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FoodTech Weekly #51 by Daniel S. Ruben
News on FoodTech, food, and society
Daniel S. Ruben
May 28, 2021 • Estimated Reading Time: 12 minutes
FoodTech Weekly #51
Hi there,
I remember growing up, and constantly facing various age cutoffs - to watch a PG-13 movie, drive a car, or go to a bar. Decades later, and I find myself in the same situation again; envious of people slightly older than I am (because they're getting vaccinated, and I'm still too young.) And I'm not sure a fake I.D. will do it this time.
Some things never change, I guess.
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I was interviewed for a great, deep-dive Warp News article on cell-cultivated burgers (in English here, in Swedish here). It's paywalled, but you can get immediate free access through the 30 day Premium Supporter trial (sign up for Warp News International here, or Warp News Sweden here).
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I'm currently on a somewhat remote island in the Stockholm archipelago (very picturesque -- see the swan?), and I just managed to catch a cell phone signal, so sending this week's FoodTech Weekly a bit early.
Highlights
Conversations: N/A
Noteworthy: Bowery raises $300M to expand indoor vertical farming; LYRO Robotics launches plug-and-play packaging robot; the EU drops AM171 which would've hit the plant-based dairy sector hard; half a billion people worldwide are now expected to have diabetes; Kula Bio raises $10 to make sustainable nitrogen bio-fertiliser more widely available.
News from the FoodTech Weekly community
Random Stuff: Two bees thirsty for Fanta. A Japanese train driver gets into trouble for bathroom break; the CDC calls on Americans to stop snuggle with chickens. And more.
Conversations
Noteworthy
U.S. vertical farming company Bowery has closed a monster $300M Series C round, claiming it's the largest-ever private fundraise for an indoor farming company. The company has raised $472M in total, and claims a valuation of $2.3B. The company sells its products in over 850 stores in the U.S. Meanwhile in Japan, Kyoto-based vertical farming startup Spread says it has developed technology that will enable it to mass-produce strawberries. As a reminder, vertical farming is interesting because it enables controlled production close to the end-consumer of e.g. leafy greens without herbicides and pesticides, and with very low water use (but high energy use due to LED lights and HVAC).
Scientists have developed an AI-powered wearable camera that can interpret images -- specifically, food images. The solution can determine how many calories a person is consuming and what nutrients they are ingesting.
Marriott is testing replacing breakfast buffets with a new generation of advanced vending machines, in one of its budget hotel chains. Vending machine and vending robot startups like Chowbotics, Picnic, Farmers Fridge, Fresh Bowl, VEAT and others have grown rapidly in recent years.
LYRO Robotics in Australia has developed a produce packing robot, which is plug and play, meaning it can be installed in less than an hour. The robot already has the same average output as a human packer, and it can do between 500 and 800 products per hour. Labor shortage is a big problem in many geographies, and robots can help mitigate this.
The Lyro packaging robot. Image: YouTube
A few news items from the cell-cultivated space: The world's first cell-cultured lamb startup, Magic Valley, was just announced in Melbourne, Australia; Ivy Farms Technologies plans to launch a cell-cultivated sausage for sale in U.K. supermarkets and food service from 2023; UPSIDE Foods (f/k/a. Memphis Meats) hope to launch a cell-cultivated chicken product by 2021 -- if they can get regulatory approval, and the timeline is currently unclear.
The EU has, at least for now, dropped AM171, a new proposal for restrictions around plant-based dairy products. If adopted, the proposal would've banned plant-based dairy products from e.g. using packaging similar to those used by dairy products (such as cartons), banned the use of descriptors like 'creamy', banned allergen info such as 'lactose-free', banned providing info on the carbon footprint of plant-based dairy vs. conventional dairy, and more.
California-based Clear Labs, which started out in food safety (using genome testing tech to scan produce for pathogens such as salmonella and listeria) just raised a $60M Series C. The company has now developed an automated diagnostics platform for tracking Covid-19 and its emerging variants.
ITG, the parent company of South African insect-as-protein firm AgriProtein, has filed for bankruptcy. AgriProtein was set up in Johannesburg in 2008, and had raised north of $120M.
