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Category: Future Foods

  • Synonym Announces $6.3M Pre-Seed Round for Biomanufacturing Development

    lab
    2 Mins Read

    Synonym, a financing and development platform for biomanufacturing, has raised a pre-seed round of $6.3 million, led by Andreessen Horowitz, Giant Ventures, Blue Horizon, Siddhi Capital, FJ Labs and Global Founders Capital among others.

    Synonym, founded by Joshua Lachter and Edward Shenderovich, is working to develop an “essential infrastructure” for the biomanufacturing industry—creating a network of facilities where its brand partners can produce their biomanufactured products at commercial scale and standardize manufacturing processes.

    Farming fermentation

    The funding comes as Synonym announced it’s in pre-development phase of its first U.S. facility, a “fermentation farm” that it says can produce large quantities of microbial fermentation products.

    Photo by Talha Hassan on Unsplash

    Synonym says this facility, along with the network of facilities Synonym aims to build, “will tackle the 1000-fold increase in production capacity needed to meet future demand for biomanufactured products,” the company said.

    “Biomanufacturing will be a core driver of 21st-century economic development, akin to how petroleum catalyzed so much of the 20th century’s growth,” Shenderovich, Synonym’s CEO, said in a statement.

    “In the last five years, the biomanufacturing ecosystem has exploded, and the products poised to come to market are revolutionary. But they cannot achieve that impact without the means of production at commercial scale and without appropriate forms of financing.”

    Biomanufacturing

    Biomanufacturing spans several industries including pharmaceuticals, food and beverage, and chemicals. Increasing demand for renewable energy sources is also expected to drive the category.

    lab worker
    Photo by Julia Koblitz via Unsplash

    According to recent data, the global biotechnology industry is expected to reach more than $852 billion by 2030 at a CAGR of nearly ten percent. The Global Food Biotechnology Market size was estimated at $20.36 billion in 2020, and is expected to surpass $35 billion by 2026.

    Biofermentaiton specifically shows great promise, according to Research and Markets’ Industrial Biotechnology Market Size, Share, Trends, By Type, By Raw Materials, By Application and By Region Forecast to 2030 report. It says fermentation made up the largest share of the market in 2019, due in large part to the advancements in the food and beverage sector.

    Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash

    The post Synonym Announces $6.3M Pre-Seed Round for Biomanufacturing Development appeared first on Green Queen.

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  • Israel’s Grace Breeding Reveals a Breakthrough In Tackling Global Fertilizer Emissions

    tractor
    3 Mins Read

    Israel-based Grace Breeding says it can improve grain yields by 18 percent and biomass by 16 percent, reducing the need for synthetic fertilizer and the environmental impact of conventional farming methods.

    If Grace Breeding’s Nitrogen Fixation Technology (NFT) is adopted widely, it could have long-lasting implications for the agricultural sector—reducing its impact on the planet while boosting yields. According to the World Economic Forum, the world’s population is expected to hit 9.7 billion by 2050, and agriculture needs to become more productive and sustainable to meet the growing population.

    A competitive, low-emissions advantage

    “Farmers today need to use biological fertilizers to allow them to reduce their ecological footprints and compete in a better way for export, ”Assaf Dotan CEO of Grace Breeding, said in a statement. “The NFT product is giving farmers the competitive advantage by allowing them to reduce their ecological footprint both in air pollution and in water and soil contamination. Grace Breeding continues to improve its products while examining the existing products in the target markets around the world.”

    Synthetic fertilizer relies heavily on urea—a synthetic nitrogen fixer made by reacting natural gas, atmospheric nitrogen, and water to produce ammonia and carbon dioxide. More than 70 percent of fertilizer usage worldwide is reliant on urea. But it’s a leading producer of greenhouse gas emissions; nitrogen fertilizers produce about 2.4 percent of global emissions, a number slightly higher than previous FAO estimates of about 2.1 percent.

    international day of plants
    Photo by Paz Arando on Unsplash

    Grace Breeding’s NFT is entirely plant-based, which the company says has been found to improve the absorption of nutrients from the soil and increase the efficiency of nitrogenous feeding. “By switching from urea to NFT, growing costs and environmental damage caused by the use of synthetic fertilizers are reduced,” the company says.

    In a recent experiment where it was tested against a full dose of commercial fertilizer, the NFT formula reduced the weight of the transported fertilizer 25 times, from 1,100 lb and 550 lb per hectare when using urea to grow corn and wheat respectively, to 44 lb when using the NFT formula on both cultivations. It also reduced the needed dosage to just once versus the three to four applications of conventional.

    Cleaning up fertilizer

    Research published in 2019 by the University of Sheffield found it could reduce CO2 emissions from fertilizer by producing “Blue Urea”, using an alternative method to produce hydrogen that uses renewable energy and does not require fossil fuels as a feedstock for combustion. This also means finding another CO2 source that would normally be produced when creating hydrogen. To replace the CO2, the researchers say it can be taken from captured emissions. The researchers also further reduced energy and costs by eliminating the need for drying and pelletization.

    “The world is fast approaching the limit of its ability to feed itself so maximising the efficiency of food production is imperative,” the researchers noted.

    Photo by Tim Mossholder from Pexels.

    Between 2005 and 2015, a study including more than 21 million smallholder farmers in China, found that the farmers could increase crop yields while reducing their environmental impact. Over the ten-year period, yields of maize, rice and wheat increased by around 11 percent. This also saw nitrogen fertilizer decrease more than 16 percent.

    “By producing more crops and needing less fertilizer, this experiment provided an economic return of US$12.2 billion,” reported Our World In Data. “This wasn’t achieved through major technological innovations or policy changes: it involved educating and training farmers on good management practices.”

    Lead photo via Canva

    The post Israel’s Grace Breeding Reveals a Breakthrough In Tackling Global Fertilizer Emissions appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Precision Fermented Egg Protein In Your Cocktail? Say Cheers to Pulp Culture’s ‘Build’

    the every company x pulp culture

    3 Mins Read

    A new line of hard juices from Pulp Culture features The Every Company’s precision fermentation egg protein in a first for the alcohol and precision fermented egg categories.

    Following seven years of research and its commercial launch last year, The Every Company (formerly Clara Foods) is now entering the $260 billion alcohol market in a novel partnership with Pulp Culture. The partnership will see the alternative egg protein added to the first protein-boosted hard juice.

    World’s first

    “With our growing portfolio of animal-free proteins, we’ve demonstrated versatility across a range of applications including cold-pressed juice, baked goods such as macarons, and now the world’s first protein-boosted hard juice,” Arturo Elizondo, CEO and co-founder of Every, said in a statement.

    “This launch further proves Every Protein’s capacity to unlock never-before-seen-or-tasted innovations. It’s exciting to continue unveiling new categories for food and beverage brands delivering the bullseye of what today’s consumers want.”

    the every company x pulp culture
    Courtesy

    The Build by Pulp Culture beverages also features a roster of healthy ingredients including probiotics, adaptogens, and superfoods alongside Every’s egg protein. Pulp Culture is the brain child of Vega founder Brendan Brazier and 101 Cider House’s Mark McTavish. The company recently closed a $7 million Series A to advance the fermented alcohol beverage category.

    Functional beverages are on the rise; more than 500 were launched so far this year, but only two of those contained alcohol.

    “You’re actually giving your body the building blocks it needs to recover and reduce stress, so that you’ll enjoy the moment and also come back better the next day, not hungover,” Brazier, who’s a former Ironman triathlete said of the brand.

    The future of alcohol

    “In Every we found a partner who understood our needs and shared our vision for creating products the world has never seen before,” said McTavish and Brazier, co-founders of Pulp Culture. “Our consumers have big asks, and we’re flexing to deliver better-than-ever options to fuel their needs. Every is not only powering this world’s-first super beverage: they’re powering the future of better bev-al.”

    The announcement follows a production milestone for Every, which saw it partner with AB InBev’s BioBrew last year. In August, the partnership saw the first large-scale fermentation.

    the every company x pulp culture
    Courtesy

    “From day one, we set out to do two things: 1) make animal-free proteins accessible to everyone everywhere, and 2) do it in a way that captures the imagination and taste buds of people with new kinds of foods that the world has never seen,” said Elizondo. “These latest accomplishments in the commercial and scaling realms are proof that we’re making big strides on that journey.”

    Last December, The Every Company closed a $175 million Series C fundraising round. “There has never been a better time to be a B2B ingredients platform,” Elizondo said in a statement last year along with the funding. “As the world’s biggest food companies work to evolve their product offerings into the 21st century by driving for cleaner, kinder, and more sustainable labels, the options available are few and far between.”

    The post Precision Fermented Egg Protein In Your Cocktail? Say Cheers to Pulp Culture’s ‘Build’ appeared first on Green Queen.

  • Singrow’s ‘Climate Agnostic’ Crops Will Help Singapore Reach Food Sovereignty

    strawberry
    3 Mins Read

    The Singapore-based precision agriculture firm Singrow is expanding its vertical urban farms and launching a consumer-facing brand aimed at bringing sustainable crops to consumers in a bid toward Singapore’s 30 by 30 food resilience goals.

    Blooom (that’s “bloom” with three “o”s), is the new concept brand Singrow hopes will help bring climate resilient crops to Asia and beyond.

    Blooom produce

    Blooom was conceptualized for discerning consumers looking for high-quality, superior-tasting produce grown in sustainable ways, Singrow said. Blooom will be introducing its e-commerce platform, launched after its recent acquisition of online grocer Fresh4All. Consumers will be able to purchase the sustainable Blooom crops to have shipped directly to their doors.

    The new brand will also help Singrow’s partner farms access a “plug-and-play e-commerce platform” to reach consumers and create a closed-loop agriculture ecosystem.

    Singrow's founders, Xu Tao (left), and Bao Shengjie (right)
    Singrow’s founders, Xu Tao (left), and Bao Shengjie (right) | Courtesy

    The company says over the next 15 months it will work to expand across Asia—it’s already in China, Indonesia, and Singapore—as well as the Middle East. Singrow’s patented agriculture technology can bring fresh produce to consumers in urban areas and those regions still reliant on imports through its sustainable energy-efficient farming.

    “Farmers today are facing a bigger challenge than ever before—unpredictable weather conditions such as drought or flash floods are affecting crop yields and in the long run, their livelihood,” Dr. Bao Shengjie, CEO and Chief Scientist at Singrow, said in a statement.

    “At the same time, demand for food continues to increase as world population grows towards 10 billion by 2050. By introducing our proprietary seedlings and patented growth protocols, Singrow is enabling our partner farms to expand their crop variety and grow produce that are superior in both taste and quality, and to do so more efficiently and with a higher yield,” Shengjie said. “This not only has a positive impact on the farmers’ livelihoods, but it also benefits the larger community as consumers can now have access to great quality produce.”

    Climate-resilient crops for a growing population

    According to Singrow, global food production needs to increase 70 percent by 2050. Conversations about food security are at the forefront as climate change is reducing global yields by as much as 30 percent.

    Singrow says its Singrow Smart Farm lets its farmer partners produce climate-agnostic crops at scale. Its smart farm tech, dubbed the Fast Cultivation Method, sees shorter harvesting cycles and better climate resilience for a range of crops including Singrow’s strawberries.

    strawberry
    Photo by Justus Menke on Unsplash

    It says the berries can grow at warmer than usual temperatures, between 20 to 28 degrees Celsius as opposed to the usual 4 to 16 degrees Celsius. Partner farms would also increase yields by 20 times and reduce cultivation time by 30 percent. Its farms are other 40 percent more energy efficient than conventional vertical farms.

    Singrow is also producing climate-agnostic rice, cherry tomato, blueberries, kale, choy sum and kailan, along with other produce.

    To support Singapore’s shift to become more self-sustaining—producing 30 percent of its food by 2030—Singrow also partnered with RSP Architects, which designed Jewel Changi Airport, to develop urban farming sites.

    “Collaborating with Singrow is a natural decision for RSP as sustainability is a key factor in our design principle, and we are always looking to incorporate green elements in our projects,” Mr. Beh Swee Chiew, Managing Director of RSP Singapore, said. “Through this partnership with Singrow, RSP is able to further our capabilities in sustainability and contribute towards Singapore’s food security efforts of ‘30 by 30’.”

    Ms. Shi Lu, Managing Director of RSP China said the introduction and installation of Singrow’s vertical farms within buildings will provide occupants and visitors “a unique and holistic first-hand experience with nature within an urban setting,” that’s in line with China’s urban renewal, rural revitalization projects and carbon reduction objectives, “the farm-to-table practice has the potential to reach a broader market and bring about wide social effects.”

    Photo by Monika Grabkowska on Unsplash

    The post Singrow’s ‘Climate Agnostic’ Crops Will Help Singapore Reach Food Sovereignty appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Meatable Moves Closer to Becoming the World’s First Cultivated Pork Producer to Earn Regulatory Approval

    4 Mins Read

    Dutch cultivated meat producer Meatable says it’s poised to bring cultivated pork to Singapore through an exclusive partnership with the only approved contract cultivated meat manufacturer, ESCO Aster.

