up when googly eyes are places on pictures of produce. They hope their findings can help cut food waste.
Kacy Kim and Sukki Yoon
I love you.
Daniel
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🎵 This issue was produced while listening to Linger by The Cranberries.
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