FoodTech Weekly #56 by Daniel S. Ruben

News on FoodTech, food, and society

FoodTech Weekly #56

Hi there,

I'm enjoying summer, and hope you are too. A warm welcome to all new subscribers! If you like FoodTech Weekly, tell your friends to sign up. If you don't like it, tell your enemies to sign up. And if you ever unsubscribe, please let me know why so that I can keep improving this newsletter.

Are there any FoodTech startups working on improving biodiversity? Actually asking for a friend.

Had an interesting conversation with a farmer this week. She was concerned about the fact that we might run out of phosphorus (a finite resource) and thereby synthetic fertilizer in the future. I then read this article and also this article, and felt a little better.

Rumor has it that alt protein company Eat JUST (not to be confused with food delivery company Just Eat) is looking at IPO'ing, at a valuation of $3B. JUST has a history of...interesting challenges, so I'll be curious to see how this stock listing process plays out.

On with the show!

Highlights

  • Conversations: Rich Dillon (Ivy Farm)

  • Noteworthy: The EU gives thumbs up for insect-based animal feed to pigs and poultry; plant-based foods for bees; foodtech VC's Anterra and Omnivore raises new funds; Innoscentia bags $570K for smart sensor to reduce food waste; the EU bans caged farming; single-cell protein producer Unibio secures $15M bridge funding; Google launches new search tool to fight U.S. food insecurity

  • News from the FoodTech Weekly community

  • Random Stuff: Farmers unwind by playing farming simulation games on the computer; higher-quality diets slow aging, new research shows (thank you, Captain Obvious!), 25% of consumers have a new clothing size after the pandemic. And more.

Conversations

  • Had a chance to speak with Rich Dillon, CEO of Ivy Farm. Rich is a self-declared 'one-trick pony' who has grown brands his entire life, e.g. working in senior roles for Red Bull for 12 years, and running (beer brand) Lagunitas' international expansion, before it was acquired by Heineken. Rich then felt a strong need to build something that would leave the world a better place than he found it. He started investing in some sustainability plays and was eventually headhunted to run Ivy Farm. The startup, founded by Dr. Russ Tucker and Cathy Ye, is a spinout from Oxford University ("using technology from the same building that developed the Covid-19 vaccine"), which aims to become the first commercial producer of sustainable, cell-cultivated meat in the UK. Ivy Farm, which has raised £16.5M (appr. $23M) so far and has 30 employees, plans to launch cell-cultivated sausages by 2023, followed by meatballs and beef burgers. The plan is to move into an 18,000 sq. ft. (1,800 sq. m) R&D facility in Oxford by October, and to be a team of 50 people in Q1 2022 (when Ivy Farm also plans its Series A round). The company is in conversation with the UK Food Standards Agency, which has to approve cell-cultivated meat before it can be commercially sold in the UK. So what does Ivy Farm need? "We're hiring like crazy - we're looking for senior, seasoned science and bio-engineering talents. We're also busy expanding our R&D team in China, accelerating our mammalian fat program. And we'd love to get someone on board who is passionate and is a thought leader in animal welfare, the environment, and planetary issues, so if someone could give us a warm intro to David Attenborough, we'd really like that. We admire him and what he's done for planetary awareness and cell-cultivated meat is a big part of the solution." Rich can be reached via LinkedIn and email.

This little piggy came from a bioreactor. Image: Ivy Farm

Noteworthy​

  • The EU is giving the green light for insect feed (currently allowed in aquaculture and for pet food) for monogastric animals -- mainly as poultry and pig feed. More in this IPIFF press release. The WWF believes insect protein in animal feed could eventually replace 20% of UK soy imports. Mars and Nestle have started selling pet food containing insect protein; globally, pets consume 20% of all meat and fish produced.

  • Beeflow, based in Los Angeles, CA, has raised $8.3M in Series A funding. The company has figured out that feeding bees certain plant-based foods and molecules can reduce bee mortality rate by up to 70%, and help them perform better in colder weather. This is crucial to farmers that need bees to pollinate crops. Beeflow is mainly active in Latin America and the U.S. West Coast.

  • Anterra Capital of the Netherlands, of the world's leading FoodTech and AgTech VCs, just announced the initial $175M closing of its second fund. And Indian AgTech VC Omnivore is preparing to launch a new $150M fund.

  • U.S. West Coast startup Wild Type, which cell-cultivates salmon, will begin operating a pilot facility that can produce 200,000 lbs (90,000 kgs) per year when fully built out. The facility will also be a place where the general public can visit, learn about the production, and taste the fish.

  • Swedish FoodTech startup Innoscentia has banked SEK 4.9 million (appr. $570K) in a new funding round (scroll down for announcement in English). The company develops sensor-based labels for foodstuff. The labels can measure the gas concentration within the package, and thus provide a dynamic shelf life indication. Innoscentia hopes this can help reduce the 30% of food that currently goes to waste in the food system. I interviewed Innoscentia's CEO Erik Månsson for FoodTech Weekly #30.