    Cultivated pork could be the next lab-grown meat to hit Singapore, which is currently the only country in the world that’s approved cultivated meat. It greenlit Eat Just’s Good Meat chicken in 2020—made in partnership with ESCO Aster, the only cultivated meat manufacturer approved to produce in Singapore. Now, Dutch cultivated meat company Meatable says it’s expanding its reach to the city-state in hopes of bringing cultivated pork dumplings, sausages, and other products to Southeast Asia with help from ESCO Aster.

    Cultivated meat is the future

    “At Meatable we strongly believe that cultivated meat is the future of food, in order to produce meat sustainably and as local as possible,” Krijn de Nood, co-founder and CEO of Meatable, said in a statement. “To do that it’s imperative that we provide a wide variety of products to cater for all cuisines, worldwide.”

    De Nood says that given Singapore’s status as “a pioneer of cultivated meat,” it’s focus is aimed at bringing its pork products to market by 2024. It says it expects to have supermarket-ready products by 2025.

    “Our team has been working closely with the country’s butchers and chefs to develop the perfect cultivated pork dumplings and it was incredible to recently taste the dumplings and know that we have created something indistinguishable from traditional meat – because it is real meat,” de Nood said. “Along with our sausages, we have made great strides in recent months to create products that will satisfy the world’s appetites without harming the planet or animals in the process.”

    Krijn de Nood en Daan Luining, Meatable founders with pigs
    Krijn de Nood en Daan Luining, Meatable founders with pigs | Courtesy

    Pork is a protein staple across Asia. According to Meatable, in 2020 alone, more than 123,000 metric tons of pork were consumed in Singapore; each Singaporean consumes an annual average of about 62 kilograms (136 pounds) of meat. The global demand for dumplings is also expected to rise to more than $4 billion by 2025. Meatable says it’s already working closely with Singaporean chefs to customize its pork products to Asian palates.

    “Meatable has emerged as one of the world’s leading companies in developing cultivated meat,” Xiangliang Lin, CEO at ESCO Aster, said. “We’re delighted to be partnering with them to facilitate their launch in Singapore and to enable the business to start producing cultivated pork for customers. With our scientific expertise, operational know-how and enabling technologies, we believe that we can help companies reach their milestones and advance to the next step of cultivated meat production with market approval at scale. We’re excited about the potential for cultivated meat to transform how we feed the world and we’re looking to expand our facilities within and outside of Singapore to enable more companies like Meatable across this space.” 

    “We’re excited to work closely with ESCO Aster and the Singaporean regulators as we gear up to launch our first products for restaurant launch in 2024,” said Hans Huistra, COO of Meatable. “Over the past four years, we’ve been constantly innovating and developing our technology to get it to the stage where we can perfectly recreate some of the meat products we all know and love. ESCO Aster will enable us in developing, upscaling and realizing our first consumer products, together we will make a positive impact on the Singaporean meat industry.”

    Single-cell tech

    Meatable says its proprietary opti-ox technology will revolutionize the cultivated meat industry. It says it’s working with a single-cell sample technology that is the fastest in the field. Earlier this month Umami Meats said it had patented a single-cell technology for its cultivated seafood.

    Meatable has also achieved its cultivated pork mince without the need for fetal bovine serum, a controversial media being phased out of the industry.

    lab worker
    Photo by Julia Koblitz via Unsplash

    A growing number of cultivated meat facilities have popped up across the planet in the last 18 months—and most promise production capacity capable of delivering tens of thousands of pounds of cultivated meat per year. But thus far, only ESCO Aster’s facility has obtained regulatory approval to produce cultivated meat in Singapore, which is also the only government in the world to approve cultivated meat for sale and consumption. While that’s expected to change soon, there are no confirmed timelines for other countries to approve cultivated meat nor are there any approval timelines for factory approvals.

    Singapore has been leading the race to a more sustainable food system with its 30 by 30 strategy—producing 30 percent of its food needs by 2030. Singapore currently imports 90 percent of its food.

    Lead image courtesy of Meatable.

    The post Meatable Moves Closer to Becoming the World’s First Cultivated Pork Producer to Earn Regulatory Approval appeared first on Green Queen.

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  • India’s Licious Adds Veggie Chicken and Lamb As It Moves to Take Over the Category

    curry
    3 Mins Read

    Licious, the Temasek-backed Indian meat company, has announced the launch of UnCrave, its first foray into vegetarian meat.

    The new launch will see Licious work directly with consumers on the UnCrave products, focusing on Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru initially, with more cities to come over the next year. Licious is a leading DTC meat company delivering about two million orders a month with a 90 percent repeat order rate.  

    India’s plant-based shift

    “India has about 100 days in a year where meat consumers cannot eat their favourite animal meat, and that is exactly where we’re positioning ourselves. Animal meat eaters who cannot consume meat on those 100 days are our target audience, not the vegetarians, because they’re anyway not used to the texture, else they would have converted. If they do try UnCrave, they’ll be a bonus for us,” Simeran Bhasin, business head, alternative protein, Licious, said in a statement.

    Licious says it spent about two years developing the products; it’s launching with vegetarian versions of chicken and lamb, with fish on the way.

    Think tank The Good Food Institute India worked with Licious on the development and launch. “Licious understands the meat consumer better than pretty much anybody else,” Varun Deshpande, Managing Director of GFI India said in a LinkedIn post. “[And] if they can do the same for plant-based, this foray will be fantastic for the entire category.”

    Licious products
    Licious products | Courtesy

    The company says it is also starting to look to acquire smaller startups in the emergent plant-based space. According to Bhasin, more than 100 startups have launched vegetarian meat in India over the last several years, and acquiring companies will help to secure its stronghold in the emerging plant-based category. Licious wants to be the category leader, Bhasin said.

    The world’s leading meat companies have begun to edge into the plant-based categories; plant-based meat earns the category leaders about ten percent of revenue at present. But recent research suggests the category is in an S-curve trajectory where mainstream acceptance and a market penetration tipping point expected within the next few years.

    Scaling up

    According to Bhasin, the margins are healthier for plant-based meat compared with conventional animal meat. But price parity at retail still remains a challenge.

    “Plant-based meat products are at a premium price point and are not for everyone to eat everyday. The raw materials sourcing and other factors need to be scaled up as we progress and bring in the economies of scale, to lower prices, that is a challenge we need to overcome,” Bhasin said. 

    India vegan meat brand GoodDot

    Meat consumption has been on the rise in India in recent years, but demand for plant-based has also climbed, estimated to see a $400 million value in the next few years. Licious has raised nearly $500 million from investors including Temasek, the Singaporean government’s holding company, along with Bertelsmann Investments, Avendus, and others. The company is now valued at about $1.5 billion.

    Lead photo by Canva

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  • Forget Recent Sales, Widespread Vegan Meat Adoption Is Inevitable, Says Report

    burgers
    5 Mins Read

    New analysis suggests alternative protein and vegan meat is in the early phase of an “S” adoption curve. And by the next decade, there will likely be a tipping point.

    The new findings come as plant-based meat sales have waned; a recent analysis found a ten-percent drop in sales in the 52-week period ending September 4th. But that’s not likely to signal the end for sustainable protein, according to Dr, Catherine Tubb, Director of Research at Synthesis Capital. Tubb also co-authored the RethinkX report, Rethinking Food & Agriculture 2020-2030 The Second Domestication of Plants and Animals, the Disruption of the Cow, and the Collapse of Industrial Livestock Farming.

    “History is littered with examples of technological products and services that were adopted with the famous ‘S‑curve,’” writes Tubb. “This adoption shape is ubiquitous, with products as diverse as refrigerators, cars, color TVs, and smartphones all showing that same familiar S-shaped curve.”

    The Impossible Whopper has been a tentpole achievement for alternative protein | Courtesy Burger King

    According to Tubb, S-curve adoption isn’t limited to information technologies; ingredients and pharmaceuticals have experienced the same adoption profile. She cites insulin, which saw two concurrent adoption S-curves with animal insulin disrupted by human insulin which was disrupted by synthetic human insulin.

    Novel protein technology, both in the plant-based sector and cultivated meat, is experiencing a similar trajectory, Hubb says. The S-curve happens typically in two phases: the first is the period before the tipping point—where rational consumers make a switch based on cost and capabilities, and the second phase follows with exponential growth.

    Phase One

    “During Phase One, which is where we are today for alternative proteins, early adopters are driven by social or environmental reasons rather than cost and taste,” says Hubb.

    “However, these products are yet to fully enter the mainstream; the costs are still high relative to traditional methods, or the quality, (in this case, taste, and texture), is not as good. Absolute sales numbers and the market share percentages are still very low (market share estimates for alternative proteins are only around one percent). While the market shows strong potential, this phase can be marked by volatile growth, which is expected so early on in a product’s lifecycle: absolute numbers are small and therefore growth can be disproportionately large or small. In addition, alternative products are still more expensive and cannot compete on taste and functionality with conventional products. We are seeing this today for plant-based meat in the U.S. which is seeing a significant slowdown in growth in 2021 versus 2020 (and the preliminary numbers indicate a further slowdown in 2022).”

    future of protein
    Courtesy Synthesis Capital

    Price parity is a key factor in widespread adoption, particularly as recession fears grow. Hubb says price parity will likely come within the next few years.

    But plant-based meat as well as bio-fermented and cultivated meat (that latter is not yet approved for sale in key markets such as the U.S.), also face the challenge of taste and texture. Cultivated meat has an advantage on taste and texture for the most part, but it’s battling other factors, including acceptance of the technology; biofermentation also faces similar challenges—these misunderstood technologies have been widely met with criticisms, GMO comparisons, and safety concerns.

    Further complicating the tipping point goal is the artificially low cost of conventional animal products. “The traditional animal agriculture system is protected by sunk costs in infrastructure, benefits from large economies of scale and is supported by legislation and policy,” says Hubb. “Value chains are mature, and public opinion remains, for the most part, supportive, as customers are accustomed and attached to their roast dinner or BBQ steak. We still have work to do to get to the tipping point for alternative proteins. Products still need to be cheaper, more convenient and taste better.”

    Phase Two

    But once these barriers have been broken, adoption happens exponentially faster. This is the second phase. Hubb says that while the tipping point can vary, it typically happens when market share for a new product or tech reaches between ten to 20 percent saturation.

    “At this point,” she says, “growth accelerates, as not only is one industry growing, but another is imploding as it struggles to capture investment, sees revenues and profits fall, and generally undergoes a ‘death spiral.’” The factors that once served to slow widespread adoption accelerate the category’s growth.

    “Lower costs and better products drive demand, investment in capacity and infrastructure drive supply and regulation can move in favour of the new system,” Hubb says.

    future of protein
    Courtesy Synthesis Capital

    “Imagine in ten years the introduction of a ‘meat’ tax. Just like we have for sugar in the UK, and many countries around the world, from Mexico to South Africa. These will all act as powerful accelerators to the alternative protein industry and also act as brakes to the incumbent industry. Traditional animal-based products will face a death spiral of increasing costs, lower demand, and a loss of investment, and the companies will consequently face bankruptcy. For alternative proteins, we expect the exponential adoption phase will be reached through the 2030s.”

    On this path growth can stagnate, as we’ve seen over the last year, says Hubb. And animal agriculture won’t disappear entirely, it will just slowly decline.

    And, she says, there will be laggards and non-adopters, “as we see for other technological disruptions.”

    But, Hubb says the analysis reinforces a conviction in the “significant opportunity” in investing in alternative proteins and the transformation of the food system. “The speed of technological development in the sector demonstrates that we are well on the way towards a tipping point, and that exponential growth will follow.”

    Lead photo courtesy Polina Tankilevitch via Pexels

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  • Thailand’s Ambitious Plan to Become the ‘Silicon Valley of Food’

    bangkok
    3 Mins Read

    Thailand’s National Innovation Agency (NIA) SPACE-F project is aimed at bringing investment opportunities to the Thai food tech sector and creating the Silicon Valley of food for Southeast Asia.

    According to Dr. Pun-Arj Chairatana, Executive Director of NIA, food security has been a challenge around the world in the wake of the pandemic. Likewise, the rapidly increasing global population, climate change, and a decline in agricultural labor, along with food waste, have made food security a “serious issue” that needs to be solved.

    The agency launched the SPACE-F program in 2019 to incubate and accelerate the growth of Thailand’s food tech startups through mentorships, business connections, and co-working programs and it continues its support in scaling up the sector through its 2022 edition of SPACE-F.

    NIA Accelerates Thai FoodTech Startups to Steer Bangkok Towards Becoming FoodTech Silicon Valley Through SPACE-F Project

    Dr. Chairatana points to the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2022 report from the UN, which showed ten percent of the global population—more than 800 million people—are now suffering from hunger.

