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FoodTech Weekly #88 by Daniel S. Ruben
News on FoodTech, food, and society
Daniel S. Ruben
February 25, 2022 • Estimated Reading Time: 15 minutes
FoodTech Weekly #88
Hi there,
Given current events in Europe, it's hard to write today's issue of FoodTech Weekly without running the risk of sounding tone-deaf (although UEFA Europe League already won that race yesterday by wishing HAPPY THURSDAY EVERYONE as the bombs started falling. So I'm not the worst one to read the room).
The world can feel like a very dark place sometimes. In particular when governments like the current one in Russia wants relations with other countries built on fear and submission. That has never been a path to prosperity.
Please support each other, and especially those who currently need us more than ever. And keep in mind that this too shall pass.
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I contributed to an article on food in 2030 (scroll down to 'Food will become personal', or 'L'alimentation deviendra personnelle' if you prefer reading it in French), on how biochemical mapping of food in combination with new discoveries around the gut microbiome will advance new exciting opportunities. An excerpt:
Startups are now offering a full sequencing of the [gut] microbiome — and the microbiome can be shaped based on what one eats. Soon, we’ll not only fully map and understand the biochemical compounds of food, but dietary guidelines can finally go from generic to personalized, which can improve our gut microbiome and improve health outcomes in a number of ways (e.g. reduce non-communicable diseases like heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes, as well as improve safety from allergens, and enhance childhood nutrition).
A reminder: The application deadline for Norrsken Impact Accelerator (where I'm a advisor, alongside folks like the founders of Mojang/Minecraft, SoundCloud, Voi, Einride, Oatly, Motatos, ClimateView...well, you get the idea) is on Feb 28, 2022. Accepted startups receive a $125K investment, support from top mentors, and access to hundreds of investors. For more info and to apply, go here.
This week's rundown:
It's oh-fish-ial: Wildtype raises $100M Series B for cultivated salmon
Another record: $39B invested into FoodTech startups in 2021, up 2.5x from 2020
No more Minitel for you: Man accidently shuts down internet in two French towns
Conversations
I grew up in Europe when the Cold War was still a thing (although perhaps it's back given current events, but let's not go there). So my image of Central (and Eastern) Europe was shaped by that era -- meaning that when a Slovenian company (from the Balkans!) was introduced to me about a year ago, I sort of expected this. And instead, it was this. Essentially the coolest and most epic brand, product and team ever - Juicy Marbles. I was lucky to become an advisor to them. And this week, I caught up with co-founder Luka Sinček. Luka was born and raised in Slovenia, and studied microbiology at university, but dropped out to start Juicy Marbles with co-founders Tilen Travnik, Maj Hrovat, and Vlad Mićković (they met at a local hackathon). The team members were driven both by the intellectual curiosity of using innovation and biotech to make the food system more sustainable and nourishing, but also by animal welfare considerations. 'We realized there wasn't much texture in the plant-based space so we decided to fix that. We made some prototypes, Vlad built our packaging and brand, and we were off to the races', Luka explains. Last year, Juicy Marbles closed a $4.5M Seed round (and will open up a new round soon). Today, the company has about 25 employees, has graduated Y Combinator, has a live pilot production facility, has launched a plant-based filet mignon, will launch a tenderloin product, and is looking into doing other whole-cuts too. Juicy Marbles is launching into retail in Europe this year (and likely also the U.S.), and just opened up the webshop which ships anywhere in Europe (use the code FOODTECHWEEKLY for a 10% discount). Juicy Marbles is looking for intros to high-end restaurants in Europe. And also for folks to buy and try their first product. To get in touch with Luka, you can email him or write him on LinkedIn.
Left: The Juicy Marbles team. Right: Some of their juicy plant-based filet mignons
Grabbed some hot cocoa with Johan Wendt of IRRIOT (full disclosure, I'm an advisor). Johan went to engineering school focusing on hydrology, but became a social entrepreneur post graduation. He founded non-profits reaching 100,000s of students in Scandinavia, teaching math and coding skills to kids and students, while writing children's books on computer programming and receiving all sorts of awards for his work. In 2018, he met Alex Palin and Mikhail Soloviev; Mikhail had spent 20 years at Ericsson and was an expert in wireless communications. He realized that farms were using cables to control irrigation systems, and thought a wireless solution would be smarter. Together, Alex, Mikhail, and Johan founded IRRIOT, IRRigation Internet of Things, to deliver a complete platform for wireless intelligent irrigation automation (including many sensors measuring humidity, temperature, rain levels, water levels, pH etc). Many farmers irrigate manually or use timers, which waste water. IRRIOT's solution cuts water use by up to 50%, and prevents nutrient runoffs and soil erosion. In 2020, the company was ready to scale up, but COVID resulted in supply chain delays, farmers reluctant to invest in new systems, and a shutdown of physical sales meetings. Running low on cash, Johan and the team applied to the Swedish version of Shark Tank / Dragon's Den. On the show in September 2021, they were offered an investment but declined it. 'We could've really used that money', Johan says, and continues: 'But the valuation was simply way too low'. Instead, IRRIOT managed to close a large €850K pre-seed round in late 2021 at a higher valuation, and received a €500K grant from the European Innovation Partnership (EIP-AGRI) to develop a biointelligent system. IRRIOT now plans to scale up its international sales, and needs intros to resellers, as well as potential customers (e.g. in horticulture) and partners willing to do pilots. You can reach Johan via email and LinkedIn.
Johan Wendt (center) pitching at the 'Draknästet' TV show back in September 2021. Image: SVT
Noteworthy
U.S. startup Wildtype, which cultivates seafood such as sushi-grade salmon in bioreactors, raised a $100M Series B round led by L Catterton and joined by e.g. Cargill, Bezos Expeditions, Temasek, S2G Ventures Oceans and Seafood Fund, and Leonardo DiCaprio. Wildtype has a demonstration-scale plant in San Francisco which can produce up to 200,000 lbs (91,000 kgs) of cultivated salmon every year, but the company has already secured distribution agreements requiring higher production volumes than that.
