FH Ventures: 5 startup raising now

Hi there,

Last weeks edition on curated impact funds was a hit! We had an uptick in funds reaching out to be featured and we've been able to make some hopefully meaningful connections via the newsletter.

This week we're back to spotlighting startups fundraising - from IoT devices that translate what bees are saying to shelf life extending biological coatings for fruits and veg.

Let's jump in.

p.s. We just dropped edition #2 of what leading FoodTech VC's are watching. Check it out.

🐝 Buzzup (Searching Lead)

📍 HQ: Italy💸 Raising: €3M EUR🙋‍♂️ CEO: Roberto Pasi👀 Existing investors: Angel round: Giovanni Gentilini, Dominique Locher, Franco Gabbrielli💡 Pitch: "BuzzUp creates IoT devices that listen to and translate the sound of different bee species into pollination performance and health data to help farmers increase crop yields and quality, beekeepers increase profits and help save bees in an increasingly difficult climate."📈 Traction:- 500+ customers- 1500+ active devices- 90% retention rate- CLTV/CAC: 21x- Cash positive since 2019

+ View Deck / Learn More

💡 Gutly Foods (Soon to open)

📍 HQ: Finland💸 Raising: €2M EUR🙋‍♂️ CEO: Mika Aalto👀 Existing investors: Angel Round: Heimo Hakkarainen, Robin Lindahl💡 Pitch: ""Gutly is turning pure and rich superfoods and side streams of the North to personalized smart food targeted to your gut. Focusing on breakfast and snacking occasions with D2C subscription model."📈 Traction:- Launched MVP products based on existing science - Over 400 users during the past 1 1/2 year- Distribution in own channel and leading health store in Finland.

+ View Deck / Learn More

🛒 MyJam (Soon to open)

📍 HQ: United Kingdom💸 Raising: $10M USD🙋‍♂️ CEO: Moe Ghashim👀 Existing investors: InReach, David Buttress, Ben Holmes💡 Pitch: "Cultural grocery marketplace sourced from a network of grocers, butchers, bakers and indie chefs. Cultural grocery supply is fragmented. We bring it together in one place."📈 Traction:- 250% YoY- 30% Repeat customers- 6,500 SKUs

+ View Deck / Learn More

🍋 Proteme (Searching Lead)

📍 HQ: France💸 Raising: €800k EUR🙋‍♂️ CEO: Paul Malfoy👀 Existing investors: n/a💡 Pitch: "Proteme develops an ecological food coating solution for fruits & vegetables that extends their shelf life and protect them against storage diseases. As a true substitute to synthetical post-harvest phytosanitary products, it acts as a second skin and plays two main roles: a physical barrier as it limits gas exchanges with the atmosphere and a biological barrier as it actively fight against fungal and bacterial growth."📈 Traction:- Winners of many competitions (Agrinove, OYEA ODDO-BHF- Finalist for the 2022 MB good4nature prize, Rungis&Co Demo Day...)- Many incubation programs followed (Ecole Polytechnique X-Up, Rungis&Co, Genopole and AgroParisTech FoodInn'Lab)- Regulatory strategy established (work with Eurofins to build a marketing authorization file to be then analyzed by ANSES in France)

+ View Deck / Learn More

🦟 Sibo (Searching Lead)

📍 HQ: Netherlands💸 Raising: €1.2M EUR🙋‍♂️ CEO: Alejandro Ortega👀 Existing investors: Rabobank, Green Creators💡 Pitch: "We are bridging the gap between insects & food using biotech & data science to develop ingredients and biomaterials that will prevent health problems, improve nutrition and accelerate sustainability."📈 Traction:- Developed the world’s first water soluble protein isolate from insects- Successfully Piloted Insect Bio-component Separation Process Validated for Commercial Volumes- First Patent pending for protein, 3 other on the way. - 3 Signed Material Transfer Agreement & Strategic R&D activities with food companies (potential demand of over 200 ton per month)

+ View Deck / Learn More

🔥 Popular Last Week

🇺🇸 Joyful Ventures - "Early-stage venture fund investing in the future of sustainable protein. As leaders of the world’s most prolific alternative protein organizations and exited founders, our team brings over forty years of industry experience and an unparalleled network of global dealflow."Raising: $40M Fund I. Connect with Jennifer to learn more 

🇬🇧 Exceptional Ventures - "Early-stage Venture Capital firm that invests in high-impact businesses focused on helping people live happier, healthier, and longer lives. Our focus areas are HealthTech, FoodTech and Financial Health - which we believe are essential to improve quality of life and healthspan."Raising: £20M Fund I. Connect with Paolo to learn more

☕️ The Kawa Project - "Upcycling industrial waste from coffee brewing factories into novel plant-based fats that can mimic animal fats, such as fats from pork and poultry. Later, we intend to introduce protein made from one of our industrial byproducts."Raising: $3.2M USD

🍭 Biofect - "Combining synthetic biology with fermentation technology, Biofect creates unique microbes capable of efficiently producing proteins that are structurally and functionally equivalent to those found in nature - without needing the actual plant or animal source."Raising: $1M USD

🧀 Funding Spotlight: Cultivated Biosciences

👋 Founders: Tomas Turner and Dimitri Zogg📆 Founded: 2021📍 Country: Zurich, Switzerland 💸 Funding: $1.5 M pre-seed💡 The pitch: "Creating something akin to high-fat cream using a GMO-free yeast fermentation process. Using a one-step process starting with oleaginous (oily) yeast, which it then ferments depending on the needs of its vegan dairy-brand clients and the specific products they’re making — whether that’s yogurt, cheese, ice cream or anything else."👀 Investor inc: FoodHack, Wingman Ventures (Lead), Big Idea Ventures, Blue Horizon, Proveg International, EVERY’s Arturo with the support of ex-supervisor-turned-advisor Lukas Böni.

💡 Quick Reads

🌾 Ancient Drought-Resistant Crops: f you live in Europe, Africa or parts of the US, there’s little doubt you’ll have escaped the drought this year. Crispy grass, raging wildfires, empty supermarket shelves - the world is already experiencing the effects of a drier world, and will need to adapt further.

One way companies and farmers are already doing so? Experimenting with ancient crops that don’t mind a bit (or a lot) of drought. There’s hope that these ancient plants (mostly grains) could help feed populations even as the world becomes hotter and drier.More on that here

🌱 Good Read: Nice deep dive into alternative proteins by Impact VC AENU looking at the key environmental data, impact potential, market snapshots, challenges and predictions for this space. They even put together a cheat sheet for those like me who are too to read the whole thing.

🐊 Totally Random: I enjoyed reading this article about WallyGator, the 7-year-old, 5½-foot emotional support alligator and his owner Joseph Henney, a 69 year old man based in Philadelphia. Wally's kinds cute tbh.

☕️ Interesting: Migros rolls out coffee balls to replace capsules. The balls are encased in a thin, flavorless, seaweed-based cover which can be thrown out with the spent coffee after use. This actually sounds like a decent idea seeing as how often capsules are used (and given that reusable capsules didn't take off for obvious reasons).

❌ New Achievement unlocked: Here's the reply I received after politely passing on a pre-seed founder that said I was missing out on an opportunity to quote: "earn a substantial amount of bucks". Will be kicking myself I passed up on this one.

😅 Bit of Fun

The time to raise is now folks.

Thanks for reading, p.s. Did you know: Aggressive goats have to wear pool noodles on their horns when they get too feisty? Well now you do. You're welcome 🐐

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.