    Thailand has sufficient raw materials to serve growing demands, Dr. Chairatana says. And it also has a top-notch logistics service. “These attributes make the Thai food industry exceptional and position Thailand as the kitchen of the world,” Dr. Chairatana says. But, he says, utilization of technology and innovation is lacking.

    Accelerating food tech growth

    “Most of the players in the sector are stuck at the SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) level where their focuses are mainly on domestic consumption. The NIA, therefore, stepped in to encourage the use of innovation in this particular industry. Intending to feed the world through innovation, the ‘SPACE-F’ project has initiated in 2019 to incubate and accelerate the growth of FoodTech startups in Thailand,” Dr. Chairatana says.

    “The project brings together FoodTech startups and corporates through innovative mentorship, business connections, and a co-working program. SPACE-F provides a prominent platform to encourage entrepreneurial startups to embrace deep tech and innovation to bring advancement to their business and the food industry. Selected startups then will be mentored to take on Southeast Asian and global markets,” he said.

    The SPACE-F project says it has facilitated a suitable and conducive ecosystem for the development of deep tech for the food industry. Now, it’s looking to encourage the creation of innovative products and services. “Innovative service helps attract joint venture investment, and enhance competitiveness as most competitors are often focused solely on innovative manufacturing,” it says.

    OMG Shrimp launched in August from leading seafood company, Thai Union

    It will continue to provide mentorship for startups through its programs ranging from the Incubator for new face startups and the Accelerator mentorship that speeds the growth of startups by adding value to the existing business.

    A sustainable food system

    With Covid restrictions easing, it’s also looking to attract foreign food techs to Bangkok with funding from Thai companies. “This will enable Thai entrepreneurs and startups to use more of deep-tech, learn international business models, and exchange innovative knowledge that is crucial for the sustainable growth of their food businesses.”

    Innovation is happening from established Thai-based companies, too. Earlier this year, leading seafood producer Thai Union launched a plant-based shrimp alternative.

    “By the end of 2025, the FoodTech industry is expected to be worth 7.76 trillion baht,” Dr. Chairatana said. “And with our vision and commitment to supporting the startup ecosystem, NIA will continue to drive Bangkok towards becoming the Food Silicon Valley,” he said.

    Since SPACE-F launched three years ago, it has mentored more than 50 FoodTech startups. “Graduates from the project are now blossoming and have received continued investment from the private sector, especially the Alternative Proteins,” Dr. Chairatana said. “These new economic warriors will play pivotal roles in shaping the sustainable future of global food security.”

    Lead photo by Evan Krause on Unsplash

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  • Vegan Meat Leader Impossible Foods Lays Off 6% of Staff Despite Steady Growth. What’s Next?

    4 Mins Read

    Impossible Foods, the Bay Area vegan meat brand behind Burger King’s Impossible Whopper, says it recently laid off six percent of its workforce. Is it a sign of more cuts or more growth ahead?

    According to Impossible Foods’ CEO Peter McGuinness, the recent spate of layoffs come as part of the company’s restructuring, following his appointment as CEO in April. McGuiness said in a memo to employees that the layoffs involve “roles that have become redundant to others in the organization or that are no longer aligned with our core business priorities.”

    Plant-based meat sales on the decline

    The news comes as reports of sales cooling for plant-based meat. According to recent data from Information Resources Inc., sales of refrigerated plant-based meat products have dropped more than ten percent in the 52 weeks ending September 4.

    “Proteins that were cheaper on a price-per-pound basis did fare better,” Jonna Parker, a fresh food specialist with Information Resources Inc. told Forbes. She said the price of vegan meat may be a factor as inflation has hit consumers hard in recent months.

    Impossible Europe
    Courtesy Impossible Foods

    But despite the category decline, Impossible Foods says it saw revenue grow 70 percent in 2022. By all accounts, 2022 has, so far, been a banner year for the brand. It launched its vegan beef in New Zealand and Australia in the spring and partnered with Kroger to develop co-branded vegan meat products. Over the summer, its Burger King partnership expanded to include Impossible Chicken patties in select locations while it also made its Asian debut in Hong Kong and launched sausages and nuggets in the U.K. Impossible also ramped up its food service items following California’s announcement that it was earmarking funds to bring more plant-based options to the state’s public schools.

    But is it just a matter of time before the category leader sees sales decline, too?

    Experts at Deloitte say it’s not just inflation that’s got consumers pinching closed their pocketbooks when it comes to purchasing plant-based meat. A survey conducted by the organization over the summer found declining beliefs that plant-based meat is healthier and better for the environment than conventional meat. Those have historically been two of the leading reasons consumers shift to plant-based products.

    “We have a lot of room to go,” McGuinness said, adding that consumers still have “low awareness” and “low understanding” about plant-based foods. “The category in and of itself has done a pretty lousy job of communicating it, and we haven’t done a great job either,” he said.

    But despite the struggles, the brand’s plant-based burger has become totemic for Burger King, which recently hosted several vegan and meat-free pop-ups around the world, as well as expanded its Impossible offerings in the U.S. But other launches, like Impossible’s recent sausage addition to the Cracker Barrel menu, earned the brand—and the vegan category—backlash.

    A Facebook post on the Cracker Barrel announcement saw more than 11,000 comments, many of which accused the rest-stop chain of being “woke” for adding the vegan sausage option.

    Photo by Impossible Foods.

    The new layoffs by Impossible Foods also come as JBS USA announced it was shutting down its plant-based meat business, Planterra. Canada’s Maple Leaf Foods’ Greenleaf Foods also recently cut employees.

    Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods’ chief competitor, has also recently announced cuts—the latest in a string of struggles. It recently cut its sales projections for the year from $560 million to $620 million down to $470 million to $520 million. McDonald’s, which had been testing the Beyond-based McPlant burger at more than 600 U.S. locations, recently pulled the test off the menu. Unlike the success of the Impossible Whopper for Burger King, McDonald’s says it struggled to meet sales projections and customer enthusiasm stateside for the burger. That’s not the case in other markets, like the Netherlands, where McDonald’s just made the McPlant a permanent menu item.

    A possible future

    But Impossible says it’s seeing good cash positions, solid balance sheets, and growing at 65 to 70 percent. It has also begun accelerating its global expansion and new product offerings.

    “[W]e still need to prioritize the projects and initiatives that will best fuel our business and mission as we prepare for our next phase of growth,” McGuinness told Impossible Foods’ employees in a recent memo announcing the layoffs. McGuinness says it’s part of the company’s planned “hypergrowth.”

    That growth may come via founder Pat Brown who left the CEO position in April to become Chief Visionary Officer, moving McGuinness from COO to replace him as CEO. Last month, Brown announced he was leaving that position, too, in order to helm a new venture—a research-focused spinoff currently dubbed Impossible Labs—which is expected to focus on the “transformative innovation that will propel Impossible Foods to achieve our mission.”

    Lead image courtesy Impossible Foods

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  • Umami Meats Patents Novel Single-Cell Tech to Bring Down Cultivated Seafood Costs

    fish
    3 Mins Read

    Singapore-based Umami Meats has filed a patent for a novel single-stem cell technology that it says can build both muscle and fat in cultivated seafood.

    The new patent for mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) lines from fish is aimed at helping Umami meats make its cultivated seafood more accessible by lowering costs and scaling production. Current standards for cultivated meat and seafood require multiple cell lines and types to produce muscle and fat. Umami says its new MSC technology reduces that to one cell line and one production line for a variety of tissues. The company has also created plant-based and algae-based growth media that it says are cheaper and easier to scale. The cost of growth factors has historically been a roadblock to price parity with conventional meat.

    ‘Faster and more efficient cell growth’

    “So far, we have established MSC lines from three species, including our flagship species, Japanese eel. This innovative approach to cell lines builds the foundation for faster and more efficient cell growth. Our technology advances are a critical driver of lowering costs, increasing scalability, and making cultivated seafood affordable for mainstream consumers,” Mihir Pershad, Founder and CEO of Umami Meats, said in a statement.

    According to the organization WorldFish, global seafood demand is expected to double by 2050 despite the pressures already being felt by the world’s oceans and fisheries. Umami Meats says its cultivated fish and seafood play a critical role in addressing rising global demand.

    Photo by Caroline Attwood at Unsplash.

    “What makes Umami Meats different in the cultivated food industry is our method for cultivating premium seafood with the vision of reducing overfishing of endangered and difficult-to-farm species,” Pershad said. “Our single-stem cell method will be a game changer in enabling us to reduce the price of cultivated premium seafood to match that of traditionally-sourced fish.”

    Umami Meats says cultivated seafood can also address contamination risks widespread in wild-caught and farm-raised fish. “Advancements in cultivated seafood technologies could help address health risks like mercury and microplastic contamination in seafood or the growing risk of extinction for dozens of the most consumed seafood species,” the company said.

    Alternative seafood demand

    A recent survey by Good Food Institute APAC found a growing number of Asian consumers are shifting away from conventional seafood in favor of alternatives because of contaminants including heavy metals and microplastic. Plant-based seafood options are already making waves in the category, and while cultivated meat offers a solution, the category has yet to receive widespread regulatory approval outside of Singapore. By 2030, cultivated meat and seafood have the potential of becoming a $25 billion market, a recent McKinsey report noted.

    Cultivated seafood also addresses the increasing depletion of key species. Some species of eel and tuna, for example, are facing the threat of extinction if current fishing practices and ocean threats continue.

    fish
    Courtesy Martin Widenka via Unsplash

    “We know it will take multiple scientific and production process breakthroughs to make cultivated seafood affordable. But we are committed for the long term because we want premium cultivated seafood to be an everyday option for consumers,” Pershad said.

    ‘’The team is working diligently to shift the cost paradigm and will be increasingly leveraging advanced machine learning tools to accelerate the process of optimizing and scaling up production,’’ Pershad said. “The promise of cultivated seafood is compelling; our priority is bringing the tremendous potential of our scientific breakthroughs to commercial viability. We want to realize that promise and bring it to sufficient scale to create real impact for the world.”

    The announcement comes just days after California-based BlueNalu announced it developed technology to help it achieve scalability and reduce production costs by 75 percent for its cultivated seafood.

    Lead image courtesy of Pexels.

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  • BlueNalu Demonstrates Scalability and 75% Profit Margin for Cultivated Seafood

    3 Mins Read

    Cultivated seafood company BlueNalu says it has ‘cracked the code’ to significant profitability with 75 percent gross margins achieved through breakthrough technology.

    With its first large-scale facility and novel technology for its first product—bluefin tuna—San Diego-based BlueNalu says its operating and capital costs for production will yield a significant gross margin of 75 percent.

    “We believe that BlueNalu is the only company in the cell-cultured seafood industry to overcome each of these technology and market challenges, which will result in a scalable and highly profitable solution with demonstrable consumer benefits,” Lou Cooperhouse, co-founder, president and CEO at BlueNalu, said in a statement. “We are pleased to announce today that we have ‘cracked the code’ for creating significant profitability with our cell-cultured bluefin tuna toro and a series of other higher-value products that will follow.” 

    Cultivated meat scalability, affordability

    The biggest challenges facing the cultured meat category include scalability and costs. BlueNalu says it has overcome these challenges, which will help advance it to market.

    One of the pieces to the puzzle is a non-GMO, single-cell suspension line with growth rates aimed at accelerating the scale-up to larger bioreactors.

    BlueNalu’s 140,000 sq. ft facility will be able to produce six million pounds of seafood annually once operational in 2027. The company moved into its recently expanded 38,000 sq. ft pilot production facility earlier this year. It’s working there to scale its bluefin tuna and complete processes needed for regulatory approval, expected within the next few years.

    Courtesy BlueNalu

    “This also includes a revolutionary lipid-loading technique, that is projected to result in a significant reduction in capital expenditures and enable the company to make products with higher fat profiles and sensory attributes, such as the toro portion of bluefin tuna,” the company says. It has also designed downstream processes that allow continuous production and eliminate plant-based scaffolds, which it says can affect product cookability, scalability and flavor.  

    Scientific milestones

    “Over the past four years, our team has achieved remarkable scientific milestones which enable us to overcome the fundamental technology barriers required for success,” said Lauran Madden, Ph.D., CTO at BlueNalu.

    “In tandem with the plans for commercialization of our bluefin tuna, our team has continued to explore additional species using our platform technology,” she said. “So far, we have developed hundreds of cell lines for eight different finfish species, and we have initiated projects to expand into other premium seafood categories.”   

    Courtesy BlueNalu

    BlueNalu validated its achievements with an in-depth techno-economic analysis performed in tandem with a leading global Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) firm and experts in bioprocess modeling. The analysis found using the single-cell suspension and lipid-loading tech could reduce costs by more than five times.

    “We believe these landmark technologies, when combined with high-value, high-demand seafood products, are the winning equation to long term financial success,” said Amir Feder, CFO at BlueNalu. “Our projected 75 percent gross margin within the first year of production of our large-scale facility is unheard of in the food industry. This sets a very strong growth trajectory for the company, as we introduce additional products and establish new facilities around the globe.”   

