FH Ventures: 3D Printed Seafood + Farming Robotics

This week we deep dived into the growing sector of alt-protein infrastructure and the companies jumping in to provide the shovels and wheelbarrows to the gold rush.

The tldr is that plant-based sector will need $27BN in infrastructure money to meet growing demand, and that’s not including cell-based meat and other alternative proteins like precision or biomass fermentation.

With a likely shortage of extrusion factories, lab equipment and bioreactors on the horizon -  a number of startups are now working to fill this demand with bespoke equipment (and services).

From improved bioreactors (see Ark Biotech's $2.5M raise last year) to CDMO's (see Extracellular who's raising now) -  we tracked over 40 startups working in this space.

But infrastructure has typically not been seen as a VC case: equipment and processing are all quite similar, with little/no novel IP, large barriers to entry, don’t benefit from brand halo effect and returns are likely less lucrative.

So while cashflow here will likely be steady and consistently rising, and more VC's are looking into investing here, the question remains:

Is infrastructure venture backable? and if not - who should be funding it?

Onto 5 new deals of the week

🧪 Ergo Bioscience Inc

HQ: Argentina Raising: $3M USD - Valuation: $12M USDExisting investors: Label VenturesStatus: Searching LeadFounders: Maria Laura Garcia, Alejandro Barbarini, Eduardo Peña

Pitch: "Ergo is a biotech based startup focused on the production of complex animal proteins by plant cell fermentation for plant-based food applications.."

Traction:

• We are working in codevelopment projects with very important globally players in the food industry.

• Some of them testing our patented plant-based myoglobin and other testing our patented plant based kappa-casein.

Competition: Ginkgo Bioworks, Every Co., Geltor

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🧀 FÆRM

HQ: DenmarkRaising: €1M EUR - Valuation: €4M EURExisting investors: Kale UnitedStatus: Newly Searching LeadFounders: Andrea Donau Lauridsen, Anna Gundorph, Mikkel DupontPitch: "FÆRM is an food tech company making plant based cheese with traditional dairy methods of coagulation and fermentation that are easily and cheaply scaled."Traction: 

• Applied for patent to produce cheese on legumes using enzymes and coagulation.

• Current product line includes: Ricotta, Cream Cheese, and Brie. Goat Cheese, Gouda, Feta to come.

• From B2B customers we have experienced an overwhelming response to our plant based cheese.

• Team including a dairy engineer, a protease specialist, a biochemist.

• Currently in dialogue with three large dairy plants, both inside and outside of Denmark.

Competition: Formo, Perfect Day, Stockeld Dreamery, Violife, Mondarella, New RootsLearn More / View Deck / Request Intro (sign up/sign in required)

🥛 Hoaly Foods

HQ: GermanyRaising: €1.5M Euro - Valuation: -Existing investors: Atlantic Food Labs (AFL)Status: Round newly openedFounders: Dennis Gaden, Alejandro Casacuberta

Pitch: "At HOALY we offer nutritious oat-based products, that are regionally sourced from organic oats. We reduce carbon emissions through healthier nutrition."

Traction:

• 3 products launched; 10 additional products until Q3 2022 (330ml ready to drink, ice cream, meal replacements) - all local oat based.

• 100 POS onboarded in Berlin, Munich, Cologne within 12 weeks

• 2 years exclusive contract with Aylin Ölcer, German Barista Championship Winner

Competition: Oatly, Alpro, Voelkel.

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 🐟 Revo Foods

HQ: ViennaRaising: €15M EUR - Valuation: -Existing investors: Hazelpond Capital, Alberd Schmidbauer (Biogena), Daan Luining (Meatable) & others.Status: 50% of round raised.Founders: Robin Simsa, Theresa Rothenbücher, Manuel LachmayrPitch: "Revo Foods develops and produces plant-based seafood alternatives using 3D-printing technology."Traction:

• Launched 1st Product: Revo Smoked Salmon Slices to retail.

• Already sell our products in 15 european countries and have a high growth traction.

• Finalized & patented new print head design.

Competition: Hooked, Kuleana, Good Catch, Odontella, Vegan ZeastarLearn More / View Deck / Request Intro (sign up/sign in required)

 🥬 Seasony

HQ: DenmarkRaising: €5M EUR - Valuation: -Existing investors: VaekstfondenStatus: Seeking a lead.Founders: Christopher Weis Thomasen, Servet Coskun, Erkan Tosti Taskiran

Pitch: "Seasony is a Modular Robotics Automation Platform for Vertical Farming that performs logistics and data monitoring in Vertical Farms to make the farms profitable and scalable."

