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FoodTech Weekly #39 by Daniel S. Ruben
News on FoodTech, food, and society
Daniel S. Ruben
March 05, 2021 • Estimated Reading Time: 12 minutes
FoodTech Weekly #39
Hi there,
Some personal news: After almost 4 fantastic years as a consultant to the Rockefeller Foundation Food Team, I've taken the tough decision to move on (my last day will be March 31). I'll keep working for food systems transformation in various ways; I'll keep my advisory roles for various FoodTech accelerators, VCs, and startups across the world, and I'll of course keep publishing FoodTech Weekly. I hope to share more info on my next daytime job soon.
As I leave, The Rockefeller Foundation Food Team will need a new, high-caliber consultant, so please like and share this job post. It's a unique chance to work for a world-class team on high-impact, meaningful projects to advance a more nourishing, sustainable, and equitable food system.
Anyways. Here's a great little video with Leslie Jones to set you in the right mood for the weekend (sound on!).
Highlights
Conversations: Elliot Roth (Spira)
Noteworthy: Future Acres launches equity crowdfunding campaign for produce transport robot; Nutrition Technology opens Black Soldier Fly insect-as-feed factory in Malaysia; Hooked Foods launches plant-based tuna in Sweden; South African ag marketplace startup Skudu raises money from AgVentures; Canadian startup Future Fields raises $2.2M for low-cost growth medium for cell-based meat companies
News from the FoodTech Weekly community
Random Stuff: Argentinian deepwater dark ale beer goes missing; mixed messages from the Tokyo Olympics; call for food waste innovators; Russian diplomats leave the DPRK via hand-pushed rail trolley. And more.
Conversations
Spoke with Elliot Roth of Spira this week. Spira, which is based in Los Angeles, uses CRISPR-edited algae species such as spirulina to e.g. create colors (such as the flagship product Electric SkyTM, a blue pigment used in food and beverages) and proteins for e.g. food companies. As a kid, Elliot got kicked out of chemistry class for conducting some crazy experiments, so he went into biology instead. And I really mean he went all in. Immersed himself in synbio, attended IndieBio, started growing algae to feed himself, and so on. Today, he runs Spira, which grows color pigments and proteins, and in the process absorbs thousands of tons of CO2. The ingredients can be sold to industries such as food manufacturing, cosmetics, textiles, industrial chemicals, and more. Elliot's goal is to shift the supply chain towards local, carbon-negative production. Spira currently produces 40 metric tons per year (but estimates to turn at least 1,000 metric tons of spirulina powdered biomass into its components by Q1 2022), keeps improving the genetics of the algae cultures, and the surrounding refining tech. Spira is currently in the middle of a $2M fundraising process, and will also do $1m equity crowdfunding campaign via StartEngine. Spira is looking for plant processing partners (co-packers), and also for additional investors. Elliot can be reached via email and LinkedIn.
Image: Spira
Noteworthy
California company Clara Foods has launched an animal-free pepsin (which is traditionally sourced from pig stomachs). The company is working on e.g. an egg white replacer, anti-microbial proteins, and a highly soluble egg protein for beverages.
A new study indicates that farming with a swarm of smaller autonomous tractors in the U.K. could reduce the production cost of wheat from $234 to $187 per metric ton (a $46 per ton reduction). And on the topic of on-farm robotics, California-based startup Future Acres is launching a $3M equity crowdfunding campaign on SeedInvest. Future Acres produces an autonomous, electric agricultural robotic harvest unit called Carry, which helps farmers gather hand-pick crops faster. Carry can transport 500 lbs (226 kg) of produce, on all terrain and in all inclement weather conditions. Check out the video - Carry is a cute little semi-trailer. As this BBC piece notices, farms are going to need different kinds of robots.
Carry, from Future Acres. Image: YouTube
Insect-as-feed company Nutrition Technology in Malaysia has opened an industrial-scale factory, and also closed a $5M funding round. When fully operational, the factory (which focuses on Black Soldier Flies) will produce 12,000 tons of insect frass (poo), 3,000 tons of insect meal, and 1,000 tons of insect oil, per year, diverting 80,000 tons of waste per year from landfills. Meanwhile, in Kenya, Ecodudu has broken ground on an 8-acre factory that will also use Black Soldier Flies to convert food and organic waste into protein as well as fertilizer.