    Lead image courtesy Blue Nalu.

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  • Is High Protein Bread the Next Big Plant-Based Trend?

    Equii bread
    3 Mins Read

    Food tech startup Equii has closed a $6 million seed funding round for its proprietary microbial protein-based bread. Is this a new frontier for plant-based food?

    The seed funding round was led by Khosla Ventures, which also supported Impossible Foods in its early days. The new funding builds on $2 million in previous investments including funding from kdT Ventures, 1derlife Partners, Accelr8 Partners, Axial Ventures, and angel investors in the food tech space.

    Equii

    The company was founded by Monica Bhatia, PhD and Baljit Ghotra, PhD,. Both bring extensive food industry experience, working with companies including Cargill, Mondelez, ADM, and more recently, novel tech startups Geltor and Nature’s Fynd.

    Nature’s Fynd cream cheese.

    Equii, formerly Cella Foods, launched last year, using tech to ferment grains and turn then into high-protein flour. The Equii flour contains three to six times more protein than conventional flour, half the carbohydrates, and all of the essential amino acids, the company says. One slice of its bread contains ten grams of protein—nearly as much as two eggs.

    “We’ve been able to check the box on every single metric in terms of how this bread is similar to regular bread,” Dr. Bhatia said. “Bread is very simple when you bake it at home. It’s just water, flour, a little bit of fat, some salt and yeast and sugar. Our ingredient deck is pretty much that, other than our protein, and we add a little bit of natural preservative.”

    Bread’s image problem

    Bread has struggled with image problems in recent years as diets like Paleo and Keto eschew it for its high carbohydrate content. But as a staple food, it provides sustenance to billions of people around the world. Generally an inexpensive source of food, high-protein bread could also help bring a healthy option to the millions of children who rely on the public school system for several meals a day.

    bread
    Courtesy Pexels

    “At Khosla Ventures, we seek out companies that have the ability to make a massive impact on society,” Alice Brooks, principal at Khosla Ventures, said in a statement. “Equii is redefining the natural staples of our diet—starting with bread—to make healthier nutrition more accessible, and we are excited to back them on their journey.”

    “Bread, a household staple, is our debutant product,” Dr. Ghotra, said in a statement. “Beyond bread, Equii’s world-class team is developing a pipeline of products that include high-protein pasta, nutrition bars, and snack foods to provide healthy food options throughout the day. We are on the lookout for partners who share our mission of bringing sustainable and healthy foods to the consumer globally.”

    Equii is working to bring its high-protein bread into a range of food service locations this year.

    Lead image courtesy Equii.

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  • Asia’s First Dairy-Free Festival Is a Signal of the APAC Market Potential

    Alt Dairy China
    4 Mins Read

    Last month, Jakarta held Asia’s very first dairy-free festival and alternative milk latte art competition in a strong showing of the category potential across the region.

    Organized by the Jakarta Vegan Guide, the Generasi Dairy-Free Festival, the first dairy-free and plant-based festival in Asia, featured more than 40 brands and hosted over 3,000 attendees. The event was held from September 22-25 at Tribeca Park, Central Park Mall Jakarta.

    Jakarta Vegan Guide told Green Queen that the event was designed to target millennials and Gen Z consumers, many of whom are aware of the negative impacts of consuming animal dairy products and are attracted to the growing plant-based dairy trend that dovetails with the coffee culture boom occurring in metro areas across Indonesia.

    Dairy-free Asia

    According to a recent survey by Rakuten Insight, plant-based milk is the leading plant-based category in Indonesia ahead of plant-based meat and other plant-based products. Indonesians aged 40-54 years make up the majority of plant-based milk consumers. According to Jakarta Vegan Guide, many Indonesians in this age bracket tend to perceive animal dairy products as highly processed and excessively sweet and try to avoid them due to concerns about diabetes. Research from 2020 found that over 10 million Indonesians have diabetes, and this number is growing.

    Interest in dairy-free milk, cheese, and other products is on the rise across Asian countries as lactose intolerance affects up to 90 percent of the population. In Indonesia, a 2021 study found that 66 percent of adults are lactose intolerant. Dairy is also a driving force in climate change, with animal agriculture responsible for about 15 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.

    Indonesian coffee chain Janji Jiwa has over 900 outlets in over 100 cities.

    “Our aim is to dispel the myth that dairy-free creations are impossible to realize and the common assumption that these creations are boring, tasteless and unappetizing. Therefore, we picked only distinguished brands that we were sure everyone would enjoy,” Jakarta Vegan Guide co-founder Firmansyah Mastup, said in a statement.

    The event offered a range of plant-based food, including ice cream, gelato, coffee dan, and other beverages all made with dairy-free milk.

    “We made sure that our selection of tenants, especially the food and beverage stalls, catered to various types of dietary restrictions, such as gluten-free, nut-free and sugar-free,” Mastup said.

    Alternative Milk Latte Art Competition

    The festival featured workshops and talks, as well as the Alternative Milk Latte Art Competition. It was sponsored by Oatly, Milk Lab, V-Soy, and Orasi. The content was judged by Indonesian Latte Art Championship 2019-2021 winner Restu Hadam Hasan and accompanied by Edo Huang and Azi Kardian Wicaksono. Lutfi Maulana, Ega Riandi, and Benedict Giovaldo were named the first, second, and third place winners of the competition.

    “With the rise of veganism and the alternative milk industry in Indonesia, we believe that coffee chains everywhere must have at least one alternative milk option in their line-up,” reasons Jakarta Vegan Guide co-founder and Generasi Dairy-Free Festival initiator Chandra Revo. “Through this festival, and particularly events such as AMLAC and AMCE, we wanted to encourage coffee chains in Indonesia to provide more dairy-free products in their menu, including non-dairy coffee as well as plant-based snacks, sweets, and light bites, if not also the main dishes.”

    The Alternative Latte Art Competition
    The Alternative Latte Art Competition | Courtesy Jakarta Vegan Guide

    The latte art competition comes as Indonesia’s coffee culture is on the rise. Revo says the event wanted to challenge baristas who are already crafting dairy-based beverages to use dairy-free options. The team is also working to help bring exposure to coffee chains that already offer plant-based milk.

    According to recent Mintel data, Asian consumers aren’t just swapping out dairy for their health. Many are doing it for the environment, too. In India, 33 percent said they’re reducing animal products. In South Korea, 71 percent said climate change is impacting their purchasing decisions. In China, 57 percent of urban consumers say the environment has become a higher priority. Mintel reports that in the 12-month period ending in May 2021, nearly half (47 percent) of new dairy-free products had sustainability claims.

    “The growth in eco-conscious, or ‘green’, food and drink consumers, increased focus on animal welfare, and higher priority placed on sustainability all present opportunities for manufacturers and brands in the plant-based dairy category,” Tan Heng Hong, APAC Food and Drink Analyst said in a statement. “Brands in the milk and yogurt sector should take plant-based diets, animal welfare, and sustainability into account when innovating new products and updating manufacturing practices, and highlight the benefits they offer when engaging with consumers.”

    Lead image courtesy Jakarta Vegan Guide.

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  • Vow Opens One of the Largest Cultivated Meat Factories In the World Ahead of Anticipated Regulatory Approval

    Workers at the Vow Factory 1
    3 Mins Read

    Australian cultivated meat company Vow has unveiled Factory 1, its NSW-based factory capable of producing 30 tons of cultured meat per year.

    Coinciding with the opening of Factory 1 in Alexandria in Sydney, Vow says it has started developing Factory 2, which can produce 100 times the amount of cultured meat as its sister site. Factory 2 is expected to be online in 2024.

    Factory 1

    “With Factory 1 Vow has quietly become a world leader in cultured meat, we are now operating at world leading scales and have achieved all of this in just three and a half years, with a fraction of the capital,” Vow’s CEO George Peppou said in a statement.

    Vow claims the factory, which is now up and running, is the largest of its kind in the southern hemisphere and is a sign of things to come out of Australia. Vow says Factory 1 and forthcoming Factory 2 are demonstrative of the country’s strong position as a leader in new technologies aimed at feeding the global population.

    (left to right) George Peppou, CEO, Matt Kean, NSW Treasurer, Tim Noakesmith, Cofounder
    (left to right) George Peppou, CEO, Matt Kean, NSW Treasurer, Tim Noakesmith, Cofounder | Courtesy

    “The team has developed an extremely delicious first product, and now we have the capability to produce it at scale. We couldn’t be more excited to announce it to the world in a month from now,” said Vow Cofounder, Tim Noakesmith. 

    Since launching in 2019, Vow has been focused on cultivated chicken, beef, and pork. It recently submitted its first product for regulatory approval. Vow expects its cultivated meat to launch in Singapore before the end of the year. Currently, Singapore is the only nation that has approved cultivated meat for sale. Vow says with its existing research and development facility, the new factory will allow it to bring development and production under one roof.

    Cultivated meat scaling up

    Vow joins other leading cultivated meat companies including the Good Meat factory coming to Singapore. Eat Just’s cultivated meat offshoot broke ground on the factory in June. Once up and running next year, Good Meat says it can produce “tens of thousands” of tons of its cultured meat annually.

    In the U.S., Upside Foods opened its “EPIC” factory in California last year. It’s capable of producing 400,000 pounds of cultivated meat annually.

    French onion dish with Morsel, Vow's first product
    French onion dish with Morsel, Vow’s first product | courtesy

    Efforts to scale up cultivated meat production and bring down costs are happening around the world. Just last month, Prolific Machines emerged from stealth mode with backing from Mark Cuban and Emily Ratajkowski. The cultivated meat company says it can bring the cost of cultivated meat down to price parity with conventional animal products, comparing its tech to doing for the category what Henry Ford did for automobiles.

    “Back then, nobody really owned cars apart from super-rich people. What really changed things was Ford,” Prolific Machines co-founder and CEO Deniz Kent told TechCrunch. 

    “They built the assembly line for cars and found a way to manufacture cars at a price that normal people could afford. That transformed the industry because then you went from hundreds of car companies to only three companies having over 70% of the market.”

    Lead image courtesy of Vow.

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  • ‘Adoption Will Take Decades But Macro Fundamentals Won’t Change’ – TiNDLE’s CEO Talks Future Of Plant-Based Meat

    Andre Menezes TiNDLE The Hatchery
    9 Mins Read

    Beyond Meat’s nosedive, lukewarm growth, mediocre products? We unpack the plant-based meat industry with the CEO of global alt meat startup TiNDLE.

    Just a little over two years old, vegan chicken maker TiNDLE is often held up as one of the poster children for plant-based meat and it’s small wonder why. The company is available in just under ten countries, including nationally across the United States, has raised over $130 million in funding and has attracted heavyweight talents from Rachel Konrad to Andrew Zimmern. Last week, it announced new U.S. headquarters & R&D center in Chicago. But where does TiNDLE fit in when it comes to the plant-based meat sector as a whole?

    As the industry faces looming headwinds including supply chain disruptions, skyrocketing inflation, lukewarm interest from US consumers and overcrowded shelves, Green Queen’s Sonalie Figueiras talks to TiNDLE co-founder and CEO Andre Menezes about the future of plant-based meat.

    Q: Let’s dive right in with what I call the industry’s avatar: Beyond Meat. The stock is down 70-80% over 12 months. How much of an industry bellwether is this? How much should we be extrapolating from this? 

    Andre Menezes: As a whole, it’s important to emphasize how the Nasdaq, SP500, and many other companies’ shares have seen a significant drop in 2022, not only for a plant-based food company like Beyond. We can’t discount that in the market, we’re seeing overall macro shifts like rising inflation, increasing  interest rates, and geopolitical tensions that naturally cause a movement towards more defensive assets, distressed business deals, or plain and simple lower capital deployment. The fundamentals driving today’s markets have changed.

    For our category, we do have to thank Beyond for opening consumers’ eyes to the sector globally, and whatever micro challenges they are facing will hopefully be addressed the soonest and they will hopefully continue to drive a meaningful transformation in our world. 

    Q: Recent data suggests that despite all efforts, so far plant-based as a category is firmly under 2% of the meat/protein retail market. Do you think this can change? What are brands doing wrong and what can they do better? 

    Andre Menezes: At Next Gen, we have always stressed how this is a paradigm shift that will not happen immediately – but adoption will take decades. Our job as a player within this industry of changing the way we produce food is to try to compress that adoption curve and accelerate the transition to the highest level possible. 

    There are countless parallels to other industries in how we are becoming less reliant on animal agriculture for the production of food. We have seen it in the way we mechanized manufacturing, on how we ditched horse-based transportation, and other examples in the disruption of old technologies in energy and communications. None of those transitions were quick or frictionless, just as we’re seeing in the current transition between internal combustion engine cars and electric vehicles. 

