FH Ventures: 6 New Deals + 1 New Fund

Hey Hackers,

Most don't know this, but FoodHack first started as just a one-off meetup in our hometown of Lausanne.

The goal was to meet with others interested in the future of food and maybe taste some great innovations along the way.

4 years on - that same meetup formula (though a little more refined) is now being hosted in over 30+ cities across the globe by a team of 70+ FoodHack ambassadors.

In the past week, there's been FoodHack meetups in Tel Aviv, Martigny, Zürich, Basel, Cape Town, Barcelona, and Prague. With more coming up next week.

The meetups are a great entry point for founders and investors to connect and network, and conversely helps feed our pipeline of fundraising startups and investors :)

If you don't see your city on the list and want to bring your local FoodTech community together, reach out and maybe we'll launch there too.

p.s. Demo Day recording from last week now online here 📹

Onto 6 new deals of the week

🥛 Blue Farm 

HQ: Germany Raising: $2M USD - Valuation: $8M USDExisting investors: Übermorgen Ventures, Shio CapitalStatus: Newly OpenedFounders: Philip von Have, Katia Pott

Pitch: "Reimagining milk by making it more than an alternative. Vegan, powdered and functional. Reducing waste and Co2 emissions while offering customers more healthy milk options and greater convenience."

Traction: 

• EUR 1 mio in revenues since launch in Jan 2021

• 22.000 own DTC customers.

• 5% monthly subscribers.

Competition: Oatly, Alpro, Rebbl Kitchen, Provamel, Unmilk

Learn More / View Deck / Request Intro (sign up/sign in required)

🍦 FairFlavor Foods (FH'W22)

HQ: Indonesia / SwitzerlandRaising: $1.5M USD - Valuation: TBDExisting investors: Artesian Investment CapitalStatus: Searching LeadFounders: Marcello Giannuzzi, Gabriele CastagnettiPitch: "We make novel sustainable vegan cheeses, gelatos and desserts with a unique creaminess and mouthfeel achieved through a patented fermentation process and made of a nut from the Indonesian rainforest."Traction: 

• Completed Brinc and MassChallenge accelerator programs.

• Raised pre-seed capital from Artesia.

• Completed the first phase of R&D development

• Launched our gelato brand "Nth Wonder" in Indonesia in December 2021

• Hundreds of pints sold and excellent customer feedback that confirms our USP

Competition: Cheese: Miyoko's, Daiya, Kite Hill, Violife, Willicroft Gelato: Planet Oat, Eclipse, Ben & Jerry's, Haagen DazsLearn More / View Deck / Request Intro (sign up/sign in required)

🌾 Fermata

HQ: IsraelRaising: €3M Euro SAFE Existing investors: RAW VenturesStatus: Round newly openedFounders: Valeria Kogan

Pitch: "Fermata provides Machine Vision/AI solutions for Indoor/Greenhouse Crop Producers. We automate locating problems such as pests and disease before a human could, and enable experts to remotely ‘see the issue’ to then provide solutions directly to the grower."

Traction:

• 2+ years of Research and Development, leading to successful pilots where clients asked to increase coverage from 10% to 100% of their greenhouse due to the success of our service.

• Signed client agreements worth 90K per year USD Completion of ML/AI platform to enable automatic classification of pathogens and pests, enabling automatic detection and notification to clients, showing the exact location per affected plant.

• Designed and implemented an in house human verification (QA) program for Integrated Pest Management (IPM) team, so all client notifications are checked prior to delivery.

Competition: iUNU, BioBest, Koppert, greenpatrol robot, mycrops, GIGAS, Ecoation

Learn More / View Deck / Request Intro (sign up/sign in required)

 📦 MakeGrowLab

HQ: PolandRaising: $2M USD - Valuation: TBDExisting investors: n/aStatus: Newly OpenedFounders: Josh Brito, Roza BritoPitch: "MakeGrowLab takes unwanted food and turns it into home compostable plastic replacement materials called Scoby Packaging Materials® (SPM®). Scoby Packaging Materials® comes in a form of self standing foil or water suspension that can be added to existing materials as a barrier and strength enhancement.."Traction:

