Future Food

Investing in agrifoodtech since 2017: Astanor's Eric Archambeau reflects Nov 09, 2023

From the heady days of the dot com boom -- and subsequent bust -- Eric Archambeau cofounded Astanor Ventures with George Coelho in 2017 as an impact venture capital fund for food and agriculture.

"We founded it with a vision that the agrifood market was going to go through a deep disruption that was needed to move from a system that was delivering cheap calories, to a system that would be able to deliver affordable nutrients," Archambeau tells AgFunderNews on a new episode of the Future Food podcast.

Fast forward to today and the European firm has made around 40 investments across the suppy chain and recently announced the closing of its second fund on €360 million.

Hear Eric talk about when and where exits will come to the industry -- something so many of us are wondering! How agrifoodtech fits into the impact investing world, and much more!

From What’s Your Problem?: The Quest for the Perfect Avocado May 26, 2022

In this preview, Jacob talks with Katherine Sizov, founder of Strella Biotechnology. Her problem: Tons of food is wasted before it ever gets to the consumer. Katherine started working on this problem in 2018, when she was a junior in college. Her idea: imitate the natural world and build a device that detects when fruit is ripening. It worked. Now some of the biggest apple and pear packers in America use her device. You can hear more from What’s Your Problem? at https://podcasts.pushkin.fm/wypfuture.

Soylent's CEO on shift towards middle America and the future of plant-based Oct 22, 2021

A somewhat controversial category, during my hot or not rounds on this podcast, most guests have responded negatively to the concept of replacing meals with a drink - and perhaps Soylent took this on board as in more recent years it's started calling itself a nutrition company with a small but growing number of product lines not just focused on meal replacement but all made from plants. Demir has been the CEO for nearly two years now and it's been a bit of a turnaround story as the company turned profitable in mid-2020. With a background in food and media, and having worked at one of the first almond milk companies out there, I jumped at the chance to chat to Demir about the future of plant-based foods as well. Enjoy!

How 'cool' fertilizers can sequester carbon and more, with Amy Yoder Oct 15, 2021

Amy Yoder is CEO of Anuvia Plant Nutrients, a company that's converting waste to help crops uptake fertilizers more efficiently, and even help them to sequester carbon in the soil. She is a trailblazer being one of the best-funded women in agtech on record, raising $103 million in Series D earlier this year.

For those of you who aren't knowledgeable about the fertilizer industry, Amy gives a great description. Enjoy this episode with a powerhouse of agtech, Amy Yoder.

Diving deep with Sandhya Sriram on the future of cell-cultured seafood Jun 25, 2021

Since Sriram co-founded Shiok Meats three years ago, the startup has gone from strength to strength. According to AgFunder's most recent ASEAN Agrifoodtech Investment Report, it was Southeast Asia’s highest-funded startup in the ‘Innovative Food’ category in 2019.

It raised $4.6 million for its April 2019 seed round, which saw Y Combinator make its first-ever investment in a ‘clean meat’ company.

Last year, Shiok Meats netted $3 million in bridge funding from investors including UK firms Agronomics and Impact Venture, US trust VegInvest, and UAE-based Mindshift Capital, before closing a $12.6 million Series A round led by Dutch aquaculture-focused fund Aqua-Spark.

Future Food News Review #5: Food system cyber-attacks, Avoiding alt protein’s unintended consequences, Cashierless checkout's growth Jun 24, 2021

The Future Food News Review is part of a collaboration between AgFunder and Food+Tech Connect to host meaningful conversations about the future of our food system on Clubhouse and other platforms.

The Future Food News Review features leading journalists in foodtech and agtech sharing and discussing their top headlines of the week, hosted on Clubhouse.

See below for a list of participating journalists and the articles they introduced; some of them joined purely for the discussion and debate.

We always strive for diverse voices on Future Food News Review, so if you're a journalist covering food systems, agtech or foodtech, or know someone who is that would make a great edition, please reach out to danielle@foodtechconnect.com or louisa@agfunder.com.

Sonalie Figueiras - Green Queen Media

Article: Food System Change: ‘Who’s Making Decisions, Who’s Benefiting, Who’s Gaining The Wealth?’ Errol Schweizer’s Got Questions

Errol Schweizer - Forbes/TheCheckOut

Louisa Burwood-Taylor - AFN

Chloe Sorvino - Forbes

Article: JBS Cyberattack Shines A Spotlight On The Biggest Risk To Big Meat: Consolidation

Jenn Marston - The Spoon

Article: Tesla May Soon Open Its Own Restaurant

Sam Silverstein - Grocery Dive

Article: Amazon to open its first Fresh supermarket with checkout-free technology

Kristen Hawley - Eater

Article: Delivery Apps Are Making Concessions to Restaurants. But Who Pays?

