Robots are cool but there’s a time and a place, says Hyphen cofounder Stephen Klein. “Turns out you don’t actually need a 30-kg robotic arm to move a coffee cup.”
Blue Tree Technologies has developed a patented process to selectively remove sugars from juice, milk, and beer.
“One thing we’ve recognized is that sometimes breakthrough technologies that map really well to a very positive and impactful food and agri thesis might originate outside of the sector,” says Michael Lavin.
Funding into Australian agrifoodtech startups fell 33% last year according to AgFunder data… But it could have been worse: global agrifoodtech funding fell 49% over the same period.
Scaling and commercializing products from a completely new crop takes time and patient capital, says Terviva cofounder and CEO Naveen Sikka.
Funding winter notwithstanding, “If you’re doing something different and really innovative, you will make money,” says Vinod Khosla.
If the marketing of whey from fermentation is too narrowly focused on the ‘animal-free’ aspect, it potentially limits the market, says Netherlands-based startup Vivici.
Are GLP-1 drugs “an existential threat to the processed food industry,” as one academic recently told the New York Times, or are they creating new opportunities for companies to create new products or reposition existing ones?
“I think the pain will continue for a while as deals that aren’t performing are price corrected,” says managing partner Lucas Mann. “But I’m still super bullish about this space.”
Cauldron believes a continuous fermentation process will be key to unlocking the commercial viability of microbial fermentation for a host of ingredients that have historically been sourced from animals or petrochemicals.
How will cultivated meat transition from a loss-making novelty served at a handful of restaurants to a viable alternative to animal ag?
There’s no way to sugarcoat this: investment in agrifoodtech startups is at its lowest point in six years. But considering the contribution of the agrifood sector to the global economy and livelihoods, has the correction gone too far?
The Zurich-based startup’s ‘yeast cream’ can dramatically improve the mouthfeel and performance of alt dairy products, claims CCO Lucie Rein.
The zero-cholesterol, low-saturated fat eggs are made from a base of soy and chickpea protein plus sunflower oil, with ‘runny’ yolks sealed from the whites by an alginate film.
Beyond Meat Jerky, the first product to emerge from the firm’s JV with PepsiCo, is being discontinued less than two years after launch.
Less than five months after announcing its first commercial-scale cultivated meat plant in Glenview, Illinois, UPSIDE Foods has hit pause…
Founded by ex-Impossible Foods exec Reed McCord, First Bite is a data platform designed for food manufacturers looking to increase sales in the foodservice channel.
The ‘PROFUSE-B8’ bovine myoblasts—muscle progenitor cells—are spontaneously immortalized without the use of genetic engineering.
According to its CEO: “We still have quite a bit of runway as we’ve been very lean. Part of that is because we’ve never invested in large-scale production capacity [in-house] and we’ve never entered the B2C world.”
Phytolon aims to launch natural colors produced by genetically engineered baker’s yeast in the US this year, pending regulatory approvals.