    On that, history teaches us that it is always a combination of factors that drive the transitions, and that the steeper portion of growth within the S curve of adoption comes with generational shifts. It is the same for plant-based meats and foods. We need, as an industry, to stop thinking that one isolated factor (be it a magic molecule, price, infrastructure, technology, or policies) will drive the change individually. It is the combination of important factors that will dictate both the speed of and viability of growth – which, not coincidentally – also explains why 70% of Norway’s car sales are EVs, why China is the biggest market for EVs with countless exciting local players, why the UK has led the industrial revolution, and why smartphones took off. 

    In the plant-based sector, a challenge we’re facing is when products are mediocre and don’t deliver on what consumers are looking for. These types of products that don’t match consumer needs end up making the category move backwards.

    Q: There is also data underlining that the category is not having much luck attracting repeat customers. What’s going wrong? 

    Andre Menezes: This is where I believe mediocre products are causing the most harm and can hinder subsequent trial, as consumers who have unpleasant experiences trying plant-based meats and foods will not come back for a second time so easily.

    Another factor that affects everyone in the category (no matter if they taste great or not) – and that needs to be addressed – is that plant-based products are no longer just for the vegan/vegetarian niche. So even if a product is liked/loved by consumers, it will still go head-to-head against the habit and category of animal-based options, which is a much larger pool of options and an industry with a wider distribution of animal-based products. That may simply result in consumers picking meat instead of plant-based, as the pull factor from flexitarians may not necessarily be strong enough to sway them.

    Q: A lot of the data we are discussing is US-centric. As a fairly global brand with presence in the UK, the EU and Asia as well in the US- how do things look outside of North America? 

    Andre Menezes: The U.S. is undeniably the biggest market in the world, but it is fascinating to see how the UK, Germany, and Netherlands are relatively ahead of the curve in terms of awareness and pull factors. If you walk down the streets in London, I welcome you to see that even street food operators and vendors have always proudly and loudly communicated a vegan option. From what I’ve seen in London, Berlin,  and Amsterdam, there is simply no option not to have a wide and well executed vegan section in any decent restaurant, and we see that reflecting in how our business has been growing quickly across these markets as well (where the category is already breaking out of the niche). 

    Singapore (where our company was founded) is another great example of how the curve has accelerated, and how it is now ahead of the entire continent in Asia in terms of consumer acceptance, awareness and even distribution. When we first started (and even through today), some of Singapore’s best chefs were quick to adopt and try out TiNDLE on their menus – treating it just as they would chicken on their menus and in their restaurants. Additionally, consumers are increasingly aware of the relevance of food security and not taking the current broken system for granted – especially with the border challenges during the pandemic and the more recent chicken export ban from Malaysia.

    Q: Who is doing it right, according to you? 

    Andre Menezes: Everyone plays a very important role in this current landscape. The exception to this are those putting out products that don’t deliver on taste or experience – or those that are stifling category  growth by trying to push competition out (instead of welcoming it). 

    Similar to the animal farming business, there is no single method, category or positioning that works to meet success. We need the combination of players and efforts to make change happen, and we welcome it all. With this, we’ve seen an attempt to use traditional tactics of killing competition in an effort to have a bigger piece of the pie – instead of focusing on how to drive the category altogether. Don’t get me wrong – competing for a customer or consumer naturally happens, but at the same time I see that as a healthy competition that forces everyone to be better across products, price, and distribution. 

    Q: What is TiNDLE looking to do over the next six months? What’s the focus- is it brand building? B2B sales? New country launches? 

    Andre Menezes: We have  concluded the 3rd step of our growth, and we are now simultaneously focusing on improving our efficiency as well as preparing for the 4th growth wave. If you recall – and we were privileged to have been able to share the journey with you since the very beginning– the first step was to design our business model, followed by the second step of testing diverse markets and make sure we were able to have a global reach and then opening the 3 biggest markets in the world (US, UK, Germany). All of that within around two years, offering literally millions of occasions where consumers tried and loved TiNDLE. Now we are preparing for the next big movement, which will happen sometime in 2023 and will be where all the learnings , infrastructure, trials and presence we built will come together to multiply our impact significantly.  

    Q: What are your customers telling you, both B2B and B2C? 

    Andre Menezes: We are very blessed that consumers and customers around the world have shared a positive response to TiNDLE – including  the way it cooks and tastes, but also that it exceeds expectations from what people have previously thought of what they think of plant-based chicken. Whether it’s chefs or diners, the feedback is unanimous and that is translating into meaningful growth. Today we’re in over 1,000 restaurants around the world, up from only about a dozen or so in Singapore initially in March 2021.

    Q: Are you currently fundraising? Has the environment changed? 

    Andre Menezes: Right now, we are 100% focused on driving the maximum impact and development for TiNDLE and the category in the most capital efficient way. Our previous rounds, and our very cautious and strategic capital deployment, gives us the ability to focus on where the impact is – and not having to focus on raising funds in the near term. While it is undeniable that the capital markets are under pressure, we still seeing a lot of interest from mission-aligned and long-term investors, who keep in touch and enquire about our next raise.

    Q: What would be your advice to a new plant-based meat startup? 

    Andre Menezes: I should probably start writing a book on that! The most important underlying advice I would have for any startup would be to avoid -at all costs- the trap of thinking that a magic silver bullet (whatever it might be) will give you an immense and magical success path. It is a business that you are building, and that business is a combination of your beloved product/technology, your value chain, your capital deployment strategy, your team, your brand (b2c or b2b, it doesn’t matter), and all other aspects.

    Q: Companies like Maple Leaf Foods say they are retracting from the category. What do you think about this? 

    Andre Menezes: As any new category, many players will throw in the towel. They have their strategic reasons and drive, and certain factors might require them to do so. Many companies will naturally fail, many will be acquired, and there will be consolidation… It is all a natural part of growth within a new disruptive category, and that is also true for any other industry. We believe it is all positive since the lower tide will force mediocre products and players, who are not driving this for impact, out of the field, and that will cause an overall improvement for the category. 

    Q: Consumers are facing huge uncertainty, a looming recession and inflationary pressures. Does that pose an existential threat for a category where prices tend to be on the high side? 

    Andre Menezes: The macro fundamentals behind this will not change, but the economic pressure may certainly drive a move towards cheaper options when applicable. It is unfortunate that animal products are able to receive such large subsidies, which makes them so much cheaper than plant-based options – which in general do not have any government support despite the actionable sustainability solutions it provides. 

    I am a believer that the industry is highly capable and that a change is extremely needed. All of these current challenges will make the industry emerge stronger, better developed, more efficient, and smarter on the other side. This is in stark contrast to the animal farming industry and old technologies there, which has fundamental limitations linked to animal genetics, resource utilization, and food conversion, which they will not be able to materially improve. 

    Lead image courtesy of TiNDLE.

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  • Aqua Cultured Foods Tackles Food Waste With Dumplings Made From Mycoprotein Offcuts

    dumplings
    3 Mins Read

    Mycoprotein seafood startup Aqua Cultured Foods is tacking on another category disruption beyond its alternative seafood. The Chicago-based company is using up whole-muscle offcuts from its vegan seafood in a new range of dumplings to reduce food waste.

    Angling toward go-to-market partnerships in the Asian foodservice category, Aqua Cultured Foods says its new dumplings featuring its minced mycoprotein seafood can be packaged and co-branded.

    Zero-waste dumplings

    The startup is developing whole-cut calamari, shrimp, scallops, and tuna and whitefish filets with a realistic taste and texture. Using up the off-cuts and imperfect filets for minced filling creates a new market opportunity for the brand as well as a way to reduce its food waste footprint.

    Food waste is a big problem around the world. An estimated 40 percent of edible food is wasted. In the U.S. alone, nearly 110 billion pounds of food is wasted. That’s the equivalent of 130 billion meals and more than $408 billion.

    This Women-Led Startup Is Growing the 'Holy Grail' of Vegan Seafood From Microbes
    Courtesy Aqua Cultured Foods

    Food waste is also a problem for the planet producing about 170 million metric tons of CO2, according to the EPA. That’s the equivalent of emissions produced by 42 coal-powered plants.

    Aqua Cultured says its dumplings are economical and scaleable, requiring less fermentation time than its whole seafood products.

    “We’re glad our partners challenged us to work on dumplings, and lucky to have their guidance through the process of perfecting the taste and filling for Asian palates,” Aqua chief growth officer Brittany Chibe, said in a statement. “I’m especially happy that this product moves us closer to zero-waste by finding use for our off-cuts, with the added bonus that it’s very efficient to make in volumes appropriate for foodservice.” 

    Microbial fermentation seafood

    Aqua Cultured Foods is the first company to use microbial fermentation to create whole muscle cut sustainable seafood alternatives.

    Fermented seafood. Photo by Aqua Cultured Foods.

    Recent research has found a growing interest in seafood alternatives, particularly in Asian markets. According to a recent survey conducted by think tank Good Food Institute APAC, Asian consumers are seeking out alternative seafood over concerns about heavy metals and microplastic in conventional seafood.

    The dumpling market is particularly ripe for innovation. Valued at more than $5 billion in 2020, it’s expected to surpass $10 billion by 2028.

    Aqua Cultured Foods says it’s starting with shrimp mince, but that’s not the end of its exploration. It says it’s looking at mince uses across spicy tuna sushi rolls, seafood cakes and patties, ravioli, and cannelloni, among other uses. 

     Lead photo by Abhishek Sanwa Limbu on Unsplash

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  • European Consumers Are Driving the Demand for Sustainable Protein, Survey Finds

    3 Mins Read

    European consumers are keen to see more alternatives to conventional animal products, finds a new survey.

    More than 60 percent of consumers across four European countries—France, Spain, Germany, and Italy—say more alternatives to meat products need to be found.

    A majority of consumers said conventional animal agriculture’s impact on the environment is a concern, with 60 percent of consumers across France and Germany, 71 percent in Italy, and 66 percent in Spain saying alternatives are necessary.

    The survey, commissioned by the think tank Good Food Institute and conducted by OpinionWay, asked 4,096 people about their own meat consumption habits and their thoughts on the future of food, namely sustainable protein sources.

    Alternative protein demand

     “It’s great to see plant-based meat become so strongly established in many people’s diets across Europe,” Carlotte Lucas, Corporate Engagement Manager at the Good Food Institute Europe, said in a statement.

    Spain's vegan Heura meat
    Spain’s vegan Heura meat | Courtesy

    “Companies now need to capitalise on this interest and invest in the development of products that can truly compete with conventional meat on taste and price to provide the sustainable options Europeans want. 

    “And with such growing support for cultivated meat, it’s clear there will be a significant market for this food in Europe. Governments need to listen to the views of their citizens and invest in the research and infrastructure needed to ensure cultivated meat can deliver the environmental benefits so many people want to see.”

    A growing number of these consumers say they’re reducing their meat consumption; the survey found 59 percent of people in France, 50 percent in Germany, 61 percent in Italy, and 58 percent in Spain have reduced their meat consumption over the last five years.

    Eating plant-based meat is happening on a monthly basis for half of people in Spain and Italy, 27 percent in France, and 41 percent of Germans, the survey found. Twenty-five percent of Germans and Spaniards surveyed said they plan to increase their plant-based meat consumption in the coming years.

    Cultivated meat

    European consumers are already cutting down on their meat consumption, opting instead for plant-based proteins.

    Mosa Meat FBS
    Cultivated meatball | Courtesy Mosa Meat

    They’re also interested in cultivated meat—more than half of Germans and 33 percent of French surveyed said they would buy it—even though it’s not yet approved for sale anywhere in the world outside of Singapore.

    Government support is critical, the consumers said, with 38 percent in France, 56 percent in Germany, 58 percent in Italy, and 68 percent in Spain saying they want governments to support cultivated meat production.

     

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  • After 40 Years, Dairy-Free Pioneer Tofutti Adds ‘Vegan’ to Its Labels

    Tofutti's new packaging
    3 Mins Read

    Legacy dairy-free brand Toffuti has announced its first rebrand in decades with one notable upgrade: the labels now includes the words ‘vegan’ and ‘plant-based.’

    To the vegan-versed consumer, Tofutti’s new black and red packaging looks familiar. It resembles other modern brands: There’s Sweet Earth, with its dark black and brown labels. Wicked Kitchen‘s labels (white font on black), Gardein recently re-branded to darker packaging. Field Roast uses black boxes on a range of dark-colored backgrounds. The new label was designed by fellow New Jersey company Dark Horse Design.

    A change long overdue

    The new packaging was long overdue, the company says. It launched in 1981 as a dairy-free Kosher-Parve brand. But in the decades since its biggest following has been from vegan consumers and those seeking dairy-free options—not necessarily Kosher.

    Its product range includes ice cream pints and sandwiches as well as cream cheese, ricotta cheese, and sour cream.

    Tofutti re-branded
    Tofutti re-branded | Courtesy

    “Today’s natural foods market is flooded with competitors, so we knew it was time to reassess our branding. We want consumers to recognize all Tofutti products as Tofutti products,” Steve Kass, Tofutti Chief Executive Officer, said in a statement.