Copenhagen-based startup Chromologics (whose CEO/Co-Founder Gerit Tolborg, Ph.D I interviewed in FoodTech Weekly #35) has raised a €6M Seed round. The company develops natural colorants via fungal biotech. Investors in the round include Blue Horizon Ventures, Novo Holdings, Nordic FoodTech VC, and angel investor Giampaolo Cagnin.
German quick commerce company Gorillas is expanding to the U.S., starting out in NYC where they'll de liver groceries in 10 minutes or less. Some people speculate that quick commerce startups may make some supermarkets redundant.
Speaking about grocery stores, medical device manufacturer COOK Medical is building a grocery store in an African-American neighbourhood in Indianapolis. The area is a food desert with no full-size grocery store within a 4-mile (6km) radius, meaning 100,000 people lacked easy access to food. Over time, the company will turn over the grocery store operation and
It's now estimated that half a billion people have diabetes, and that 80% of them live in low- and middle-income countries. This represents an overall doubling since 1990 (h/t JdlP).
Colgate-Palmolive is starting to bring to market products (such as toothpaste) using a new solution called LiquiGlide, developed by professor/students oteam at MIT in 2012. A container or pipe is treated with a microscopically textured pattern, allowing 'gooey substances to slide easily.' The idea is to eventually use LiquiGlide in containers for food products such as e.g. mayo, hummus, and sour cream.
LiquiGlide
Forager, based in Portland, Maine has secured $4M to connect local farmers and food producers across the U.S. with grocers and food retailers.
Kula Bio of Massachusetts has nabbed $10M to make sustainable nitrogen bio-fertiliser, helping farmers improve yields. Investors included Collaborative Fund, The Nature Conservancy, Lowercarbon Capital and the Neglected Climate Opportunities Fund.
Pascual Innoventures, the innovation arm of Spanish dairy company Calidad Pascual, is launching Mylcubator, the world's first incubator program for cellular agriculture in the dairy industry. The program will select up to 10 startups to join a 6-month hybrid online/in-person program. More on this in The Spoon.
News from the FoodTech Weekly community
BIOMILQ is looking for a Molecular Biologist and a Biomanufacturing Engineer... Stockeld Dreamery is hiring a Procurement & Sourcing Manager... FUL Foods is recruiting a Lead Product Developer... Synthesis Capital has an open position as Senior Associate.... The Periodic Table of Food Initiative is hiring a Global Director... The European Space Agency is recruiting a Cultivated Meat Scientist.
Norrsken Impact Accelerator, where I'm a venture partner, received 2,300 applications from 120 countries, and has selected 20 companies from five continents and 11 countries, to participate in the accelerator. Some 40% of the teams are mixed gender. Four of these selected companies are in ag and food; Nilus, Xilinat, Complete Farmer, and Sensegrass. The selection process was a ton of work, but am very excited for the cohort companies. I'm looking forward to supporting them over the summer. More on the Impact Accelerator here.
XPRIZE Feed the Next Billion is a $15M competition for delicious and nutritious structured chicken and fish alternatives. The competition isn't limited to one type of product -- plant, cultivated, blended, and other approaches are all welcome to apply. The deadline to register is June 7, 2021. Click here to apply!
Want to share some FoodTech news/project with other FoodTech Weekly subscribers? Hit reply.
Random Stuff
Two bees very eager to drink Fanta (11 sec video).
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is asking people to stop snuggling and kissing backyard ducks and chickens, after a salmonella outbreak.
A U.K. drug dealer was arrested and sentenced to 13 years in jail after sharing a picture of a Stilton cheese; police were able to identify him from his fingerprints on that picture.
People who indicate their Covid-19 vaccination status on their OKCupid profiles are 14% more likely to get a match, according to the NYT.
A driver of a Japanese Shinkansen train is facing disciplinary action, after he left the controls unattended for 3 minutes to take a bathroom break due to "abdominal pain". An unqualified / unlicensed train conductor remained behind in the cockpit, responsible for 160 passengers travelling at more than 90 miles per hour (150km/h). The driver could've gotten away with the violation, but the train company noticed a one minute delay on the route and decided to investigate (as trains running late is a very rare occurrence for Shinkansen routes).
I love you.
Daniel
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This issue was produced while listening to Midnight City by M83. Follow me on LinkedIn and Twitter (I'm @danielsruben on Clubhouse). Did your brilliant friend forward this to you? Subscribe here.