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FoodTech Weekly #40 by Daniel S. Ruben
News on FoodTech, food, and society
Daniel S. Ruben
March 12, 2021 • Estimated Reading Time: 14 minutes
FoodTech Weekly #40
Hi there,
One of the companies where I'm an advisor, FUNCiFUR, just closed a SEK 7.5M (~€0.75M) round. Pet food comes with a huge environmental footprint. In the U.S., dogs and cats through their diets account for about 25-30% of the total environmental impacts from animal production, in terms of the use of land, water, fossil fuels, phosphates, and biocides.
Startups around the world try to tackle this issue in different ways. Sweden-based FUNCiFUR sells insect-based dog food via subscription. Founded last year, the company has a growing pawprint in terms of customers. I hope FUNCiFUR can help contribute to significantly reducing the environmental footprint needed to produce pet food.
Image: Pernilla Westergren (co-founder & CEO) with Siri, and Thomas Dalebring (co-founder and CDO) with Daisy
An interesting pair of studies were just released, that assessed the environmental impact of cultivated meat production vs. conventional meat production (and when cultivated meat may reach price parity with conventional meat). Key takeaway: If renewable energy is used in its production, cultivated meat is likely to compete on costs and have a lower environmental footprint compared to conventional meat production in under 10 years. GFI is hosting a webinar on this on March 18, if you want to learn more.
Speaking about the environment: New data that just came out shows that the food system is actually responsible for 34% of total global greenhouse gas emissions, higher than the 25% previously thought.
In other news, if you're able to read the IKEA catalog in the original language (i.e. Swedish) you might also enjoy listening to this interview with me in Swedish, for Christian von Essen's podcast Heja Framtiden (Yay Future). We discussed FoodTech, food system issues, and more. I was really happy with how it turned out.
Enjoy your weekend!
Ps. Forgot to add the WWF link last week, for the indoor farming report. Here it is.
Highlights
Conversations: Henric Hansson (Klimato)
Noteworthy: Vertical farming startup Infarm raises $100M; Oishii raises $50M for vertically grown strawberries; Juicy Marbles releases plant-based steak; Avant achieves 90% cost reduction on cultured protein; Refraction AI bags $4.2M Seed for three-wheeled delivery robot; the EU relaxes regulations for insects-as-animal-feed; BioPhero nabs $17M for non-toxic pest control
News from the FoodTech Weekly community
Random Stuff: Giant vegetables; 3D-printed schools; battery-powered fishing boats in Kenya; rapping scientists. And more.
Conversations
Spoke with Henric Hansson, COO and Co-founder of Klimato, this week. The startup was established in early 2018, as the cofounders wanted to see if they could make climate labeling of food into standard practice. Klimato helps restaurants calculate the climate impact of the menu items, and communicate this to their guests so that guests can pick foods with lower climate footprints. As restaurants shift their menus, they not only lower their climate footprints but they save on food ingredient costs too. Last year, Klimato's hundreds of clients (restaurants) reduced their greenhouse gas emissions by 1613 tons. The startup has 8 employees in Sweden, 2 in Norway, and 2 in India; the Carbon Footprint Management market is estimated to be worth $9B, so Klimato feels they have plenty of upside. Klimato is interested in engaging with larger enterprise customers (such as Sodexo, ISS, and Compass Group), and is also interested in connecting with potential partners and pilot customers in the U.K. To get in touch with Henric, you can email him here.
Image: Klimato
Noteworthy
German vertical farming company Infarm has raised an additional $100M (bringing its total funding to $400M), and will expand from growing salad greens and herbs, to crops like mushrooms, tomatoes, and chillies. The company is present in 10 markets and 33 cities, and has so far focused on smaller vertical farms set up in grocery stores to allow shoppers to pick their own produce. Over in New York, local vertical farming company Oishii has raised $50M; the startup claims to hav a proprietary approach to pollinating strawberries indoors, using bees. And vertical farming startup Grönskaof Sweden this week announced a $2.4M raise. The indoor farming tech market is forecasted to be worth almost $25B by 2026.
UK-based WeFarm, a social networking platform for smallholder farmers, has raised $11M in a Series A round, bringing total funding to $32M. The company has 2.5M users in emerging markets, and is about to shift from an SMS-based service to a digital, app-based service.
U.S. / Slovenian startup Juicy Marbles has launched the world's first plant-based filet mignon [full disclosure: I'm an advisor to Juicy Marbles]. More cool images on the company website.
Image: Juicy Marbles
Oatly will open a new production facility in the U.K. in 2023, capable of producing 450 million liters of oat beverage per year, when fully ramped up.
