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Image by Sensible Hot Dogs
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✅ Canada’s Sensible Hot Dogs has gone public on the NEO Exchange and raised nearly $12 million in non-brokered private financing for its plant-based hot dogs.
TAKEAWAY: Sensible is fueling its growth to target the increasing demand for hot dogs. According to The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, Americans consume about 20 billion hot dogs every year, with 95 percent of Americans eating about 70 hot dogs per year.
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✅ London-based Multus Biotechnology raised $9 million Series A funding to help accelerate its growth media technology aimed at reducing cultivated meat costs.
TAKEAWAY: The funding was led by Mandi Ventures with participation from SOSV, Big Idea Ventures, and SynBioVen, alongside sustainable materials-focused company, Asahi Kasei. Multus also secured a $2.5 million grant from Innovate U.K. through the EIC Accelerator — Europe’s most competitive startup grant.
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✅ Israel precision fermentation startup Remilk announced a partnership with US food giant General Mills.
TAKEAWAY: The announcement marks Remilk’s US debut and its first commercial collaboration, having launched in 2019 and raised $130 million to date in two fundraising rounds with a valuation of $325 million.
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✅ New Zealand’s NewFish and the Cawthron Institute have entered into a strategic partnership aimed at commercialising “blue” microalgae for use in specialised protein.
TAKEAWAY: According to Toby Lane, incoming NewFish CEO, resource-efficient and functional “blue” ocean-based proteins play a critical role in shaping the future of the protein sector.
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“We have a responsibility to provide consumers and customers with great tasting, healthy protein that has a light environmental footprint. Microalgae will play a pivotal role in delivering this.”
Toby Lane, CEO, NewFish
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Image by Crafty Counter
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🛒 PRODUCT INNOVATION & LAUNCHES 🛒
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✅ Texas startup Crafty Counter has launched its flagship product, a vegan hard-boiled egg made from nuts, at Whole Foods grocery stores across the country.
TAKEAWAY: 2023 marks Crafty Counter’s strategic pivot into focusing solely on developing plant-based egg offerings to address the gap in a category that the company says needs more innovation and variety.
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✅ Boston-based AI startup The Live Green Co., which has developed a platform dubbed ‘Charaka’, used to discover plant-based replacements for animal ingredients, synthetics, and highly processed ingredients, has unveiled a precision fermentation division.
TAKEAWAY: “There are almost 450,000 plants in nature, but modern science has only explored one to two percent of them, and most of the recommendations our AI ML platform [Charaka] gives are not readily available in a commercial form, so precision fermentation helps us synthesize them in a scalable way,” commented co-founder Sasikanth Chemalamudi.
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✅ Germany’s Veganz Group AG has secured a license for its patented vegan milk 2D-printing process, developed in partnership with US-based Vitiprints LLC.
TAKEAWAY: The milk is printed into quick-dissolving sheets, discs, or pads made from oat, almond, or soy, and Veganz says the new patented tech increases the shelf life of its milk to more than two years.
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✅ French startup Dévore Food, founded by conventional meat lovers, has released its first products, Nugs and Strips, which it says are more affordable than organic chicken.
TAKEAWAY: “It was important for us to make our products accessible to make life easier for people who want to reduce their meat consumption, whether they are flexitarians, teenagers who have the munchies, or parents who don’t have the time to cook,” co-founder Eugénie Le Dressay said in a statement.
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🤝🏼 NEWS BITE FROM OUR SPONSOR
Brinc Food Technology Program Manager, Nicole Lee, has delved into the issues surrounding the recent baby formula shortages, with the help of insight from representatives of portfolio company Harmony Baby Nutrition and Brinc Venture Partner, Mattan Lurie.➡️ Learn more.
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Image by GOOD Meat
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📈 CONSUMER TRENDS & NEWS HIGHLIGHTS 📈
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✅ GOOD Meat, the cultivated meat division of San Francisco’s Eat Just, has secured the world’s first regulatory approval for a serum-free media.
TAKEAWAY: Eat Just says the approval of the new serum-free media will lead to greater scalability while lowering its manufacturing costs, alongside making its cultivated meat more sustainable.
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✅ Israel’s Aleph Farms’ cultivated meat has earned kosher status from the country’s Chief Rabbi, marking an industry first.
TAKEAWAY: The kosher certification opens the door to a large percentage of the country’s population once the meat achieves approval.
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Image courtesy of Vevolution
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⚡ QUICK BITES ⚡
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Vevolution recently published its 2022 Year in Review, which covers data on startups, funding rounds, and investors in the plant-based and cellular agriculture space.
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Leading global specialty minerals company ICL announced that its AgriFood innovation and investment platform, ICL Planet Startup Hub, has invested €2.75 million in Arkeon, GmbH, to co-develop CO2- derived protein ingredients for food applications.
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Plant-based bacon brand Hooray Foods’ first-ever community round is now live on Wefunder.
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Colorado’s leading plant-based restaurant chain, Meta Burger, is partnering with MeliBio to bring the world’s first bee-free honey to new US markets.
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Ukrainian food startup Green Go hosting a tasting event and Q&A session at ProVeg HQ in Berlin next week to showcase its realistic plant-based shrimp, salmon burgers, calamari, and whole cuts.
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UK vegan fried chick*n company VFC is expanding its US footprint with a milestone launch into US grocer Raley’s.
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Slutty Vegan, founded by Pinky Cole, is set to open its first drive-thru at a new location currently being built out in Columbus, Georgia.
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Oatly is partnering with Swedish retailer Reitan to roll out its Barista product to almost 400 convenience stores across the country.
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British vegan restaurant chain Neat Burger has made its food available for delivery in London via the Uber Eats app.
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Fast-casual restaurant chain Pret A Manger is closing many of its Veggie Pret outlets or converting them into traditional Pret A Manger stores.
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Meatless Farm has introduced Foundation Earth eco-labelling to its core product range, to communicate the environmental impact of its products to consumers.
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Vegan pioneer Derek Sarno is leaving Tesco after six years, having helped to establish plant-based business in the UK and developed two innovative plant-based brands.
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A Swiss court has ruled that the “meaty” product terms and labels used by plant-based food manufacturer Planted Foods are not deceptive to consumers.
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A new six-part science documentary, HUMAN FOOTPRINT, will examine all the ways humans have transformed the planet.
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The 1st Malaysia Cultivated Meat Conference will take place 15th & 16th March 2023 to bring together all industry players who want to increase their knowledge and foothold in this growth market. Get more information here.
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- 🗣️ The New Food Invest APAC, taking place February 15th, will bring together international plant-based and cultivated food businesses, investors and venture capitalists to benefit from the growth of the alternative protein sector in the Asia-Pacific region. Sign up here.
- 🌟 Join 1,500+ industry leaders & disrupters this April in Las Vegas at Cumulus 2023, the premiere gathering cutting edge of agtech, foodtech and intersecting climatetech companies. The Green Queen community can save $200 on the ticket price; get yours here.
- 🔈 Future Food-Tech's flagship San Francisco summit is happening March 16-17. Find out more here.
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The world's food systems are undergoing a revolution- we've got close to 8 billion people to feed and alternative protein may just be the answer. From cellular agriculture to plant-based food tech to precision fermentation, we need to reform our global food production. The Green Queen Alt Protein Weekly newsletter is here to highlight the latest news, trends and insights for all members of the future food ecosystem.
Today's edition was brought to you by Nicola and Brinc, a venture capital and accelerator firm that empowers game changers to help solve some of the world's biggest challenges. |
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