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Is time to grow your climate network and make a (bigger) impact?

Food and Ag is only 1 part of the 6-sector solution to the climate crisis. And everyone has a role to play in the transition to net zero and a more sustainable future.

That’s why we’re running a call for ClimateHack Ambassadors in 11 cities.

Just like our FoodHack Meetups in 40+ cities worldwide, they’ll bring together entrepreneurs, investors and operators 4x per year.

So if you’d like to launch a local ClimateHack community in your city, then apply to become an Ambassador - Applications close in just 4 days ⌛️

This Week in Food:

• 15 football pitches for horticulture

• Campbell’s $2.7B pasta sauce deal

• $35M to commercialise cultivated pork

The Digest

📈 What’s up? Data from ResearchAndMarkets shows that the global vegan ice cream market is projected to reach $1.24 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 8.33%. Here’s 55 top companies in the space.

📉 What’s down? Tyson is planning to shutter four more of its chicken processing facilities, citing slowing demand for certain products.

📊 The Bank of England’s chief economist has warned that food prices “may never fall again” following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In fact, food inflation is likely to remain double-digit until the end of this year.

👩‍⚖️ France’s Conseil d’Etat has asked the European Court of Justice to clarify whether the government’s decree banning the use of meat-like terms for plant-based products is compatible with EU law, and whether it is a proportionate way of achieving transparency for consumers.

🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia is working with Dutch sustainable greenhouse company Van der Hoeven to build a horticulture area, the size of 15 football pitches. The $120 million contract is designed to support food security in the kingdom’s extreme climate.

😇 Here’s why you shouldn’t turn away an angel based on their cheque size.

🔝 10 top FoodTech voices to follow on LinkedIn.

New in Funding

🧫 Dutch cultivated meat startup Meatable secured $35 million Series B funding to scale production of its cultivated pork ahead of its plans for commercialisation in Singapore and the US. Agronomics led the round, here’s why they are backing the startup.

🥛 Novo Holdings portfolio company Bactolife raised over €30 million, in a round led by Athos and featuring the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, for its gut microbiome-strengthening proteins, Binding Proteins, which are milk-homologous proteins designed to attach to the toxins produced by gastrointestinal pathogens.

🌾 US-based Phospholutions secured $10.15 million, in a round led by Advantage Capital, to accelerate commercialisation of its sustainable RhizoSorb fertilizer additive, which helps farmers to manage the amount of phosphorus applied to crops without affecting yields.

🍻 Dutch startup BeerMate secured €1.4 million to scale its automatic beer machines, which can serve up to four beers in ten seconds and take contactless payment, helping to reduce queues at events such as festivals.

💸 Catch up on all 7 funding rounds from the week including autonomous raspberry-picking robots and zero sugar ice creams.

Kombucha for kids

🥤New US-based better-for-you beverage startup Tim Tam Tummy debuted its product line of kombucha aimed at children, made with five organic ingredients, probiotics, vitamin C and no artificial sweeteners.

🇬🇧 Israeli cultivated meat startup Aleph Farms has filed for regulatory approval in the UK, just days after applying for approval in Switzerland. The Good Food Institute’s UK Policy Manager predicts what’s next.

🤖 Sidewalk delivery robot startup Serve Robotics is going public via reverse merger, marking one of the first exits for a food automation startup.

🇨🇳 Shanghai-based CellX announced the completion of China’s first large-scale cultivated meat pilot factory, home to multiple 1,000-litre custom-built bioreactors, and is aiming for a 2025 product launch.

🐝 Californian precision pollination startup BeeHero launched a new pollination insights platform, which uses in-field sensors to help growers monitor bee activity outside the hive and improve pollination performance.

Plant Based

🥑 Avocado oil producer Chosen Foods, based in the US, unveiled what it describes as the first-ever Pumpkin Spice Avocado Oil Caviar, ready for pumpkin spice season, made with its 100% Pure Avocado Oil and a blend of spices, including cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice.

🇸🇬 TiNDLE Foods launched new vegan chicken pieces which are fully designed and manufactured in Singapore, and is exporting them to the Netherlands. And Agrocorp International’s HerbYvore brand launched the city-state’s first locally produced vegan cheese range, made from pea protein.

🍗 Products from British vegan meat brand Meatless Farm are back on supermarket shelves, just a few weeks after the startup filed for bankruptcy and was rescued by vegan fried chick*n company VFC.

🥥 UK-based Cocos Organic unveiled a plant-based soft cheese alternative made from 92% coconut milk, fermented with live vegan cultures to support gut health.

🥟 Chinese alt protein startup Haofood launched first-of-their-kind vegan soup dumplings filled with peanut-based pork mince.

👎 Beyond Meat reported a 30.5% drop year-on-year for its Q2 sales, has reduced its full-year forecast and pulled back on its goal to become cash-positive by the end of 2023.

Big Food

🧫 Global biotech Dyadic International, Inc. confirms that its animal-free bovine serum albumin is structurally identical to commercial animal albumin, opening up commercialisation opportunities within human therapeutics, cell culture media, vaccine development, and more.

🥗 Convenience chain One Stop has partnered with Swedish food waste-fighting company Whywaste to roll out its technology across all 1,000 of its stores. TheSaaS solution allows retailers to receive precise product expiration data with smart markdown recommendations, helping to ensure that soon-to-expire products are sold and not wasted.

🤝Arla Foods Ingredients is partnering with Danish startup Novozymes to develop advanced protein ingredients using precision fermentation, with an initial focus on a solution for disease-specific medical nutrition.

🥫Campbell Soup Company is acquiring Sovos Brands, whose portfolio includes products such as pasta sauces, dry pasta, soups, and more, in a deal worth $2.7 billion.

🍻 Annheuser-Busch is selling eight of its beer and beverage brands to cannabis company Tilray Brands for $85 million.

Trends: Geothermal Energy

🔎 Discover in the full HackTrends Report:
- 2x case studies (Fervo, Canopus Drilling Solutions)
- The why, the challenges and the figures behind the space
- List of 17 companies generating power from the Earth’s crust

Find out more about how the untapped potential of geothermal power could prove instrumental in the global shift towards renewable energy - if new innovations like deep drilling tech and EGS prove successful.

From the Community

🔥 Hiring? Add your role here
🔦 Job searching? Try here

• Bright Green Partners (Global / Remote) are looking for a Principal

• McCain Foods (Canada) are hiring for an R&D Manager and Senior Scientist

• Project Eaden (Germany) are looking for a Senior Engineer and Business Development Intern

🗓 Dates for your diary: Join us at a FoodHack Meetup in Valais (21st August), Melbourne (24th August) or Tel Aviv (13th Sept).

💡 8 ways early-stage investors evaluate your startup.

🎤 7 years of FoodTech journalism condensed into a 30-minute podcast.

🚘 Just for fun: VC value add pitch to founders

That’s a wrap. Why not tell us what you like and how we can improve
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Curated by Nicola and Laura 

Until next time - Stay Hungry