Swiss plant-based meat producer Planted has secured $18M in Series A financing. The company produces things like plant-based kebab and chicken, and has a presence in 3,000 stores in the DACH countries. In related news, the Burger King U.K.'s CEO just said he believes 50% of the chain's U.K. menu will be plant-based within a decade.
Avant Meat of Hong Kong says it has achieved a 90% cost reduction for its cultured proteins, using an FBS-free media. The company, which has produced cultured fish maw and sea cucumbers, also announced a partnership with Chinese biotech firm QuaCell, which will accelerate scale-up plans by at least 12 months.
This isn't the droid you're looking for. Image: Foodora
The EU is about to open the poultry and pig feed markets for the insect industry, adding it to food, fish, and pet food as potential markets. Allowing insect feed reduces antibiotics needs significantly. Insects are already a natural part of the diet for e.g. wild hens and boars.
Israeli startup Seebo has raised $24B in Series B. The companies AI-powered tech helps food producers identify and address inefficiencies. On the same topic, this recent Reuters piece outlines how some Japanese companies deploy tech to reduce food waste.
Sitia has launched an autonomous tractor called Trektor that can manage tree crops, market gardens, and vineyards. The robot is accurate within centimeters.
Israeli drip irrigation company Netafim has acquired Dutch greenhouse company Gakon.
Denmark-based insect pheromone company BioPhero has bagged $17M in Series A funding. The company aims to replace chemical insecticides with sustainable biological insect pheromones. Pheromones are naturally produced by insects, but BioPhero is using pheromones to disrupt the insect mating process, in an insect-specific, non-toxic way.
Japanese researchers have cultured millimeter-sized chunk of meat that have a mouthfeel similar to steak.
U.S. food grocer Kroger has opened an automated warehouse in Monroe, Ohio, that cuts fulfillment from 30-45 minutes to six minutes -- all powered by U.K. company Ocado. Watch this impressive video clip to get an idea of how it works.
Swedish plant-based seafood company Hooked Foods launched a plant-based tuna this week, called Toona. I had a curry Toona sandwich from local restaurant Mahalo this week, and it was yummy. In somewhat related news, Israel temporarily banned the consumption of Mediterranean seafood after a massive oil spill that affected the entire coastline.
Hooked's Toona on a sandwich
California-company Food ID develops and sells rapid-result tests that can detect e.g. antibiotics in animals and heavy metals in seafood. Interesting article in Forbes.
FoodHack has put together this fantastic list of 80+ female FoodTech founders, leaders, and investors you need to know.
News from the FoodTech Weekly community
The Nordic Embassies in Israel are organizing the inaugural Nordic-Israeli GreenTech Academy. In this 3-month professional development program Nordic ecosystem leaders can learn about the latest ecosystem building methodologies used to build the latest Green and Foodtech unicorns in Israel while connecting with their Nordic and Israeli peers in an informal way. It’s free, courtesy of the Nordic Council of Ministers, involves a commitment of 15 hours total over 3 months and you can learn more and sign up here.
Flight Case is a Dutch project that connects ambitious companies with young designers and leading professors from Delft University of Technology to spark innovation and create sustainable solutions over the summer of 2021. Are you looking for inspiring new directions or an answer to current challenges? Take a look here - and get in touch via email.
Sweden FoodTech (SWE) is hiring an Innovation Program Manager... Arman Atatürk of FoodHack (CH) has a very honest job listing for a Head of Editorial & Insights... GFI Europe (EU) is looking for an Operations Specialist... Andreas Karlsson of VEAT (SWE) is bringing on a COO/Head of Operations... Emil Wasteson of Hooked Seafood (SWE) has two roles open; Head of Product Development, and Head of Brand... EAT GRIM (DK) has an open position for a Procurement Manager.
Want to share some FoodTech news/project with other FoodTech Weekly subscribers? Hit reply.
Random Stuff
Must-see photos from the competitive world of giant vegetable growing.
The first 3D-printed school is under construction in Madagascar.
A Kenyan startup is offering battery-powered engines for small fishing boats in Lake Victoria.
Peak 2021: IKEA has created an augmented reality escape room. On Snapchat.
In the annual "Dance Your Ph.D." competition, Finnish scientists rapping about molecular clusters took home the first price. The best line of the winning song? "I'm the first author, and you're just et al."
I love you.
Daniel
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This issue was produced while listening to Highway Man by HOFFMAESTRO. Follow me on LinkedIn and Twitter (I'm @danielsruben on Clubhouse). Did your brilliant friend forward this to you? Subscribe here.