FH Ventures: 5 new startups raising

Hi there,

The FoodHack Virtual Demo Day is back 🙌

Some quick stats - since Demo Day #1 in October 2021

$50M+ raised by alumni.482 VC <> Startup intro's made. ≈25% startups raised 2 x subsequent rounds.6 startups found their lead investor at the Demo Day.7 startups backed by FoodHack (Melibio, Hyfe Foods, Inulox)

The Demo Day really works.

And this year we've limited it to just 10 pitching startups. If you want to see whats next in the future of FoodTech 👇

- Apply here to join / Refer a company to pitch

Now onto 5 new deals of the week - from precision fermentation cheese to alt-protein infrastructure.

🔍 Agrinorm (Newly Opened)

📍 HQ: Switzerland💸 Raising: CHF 900k🙋‍♀️ CEO: Daria Reisch👀 Existing investors: Angel Investors💡 Pitch: "Agrinorm helps fresh fruit & veg suppliers reduce up to 15% of food waste and gain competitive advantage with a SaaS platform for data-driven quality management."📈 Traction:- Our platform is used by 2 well know in the industry paying enterprise customers.- 4 retailers are interested in acquiring our solution.

+ Learn More / View Deck / Request Intro

🏭 Boston Bioworks (Featured Previously - 15+ VC Intro's)

📍 HQ: USA💸 Raising: $5M USD🙋‍♂️ CEO: Michael Tai (ex ADM / Motif)👀 Existing investors: n/a💡 Pitch: "Helping alternative protein companies ferment at scale. Strain evaluation, fermentation / downstream processing scale up, and tech transfer to manufacturing organizations. Very expensive to do in-house and very difficult to find qualified third parties with the right skills and equipment."📈 Traction:- Built a founding team thats ex MIT, ADM/Motif, GE Healthcare - Significant interest precision fermentation startups

+ Learn More / View Deck / Request Intro

🧀 Funki (Newly Opened)

📍 HQ: Germany💸 Raising: €200K EUR🙋‍♀️ CEO: Melissa Kabakci👀 Existing investors: n/a💡 Pitch: "At funki, we strive to create animal-free cheese and dairy products that are indistinguishable from traditional and artisanal options through precision fermentation technologies."📈 Traction: - Ready to partner with the top yeast cloning experts in the US who have created the impossible foods flavouring compound+ Learn More / View Deck / Request Intro

🔎 Tocco (Featured Previously - Closing Soon)

📍 HQ: France💸 Raising: €500K EUR🙋‍♂️ CEO: Leon Ge👀 Existing investors: Angel round: Accel (via scout); Lightspeed Ventures (Partner); EIT Climaccelerator; Quest Ventures (Partner); Cofounder Printify; CEO of Transport Jumeau💡 Pitch: "Companies suffer from complexity in supplier search and sourcing operations as well as difficulty in managing sustainability and climate in the supply chain - Tocco is building the sustainable infrastructure for SME sourcing in Europe"📈 Traction: - Facilitated one transaction between supplier and buy worth of $13'000.- Round oversubscribed with industry leading Angels.

+ Learn More / View Deck / Request Intro

🧀 Yeastup (Featured Previously - 3 VC Intro's)

📍 HQ: Switzerland💸 Raising: 6M CHF🙋‍♂️ CEO: Daniel Gnos (previously sold Chiefs AG)👀 Existing investors: Several Angel Investors (Confidential)💡 Pitch: "Yeastup will be the highest-quality global producer of vegan proteins and fibers from natural and sustainably sourced upcycled yeast. We act B2B and support the revolution towards high-quality, sustainable, alternative ingredients for meat, dairy, egg, pet food, supplement, and natural cosmetic products.."📈 Traction: - Filed patent and positive feedback for approval from the EU patent office- Scalable approach (continuous process of several 100 tons of input). - Currently producing small sample sizes to further optimize the yield and purity - Several NDAs and LOIs from well-known food- and cosmetics producers. - Secured enough yeast supply with a well-known beer producer across Europe

+ Learn More / View Deck / Request Intro

🔥 Popular Last Week

🍭 Biofect Innovations (2 VC intro's) - Sustainably bring high-value B2B protein ingredients to the food system, to support the creation of eco-conscious food products. Raising: $1M USD

🐟 Hooked Foods (4 VC intro's) - Develop, market and sell delicious and healthy plant-based seafood to foodservice and grocery. We have a strong portfolio with innovations such as Toonish and Salmoonish in 76% of retailers in Sweden.Raising: $6M USD

🧀 Vacka (Newly Opened) - Design and elaborate plant-based analogs to cheese, in order to facilitate the implementation of a healthier and more sustainable diet in the general population.Raising: €1.5M EUR

🐕 OMNI Pet (Newly Opened) - OMNI is on a mission to become the number 1 health-led pet food brand that's better for dogs and better for the planet.Raising: £5M GBP

💰 Fund Spotlight: Contrarian Ventures

👋 Founder: Rokas Peciulaitis🙋‍♂️ GP: Tomas Kemtys📆 Founded: 2017💰 Fund Size: Targeting $100M (Fund II)💡 The idea: “Contrarian Ventures invests in tech that could help decarbonize transportation, industrial processes, energy and buildings. The firm backs emerging startups in Europe as well as Israel, but nowhere else in the Middle East"👀 Portfolio inc:  e-bike maker Zoomo, solar data firm PVcase + 18 others

💡 5 Good Reads

🔎 A massive new study has estimated the environmental impact of 57,000 grocery store items. The researchers are among the first to assess the impact of products with multiple ingredients, and their work has the potential to pave the way for wide-spread use of eco-labels on foods.

❓ Great Question: By Discord member Catherine Tubb and Tsung Xu, asking why more funding gone to food than materials when the barriers to commercialisation seems easier when looking at materials. More in depth views on that in tomorrow's edition of ClimateHack (subscribe here)

📈 Good Insight: Big believer in this - the private market exist due to government inefficiencies to get things done.

💡 Interesting thread about the flow of funds in VC backed companies (like Meta):

🤷‍♂️ Serious question: Am I meant to be excited by this?

😅 Bit of Fun

Who spent it better?

Thanks for reading today's edition! And make sure to reserve your spot at the Demo Day today.

And please let me know what did you think of today's edition?

😁 Love It 😐 Meh 😕 Hate it

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.