Image: Wildtype
Onego Bio of Finland just bagged €10M from Maki VC and Agronomics, to accelerate the development of its animal-free egg white, produced through precision fermentation. Onego programs a microorganism with the genetic code of an actual egg white; it then produces the egg white protein, which is made into bioalbumen powder, which turns into egg white when mixed with water. Onego Bio is a spinout from VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
British biotech startup CellulaREvolution has secured £1.75M in a new funding round led by Happiness Capital and supported by Allusion One. CellulaREvolution has developed a process that enable more efficient and affordable cell proliferation, which is crucial for cultivated protein companies looking to reduce production costs.
Oregon, U.S. startup Chapul LLC, which produces black soldier fly larvae that are turned into human food, animal food, and organic fertilizer, raked in a $2.5M round led by Nexus and Mark Cuban Companies, with participation from Equilibria Ventures.
Swedish FoodTech startup Nordic SeaFarm just reeled in €2M in fresh funding from e.g. JCE Ventures, Almi Invest, and Kale United. The company cultivates organic sugar kelp and sea lettuce off the west coast of Sweden (here's a video on how they harvest and process it). Nordic Seaweed has developed a unique process that provides higher yields and more biomass than what other growers can achieve. The company now plans to expand production from 30 to 300 tonnes per year, and expand distribution.
Image: Nordic SeaFarm
Vanilla Vida of Israel, which grows vanilla beans using CEA (controlled environment agriculture) has snagged $11.5M in Series A funding, led by Ordway Selections and joined by FoodSparks, Newtrition by PeakBridge Partners, and Kibbutz Ma'agan Michael. The new cash will be used for increased R&D in Israel, Europe, and the U.S., as well as an expanded team. The company hopes to increase its production volume by 2023 and visibly starting to positively impact the vanilla supply chain by 2024 or 2025.
Solar Foods of Finland, which grows protein from air, has scored a €10M investment from the Pharmacy Pension Fund of Finland. The investment will go into Solar Foods' Factory 01 facility, which will begin commercial production in H1 2023.
Swedish AgTech startup OlsAro announced the closing of a SEK 5.75M (€541K / $605K) funding round. Investors included e.g. Aventure (Richard and Björn Öste, Oatly co-founders), ABW Capital, Mercapri, and GU Ventures. OlsAro has developed a salt tolerant wheat line; today 1.5B people worldwide face challenges in growiung food due to soil degradation.
Novameat of Barcelona picked up $6M in pre-Series A funding. The company produces plant-based whole cuts -- previously using 3D printing, and now through microextrusion. The funding round was led by Praesidium, and joined by Unovis, Rubio Impact Ventures, Volta Circle, Ataraxia, and VU Venture Partners. Also in the plant-based meat space - and also from Barcelona -- Libre Foods picked up $2.5M in Seed funding for its plant-based bacon.
Image: Novameat
German FoodTech startup Keen 4 Greens raised €1.8M in Seed funding. The company produced clean label vegan meat alternatives such as burgers and nuggets using fermented mycelium. Lead investor was FoodLabs, and the round was also joined by e.g. Shio Capital, better ventures, and Sustainable Food Ventures.
According to PitchBook data, $39.3B was invested into FoodTech companies across 1,358 deals in 2021, up 2.5x from the $15.7B invested in 2020. PitchBook also estimated FoodTech investments will reach almost $46B by 2026.
News from the FoodTech Weekly community
FoodHack (Switzerland) is recruiting a Head of Comms... Skira (Sweden) is looking for a Business Developer, Platform Growth.... Solar Biotech (US) has an opening for a Director of Bioprocessing Plant Operations... Evo Foods(India) is hiring a Production Manager... Your Beet (Sweden) is hiring a Chief Commercial Officer... Gourmey (France) has a number of open roles... Hooked Foods (Sweden) is bringing on a Senior Food Scientist... Pearlita Foods (US) is recruiting a Senior Scientist, Cell Biology
Congrats to Michal Klar and Simon Newstead, who have launched the $15M Better Bite Ventures fund, which will invest in alt protein startups in Asia Pacific.
Simon Newstead and Michal Klar
Also congrats to Revent VC of Berlin which has announced the final close of its $68M fund. It will invest in climate, health, and impact (so that covers FoodTech).
FoodShot has extended its $500K GroundBreaker Prize nomination deadline to April 1, 2022. Researchers, early-stage entrepreneurs, and policy advocates whose work align with the FoodShots (BioActive Foods, Precision Protein, and Innovation Soil 3.0) can be nominated. There's also the GroundBreaker Equity Award of up to $10M for innovative businesses doing work related to the three above-mentioned FoodShots. Application details here.
Want to share some FoodTech news/project with other FoodTech Weekly subscribers? Hit reply.
Random Stuff
This polyglot, reporting news fluently in 6 different languages, make us all regret not paying more attention in language class in school.
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon in January 2022 was the highest of any January, dating back to 2008. In this month alone, 430 sq. km (equivalent to 60,000 soccer fields, or 80,000 American football fields) of rainforest was chopped down.
Source: Brazil's national space research agency, INPE.
A man in France faces jail time and a $34K fine for accidentally knocking out the internet of two French towns, in an attempt to stop his children ('who had become addicted to social networks and other apps') from going online. He bought an multi-wave band jammer thinking it would only block WiFi and phone signals in his own home, but it shut down the internet both in his own town, and the next town over.
I love you.
Daniel
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This issue was produced while listening to Ederlezi by Goran Bregovik. 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.