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FoodTech Weekly #25 by Daniel S. Ruben
News on FoodTech, food, and society
Daniel S. Ruben
November 13, 2020 • Estimated Reading Time: 14 minutes
FoodTech Weekly #25
Hi there,
First, a correction -last week, I covered The Chicken, the new restaurant/test kitchen by Israeli cell-based meat startup SuperMeat. I wrote that consumers can buy these chicken burgers; that's not true -- one can apply for a table. If selected, the diner gets to try SuperMeat's chicken burger, and is then asked to provide feedback on the product (thanks, Blake for notifying me!).
Speaking about Israel, Arman Anatürk and I are mapping Israeli FoodTech startups that can help make the food system more nourishing and sustainable. Feel free to add your ideas for companies to watch here.
Some exciting personal news: On top of my existing commitments (listed at the footer of this newsletter), I'm becoming an advisor to Nordic FoodTech VC, the first dedicated FoodTech VC fund in the Nordics. I've long been a fan of Dr .Lauri Reuter, who is wicked smart, and has done a great job communicating food science and innovation through various arenas. As he's now teamed up with an outstanding team, and started to make investments, it's an honor to support Lauri and his team in Nordic FoodTech in a more formal capacity.
Finally, just a reminder that this newsletter is about FoodTech, food, andsociety. Please keep that in mind as you read about my conversation with Omar below. I felt I needed to share his story.
Wishing you all a great weekend.
Highlights
Conversations: Omar Alshogre and Eslam Salah
Noteworthy: swiftVEE raises $1.5M for real-time online livestock auction platform; VEAT launches 100% plant-based vending machines in Sweden; facial recognition for fish; elephant beehive fencing helps African farmers
The Profile: Dr. Gary Toenniessen
Random Stuff: Monster wolf robots; FoodTech500 application deadline. And more.
Conversations
Had a very powerful conversation this week. But first, let's rewind a few decades. I studied with a guy called Peder at my senior high school in Stockholm 1998-2001. He was just like any other kid - enjoyed playing sports, partying, spending time with friends. I was heartbroken in 2010 when I found out that Peder tragically lost his life in a car accident. About the same time, in early 2011, protests erupted across Syria against the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Omar Alshogre, then 15 years old, joined street protests. He was imprisoned and tortured by the regime for a few days, before his family could get him out. When he was 17, he was arrested again, and this time he was stuck. Over the next few years, he was moved between many different prisons, repeatedly tortured, and had to experience unimaginable things. He ended up in Sednaya outside Damascus, one of the most brutal prisons in the world. Two of his cousins died in front of his eyes. And outside prison, Omar's father and two brothers were killed by the regime and regime militia that attacked and massacred their home village. When Omar's mother managed to buy his freedom (for $20,000) and he was smuggled out of prison in June 2015, he only weighed 34 kgs (75 lbs). Yes - 34 kilos. After reuniting with his mother in Turkey, Omar (sick with tuberculosis) and his little brother Ali fled through Europe and ended up in Sweden. They were taken in by a loving Swedish foster family that Omar happened to meet at the hospital. This family helped him start a new life -- understand the culture, the society, and learn the language (Omar conducted his conversation with me in fluent Swedish). He found a job with Boston Consulting Group, and started working to hold the prisoner guards, and the Syrian regime, accountable for their crimes -- for example through the Syrian Emergency Task Force. He testified in front of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee (watch it!), and contributed in various ways to the passing of the Ceasar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2019. He's become a frequent public speaker. And just recently, he was accepted (watch it!) to Georgetown University, my own Alma Mater. At Georgetown, he'll do an undergrad focused on international relations and business, and will start a project focused on Syria. Omar got dealt a very bad hand in life. He's a survivor, and an inspiration. He has gazed into the abyss, and yet he is an optimist. His dream is to rebuild Syria, but to do so, he knows that first the regime must fall. I'm sure that going to Georgetown will help accelerate his impact trajectory. So to all my friends in the U.S. -- and Washington D.C., and Georgetown University in particularhelp Omar figure out how to get a full scholarship to enable him to study there - and then help him understand how he should combine a full-time job at the Syrian Emergency Task Force, with studies at Georgetown. And plug him in with the right, senior people in town. You can reach him here. There's one more piece to this story. The loving foster family that took in Omar and his little brother? That was Peder's family.
Omar Alshogre
Caught up with Eslam Salah of (lupin-based meat substitutes startup) Lupinta, who I covered in issue #17. They just went nationwide, through the central warehouse of ICA, Sweden's largest grocery retail chain. Lupinta also entered Phase II of the EIT Climate-KIC Accelerator, as one of only 7 Nordic startups (which also unlocked a SEK 250K grant). Finally, Lupinta is soon successfully closing its pre-seed round. So lots of positive news all around.
Lupin-based tempeh, from Lupinta
Noteworthy
South African AgTech startup swiftVEE has closed a $1.5M funding round. The startup conducts real-time online livestock auctions using AI to match buyers and sellers from anywhere in the world, and has 125,000 farmers in its network. The money will be used to improve the platform and expand into neighboring countries Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe. Later on, swiftVEE hopes to expand to the UK and U.S.
