FH Ventures: fungal powders and alt-lobsters 🦞

I've been talking to several of you about the current state of the markets and what this means for funds, fundraising, seed and foodtech.

To avoid this being another 20-something year old giving market advice in the first downturn they've ever seen... I'll keep this high level.

What we're all seeing:

- Exit scenarios have been adjusted (good chart here tracking key IPO changes)- A general consensus that valuations need recalculating (starting in later stages)- B+ rounds being marked down (up to 60% is what we're hearing)- VC's pulling out of term sheets (yes, seriously)- LP appetite cooling (compared to past 12 months)- Every VC from YC to Craft, Cherry to Sequoia giving portfolio advice to "slow the burn"

Some will argue we've seen this before and its not all doom and gloom - I really wouldn't know as this is the first downturn I've been investing through.

What I can tell you from data on our side is that Angel and VC appetite in Seed stage Food / Climate deals remains strong.

Over the past two weeks - we've onboarded 128 new investors, fulfilled 17 VC <> startups intros, had 36 startups apply for funding and filled 1 new allocation in a record 48hrs.

I think this little clip summarises the reason why climate investing remains and might remain strong through this downturn, and deep down I'm wishfully hoping this pushes more investors towards funding things that really matter.

Enough about "Arman's thoughts on the market" - onto new deals of the week.

Many of you liked last weeks format - but we're reverting back to the usual design to give some more love to overlooked deals.

🐟 Loki Foods (Closing Soon)

HQ: IcelandRaising: $400k USDExisting investors: MGMT Ventures, Sustainable Food VenturesStatus: Closing soonCEO: Christopher McClure

Pitch: "We’re the first plant-based seafood venture from Iceland, leveraging a completely renewable energy grid and pristine water. Backed by Sustainable Food Ventures and Ryan Bethencourt, Loki Foods' first product is a plant-based Cod (first sales in 2023) that feels, tastes, looks, and cooks like Cod, with aims of cell-based by 2028."

+ Learn More / View Deck / Request Intro (sign up/sign in required)+ Discover 7 other alt-seafood startups raising now.

🐟 Loha Foods (Searching Lead)

HQ: SingaporeRaising: $3M USDExisting investors: Dao FoodsStatus: Searching LeadCEO: Patrina Phua

Pitch: "Lohas Foods is a hyper-realistic plant based seafood company We develop and produce in-house texturizing ingredients and processing technology to replicate a range of premium seafood products such as lobster, prawns and fish. We have a three stage commercial strategy. The first stage is where commercial proteins are used, second and third stage is where we use our in-house novel protein fractions and mycelium ingredients."

+ Learn More / View Deck / Request Intro (sign up/sign in required)+ Watch Founder Pitch Video + Discover 7 other alt-seafood startups raising now.

🍄 Kaapa Biotech (Searching Lead)

HQ: FinlandRaising: €2M EURExisting investors: Clay Kahler (Spray Labs Llc), Seppo Riikonen, Iiro Riihimäki, Kurmakka Oy, Turanco OyStatus: Searching LeadCEO: Eric Puro

Pitch: "We are EU's largest R&D technology platform to bring fungal inventions to the market. We grow, harvest, dry, extract (for bio-availability), and freeze/spray dry to make powder of the major 7 functional mushrooms species demanded today. We also have a robust R&D pipeline for further fungal inventions for various industries."

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

🦠 Nordic Umami Company (Newly Opened)

HQ: FinlandRaising: €2M EURExisting investors: NFT VCStatus: Newly OpenedCEO: Eetu Viuhkonen

Pitch: "We are helping to create a sustainable food system for the planet by creating the missing delicisious flavour 'umami' that is missing in the plant-based foods. We are scaling up our natural fermentation tech (patent pending) and creating a model where various side streams can be used to produce natural umami."

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

🧫 denovoMATRIX (Newly Opened)

HQ: GermanyRaising: €5M EURExisting investors: High Tech Gründer Fonds, Technologiegründerfonds Sachsen, TU Dresden AGStatus: Newly OpenedCEO: Dejan Husman

Pitch: "We deploy our modular, biomimetic coating technology to enable high performance cell culture, bringing cell therapies to patients and accelerating the path to market for clean meat."

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

Feeling overwhelmed by Deal Flow?

Join the FoodHack Syndicate where we select the top startups, diligence the deals, win the allocations, and invest as Angels with tickets of $5k and up.

There's 150+ of us already investing - currently closing up a stealth fungi farm play - apply here

👀 Fund Spotlight: Synthesis Capital

👋 Founders: @CostaYian, @Rosie_Wardle, David Welch📆 Founded: 2021💰 Size: $300M💡 The idea: “With deep experience in this sector, we are ready to take advantage of this significant investment opportunity and are confident that alternative proteins will no longer be considered “alternative” in the near future"💸 Tickets: The new fund will target around 15 investments with an average check size of $15 million. Source: TechCrunch.👀 Portfolio inc: Upside Foods, Perfect Day, Redefine Meat, Culture Biosciences, Arkeon Biotechnologies.

🍄 Portfolio Spotlight: Hyfé Foods

Meet the ex oil and gas founders who are obsessed with your waste water 👇

Former LanzaTech and ExxonMobil engineers Andrea Schoen and Michelle Ruiz are the brains behind newly launched Hyfé Foods

The Chicago based startup just announced their $2 million pre-seed raise to upcycle wasted sugar water from food and beverage manufacturing to produce low-carb, protein-rich mycelium flour.

The round was led my MIT's The Engine and joined with leading industry VC's Blue Horizon, Lifely, Gaingels, Supply Change Capital, Caffeinated Capital along with 13 angels from the FoodHack Syndicate after winning this years FoodHack Demo Day!

💡 Good Reads

👩🏻‍🔬 Biotech Lab Space: Next time a portfolio co asks you about lab space to start or scale up - show them the below mapping.

As far as we can tell - its the most comprehensive mapping of lab spaces out there. Also seems like a pretty good business to get into - more on that here.

💡 Venture funding for the foodtech industry experienced a pullback in Q1, with $6.9 billion funneled into 359 deals, representing a quarter-over-quarter decline of 40.8% and 13.3%, respectively. This may indicate the first step in a larger market recalibration, but the true impacts of the macroeconomic climate aren’t yet visible in the data.

- Source: Pitchbook Foodtech Report

💸 Great thread about how YC works and how much money they likely make - TLDR: more than most of the startups they funded 😅

📉 Tech Layoffs: continue across the board and reach Germany's Gorillas who announced a cut of 300 jobs. I repeat the message of last week, companies laying off are likely the ones that will make it through the downturn - the ones not cutting are worth a closer look at.

🌱 Interesting thoughts here from Alt-protein expert and advocate Sonalie Figueras on the state of plant based/alt-protein markets. Largely agree with this sentiment and welcome the correctioning as a sign of the market moving from emerging to maturing.

Bit of Fun

A-typical guide to VC in Germany 👢

Thanks for reading and please let me know what did you think of today's edition?

😁 Love It 😐 Meh 😕 Hate it

Until next time,

Arman (talks too much) 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.