    Kass has been with Tofutti since the early years, starting in 1986. He says the new labels will make it easier for consumers to spot Tofutti in the crowded dairy alternatives sector. He also says it will reenergize its retail partnerships. “It’s not every day that a forty-year-old company changes its look; buyers are already enthusiastic about the changes,” he said.

    The new packaging design comes after a more subtle but in some ways, more significant change last summer: Tofutti added the word ‘vegan’ to its logo for the first time.

    “Look at the sorts of people who follow us on social media. It’s obvious that vegans are our biggest fans,” Gerry Pugliese, Tofutti’s Marketing & Public Relations Manager, said. “Adding ‘vegan’ will make our current customers happy and act as a bullhorn for attracting new, like-minded consumers—a new vegan is born every day!”

    Nurturing consumers old and new

    But Pugliese is quick to add that it still serves its original Kosher audience as well as anyone looking for tasty dairy-free alternatives.

    “Tofutti started as a Kosher Parve brand, it’s part of who we are, we’ll always be that too,” he said. “But now we shout ‘vegan.’”

    Tofutti cheese re-brand
    Tofutti cheese re-brand | Courtesy

    The new packaging also includes “plant-based,” a term just recently added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary (along with “oat milk” and “greenwashing”). The inclusion of both “vegan” and “plant-based” on the branding is significant as the industry itself is divided on which one should be more widely used. Some say “vegan” has negative connotations for consumers that just want to eat healthier or more sustainably. Some vegans, though, have taken issue with “plant-based” as skirting the ethical issue tied to the word “vegan.”

    A growing number of brands are using both, and Tofutti says it’s confident that the new branding along with renewed efforts on social media and marketing, will help it retain its leadership status in the category and grow the industry demand.

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  • New Report Details How Asia Came to Dominate the Plant-Based Meat Industry

    3 Mins Read

    A new report published by the researchers at Roots Analysis details how the intellectual property for plant-based meat has grown more than three times over the last decade, jumping from 2,388 in 2012 to 7,126 this year. And leading the shift: Asia.

    According to the report’s findings, the majority of plant-based IP documents—77.4 percent—are patent applications and granted patents (18.7 percent). Asia sits at the top of the pile with more than half of IP documents originating from Asian-based companies versus 18 percent coming from North America and Europe.

    Replacing unsustainable meat

    “In 2020, close to 340 million tons of meat was estimated to be produced worldwide. Compared to the early 1960s (~70 million tons), this represents almost a 500 percent increase,” explains Roots Analysis. “Considering that the global population grew by 150 percent in the same time period, it is evident that meat consumption has increased at a rate that cannot be sustainable.”

    Animal agriculture is responsible for at least 15 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. It also uses nearly one-third of all freshwater, and is a leading cause of deforestation.

    Asia-based Tindle’s Char Siew Bao is made from plants.

    “Vegetarian meats and plant-based products that resemble meat, in texture and, to some extent, taste, present a viable solution to the abovementioned crisis,” the report notes.

    “Medical studies have also shown that replacing animal meat has the potential to reduce the risk of hypertension and heart disease, certain types of cancer, and diabetes.”

    The report notes that a range of technologies exist to develop a variety of meat products made from plants including beans and lentils, jackfruit, different types of nuts and seeds, pea protein, potato starch, seitan (vital wheat gluten), soy and tofu, and various vegetables.

    Asia’s plant-based shift

    Asia is ripe for category disruption.

    Countries across the region consume some of the highest amounts of animal meat including seafood, pork, and lamb meat.

    Good Meat’s cultivated lab meat

    A recent report from the think tank Good Food Institute APAC, found that consumers are shifting their dietary preferences across the region. That report looked at the growing demand for plant-based seafood in Asia, with concerns over heavy metal and plastic pollution in conventional fish as driving the shift.

    There are a growing number of plant-based meat producers across the region, including Singapore’s Tindle, Hong Kong’s OmniPork, and South Korea’s Unlimeat, among others.

    Singapore is currently the only country in the world that’s approved the sale of cultivated meat—animal meat grown in a lab from a cell sample. While not derived from plants, it signals a shift in consumer demand for ethical and more sustainable alternatives to the current animal-protein-heavy food system.

    Lead image courtesy Tindle

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  • All G Foods Launches Bloom Providore the First Vegan Meat Range for Chefs In Australia

    Bloom Providore dish at Ovolo
    3 Mins Read

    Australian startup All G Foods has launched Bloom Providore, a meat-inspired plant protein range made exclusively for chefs.

    “With more Australians opting for plant protein options, the market has crowded with too many plant-based burger patties,” All G Foods CEO Jan Pacas said in a statement. “That has left a major gap for chefs who want to use alternative ingredients, such as plant protein, to cater to their diners’ preferences and create dishes that leave a lasting impression.”

    To address the gap, All G’s Bloom Providore offers chefs minces inspired by beef, pork, lamb, chicken, duck, and fish.

    The range is launching at Ovolo Hotel Group, headed by chef Ian Curley.

    Ovolo hotel | Courtesy

    “Bloom Providore is a game-changer in the commercial kitchen,” Ovolo Hotels culinary director chef, Ian Curley said. “I am always looking for high-quality ingredients that empowers the chefs to push boundaries and challenge their creativity. We are excited to explore the endless opportunities that will come with Bloom Providore.”

    According to Pacas, Ovolo Hotels set the benchmark for a sustainable food future “and have been inspiring chefs across the globe to rethink fine dining and the need for animal proteins.”

    Ovolo made headlines when it removed meat from its menus in 2020 for an entire year. It renewed that commitment earlier this year.

    “Meat is being removed for a second year in a row at Ovolo Hotels. With a number of our Ovolo venues already serving plant-based cuisine, we have decided to go the full 100 percent,” Ovolo Group’s Founder and CEO, Girish Jhunjhnuwala, said in a statement.

    Bloom Providore

    “It’s been a strategic move, but Ovolo prides itself on being an industry leader. We believe that the world changes, therefore we continue to evolve – we want to ensure we are doing our bit to help preserve our environment, promote healthy eating and enhance the image of amazing vegetarian and plant-based dining.”

    Ovolo’s chef team has created several dishes including a tagine, stuffed peppers, tortellini, and “plant-based parcels” all featuring Bloom Providore’s beef-inspired mince.

    All G says it’s targeting other chefs across the country with progressive mindsets. It says with animal meat prices on the increase and the growing demand for healthier alternatives, it sees a market opportunity, especially for chefs who want to use alternative ingredients but have grown tired of the burger saturation.

    “With the right ingredients, flavours and texture,” says Pacas, “a chef can create beautiful things and with Bloom it further enhances that creativity.”

    Images: courtesy

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  • Q+A w/ Benedict Lim of OATSIDE, Asia’s First Full-Stack Oat Milk Startup

    3 Mins Read

    How did OATSIDE become one of Asia’s fastest growing oat milk companies? CEO & creator Benedict Lim talks to Green Queen’s Sonalie Figueiras about why malty milk matters and more.

    In less than two years, self-described ‘full-stack’ oat milk brand OATSIDE has become a force to be reckoned with on supermarket shelves in over 8 Asian markets including Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. As of earlier this month, they have launched in Hong Kong. The company’s strength is down to its uber creamy and malty product, a robust regional supply chain (oats from Australia, coconut sugar and cacao from Indonesia) and full control over their oat extraction (the company owns its production facility). We met with CEO and creator Benedict Lim during his Hong Kong visit. Below he tells us more about their unique branding, how the company scaled so fast and why Asia needs another oat milk.

    Q: What are the key markets for OATSIDE? Do you want to focus on APAC or also eventually go to the US and EU? 

    Benedict Lim: We feel we have a better understanding of the palates and culture in Asia and it’s where we’re  currently focused! That said, we wouldn’t close off the possibility of expanding outside of Asia in the  future. 

    Q: What has enabled you to scale so fast? 

    Benedict Lim: The strongest factor has to be the taste of our product – there’s something about the creamy  maltiness of OATSIDE that is very familiar to people growing up in this region and that builds a  connection and joy that people want to share with others. 

    Q: Can you share more about your unique branding? 

    Benedict Lim: OATSIDE as a brand is optimistic, adult and as-is. The artwork was a way to convey our brand world – the OATSIDE of life; the bright side of life told in all its unfiltered, modern glory. The packs’ artwork are cartoons and yet have a feel and tone that speaks to adults, which is our intention. 

    Courtesy OATSIDE

    Q: Why do we need another oat milk brand? What’s the real mission here? 

    Benedict Lim: We want to be the plant milk for people who don’t care for plant milks – to lead the movement to  sustainable milk through incredible taste. Within plant milks – and oat milks in particular – there is a wide variance in textures, tastes and there has to be a varied offering across brands to achieve this shared mission globally. 

    Q: Why do most Asian consumers buy oat milk, in your view? What’s their motivation? 

    Benedict Lim: Oat milk is still a very new category in Asia, but oats are a familiar ingredient in most parts. It’s ultimately about taste/texture familiarity! 

    Q: Where is OATSIDE produced? Can you share more about your supply chain? 

    Benedict Lim: OATSIDE is produced in Bandung, a beautiful mountainous region of West Java, Indonesia, where we get access to clean mountain spring water for our production. 

    Q: How do you achieve the sweetness in the ‘no added sugar’ Barista blend? 

    Benedict Lim: Indeed there is no added sugar in OATSIDE’s Barista Blend – there are some natural sugars from oats  that are created through the enzymatic process of oat extraction.  

    Q: OATSIDE ingredients include canola oil? Do you feel this is a healthy choice given it is linked to certain issues?

    Benedict Lim: When thinking about a source of vegetable fat, canola was particularly appealing given it is an unsaturated fat and has a neutral taste profile. We use non-GMO canola with sourced in Australia.

    Q: Are you being affected by existing supply chain difficulties? 

    Benedict Lim: Over the past months, we’ve had to face some port congestion in various countries and limited vessel availability but our supply chain team has managed to mitigate these issues with good planning. 

    Q: Are you raising capital at the moment? 

    Benedict Lim: No, we are not raising capital at this moment.

    Lead image by Green Queen with photos courtesy OATSIDE.

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  • For the Love of Meat: Are Plant-Based Burgers Overhyped?

    oped plant based burgers
    6 Mins Read

    Notes From the Frontlines of the Sustainable Food Movement – a new opinion column by Irina Gerry

    Critics say plant-based burgers aren’t a health food and are a false solution in the fight to reduce food emissions. Are they right?

    Plant-based meat has become the subject of increasingly intense debate. On one hand, plant-based burgers by startups like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat are trying to make headway with meat lovers touting their beefy taste and climate credentials. On the other, the real beef fans are firing back with tradition and naturalness, undergirded by our cultural devotion to meat.

    It’s political. It’s emotional. It’s tribal. From Fox News pundits to climate scientists to ranchers, everyone is wading into the great beef debate. So, do plant-based burgers deserve our love or are they an overhyped Silicon Valley invention about to go down?

    Are they better for the environment? Yes.

    Plant-based meat alternatives beat conventional beef by a long shot. Given that beef tops the charts in emissions, land use, and fresh water use among all foods, as well as livestock farming being the leading driver of deforestation and biodiversity loss, it is not hard to see that just about any plant-based alternative would be a dramatic improvement.

    For example, compared to conventional ground beef, the Impossible Burger reduces environmental impacts across every critical category, requiring 87% less water and 96% less land, and producing 89% fewer GHG emissions and 92% less aquatic pollutants. 

    But, aren’t these burgers made from soy and other industrial monocrops, which are bad for the environment? The amount of soy protein, and other edible inputs, going into this burger are far lower than is required to produce an equivalent beef burger. 

    Raising cattle for food is incredibly inefficient. It takes 100 calories of feed to get 3 calories of beef. In the US, we use 65% more productive agricultural lands to grow crops (like corn and soy) to feed farmed animals than we do for all other foods we eat directly. There is likely more indirect soy in your beef burger than in the plant-based one. In fact, 77% of soy globally is used for animal feed, and only 7% is consumed by humans. Livestock farming, and its growing demand for soy feed, is the leading driver of deforestation in the Amazon. But wait, isn’t regeneratively grazed beef good for the planet? Many passionate ranchers promote regeneratively grazed beef as the climate solution, insisting that when done properly, grazed cattle can restore degraded soils and sequester carbon. First, this is not what people eat today, because more than 99% of beef is not regeneratively grazed. Second, regenerative agriculture lacks proper definition and standards, making it impossible to know whether beef marketed as regenerative or low carbon is actually better, or how it stacks up for measurements beyond carbon such as land use, water use, deforestation or biodiversity. Finding this magical climate friendly beef will send you scouring the internet, deciphering dubious marketing claims, and air freighting expensive beef from a handful of small farms, likely negating your effort at a lower carbon footprint. Third, even after decades of research, there is still a lot of uncertainty around the scalability, durability and overall climate impact of regenerative grazing outside of very specific degraded cropland conversion examples, making it more of a niche proposition rather than a scalable climate solution.