• Pilot project with Colgate Palmolive and +12 more in the pipeline

• 2019-20 - <200 samples and prototypes sold

Competition: Weidmann Fiber Technology, Borregaard, BuchaBio, Bioweg, NotPla, Ecovative, Bolt Threads, Traceless MaterialsLearn More / View Deck / Request Intro (sign up/sign in required)

 🧃 Sunrise Daily Goods (FH'W22)

HQ: NetherlandsRaising: $500K USD Existing investors: n/aStatus: Newly OpenedFounders: Ruben Smit, Jan-Philipp Kruip, Andrés Ojeda

Pitch: "We've reimagined grocery shopping. Turning our daily bads into daily goods. We buy and sell hero brands, fresh local goods, and quality bulk in our proprietary packaging system. We make this happen through a data-led, experience-driven, commerce platform - both offline (convenience stores) and online (an interactive app).."

Traction:

• We have a validated proof of concept platform

• Increasing waiting list of 500 customers, representing a monthly order value of €150.000.

Competition: Crisp, Albert Heijn, Pieter Pot, Marqt vegabond, Rechtstreex, Gorillas, Hello Fresh, Uber Eats, Deliveroo

Learn More / View Deck / Request Intro (sign up/sign in required)

🥩 Mooji Meats (YC'W22)

HQ: United States Raising: $2M USDExisting investors: Y CombinatorStatus: Newly opened - Searching LeadFounders: Insa Mohr, Jochen MuellerPitch: "Mooji Meats textures plant-based meat and cultured meat - think of turning ground meat into an authentic steak. We build a highly scalable 3D printing process that overcomes today's trade-off between authentic textures and scalability.."Traction: 

• Prototype (Plant based steak)

• Part of YC W22

• LOIs on a pilot with large players

Competition: Redefine Meat, Novameat, Meatech, Rival Foods, Tender / Boston MeatsLearn More / View Deck / Request Intro (sign up/sign in required)

Popular Decks Last Week:

🌿 Biotic/Bio-circular - Fully biodegradable polymer (PHBV) from marine biomass.

🥚 Evo Foods - Affordable and delicious plant-based eggs made from Indian crops.

🥛 Opalia - Making whole milk from mammary cells.

🍭 Ambrosia Bio - Converting common sugars into low-calorie rare sugars and dietary fibers.

 📦 Yangi -  manufacturing technology for dry formed cellulose-based packaging

Fund Spotlight: AgFunder 🇺🇸

Partners: Rob Leclerc, Michael Dean, Manuel E. Gonzalez, Tom Shields.Founded: 2013HQ: San Francisco, USASize: $60m Fund IVFocus: "Fund IV will primarily invest in seed and Series A-stage startups operating across the food and agriculture supply chain, with some flexibility to invest at later stages if opportunities arise. AgFunder is focused on impactful themes such as decarbonization, agricultural automation, and food as medicine"More info: Good read on TechCrunch on how AgFunder leveraged a media biz to build one of the most active Food/Ag funds out there.

Good Reads / Graphics

• 🍄 Mycelium Trend Review: With all the hype around mycelium this year, it's time to get familiar with the latest happenings in this space. Maya Schushan Orgad, CTO & Principal at FoodTech VC, PeakBridge put together a great overview of this sector including the basics, the why/how, and the future.

• 🦠 Biomass Fermentation: Whereas growing protein using animals or plants takes months or years, biomass fermentation can often be done and dusted in a couple of hours. That’s because it uses super fast-growing microorganisms - like mushrooms, bacteria or algae - to produce ingredients. Full read now online here (FoodHack+)

• 💨 CO2: A green gamechanger: the SEC has formally proposed a sweeping rule that will require publicly traded companies to report their impact on climate change, including greenhouse-gas emissions and how much energy they use.

Meet IRL 👋

• FoodHack Summit: Last few days to grab one of the early bird tickets to the FoodHack Summit in May. Come join 499 others including the founders of Oatly, Astanor, Infarm, QOA, BIOMILQ. The speaker line-up is "insane".

Bit of Fun 😂

Becoming a VC 101.

Thanks for reading today's edition, 

And 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.