VEAT announced a €0.5M raise, and just launched its first vending machines selling 100% plant-based grab & go food, such as salads, wraps, ready-to-heat meals, and healthy drinks and snacks such as nuts (full disclosure: I'm an advisor to VEAT). Investors in the round included Pale Blue Dot, Robert Ahldin, Erik Segerborg, Purple Orange Ventures, and Shio Equity. VEAT plans to deploy 10+ vending machines in Stockholm, Sweden before the end of the year, and then keep growing domestically and internationally. I'm excited about VEAT because I think food environments around us are often pretty harmful; junk food and candy are easily accessible everywhere, from public transport hubs, offices, and co-working spaces, to hospitals (!), department stores and universities. Vending machines could be a solution to provide tasty, nutritious food in a convenient, affordable, and accessible way. The evidence is also strong that we should shift towards more plant-centric diets. And in a COVID world, contactless retail is compelling. Other companies to watch in this space include U.S.-based firms Farmer's Fridgeand Fresh Bowl.
VEAT's first vending machine in Stockholm, Sweden
Tech like video cameras, sensors, and algorithms that can differ between different types of marine life is increasingly being installed on fishing vessels -- and these gadgets are combined with satellite imagery, machine leaning tolls and AI. The goal is to make sure fishing vessels accurately report contents and volumes of their catches, and that vulnerable species such as turtles and sharks are safely released back into the ocean. As monitoring systems can cost $14K to $24K per year per vessel, fewer than 2,000 out of the 100,000 large-scale vessels globally have been equipped with the systems so far. One example of a system under development (by Swedish deep learning company Refind) is FishFace, that uses facial recognition (!) for fish.
Farmers in Zimbabwe have long struggled to protect their fields from elephants, especially during the cropping season. Elephants plunder the fields, leaving little to harvest, and sometimes farmers are trampled to death. In 2018, a biological solution was introduced -- elephant beehive fencing (EBF). Farmers surround their plots by beehives hanging on wire fence, 10 meters apart. When elephants touch the wire or beehives, the bees are disturbed and will sing the elephants, sending the latter back into the forest. Yields have gone up from 1 ton to 4 tons of maize per hectare since EBF was installed. Farmers also harvest honey from the beehives, which is then sold. Full story here.
Elephant beehive fencing. Image: Warp News
AquaBounty, the company behind bioengineered (genetically modified) salmon AquAdvantage, is still on track to start selling the salmon toward the end of this year. The FDA approved the AquAdvantage salmon 5 years ago. The sterile female salmon are grown indoors in tanks. AquaBounty has an existing facility in Indiana, and is exploring building a 10,000 metric ton capacity facility in Kentucky.
Scientists in Singapore have developed an AI-powered electronic nose that can detect the freshness of meat. A barcode is inserted into food packaging, and it changes color when it senses gasses emitted from rotting meat. A connected smartphone app can then help consumers understand if the meat is safe to eat. The system can currently predict the freshness of meat such as chicken, beef, and fish with 98.5% accuracy.
U.S. cell-based meat startup Lab Farm Foods recently demonstratedprototypes for chicken nuggets and pork liver pâté. Some of the company's prototypes were hybrid products, made with either plant-proteins or conventional animal meat. The company is seeking seed funding.
McDonald's just announced McPlant, a new plant-based burger developed in collaboration with Beyond Meat. The news didn't come as a surprise, given that almost all other fast food chains had released their own versions of plant-based products in the recent year or two. The McPlant will be launched in 2021, but the exact geographies haven't been announced.
The Profile
Most people have probably never heard of Dr. Gary Toenniessen. And yet, his impact on improved global nutrition cannot be overstated. He worked for the Rockefeller Foundation for several decades. His lasting legacy may be his work leading to the creation of Golden Rice, which addresses Vitamin A deficiency (VAD). Millions of vulnerable people rely on rice and other carbohydrate-rich, micronutrient-poor calory sources. Rice doesn't contain any provitamin A, which the body can convert to vitamin A. So people with rice-centric diets develop VAD -- this impacts millions of young children and pregnant women, and leads to 1M+ deaths and 0.5M cases of irreversible blindness annually. To get vitamin A into rice, genetic engineering was needed.
Starting in 1985, Gary Toenniessen committed half of the Rockefeller Foundation's agricultural research budget to establish the International Program on Rice Biotechnology. Rice biotech didn't exist, so the Foundation had to sponsor scientist to invent the tools of the genomics, gene transfers, the markers assisting selection, everything. The Foundation started sponsoring 10-15 of the best research groups in the world working in plant molecular biology. After many years, and more than $100M invested, a breakthrough was made. The scientists had managed to develop rice plants that produced beta-carotene (a precursor of vitamin A) in the endosperm; after milling, the grain was a shining golden yellow. Golden Rice had been born. Many years later, Golden Rice has still not been commercialized due to e.g. opposition from environmental activists. But if and when it happens, Dr. Gary's Toenniessen's role in the story of Golden Rice story will hopefully be rightfully remembered.
Random Stuff
If you're not able to install beehives to protect your field from elephants, how about wolf robots? A Japanese town has deployed Monster Wolf robots to scare off bears, and it seems to be working.
Don't miss out: If you're an AgTech / FoodTech startup that is developing a disruptive technology, apply to get on Forward Fooding's 2020 FoodTech 500(inspired by the Fortune 500). The deadline is Nov 30, 2020.
I love you.
Daniel
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