    Are they better for the animals? Yes.

    No matter how you view the concept of humans eating animal meat, industrialized animal agriculture is a far cry from the original hunter’s way of killing animals for food. In the US alone, we slaughter over 33 million cattle and calves annually, and 70% of them are raised in factory farms, in conditions that would make most meat lovers cringe. Nearly 99% of chickens, pigs and turkeys are raised in factory farms. There is nothing humane or natural about the way we industrially farm animals for food.

    Figure courtesy of PNAS study: Estimating the environmental impacts of 57,000 food products. Environmental impact score and nutrition impact score per 100 g of multi-ingredient food products.

    Are they better for your health? Probably.

    Consumers are gravitating towards plant-based foods primarily because of their health halo. There is no doubt that a whole-food plant-centric diet is best for our health, but most of us also love a burger once in a while.  

    The Impossible burger is plant-based. It is a savory, chewy, indulgent treat, high in calories and fat. Wonderful with fries on the side. Its healthfulness depends on your point of reference. Is it better than a kale salad? No. Better than its animal-based counterpart? Probably yes, but that doesn’t make it a health food.

    It is a processed food with a relatively long ingredient list. Whole unprocessed plant foods (veggies, legumes, nuts and fruit) are better for our health, but they just don’t deliver the same eating experience that a beef burger does, so I’m ok with a less-than-perfect option for this particular occasion, assuming this is a small part of a diet rich in whole plant foods.

    Despite the processing, I believe a plant-based burger is still a better option for my health based on initial studies and given that red meat is associated with a number of health risks, such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Evaluating healthfulness of any given food can be complex, and will largely depend on which specific plant-based burger you choose. For example, Impossible beef has no cholesterol, is lower in saturated fat and higher in iron, plus it contains 5g of fiber, which is critical for gut health, while matching beef on protein and vitamin B12 content. It is made with soy, which may be an issue for some. Good news is that options abound from soy-based Impossible, to pea-based Beyond, to organic minimally processed black bean options to suit any taste and dietary preference. The overall assessment of available research leads me to conclude that plant-based meat is still a better option compared to beef, especially if we cross-tabulate environmental impact with nutrient availability.

    Are they a false solution? I don’t think so.

    Wouldn’t it be better to convince people to eat more whole plant foods, instead of attempting to replicate the less-than-healthy burger? I support the effort wholeheartedly. For years, health, climate and animal rights groups have been beating the drum of whole plant foods, with limited success. Meat is so deeply ingrained in our culture and eating habits, that such a massive dietary shift has not occurred. In fact, the world keeps eating more meat. We are out of time and urgent action on climate is needed. We must reduce the massive environmental footprint of livestock immediately, and that requires deploying multiple solutions at the same time. That should include health education, subsidies and policies targeted at increasing vegetable and fruit consumption, behavioral nudging, and direct substitution with plant-based or cell-based alternatives.

    The plant-based meat innovation strategy is grounded in the belief that it is easier and faster to give people a more sustainable, high fidelity beef analogue than to drive a radical habit change. Much like it is easier to transition people to driving electric cars, than to walking, biking or taking public transport, given the habits and logistics of modern lifestyles.My hope is that a clear understanding of the full impact of beef production on climate, animals and health would lead most of us to significantly reduce our beef consumption, whether it is by choosing whole plants or plant-based meat alternatives. Because with the growing global population and the projected increase in meat demand, we have no hope of meeting the +1.5C degree global warming targets if we stay with the status quo.

    Lead image of Impossible Foods burger courtesy of Canva.

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  • Rival Foods Raises a €6 Million Series A to Improve on Plant-Based Meat Development

    3 Mins Read

    Rival Foods, the Wageningen University & Research spinoff working since 2019 to replicate animal meat with plants, has announced the closing of a €6 million Series A funding round.

    PeakBridge and Roquette Ventures led the funding round. Rival Foods says the funding will help expand operations and technologies while working to develop new protein sources and formulations. It expects to launch its first product by next summer.

    Novel protein development

    “The expertise and technology required to create thicker, 3D plant-based meat products that closely resemble animal commodities such as chicken breast, pork chops, and salmon fillets, is one of the major unmet needs in the alternative protein industry. There is a large market for alternative protein products,” the company said in a statement. “Whole-cut beef, which is now underutilized with alternative proteins.”

    Rival Foods Whole Cut Chicken
    Rival Foods Whole Cut Chicken | Courtesy

    Rival chose PeakBridge and Roquette Ventures for their food tech expertise and work with alternative protein upscaling. PeakBridge has funded Imagine Dairy and Supernatural, among others.

    According to Rival Foods, a big opportunity lies in producing “thicker, 3D plant-based meat products that more accurately mimic animal products like chicken breast, pork chop, and salmon filets.” It’s also angling to provide consumers with cleaner label products that are free from excess additives and fillers.

    Through its machines and technology, the company says its processes can transform a wide range of ingredients into healthy plant-based meat products with “an unparalleled fibrous texture, rich mouthfeel and juiciness.”

    Whole cut vegan meat

    Whole-cut vegan meats are the holy grail of the plant-based sector. Companies have been hard at work aiming to replicate the taste, texture, and function of whole cut meats but few have yet to perfect it.

    Earlier this month, Swiss startup Planted Foods raised $72 million for its whole-cut and skinless vegan chicken breast. U.S.-based Meati has been perfecting its whole-cut and whole-food-based mushroom meat to market. Earlier this summer it received backing from Mexican fast-casual chain Chipotle in its $150 million Series C.

    Meati mycelium steak | Courtesy

    The number of consumers identifying as flexitarian continues to rise. But according to Rival Foods, nearly half (45 percent) say they aren’t impressed with the taste and texture of current offerings. Rival

    “The sustainable future has a number of major challenges that we need to work on with society. Think of the energy and food transition. The latter focuses on the question of how we can sustainably feed the growing world population, without harming the earth. To do this, people have to switch from mainly animal proteins to more vegetable proteins, as in the past. We do not need the large amount of animal proteins that we now get from meat, and moreover it is unsustainable to produce so much meat for the climate, humans and animals. In addition, eating a lot of meat is not necessarily healthy—not to mention animal welfare,” Rival Foods co-founder Birgit Dekkers told Change.inc last year.

    “At Rival Foods, we believe that you should offer people good, tasty and affordable alternatives,” she said. “That way you can tempt them to make different choices.” 

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  • Oprah-Backed Healthy Chain True Food Kitchen Rakes In $100 Million for Expansion Plans

    Oprah visits True Food Kitchen
    3 Mins Read

    True Food Kitchen, the Oprah-backed healthy restaurant chain founded by Dr. Andrew Weil in 2008, says it has raised more than $100 million to fuel its growth plans.

    The latest investment round was led by HumanCo and Manna Tree, and included participation by existing investor Centerbridge Partners.

    Unlocking ‘tremendous’ potential

    “This investment enables us to truly broaden our mission to help well-being through more accessible, real food,” Christine Barone, CEO of True Food Kitchen, said in a statement. “This capital will unlock a tremendous amount of potential for our future, allowing us to expand our footprint, launch smaller formats, and ultimately allow more people across the country to experience great tasting food that is truly good for you.”

    Oprah Winfrey and True Food Kitchen CEO Christine Barone at the True Food Kitchen Winter Harvest Community Dinner in Pasadena, California.
    Oprah Winfrey and True Food Kitchen CEO Christine Barone at the True Food Kitchen in Pasadena, California. | Courtesy

    With 42 locations operating across 17 states, True Food Kitchen says the demand for healthier food is behind the fundraising. Pulling from his integrative nutrition background, Dr. Weil aimed to fill a dining void—a fine dining experience with healthy, seasonal foods at the center of the plate. He succeeded, earning early support from high-profile investors including media mogul Oprah Winfrey. She invested in the chain in 2018.

    “Bringing people together over a delicious meal that makes you feel good has always been a passion of mine. It’s what made me want to be part of True Food Kitchen originally,” Winfrey said. “I am excited to continue to support the brand in expanding their mission to bring seasonal, delicious and nutritious food to more people.”

    Building a better food system

    Jason Karp, founder and chief executive officer of HumanCo, says True Food Kitchen is in a category of its own.

    De. Andrew Weil True Food Kitchen
    De. Andrew Weil | Courtesy

    “It’s an amazing, uniquely mission-driven brand that’s authentic, accessible and unwavering at a time when a lot of health and wellness is not. While many companies are engineering man-made and synthetic products, True Food Kitchen looks to nature and farms for all of its food — and we believe this is how we can all build a better, more sustainable food system. Most of all, we love that it’s not just healthy food, but also delicious, craveable food with fresh and intriguing options using only the best real food ingredients,” Karp said.

    According to Brent Drever, co-founder and president of Manna Tree, the investment firm made the investment into the chain because True Food aligns with its own commitments. “We’re looking forward to working closely with their management team and leveraging our expertise to help True Food Kitchen bring its revolutionary ‘better food for better living’ concept to a much wider audience,” he said.

    More than 75 percent of Americans say they eat healthily, but data reveal that’s not the case. One study found less than three percent of Americans fit the definition of a healthy lifestyle. Still, restaurants—particularly fast-food chains—have been angling toward healthier fare in recent years. Consumers say they’re driven to eat healthier plant-forward diets first for their health and secondarily for the planet.

    Images courtesy True Food Kitchen

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  • Mark Cuban and Emily Ratajkowski Back Prolific Machines’ $42 Million Raise to Scale (Cheap) Cultivated Meat

    Mosa Meat FBS

    3 Mins Read

    Emerging from stealth mode, the celebrity-backed Prolific Machines is about to bring down the price of cultivated meat significantly.

    Profilic Machines’ $42 million was raised a year ago and comes from a long list of seed and an oversubscribed Series A investors including Shark Tank investor Mark Cuban and model and actress Emily Ratajkowski.

    The seed was led by Arvind Gupta at Mayfield, and Breakthrough Energy Ventures led the Series A round. Funding also came from David Adelman, The Kraft Family, David Rubenstein, Michael Rubin, Breyer Capital, The SALT Fund, Purple Orange Ventures, Fred Blackford, Jake Poliskin, Matt Katz, Baruch Future Ventures, Kevin Love, Tobias Harris, Meek Mill, Ciara and Russell Wilson, Maverick Carter, Sean Feeney, Michael Schulson, Mark Bucher, and RJ Melman.

    The company is now preparing for its Series B, which will aim for $170 million to further accelerate its tech.

    Funding the future of food

    With the growing demand for sustainable protein, cultivated meat development has taken a starring role in the future of food. President Biden’s recent endorsement and funding for biotech are expected to accelerate U.S. approval for cultivated meat. But for a number of producers, cost is still an issue, often the core barrier to entry. Prolific Machines is emerging with tech it says can help scale up production and scale down costs at the same time.

    Prolific Machines Team
    Prolific Machines Team | Courtesy

    “You have to use these growth media proteins which are some of the most expensive things — one of the proteins we are replacing is like 30,000 times more expensive than a gram of gold,” Prolific Machines co-founder and CEO Deniz Kent told TechCrunch. “It’s really hard to scale anything for this reason because you have to use these proteins.”

    Cultured meat uses cell samples taken from live animals. But from there, the cells are grown in lab settings, often bioreactors, where they’re fed a diet of nutrients. This had first been fetal bovine serum (FBS), a controversial ingredient. But a growing number of producers have supplanted the ingredient for plant-based media that’s often less expensive than FBS.

    Price parity

    Prolific Machines says its unique approach can do for cell-cultured meat what Henry Ford did for automobiles: make it cheaper.

    “Back then, nobody really owned cars apart from super-rich people. What really changed things was Ford,” Kent said.

    “They built the assembly line for cars and found a way to manufacture cars at a price that normal people could afford. That transformed the industry because then you went from hundreds of car companies to only three companies having over 70% of the market.”

    Upside Foods’ EPIC factory, Courtesy

    Its tech brings prices down and increases availability by eliminating the need for growth media entirely. It plans to bring products to market and license its tools to companies already in the space—and there are many. Data from the think tank the Good Food Institute shows more than 100 cultivated meat and seafood startups launched last year alone, a number up 25 percent from 2020.

    “I never intended to invest in another cultured meat company, but when Deniz showed me what they were doing, I was blown away by the creativity in their approach to reinvent the assembly line for food production,” Gupta said in a statement. “It is my goal to help reverse climate change by partnering with incredible teams, and I am convinced Prolific Machines will be a winner in the race for sustainable food production.”

    Prolific Machines is building a 25,000-square-foot headquarters in Emeryville, California—not far from cultivated meat producer Upside Foods ‘Epic’ facility that can produce 400,000 pounds of cultivated meat per year. The facility should be done by next spring.

