🧀 The Stretch Factor

Co-Founder of the world’s largest oat milk company Oatly, Björn Öste is now moo-ving to turn the tide on ocean pollution and overfishing.

This week through a Linkedin post Ofek Ron, Founder and CEO of plant-based seafood company Oshi, announced they’ve brought Björn onboard as their newest Board Member as they scale up in the US.

The duo first crossed paths way back in 2022 at the HackSummit in Lausanne, and have since kept in touch leading to this legendary partnership between the industry titan and disruptor.

This is just one of the many examples of deals that have happened between attendees of previous Hack events - from finding your co-founder, to your newest hire, first check investor or board member, we’ve heard them all.

Great things seem to happen when you put some of the smartest and most ambitious people together in a room and give them the right environment to connect.

All the more reason its time you book your spot at the next HackSummit in New York and Lausanne - who know’s, maybe it will be your legendary deal we’ll be covering next time 👀

This week in FoodTech:
🧱 Impossible eyes up food service
🧀 Making vegan cheese s-t-r-e-t-c-h-y
🍚 Hooked Foods debuts alt chicken

The Digest

🧑‍⚖️ Californian cultivated meat producer Upside Foods has filed a lawsuit against the state of Florida over its ban on cultivated meat, which it calls “unconstitutional”.

📈 Researchers at the Federal University of Ouro Preto, Brazil, have found that the shift to renewable energy sources has led to “increased food prices and a decrease in agricultural output”.

🌾 The Indian government unveiled 109 crop varieties that are said to be high-yielding and climate-resilient, designed to support the country’s farmers to cut expenditures, add crop value and diversity, have a positive impact on the environment, and withstand the impacts of climate change.

💰 The European Commission has given the green light to a €700 million Dutch government initiative aimed at compensating farmers who voluntarily shut down livestock farming operations in certain regions of the Netherlands.

🇨🇱 A new bill in Chile proposes defining and labelling plant-based alternatives as “simulated food”, alongside prohibiting “misleading advertising” and the use of animal imagery for promotion.

🛞 Tesla posted a job listing for a Tesla Diner Experience Specialist, fuelling rumours that its Tesla charging station-meets-diner concept is finally in the works.

New in Funding

🇸🇬 Singapore’s Oatside, which makes oat milk designed for the Asian palate, raised $35 million in its ongoing Series B round, with the potential to reach $74 million. 

🧫 Israeli cultivated meat startup Ever After Foods received a $10 million investment from Pluri Inc. to further scale its technology, which includes a B2B version that demonstrates the natural production of muscle and fat tissues for various animal cells.

🇦🇺 Australian startup Cauldron has been awarded AU$4.3 million from the federal government’s new AU$392 million Industry Growth Program to advance its continuous fermentation manufacturing platform, which will allow its partners to produce high-value ingredients at scale.

🍄 UK-based Adamo Foods secured $2.5 million in a seed funding round co-led by UK Innovation Science and Seed Fund and Joyful Ventures. It will use the funds to further scale production of its clean-label mycelium steak.

🖲️ Keep track of all the latest funding rounds in one place. Including the plant-based dairy to complement spicy cuisines, new funding for alcohol-free beverages and the discovery platform for new biomolecules.

New in Startups

🇸🇬 Singapore-based Ants Innovate debuted a cultivated pork ingredient, designed for use in hybrid meat dishes as it “emulates the rich, savoury essence of pork”, at a private tasting event in the city-state this week.

🧫 US startup Mission Barns unveiled a novel adherent bioreactor system for cultivated meat and fat production, which is designed to “fit the cells’ natural, preferred mode of growth”.

Plant Based

🐔 Sweden’s Hooked Foods debuted new plant-based chicken products, marking its entry into a new category, alongside further vegan seafood options.

🧱 Impossible Foods is opening its first brick-and-mortar foodservice concept, Impossible Quality Meats, as a way to highlight its portfolio of beef, chicken and pork with menu items including a Breakfast Sausage Sandwich, Chicago Style Hot Dog and Grilled Chicken Caesar. 

🧀 Ingredion Inc. unveiled NOVATION® Indulge 2940, a clean-label corn starch-based texturiser which it says makes vegan cheese stretch.

💸 Plant-based protein company Above Food Ingredients Inc. is set to acquire food and feed ingredients supplier The Redwood Group’s specialty-crop food ingredients division in a $34 million cash and stock deal.

Big Food

🌛 Japanese food manufacturer Ajinomoto Group partnered with Finland’s Solar Foods to launch two new products, Traditional Flowering Mooncakes and Ice Cream Sandwiches, made with the startup’s air-based protein, Solein.

🥛 Global dairy giant Fonterra signed a multi-year joint development deal with US-based biomass fermentation startup Superbrewed Food, to explore the potential of using its “postbiotic” ingredient in its dairy portfolio.

💰 Mars, Inc. is acquiring Kellanova in a deal worth approximately $35.9 billion, as part of its plans to double the size of its snack business in the next decade.

🤝 Walmart has partnered with Arkansas-based organic recycling company Denali to bring its food waste-fighting repackaging technology to over 1,400 stores in 16 US cities.

❄️ UK supermarket Morrisons is trialling raising the temperatures of its freezers to -15℃, adding 3℃ to the industry standard set almost 100 years ago and potentially making significant energy savings.

From the Community

👋 Join us the FoodHack Community at a Meetup in Lima, Tokyo and Berlin. Sign up for free here.

⚡️ Here’s one thing Founders should fake when speaking with investors.

5️⃣ 5 ways to launch your career in FMCG sales.

🦋 A friendly reminder to take it easy - your transformation is coming.

💦 The Agro Innovation Lab is launching the AGRI WATER INNOVATION Discovery, seeking solutions targeting current crucial water issues in agriculture. Applications are open until 8th September.

🛵 Just for fun: Do you have a Plan B to fundraise for your FoodTech startup?

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Until next time - Stay Hungry