Traction:

• We have piloted our prototype robot in three different vertical farms all over the Nordics.

• Have attracted interest from some of the biggest US vertical farms and expect to start first customer integration in June this year with a norwegian vertical farm.

• We have attracted a stellar team of engineers and PhD's and the best investors and ex-founders in Denmark, with 250+ million dollar robotics and software exits.

Competition: Jungheinrich, Schaeffer, Swisslog, Logiqs, Bosman van Zaal

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+ Hot Decks Last Week:

🍫 Seminal Biosciences - novel bioengineering platform for cocoa-free chocolates.

🥩 Mirco Meat  (YC'S21) - technology for scaling cultivated meat.

♻️ Foodititve - plant-based ingredients through valorising and upcycling side-streams.

🧑‍🔬 Greencovery - upcycles valuable ingredients from food companies side-streams.+ Other popular: Blue Farm, Mooji Meats, Adonis Smart Foods

+ Invest via FoodHack from $5k and up:

🍄 Hyfe Foods (FH DD'22)- Using fungi to produce low-carb, protein-rich foods from wasted food-industry side streams. More info.Allocation full: Reply to join the waitlist

🥚 Evo Foods (FH DD'22)- Asia's first plant based egg created with mung, chickpeas and peas with 1/3rd the cost of other plant based eggs worldwide. More info.Allocation 80% full: Reply to invest.

🧀 Nutropy (FH DD'22)- Developing milk proteins identical to cow proteins to create premium French cheeses that would fool the most Frenchy-French. More info.Collecting commitments: Reply to invest.

Fund Spotlight: Voyager Ventures 🇺🇸

Partners: Sierra Peterson, Sarah SclarsicFounded: 2021HQ: San Francisco, USASize: $100 million Fund IFocus: "Early-stage climate technology companies in North America and Europe. Backing startups working on technology to help decarbonize transportation, energy systems and food and materials production, among other sectors.."👀 Portfolio includes: Ento Labs, gigElev, Remora, 2 stealth co's (materials & foods)

Good Reads / Graphics

🐓 Deal of the week: French B2B alt-protein startup Umiami just raised the "largest ever" plant-based Series A round in Europe, with $30M led by Astanor Ventures. The company plans to use this for industrialisation of its plant-based chicken breast production which early tasters have told me is "very good".

🍫 Discussion of the week: cult favorite chocolate bar brand Mid Day Squares just raised $10M Series C at a $35M valuation. The company had $8M in revenue in 2021. Apply that to alt protein sector - and that valuation would have been well over $100M. Then look at exits - RxBar (chocolate bars) sold to Mars for $600M whilst Vivera (European alt-protein leader) sold to JBS for $409M. Brings to question the current valuations we're seeing in alt-protein and wether this is sustainable. I don't have the answer - but would love to hear your thoughts.

🧀 Fat is back - nice overview by Sifted on the need for alt-fats to make truly great tasing alternatives and the rising VC interest in this space. Fundraising now in this space inc. Cultimate Foods (b2b cultivated fat solutions) and Green-On (plant-based fats).

📈 The 3 words to add to any foodtech deck to 3x a startup valuation.

 🍄 Random: Watch this video about how mushrooms are harvested with new cultivation technology. pretty cool. 

The best party summit in foodtech 👋

Not going to pitch it because by now you already know you want to come.

The who's who of foodtech are already attending, early bird tickets just sold out, private investor dinners are being planned, and ticket prices are going up next week.

Make the jump - reserve your ticket to the FoodHack Summit today and come meet some of the showcasing startups featured below:

Bit of Fun 😂

"so if this company 10x's in 5 years my $500 investment should be worth.."

Thanks for reading today's edition, not as good as last week but a solid B imo.

Until next time,

Arman Anatürk

Co-Founder & CEO @FoodHack (HackVentures)Disclaimer: ‍Investing in startups and early stage businesses involves risks, including illiquidity, lack of dividends, loss of investment and dilution. This communication is intended for experienced investors, with sufficient experience and knowledge to understand the processes and risks involved. Do your DD, make your own decisions, invest aware, your capital is at risk.