Murakami Farm Co in Hiroshima, Japan has opened a "super sprout factory". It grows broccoli super sprouts using artificial lights and some automation. The videos and images look great.
Swedish plant-based fish startup Hooked Foods (full disclosure: I'm an advisor) launched its first product, Toona (a plant-based tuna) in Stockholm this week, with select restaurants as well as Foodora. Across the pond, in the U.S., plant-based seafood startup Ocean Hugger, which paused operations in June 2020, is now back in business.
Tom Johansson, Emil Wasteson, and Alice Moradian of Hooked Foods. And the product on a sandwich.
Canadian startup Future Fields raised $2.2M in late February. The company develops a low-cost growth medium, which can be used by cell-based meat companies. As each pound (0.45 kg) of cell-based meat requires up to 200 liters of growth media, a significant cost reduction for the media is essential for cell-based meat to be able to eventually reach price parity with conventional meat.
I can't recall if I've already posted this one: Scientists in the U.S. have used CRISPR to tinker with the number of corn kernel numbers. The goal of the scientists is to increase the grain yield or ear size.
South African AgTech company Skudu has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from AgVentures. Skudu is an online marketplace for agricultural inputs such as animal feeds, fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides, and produce.
Inspiring read on vertical farming from Wired. Also, check out this new report from WWF, which examines the environmental impact of various forms of controlled environment agriculture (CEA), such as hydroponics, aquaponics, and aeroponics, in both greenhouse and vertical settings.
New research published by Mozaffarian et al suggests that 63% of U.S. hospitalizations for COVID may have been presented, due to severe illness, if the U.S. had had a metabolically healthy population. The biggest risk: Obesity, responsible for 30% excess hospitalizations.
Image: Mozaffarian et al
News from the FoodTech Weekly community
Wendy Yared of Evolve.ag is cohosting an online roundtable event with Big Idea Ventures called "Lessons learned from Singapore's cellular agriculture industry", on March 11, 8pm EST (the session will be recorded for those that cannot attend).
Yorán Meijers of Anterra Capital is hosting a virtual office hour for the Rising Tide Collective, on March 26, 4pm CET. Read more about Rising Tide here -- it's an ambitious initiative backed by some stellar partners.
Ingrid Maurstad of Katapult Ocean invites you to a March 9, 3pm CET webinar on sustainable aquaculture. Register here.
Want to share some FoodTech news/project with other FoodTech Weekly subscribers? Hit reply.
Random Stuff
Village Capital and Kroger Zero Hunger Zero Waste Foundation are calling for applications from entrepreneurs with ideas and solutions to prevent food waste. Each cohort startup will receive $100K as seed grant funding. Open to U.S. registered entities only.
Mixed messages: Athletes in the upcoming Tokyo Olympic Games are encouraged to keep a 2m (6 ft) distance, avoiding 'unnecessary forms of physical contact' such as hugs, high fives, and handshakes. At the same time, Olympic organizers plan to hand out 150,000 free condoms to the participating athletes.
The trailer for Seaspiracy was just released; the documentary will be available on Netflix from March 24.
I'm mesmerized by the Radio Garden service -- it's like Google Earth but with radio stations. Try it out.
Local brewers in Argentina attached 185 gallons / 700 liters of artisanal beer to a sunken Soviet-era ship 66 ft. / 20 m underwater, in an attempt to make a unique brew of aging a dark ale. Now they've discovered that all the barrels are gone, the suspected work of vandals. The brewers, that are determined to try again, said the barrel contents are 'a lukewarm, gases liquor that would be very difficult to drink.'
Due to strict COVID measures, a group of Russian diplomats and their families recently left North Korea using a hand-pushed rail trolley. Powered by Embassy third secretary Vladislav Sorokin, the trolley crossed the Tumen River rail bridge into Russia. Most international flights have stopped, and since early 2020, trains have been forbidden to enter or leave the country.
Image source: Russian MFA
I love you.
Daniel
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This issue was produced while listening to Mon Amour by Vieux Farka Touré and Idan Raichel. Follow me on LinkedIn and Twitter (I'm @danielsruben on Clubhouse). Did your brilliant friend forward this to you? Subscribe here.