    Image: Innoscentia

  • The European Commission has decided to ban cages for a number of farm animals, planning to bring legislation by 2023 that will phase out caged farming by 2027. Speaking about the EU, EFSA (the European Food Safety Authority) just released a new report saying that antibiotics use is now lower in food-producing animals than in humans, in the Union.

  • Danish single-cell protein producer Unibio has secured $15M in bridge round financing, primarily from existing investors. The latest round values Unibio north of $300M. The company says its single-cell protein has a 70% protein content that easily compares to high-value feeds like fishmeal and concentrated soy. If you want to geek out about single-cell protein and all the leading companies in that space, this article is your friend.

  • Researchers at Penn State have presented a prototype for an automated mushroom picking and trimming robot. Labor costs account for 15-30% of the mushroom production value, so automation could help push down prices of mushrooms in the future.

  • Scientists at UC San Diego have developed the first CRISPR/Cas9-based gene drive in plants. The researchers hope that this can help enable higher-yielding plants, that are more drought-resistant. Meanwhile in Nigeria, genetically modified cowpea that's protected against the pod borer pest has been released. This is the first time a GM food crop is adopted in Africa, beyond South Africa. The insect pest Maruca vitrata leads to yield losses of up to 80%. Local experts believe the new GM cowpea will be able to increase local cowpea production by 20%-100% and reduce malnutrition, especially among children and women. In related news, Anglo-Danish biotech company Synomics says it has found a way to selectively breed Cassava to avoid common diseases. This will help improve yields, reduce food waste, and improve food safety. Cassava is the third-largest source of carbohydrates globally.

  • Embrapa (the state-owned Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation) believes it can make beef carbon neutral by planting eucalyptus trees in the same areas as where cattle graze. 

  • Google has launched a new search tool to fight food insecurity in the U.S. The new website aggregates 90,000 locations with free food support across the 50 states.

News from the FoodTech Weekly community 

  • GFI Europe is hiring a Policy Analyst... NICKS is recruiting a VP Finance... Finless Foods is looking to bring on a few more Research Associates.

  • THRIVE AgriFood Global Initiative Europe Challenge is looking for European (and Israeli) startups leaving a positive impact on the environment and society. The deadline to apply is July 2, 2021.

  • The SoftBank Vision Fund Emerge Program, an eight-week accelerator program, is looking for European seed sage companies raising €1M-3M, run by underrepresented founders. Applications close on July 7, 2021.

Want to share some FoodTech news/project with other FoodTech Weekly subscribers? Hit reply.

Random Stuff

  • Visual Capitalist has a really cool infographic on how synthetic biology is redesigning life.

  • The computer game Farming Simulator is gaining fans; even farmers play it, driving a virtual tractor as a way of unwinding after a long day of driving a real tractor.

    Image: Farming Simulator

  • Interesting book review of 'Qu'est-ce qu'une plante?'

  • Higher quality diets are associated with slower aging, a new study shows. 

  • More than 25% of consumers have a new size after the pandemic, says Levi's CEO (I guess that's why they call it the COVID 19).

  • Speaking about COVID: A 37-year old Swedish man was working from home in April 2020 (adhering to government recommendations about remote work) when his two-year-old came into the room and threw a toy car in his face. The man incurred teeth damage and had to seek emergency dental care. The Swedish Social Insurance Agency rejected the man's reimbursement application for the dental costs, and the Administrative Court concurred, but the Administrative Court of Appeal in Stockholm has now deemed (article in Swedish) the toy car incident an 'occupational injury', ruling in the man's favor.

​I love you.
Daniel
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This issue was produced while listening to Urban City by Irya Gmeyner and Martin Hederos. Follow me on LinkedIn and Twitter (I'm @danielsruben on Clubhouse). Did your brilliant friend forward this to you? Subscribe here.

Disclosures: I'm Head of Strategy and Special Projects at Stockeld Dreamery. I'm an operating advisor to VC firms Nordic FoodTech VC, Blume Equity, and Fynd Ocean Ventures. I'm a mentor at accelerators Katapult Ocean, Big Idea Ventures, and Norrsken Impact Accelerator. I'm an advisor to BIOMILQ, Volta Greentech, VEAT, Hooked, IRRIOT, Rootically, Urban Oasis, FUNCiFUR, Juicy Marbles, Vultus, and Ignitia; in some of these startups, I have equity. 
Boring disclaimer: The newsletter content is intended only to provide general and preliminary information to folks interested in FoodTech, and shall not be construed as the basis for any investment decision or strategy. I assume no liability in regards to any investment, divestment, or retention decision taken by readers of this newsletter content.