🍓 Skyscraper Strawberry Farm

This week I found myself going down a (virtual) rabbit hole as I tried to map the fascinating world of new materials.

I also learned that the intersection of materials and FoodTech is closer than you might think.

Especially when it comes to upcycling.

There’s a whole host of food-waste fighting startups creating materials that give a new lease of life to surplus and waste ingredients as they are transformed into packaging, textiles and bioplastics.

For example, did you know there are startups turning:

🥜 Nutshell waste into bioplastics
🍍 Waste pineapple leaf fibres into textiles
🍌 Banana crop waste into plant-based leather
🧅 Onion skins into home compostable packaging
🍻 Brewery waste into sustainable fashion accessories
🥥 Coconut husk and sugar cane bagasse into newly engineered wood

Voilà, now you do.

Interested to hear more? Head this way to check out the full list plus get the inside track on the challenges and opportunities to scale them.

This week in FoodTech:
💡 ‘World’s first’ vertical berry farm
🦗 Ynsect is placed into receivership
🤱 $45m for breast milk equivalent protein

The Digest

📉 What’s down? French insect protein producer Ynsect has been placed into receivership. Here’s why it’s a worry for the wider French ecosystem.

📈 What’s up? Data from Ocado reveals that sales of instant noodles have soared recently, owing to ‘fancy’ TikTok trends.

🔬 Scientists at the University of Türbingen have discovered a way to turn carbon dioxide, oxygen and hydrogen into yeast that contains more protein than beef and enough folate to meet daily nutritional requirements.

🥛 Good Read: Eatable Adventures' latest report, The Future of Dairy, highlights the transformative role of technology in driving the dairy industry's shift toward sustainability, hybrid products, and strategic innovation partnerships.

👀 Opinion: Systemiq Capital explains why farmers are ‘super adopters’.

🍔 Is this the end of the cheap burger? Bloomberg uncovers why a new era for America’s favourite food is on the horizon.

🎟 Hurry: Get your tickets to the HackSummit in NYC. Lock in the best rates to come join us, and 500+ others, on 12-13th December for 2 days of productive networking and deal-making. See you there!

FoodTech Fundraising

📲 Dinii, a cloud-based mobile platform that allows diners to order food from restaurants and shops, secured $48 million (7.46 billion JPY) in a Series B funding round led by Bessemer Venture Partners and Hillhouse Investment Management.

🤱 US precision fermentation startup Helaina secured $45 million in a Series B funding round to launch Effera Human Lactoferrin, its breast milk equivalent protein, in the US later this year.

🧫 Dutch cultivated meat startup Meatable has been awarded €7.6 million under the Netherlands Enterprise Agency’s ‘Innovation Credit’ programme. It will use the funds to further improve productivity and reduce costs as it works towards commercialisation.

🇲🇾 Malaysian startup Qarbotech raised $1.5 million in a seed extension round for its photosynthesis enhancement technology, which uses advanced carbon quantum dots material to help plants absorb carbon dioxide and boost yields by 60%. Catch the TL;DR on why they were backed.

🐷 Germany’s The Raging Pig Company secured undisclosed seed funding to further expand its operations, supporting product development and its goal of becoming a leading plant-based sausage producer.

💡Catch up on all 9 FoodTech Funding rounds announced this week including personalised nutrition-as-a-service and funds for a demo plant to turn wood and ag residues into oils and fats.

Startup Milestones

🧀 Israeli startup DairyX Foods has developed a method to make animal-free casein proteins that self-assemble into micelles, mimicking their bovine counterparts, via precision fermentation. Plus, how the unit economics stack up.

🥚 EVERY has secured a foundational patent for its animal-free egg protein produced via precision fermentation.

✚ Dutch cultivated meat startup Meatable has joined the APAC Society for Cellular Agriculture, as it awaits regulatory approval for its cultivated pork in Singapore.

🍓 Plenty opened the ‘world’s first’ vertical berry farm in Richmond, Virginia, capable of producing over four million pounds of strawberries annually in under 40,000 square feet in 30-foot-tall towers.

🤝 Believer Meats is partnering with GEA to co-develop technologies aimed at improving the unit economics, efficiency, and sustainability of cultivated meat production, starting with chicken.

☕️ Singapore-based ProfilePrint is joining forces with Brazil's largest coffee exporters, Cooxupé and Minasul, and Instituto CNA, to enhance rapid quality assessment and global market competitiveness using its patented AI-powered digital food Identity-as-a-Service technology.

🧈 UK butter brand All Things Butter unveiled what it claims is the industry’s ‘first and only’ chocolate butter.

🫣 A sneak peak at a prototype of bluefin tuna alternative, in < 3 years’ development.

Plant Based

🍄 Australian plant protein producer Fable Foods has decided to work with meat producers on blended applications. Its new Shiitake Infusion offering – designed to be blended with beef mince – has been two years in the making.

💰 In Australia, vEEF has launched a new range of plant-based meat analogues that is priced lower than conventional meat, addressing consumer concerns about cost, with products available at Woolworths for AU$4.50 per 300g pack.

🥐 French plant-based ingredients company Ingood by Olga debuted LENGOOD, a fermented lentil powder made from French green lentils, designed for clean label, egg-free bakery and pastry products.

Big Food

👎 Tyson Foods is being accused of “deceptive marketing” and making false claims to consumers in a greenwashing lawsuit over its “climate-smart” Brazen Beef. Here’s why.

🌍 Cargill launched the NutriHarvest project, a $3 million, 36-month initiative led by HarvestPlus, aiming to provide over 119,000 farmers in India, Kenya, Tanzania, and Guatemala with access to biofortified foods, delivering more than 17 million nutritious meals.

📊 Proof that CPG is hard, summed up in one graphic.

From the Community

Get hired in FoodTech

• NAT4Bio is hiring a Formulation Scientist

• BettaFish are looking for a Marketing Manager

• World Food Programme is recruiting a Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist

👋 Biotope by VIB welcomes its 5th cohort of BioTech startups Corium Biotech, I-Challenge and Lantana Bio.

🗽 Join an Evening Mixer on October 10th with food startup founder, Alex Russell, and NYC Economic Development Company VP, Christine Paglialunga, who discuss how to best build physical products in NYC.

🍬 Just for fun: When your FoodTech announces a big fundraise and the board tells you to keep a low burn rate.

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Until next time - Stay Hungry