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FoodTech Weekly #73 by Daniel S. Ruben
News on FoodTech, food, and society
Daniel S. Ruben
October 29, 2021 • Estimated Reading Time: 11 minutes
FoodTech Weekly #73
Hi there,
We just released a new episode ofThe Appetizer, with Haven Baker of Pairwise. Give it a listen!
This week:
Making ends sweet: N!CK's raise $100M for no sugar candy and ice cream
Weekend reading: DigitalFoodLab's new FoodTech trends report is out
Reducing methane emissions: The Global Methane Pledge is adding new signatories
Let's go!
Conversations
Sandra Malmberg and I spoke with Haven Baker of Pairwise, for our podcast The Appetizer (the episode is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google, etc). We all know we should eat more fruits and vegetables (because they're healthy). Pairwise is using CRISPR (gene-editing) to improve the traits of fruits and vegetables, to boost consumption. Using CRISPR, it's possible to e.g. increase the yields, make harvesting easier, increase the growing seasons, improve the taste, and improve the convenience. "The number one complain of blackberries is the seeds -- so we're removing the seeds." Pairwise will work with e.g. fruit companies to brand its produce, so that consumers understand that there are palpable differences. "We think the whole produce aisle will change over the next 20 years. It's going to get a lot better, with new products." We did ask Haven about what his dream vegetable or fruit would look like: "I'd love to see peaches, plums, mangoes and apples the size of a cherry with no pits, and buy them in a cup and snack on them. How do we make these fruits and vegetable amenable to snacking?" Make sure to listen to the entire episode here.
Haven Baker, Pairwise
Noteworthy
Swedish FoodTech startup N!CK's just announced a $100M Series C. The company produces snacks and ice cream with no added sugar. Leading the round were Kinnevik, Ambrosia, and Temasek. Gullspång joined the round too. The company founder Nick Luthman started the company a few years ago when he was diagnosed as pre-diabetic.
Plant-based chicken producer Daring Foods has raised a $65M Series C round, bringing its total funding north of $120M. The company's products are now available in over 6,000 stores in the U.S.
German FoodTech startup QOA has secured $6M in seed funding. The company grows synthetic cocoa using fermentation. Investors in the round include e.g. Cherry Ventures, Fifty Years, World Fund, Nucleus Capital, Trellis Road, Pioneer Fund, and Tet Ventures. I spoke with QOA's co-founder Max Marquardt in #69 of FoodTech Weekly.
Aqua Cultured Foods has bagged $1.2M in pre-seed funding. The U.S.-based company uses microbial fermentation to grow whole muscle fish products like tuna, whitefish, calamari and scallops. The funding will be used to accelerate R&D to enable commercialization of the company's products. Meanwhile in Austria, Revo Foods has started sales of its plant-based smoked salmon in local supermarkets. According to GFI data, there are almost 90 companies world-wide making seafood from plants, microbial fermentation, and from animal cells. In 2020, some $26M was raised by startups in this sector; during the first six months of 2021, $116M was invested into the space. Plant-based seafood sales are however still less than 0.1% of overall seafood sales.
Image: Aqua Cultured Foods
Speaking about fermentation, California-based FoodTech company Shiru has banked $17M in fresh Series A funding, in a round led by S2G Ventures. Shiru programs microorganisms like yeast and fungi to express plant proteins similar to animal proteins such as those found in e.g. egg or dairy. The company plans to sell their ingredients to CPG / FMCG companies for use in food products.
Chinese cultivated meat producer Joes Future Food has raised almost $11M in new Series A funding. The startup initially focuses on growing cultivated pork.
Nutreco and Mosa Meat have been awarded a €2M EU grant to advance cellular agriculture. The project aims to lower the cost of growing cultivated meat.
Indian marketplace DeHaat, which connects 650k smallholder farmers to 250 corporate buyers -- and provide access to farming equipment, inputs, and financing -- has raised $115M in Series D funding. The round was led by Sofina and Lightrock India, with participation from e.g. Temasek and FMO. The company aims to reach 5 million farmers by 2024.
What will the restaurants of the future look like? Interesting read from The Eater.
DigitalFoodLab has released its annual report of FoodTech trends. From farm automation and personalized nutrition to sustainable proteins and the future of retail, it's worth checking out.
The Global Methane Pledge is trying to tackle methane emissions, and has 34 signatories so far, pledging to reduce emissions by about a third over the next decade. Just 8 countries account for half of all human-induced methane emissions; 4 out these countries (the U.S., Mexico, Nigeria, and Indonesia) have signed on to the Pledge, while 4 (China, India, Brazil, and Russia) have not. Methane is e.g. a byproduct of ruminant animal agriculture and rice production.
News from the FoodTech Weekly community
Cultivated Biosciences (Switzerland) is hiring a Senior Food Scientist... The Rockefeller Foundation (US) is recruiting a Senior Program Associate... CrowdFarming (Spain) is looking to bring on an Impact & Sustainability Officer... MeliBio (US) is hiring for R&D positions... TechnoServe (US) is recruiting a Senior Program Development Manager - West Africa (which will lead the Regenerative Business Initiative)... CellulaREvolution (UK) has an open position for Chief of Staff... CPT Capital (UK) is looking for a Venture Partner.
Nordic FoodTech VC (where I'm an advisor) has announced the close of their first fund, at €42M. The fund will invest in early-stage FoodTech startups in the Nordics and Baltics.
Hemptech Life Ltd. (UK) and its partners have developed a licenced and patented synthesised process for the production of CBG, CBN, CBD, THC. The technology uses an engineered yeast strain, Yarrowia Lypolitica (Y.L.) in a solution of glucose and water. The group is seeking commercial laboratory partners with 50,000+ litre aerobic fermentation capacity. On the proviso of proving the scaling of the process, significant financial support has been given over to this project. Contact: [email protected]
Want to share some FoodTech news/project with other FoodTech Weekly subscribers? Hit reply.
Random Stuff
Luca Banderet at J12 Ventures has written a very helpful post on how to create a compelling pitch deck, with templates and all.
This 25 min documentary, 'Ten Stories About Food Waste', is worth watching.
Get your ducks in a row: Using computer simulations of waterfowl waves, scientists have found that ducklings swimming in a row behind their mother experience 158% less wave drag than when swimming alone (meaning that the duckling gets a push instead).
Duck Duck Go
Meet Leonardo Urena, who grows 2,000 lbs (907 kg) pumpkins: “I go in the tent and I hug my pumpkin and say, OK, my little turtle. Keep growing. I know you are going to get to scale and everyone will be clapping at you.”
Fishing records going back 500 years show how fast cod stocks collapsed in Eastern Canada in the late 1960s, following advances in fishing technology such as better nets and sonar that made it possible to catch more fish. Canada put a moratorium on cod fishing in 1992, but the cod industry still hasn't recovered since due to overfishing (h/t: CB Insights).
Fishy business
A man under house arrest in Italy went to the police station asking to be put in prison, because he 'could no longer cope with the forced cohabitation with his wife', according to a statement from the carabinieri.
Meanwhile in the U.S., a man lost for 24 hours while hiking on Colorado's highest mountain ignored repeated calls from the rescue teams, because the calls came from an unknown number.
This is the regional office for the National Fisheries Development Board, located near Hyderabad, India:
No fishy business
I love you.
Daniel
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This issue was produced while listening to I Need A Dollar by Aloe Blacc. Follow me on LinkedIn and Twitter. And here's the Appetizer which I co-host. Did your brilliant friend forward this to you? Subscribe here.