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FH Ventures: 6 new startups raising

from alt protein scale up to decarbonising supply chains.

Author

Arman Anaturk
July 21, 2022

The latest data shows that VCs have decided to chill out this summer.

After 2 years of all gas, no breaks - investors are finding that a market downturn might be a good time to switch off and instead switch on their out-of-office replies.  

Now I'm curious - how many of you are taking / have taken the summer holidays off this year?

Reply with a 🏝 if that applies to you

Now onto 6 new deals of the week - from alt protein scale up to decarbonising supply chains.

🏭 Boston Bioworks (6 VC intro's this week)

📍 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

🔎 Mondra (Searching Lead)

📍 HQ: United Kingdom💸 Raising: £1.5M GBP🙋‍♂️ CEO: Jason Barrett👀 Existing investors: ProArch Technologies💡 Pitch: "Mondra is an AI-driven, environmental product footprinting platform decarbonising the world’s food supply chains. Using automation and predictive technologies, we provide the platform and tools for food producers to know the full lifecycle impacts of their products, improve performance and communicate it - enabling them to de-risk their business and compete in the NetZero economy.."📈 Traction:- Achieved £1M in second trading year- Winner of 2 Government grant awards (£1.25M)- Working with 5 major UK Retailers to trial Mondra- Exclusive partnership with Oracle (ORBC) as their product footprinting partner- Scaled world-class team of 60 ‘Mondranaughts’"

🐟 Save Da Sea (Round newly opened)

📍 HQ: Canada💸 Raising: $500k USD🙋‍♂️ CEO: Aki Kaltenbach👀 Existing Investors: Blue Horizon, Daiya Co-founder, TheVenture.Fund💡 Pitch: "Save Da Sea is a plant-based seafood company making delicious products from wholesome ingredients that are better for you and our planet. Already in stores and selling with their range of 'smoked salmon', a 'smoked salmon' with dill & capers and a 'tuna salad'"📈 Traction: - 2021 revenue: $155k. - 2022 projections: $800k.- Launched 2 new SKUs.- In 500 stores across Canada including Sobeys, Safeway and all Whole Foods. 

🧫  Umami Meats (Round newly opened)

📍 HQ: Singapore💸 Raising: $6M USD🙋‍♂️ CEO: Mihir Pershad👀 Existing investors: Better Bite VC, Genedant, Prithvi Ventures, Katapult Ocean, Plug & Play Ventures, The Yield Lab, Sustainable Food Ventures💡 Pitch: "Crafting delicious, nutritious, and affordable cultivated fish that is better for our health, our oceans, and our future. Starting with IUCN Red Listed species that are difficult to farm and that are being driven extinct by human consumption. Our cultivated seafood production system enables a stable, resilient, local supply of seafood free from mercury, antibiotics, microplastics, and ocean pollutants."📈 Traction: - Established 5 cell lines from IUCN Listed species.- Proprietary stem cell lineage.- Awarded Singapore Food Story grant (S$450k).- Established $10/L serum-free media derived from plant extracts.- Secured 2 joint development agreements with corporate strategics-  XPRIZE Feed the Next Billion Semi-Finalist. 

♻️ Yeastup (Round newly opened)

📍 HQ: Switzerland💸 Raising: 6M CHF🙋‍♂️ CEO: Daniel Gnos (exited 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 to help enhance human health and well-being and support a more circular economy and healthier environment while generating above average shareholder returns. 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

🛒 Oja (Closing Soon)

📍 HQ: United Kingdom💸 Raising: £2M GBP🙋🏽‍♀️ CEO: Mariam Jimoh👀 Existing investors: LocalGlobe, Greg Orlowski, Anton Soulier, Darren Shapland, Duncan Tatton Smith.💡 Pitch: "Oja is an online supermarket for ethnic groceries and goods building out the ‘Amazon of Cultural Communities’. We are re-shaping the ‘ethnic’ grocery shopping experience starting focused in one cultural segment; African and Caribbean groceries and goods. "📈 Traction: - In May, grew by 56% MoM - In June, reached $1M ARR revenue- 67% average retention rates MoM- Average or order value (3x since launch) reaching over £55.96- Expected £3.2m total GMV for 2023

🍄 Funding Spotlight: Meati Foods

👋 Founders: Tyler Huggins (CEO), Justin Whiteley (CTO)📆 Founded: 2017💰 Round Size: $150 million Series C💡 The idea: “Meati makes whole-cut meats that are 95% mushroom root and have as much as 17 grams of protein, 12 grams of dietary fiber and a healthy dose of zinc and vitamin B12. Today, it has 150 people and made its retail debut this month in restaurants throughout Colorado and Arizona after selling mainly online."👀 Investor inc: Revolution Growth, CPP Investments, Grosvenor, Wellington Management and Chipotle Mexican Grill’s new venture fund, Cultivate Next. 

💡 5 Good Reads

🌱 Diversifying Plant Proteins sources could improve accessibility to meat alternatives. It also improves the sustainability of the protein ecosystem - increasingly a key requisite for consumers looking for plant-based meals.

Wether its peas, fava beans, seaweed, fungi, barley, lentil, lupin, rice, or potato, the next wave of plant-based innovation are looking to be varied

🧀 The Case for Casein - Great and digestible write up by Brad Pruente of Prime Movers Lab about the next wave of cheese/caseins, whats driving the boom in startups in this space and some of the key challenges and scaling issues ahead.

💡 LGTM (Looks Good To Me): a very insightful read from a former Stripe employee about how they built a leading company culture and the reality of what that looks like in practice. The author questions wether remote work and "lgtm" culture might not be the best approach to building world-leading companies. 

🚀 Future proofing: sometimes it's worth stopping to smell the roses to see how far we've come - it feels like we're making leaps and bounds in development of technologies led by the private sector that could help us unf*ck our planet. 

🌡 What Climate change? In direct contradiction to the above - this video that has been making the rounds on Twitter is a good reminder that outside of our Food/Climate bubble, not everyone share the same conviction or urgency as those in the bubble.

😅 Bit of Fun

What people think CRISPR is vs what it really is. 

Thanks for reading today's edition - some of you have been asking how to skip the wait list and access the Ventures platform today - just send us 1-2 good startups you're looking at and we'll grant you access. 

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.