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FoodTech Weekly #52 by Daniel S. Ruben
News on FoodTech, food, and society
Daniel S. Ruben
June 04, 2021 • Estimated Reading Time: 10 minutes
FoodTech Weekly #52
Hi there,
We've reached issue #52 of FoodTech Weekly, meaning I've been at this for about a year. Guess that calls for celebrations of some sort.
Summer is finally here, so I'm hitting the pause button on the 'Conversations' section. Hope to be back with new interesting convos sometime in August.
Highlights
Conversations: N/A
Noteworthy: Norwegian vertical farming company raises $19M; rock-picking startup TerraClear banks $25 in fresh funding; Avant hopes to have cell-cultivated seafood on the shelf in Singapore by the end of 2022; AquaBounty's first harvest of genetically modified salmon is shipped to foodservice partners; BIOMILQ produces real breastmilk as a world's first.
News from the FoodTech Weekly community
Random Stuff: Teeny tiny pigs. And more.
Conversations
Noteworthy
Norwegian vertical farming company ONNA has received a NOK 160M (appr. $19M) private placement led by the Norwegian family offices TD Veen and Rasmussengruppen. The investment secures financing for ONNA's first vertical farm, currently under construction in Moss, Norway. When operational, the farm will produce 350 tons of leafy greens and herbs each year. ONNA plans to expand in the Nordic countries over the next few yers.
TerraClear, a rock-picking robotics startup, has raised $25M. Rock picking is a huge pain point for farmers everywhere. Rocks need to be removed, or they will wreck harvesters and planters/seeders. But this job is boring and monotonous (making it a perfect for an autonomous robot). TerraClear has built an automated robotic solutions which can pick up to 400 rocks per hour (and like any cool kid, it uses AI and mapping to identify where the rocks actually are).
Israeli startup Arugga has scored $4M in new, pre-Series A funding. The company does robotic pollination of indoor farming. An air nozzle system sprays a quick burst of air on the selected flowers, which 'shakes' them and replicates the buzz pollination used by some species of bees.
Speaking about robots, here's a smart little robot moving potted plants around (20 sec video).
Hong Kong-based cultivated seafood company Avant aims to produce its cell-based fish maw and filet products for consumption in Singapore by late 2022, and for their products to be commonplace in supermarkets by 2025. According to the Good Food Institute, investments into alternative seafood in 2021 so far ($110M) have already surpassed the record numbers from all of 2020 ($83M).
The first harvest of genetically modified salmon began last week, in AquaBounty's facility in Indiana, USA. Initially, the production will be sold to foodservice actors in the Midwest and the East Coast. The fish are modified to grow twice as fast as wild salmon, reaching market size, 8-12 lbs (3.6 to 5.4 kgs) in 18 months rather than 36. AquaBounty is currently raising 450 tons of salmon in its Indiana facility.
Israeli precision nutrition startup DayTwo has raked in $37M in new funding. The company enables users to analyze their microbiome; DayTwo then uses AI and other tools to provide customized, granular food prescriptions for users with diabetes and metabolic disease. The company has 70,000 users across the U.S. and Israel.
Swiss alt protein startup Planted recently banked $18.1M in new funding. Investors in the round included e.g. Blue Horizon Ventures, Vorwerk Ventures, and Gullspång Invest. Planted sells its products such plant-based chicken, pulled pork, and kebab, in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
Saudi-Arabian startup Red Sea Farms enables the irrigation of land crops with saltwater, and can grow crops hydroponically using a mixture of 90% saltwater and 10% freshwater. It's currently growing tomatoes and cherry tomatoes, that are already for sale in local markets in Saudi Arabia.
U.S. biotech startup BIOMILQ has announced that they -- as a world's first -- have produced cell-cultured milk outside the human body (full disclosure: I'm an advisor to BIOMILQ). BIOMILQ's product has
'macronutrient profiles that closely match the expected types and proportions of proteins, complex carbohydrates, fatty acids and other bioactive lipids that are known to be abundantly present in breastmilk.' The company says their breakthrough is a game-changer, and that this is significantly closer to real breast milk than any infant formula currently on the market. Meanwhile, organic infant formula startup Bobbie Bags just raised a $15M Series A.Cargill, the U.S. agribusiness giant, is partnering with U.K. startup Zelp. Zelp has developed a wearable for cows that neutralize up to 50% of cow methane emissions through the mouth. Cargill will now be the exclusive distributor of the device for the European dairy market.
'We come here not as conquerors but as liberators, to return control of this city to the people.'
Yay science #1: Inflatable pasta. Researchers have managed to produce pasta that can be packed economically into dried flat sheets, but spring into a variety of 3D shapes when added to boiling water. The scientists hope this can help make pasta more sustainable (by slimming down on pasta packaging), without affecting its consumer appeal. (h/t: J.G.)
Yay science #2: Researchers have discovered that a medical device used to detect cancer in humans can also be employed to detect mislabeled seafood, and other meats -- with 100% accuracy. (h/t: J.G.)
A leaked internal document from Nestlé cited by the Financial Times says that more than 60% of the company's food and drinks do not meet a 'recognized definition of health'.
News from the FoodTech Weekly community
Swedish AgTech startup Vultus is looking for a board chairperson... Simris Alg is recruiting a Quality, Regulatory and R&D professional... Stockeld Dreamery is hiring a Product Manager.
FFAR, the Foundation For Food & Agriculture Research, has announced the Egg-Tech Prize, offering up to $6M in prizes to develop a technology that determines an egg's sex before it hatches. Each year, billions of male chicks are culled, as they cannot lay eggs and their slow growth and poor meat quality make them unsuitable for consumption.
The Sustainable Packaging Coalition and its partners have launched an Innovation Challenge for early and growth-stage entrepreneurs and startups with food packaging solutions that help prevent food waste. The Challenge is for companies that develop features such as reseal ability and improved pack sizes, sensors, active packaging, inserts, and/or coatings.
The Eco AgriFood Challenge is a pitch contest created to identify and boost innovative startups and SMEs who can make a real change to agricultural sustainability for the human food and pet food sectors. More info here.
Want to share some FoodTech news/project with other FoodTech Weekly subscribers? Hit reply.
Random Stuff
Puree disaster: A lorry crashed in the U.K., spilling tomato puree and olive oil all over the road. Social media users had fun with puns though.
The world's tiniest pig, the 10-inch (25 cm) tall pygmy hog, was thought extinct until discovered in 1971. Now 100s of these teeny tiny pigs are roaming the Indian state of Assam.
I love you.
Daniel
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This issue was produced while listening to Work Song by Hozier. Follow me on LinkedIn and Twitter (I'm @danielsruben on Clubhouse). Did your brilliant friend forward this to you? Subscribe here.