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  • Standing Ovation Closes €12 Million Series A for Precision Fermentation Casein

    Standing Ovation dairy
    3 Mins Read

    Paris-based food tech company Standing Ovation has closed an oversubscribed €12 million Series A financing round to scale its animal-free casein and alt-cheese products. The new funding was led by Astanor Ventures, with participation from Peakbridge, Seventure Partners, Big Idea Ventures, and Good Startup, among others.

    Standing Ovation’s Series A funding comes less than two years after the company launched. It’s leveraging the raise to scale its technology and output to meet the growing demand for animal-free cheese.

    ‘Tremendous potential’

    “Standing Ovation’s technology has a tremendous potential,” Frederic Paques, CEO of Standing Ovation, said in a statement. “However, bringing the products rapidly to the market requires significant resources, and substantial funding had become necessary. Astanor Ventures, which had already supported us at an earlier stage, understood it as did the other participants in this round. We would like to thank all our investor partners for their support and their confidence in the team.”

    Standing ovation cheese
    Standing ovation cheese | Courtesy

    According to Romain Chayot, Scientific Director of Standing Ovation, in only two years, the company has developed a unique and highly technological process. “We are now in a strong position to build on this momentum and transition towards more logistically intensive stages, especially scaling up,” he said.

    “Standing Ovation’s technology represents a paradigm shift for the animal-free dairy market,” Eric Archambeau, co-founder of Astanor Ventures, said. “Casein is the holy grail for the production of alternative options that match conventional products in nutrition, taste and texture yet it has remained notoriously difficult to create. The founders’ experience in biotechnology enabled them to find the key to casein development, a step ahead of many companies. We are greatly impressed by the team’s advancements over the past year both in product and process development and are excited to support them in this next step of their journey.”

    Harnessing the power of casein

    Standing Ovation says its process is “simple but innovative” and harnesses the power of casein without any animal material. Casein is what gives cheese its melting and stretching properties. It says it’s proven that its fermented casein can be combined with other products to produce “true replicas” of both fresh and soft cheese.

    Nutropy cheese | Courtesy

    Last week, another Paris-based cheese startup, Nutropy, raised €2 million in a pre-seed round for its fermented cheese.

    Both companies are targeting French cheese and the increasing demand for more sustainable options. The country has been championing sustainability in its wine production in recent years as the impact of climate change has taken a toll on wine producers.

    Livestock production makes up about 15 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and cattle is the leading livestock producer of methane, a greenhouse gas that traps more heat than CO2.

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  • Biden’s Biotech Moonshot Lights the Way for Regulatory Approval of Cultivated Meat

    4 Mins Read

    Biotech is a priority for the Biden Administration, as the President signed an executive order earlier this week implementing support for the emergent category. Funding amounts were not disclosed but Biden says biotech holds the potential to fight cancer and make alternatives to emissions-producing products including oil-based chemicals, plastics, and textiles, as well as animal-free meat and dairy products.

    Calling it a cancer ‘moonshot’, at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston earlier this week, he compared biotech to the former president’s moon landing initiative. Biden says he hopes to cut cancer deaths by 50 percent over the next quarter-century.

    Photo by Talha Hassan on Unsplash

    “Today I’m setting a long term goal for the Cancer Moonshot – to rally American ingenuity, we engage like we did to reach the moon, but actually cure cancers…once and for all,” Biden said. The president’s son Beau died of brain cancer in 2015 at age 46.

    “Today’s action is going to ensure that America leads the world in biotechnology and biomanufacturing, creating jobs, reducing prices, strengthening supply chains so we don’t have to rely on anywhere else in the world,” Biden said.

    Biotech revolution

    In a press call with White House staff, a senior administration official said the announcement and order come as the global industry is “on the cusp of a revolution powered by biotechnology.” 

    “Analyses and facts suggest that before the end of the decade, engineering biology holds the potential to be used in manufacturing industries that account for more than one third of global output.  That’s equivalent to almost $30 trillion in terms of value, the White House official said.

    “Living factories — cells — and biomass can be used to make almost anything that we use in our day-to-day lives, from medicines to fuels to plastics.  And this allows the U.S. to leverage innovation — this innovation — to strengthen our economy and society.”

    Photo by Alejandro Barrón from Pexels

    The administration says it’s also looking to improve food security and drive agricultural innovation, “including through new technologies that protect crops from disease, enhance seeds and fertilizers and foods made with cultured animal cells.”

    Dr. Michelle McMurry-Heath, president & CEO of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, welcomed the move.

    “We commend the administration for launching this initiative, particularly the actions to streamline regulatory regulations for biotechnology products, expand market opportunities for biobased products, work for international alignment of regulatory standards, and invest in training and education pathways to ensure an adequate, diverse biotech workforce,” McMurray-Heath said in a statement.

    Biotech ag

    “This announcement puts in place steps that will help the soy industry continue to use soybeans to develop innovative, sustainable products that can help lower greenhouse gas emissions and create more jobs for not only agriculture but all Americans,” American Soybean Association President Brad Doyle said in a statement.

    “We are also pleased to see included measures that support agricultural biotechnology regulatory reform, along with quite a few other provisions.”

    Upside Foods’ EPIC factory, Courtesy

    The move is also expected to speed regulatory approval for cultivated meat in the U.S and around the world. The industry raised $1.38 billion last year, according to the Good Food Institute. Last year saw the launch of more than 100 cultivated meat and seafood startups—a number up nearly 25 percent over 2020. Twenty-five countries now have at least one cultivated meat company.

    U.S.-based Upside Foods, which has raised more than $600 million and is now valued at more than $1 billion, opened a $50 million California factory last year that it says can produce 400,000 pounds of cultivated meat per year. Currently, only Singapore has approved the sale of cultivated meat products for Bay Area’s Eat Just Good Meat.


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  • Australia’s Magic Valley Takes on the Growing Demand for Lamb With Novel Cultivated  Meat Tech

    Magic Valley lamb meat
    3 Mins Read

    Australian food-tech company Magic Valley says it has created a prototype for the country’s first cultivated lamb meat.

    It’s a move the company says is aimed at meeting Australia’s changing dietary preferences. According to Magic Valley, more than 33 percent of Australians are looking at ways to reduce meat consumption. 

    Global lamb consumption

    While a number of food tech companies are tackling chicken, pork, and beef, lamb has seen far fewer innovations in the space. But there’s an urgent need to address lamb consumption as it is the fourth most consumed land-based meat in the world—about a quarter of the global population regularly consumes lamb, a number that’s climbed from 20 percent a decade ago. That number is only expected to rise as income levels rise in countries including China, which consumes the most lamb in the world.

    Lamb is a leading contributor to climate change due in large part to the methane emissions. A single sheep can produce about 30 litres of methane each day. Methane traps more atmospheric heat than carbon dioxide. The world’s leading climate experts say an urgent 30 percent drop in methane emissions is needed to help keep the planet from surpassing the 1.5°C temperature rise over pre-industrial levels.

    Paul Bevan, Founder and CEO, Magic Valley
    Paul Bevan, Founder and CEO, Magic Valley | Courtesy

    “By 2024, cultivated meat products will be indistinguishable from traditionally farmed meat, with the ability to enhance nutrients to positively impact the human population,” founder and CEO Paul Bevan said in a statement.

    “With the global population predicted to reach 10 billion people by 2050, the traditional methods of animal agriculture are simply inadequate to meet the protein needs of our future generations. The move away from traditional meat consumption is motivated by many different reasons for Australians, but the science has shown that if we are not feeding livestock and instead feeding ourselves, this is a viable way to nourish the human population beyond 2050,” Bevan said. 

    Making cultivated lamb meat without FBS

    The lamb cells were taken from a small skin biopsy of a lamb named Lucy, who the company says is “happily residing in a field in New South Wales.” The cells were then turned into induced pluripotent stem (iPS) stem cells that can grow in “an unlimited and scalable way”.

    These cells can also grow to produce muscle and fat. The tech allows Magic Valley to bypass the need for a growth medium like Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS)—all that’s needed is the initial tissue sample, which can be done with little harm to the animals. Magic Valley says the use of this tech marks a world’s first for lamb meat.

    Magic Valley lamb meatballs
    Magic Valley lamb meatballs | Courtesy

    According to Magic Valley, its cultivated lamb meat looks and cooks just like conventional lamb but with the potential for a healthier nutrition profile. The company is currently using cultivated lamb for burgers and tacos.

    Magic Valley says the cultivated meat market could make up more than 30 percent of the global $1.8 trillion meat market by 2040. 

    “The positive impacts cultivated meats can have not only have the potential to save over 70 billion animals per year, but also lays the groundwork for a more environmentally sustainable future by significantly reducing global greenhouse gas emissions by 92 percent,” the company said. Magic Valley anticipates bringing its products to market by 2024 pending regulatory approval and a forthcoming $5 million seed capital raise.

    Photos courtesy Magic Valley

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  • Compostable Seaweed-Coated Coffee Balls Are Coming for Your Nespresso

    2 Mins Read

    Your coffee habit is on notice. Swiss retail giant Migros says it is launching a proprietary coffeemaking system aimed at replacing single-use coffee pods.

    Launching in Switzerland and France, Migros’ CoffeeB Coffee Balls were five years in the making. Designed to replace single-serve plastic coffee pods, they are encased in a thin protective layer that doesn’t dissolve during the brewing process. It is fully compostable in about four weeks and will decompose in most home composting systems.

    Courtesy Migros/CoffeeB

    That compostable layer is made from a seaweed-derived material that the company says is tasteless and colorless.

    CoffeeB is not the first company to look to seaweed and algae packaging to solve the single-use problem.

    In 2017, Skipping Rocks Lab debuted the Ooho water pod—an algal membrane-coated sphere delivery mechanism to replace bottled water. The product created a buzz—2019 London marathoners were treated to the pods.

    No-capsule coffee

    “We believe that our no-capsule system is the future of portioned coffee and that regular aluminum and plastic capsule systems will be phased out over time,” Frank Wilde, head of CoffeeB and former Nespresso executive told Daily Coffee News.

    “The reason is simple: CoffeeB solves the capsule waste problem, and tastes just as good as traditional capsule coffee. The transition will however take time and, similar to the trend towards electric cars, a radical change won’t happen overnight,” Wilde says.

    Courtesy Migros/CoffeeB

    While they’re plastic-free, the new coffee balls do require their own machine, though. Called The Globe, it can brew one 5.3- to 5.9-gram ball of pure ground coffee, which is roasted by Swiss brand Café Royal.

    “The Coffee Balls are only compatible with the Coffee B Globe machine since we had to develop a completely new brewing technology,” Caroline Siefarth, who led the company’s research and development process for CoffeeB, told Daily Coffee News. “It is a completely different system to existing coffee capsules.”

    Like the Coffee Balls, the Globe machine is made from recycled materials and features a modular design to allow for parts replacement, unlike many conventional machines.

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  • PowerPlant Partners Raises $330 Million to Focus on Growth-Stage Eco Companies

    liquid death
    2 Mins Read

    With its recent $330 million raise, PowerPlant Partners’ third fund, the PPV Fund III, will shift to focus solely on growth-stage vegan companies.

    According to PPV founders Daniel Gluck and Mark Rampolla, this is the first “true growth equity fund” for the vegan industry.

    “We are thrilled to receive such strong support and commitment from our limited partners, especially during a period of increased market volatility,” Gluck said in a statement. “This new fund will allow us to deepen and grow our efforts to find, fund and scale breakthrough companies that are building a healthier, more sustainable future.”

    Expanding vision

    Rampolla says the additional capital will allow PPV to expand its team and build “an even stronger” bench of industry-leading operating advisors and partners.

    “This will enable us to continue to bring an unparalleled level of insight and support to companies and apply our experience to a wider range of businesses that put human and planetary life at the center of business,” Rampolla said.

    PowerPlant Partners founders Daniel Gluck (left) and Mark Rampolla (right) | Courtesy

    PowerPlant Partners says it’s also expanding its strategic vision beyond plant-based products to include adjacent technology, service, and enablement companies “that put human and planetary life at the center of business.”

    This shift, the company says, will enable the firm to grow its platform and offer a “more integrated network” for its portfolio companies and partners.

    The platform has already made four investments into vegan and sustainable companies including Miyoko’s Creamery, Liquid Death, Partake Brewing, and SYSTM Foods. PPV III is aiming to invest between $15-40 million in companies with $10-75 million in annual revenue.

    A changing industry

    The move away from startup investing signals a shift in the increasingly crowded plant-based and sustainable consumer packaged goods industry.

    “We have transitioned to focus on larger, more established growth companies, with a direct path to profitability in one to three years,” Gluck told Forbes.

    Plant-based Beyond Meat Sausage | Courtesy

    “We have always invested in businesses that put human and planetary life at the center of business, and every single one of our portfolio companies is already embracing this theme,” Gluck said.

    “We are taking our proven platform in the consumer-wellness space, leveraging it to tangential sectors, and offering a more integrated and synergistic network for our portfolio companies and partners. Through our expansion, we will bring our portfolio companies an unparalleled level of insight and support.”


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