Thin Lei Win - ThinInk

Future Food News Review #4: Regenerative agriculture's reckoning, Questions for cell-cultured meat, Right-wing coffee, more May 19, 2021

The Future Food News Review is part of a collaboration between AgFunder and Food+Tech Connect to host meaningful conversations about the future of our food system on Clubhouse and other platforms.

The Future Food News Review features leading journalists in foodtech and agtech sharing and discussing their top headlines of the week, hosted on Clubhouse.

See below for a list of participating journalists and the articles they introduced; some of them joined purely for the discussion and debate.

We always strive for diverse voices on Future Food News Review, so if you're a journalist covering food systems, agtech or foodtech, or know someone who is that would make a great edition, please reach out to danielle@foodtechconnect.com or louisa@agfunder.com.

Esther Honig - The Nation

Article: The Story Behind Your Salad: Farmworkers, Covid-19, and a Dangerous Commute

Sonalie Figueiras - Green Queen Media

Article: Cell-Cultured Meat Pioneer Memphis Meats Is Now UPSIDE Foods, First Chicken Product To Launch This Year Pending Reg. Approval

Errol Schweizer - Forbes/TheCheckOut

Elaine Watson - Food NavigatorUSA

Article: Brave New Animal Free World

Joe Fassler - The Counter

Article: Regenerative Agriculture Needs a Reckoning

Luke Winkie - Vox

Article: Right-wing coffee companies want to make coffee great again

Louisa Burwood-Taylor - AFN

Article: Ginkgo Bioworks to go public at $15bn valuation as agrifood SPAC frenzy continues

Chloe Sorvino - Forbes

Bettina Makalintal - VICE

Up, up and away! Irving Fain on building Bowery's biggest vertical farm yet May 18, 2021

Bowery has just launched FarmX, its new vertical farm for R&D that's 300 times larger than the first. It's also building a new, bigger than ever commercial farm in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania which will enable it to sell over 20 million clamshells of leafy greens and produce each year. While that's still the equivalent of just 115 acres of outdoor farmland, it's certainly a turning point and year-over-year growth is significant; since January 2020, the company has increased its brick-and-mortar grocery sales by 750%.

Challenges lie ahead. Energy efficiency and costs are still battles to contend with and other vertical farming groups have struggled to live up to their promises of international expansion. But Bowery founder and CEO Irving Fain has an answer for everything.

If you're a vertical farming enthusiast, or a newbie keen to learn about this exciting industry, this episode will take you on a journey of Bowery's founding, why they decided to build all their technology in-house, their growth plans, how they're breaking into new crops and digging into crop genetics to do so, and the overall mission and hopes for the industry at-large.

Enjoy!

From chemicals to soil microbes: Bayer's former CEO joins AgBiome May 14, 2021

Crop protection is a serious business; each year a farmer battles a range of different pests, weeds and diseases trying to kill their harvest. It's complicated too, with timing and weather other forces to contend with. Since the Second World War and the Green Revolution of the 1960s, the playbook for managing pests, by and large, has revolved around a combination of chemical applications at various point during the year together with synthetic fertilizers, and in the US, genetically modified seeds. Leaving the negative connotations of using chemicals on farmland aside -- and there are many -- weeds and pests are becoming resistant to these chemicals and farmers' options are starting run out. The pressure from consumers and lawmakers to use fewer chemicals and move away from GM crops is also growing. Agrichemicals companies can't ignore the cancer lawsuits, health and environmental concerns and hefty settlements they've faced either.

"At some point, most of the compounds have been made, have been tested and it becomes harder and harder to really introduce new products that are significantly better than what's already there," says Dr. Marijn Dekkers, the former CEO of the world's biggest ag chemicals and seeds business Bayer.
"New ways of controlling diseases and insects have dropped off a cliff over the last 20 years," adds Eric Ward, the CEO of AgBiome, a startup working on creating crop protection products using naturally-occurring microbes.

Microbes, they say, are the next frontier for crop protection.

Listen to this podcast (or read the transcript) to find out why Dekkers joined the board of AgBiome, his views on the agchemicals industry today, and how AgBiome is approaching this challenging space with backing from high profile investors like the BIll & Melinda Gates Foundation.

How do you make the world's most ambitious cheese? May 11, 2021

The Stockeld Chunk will be the first in a series of cheese products from Stockeld Dreamery this year and I really enjoyed it! Listen in to hear my thoughts about the cheese, why Sorosh Tavakoli, an advertising tech entrepreneur got into foodtech, how to build the most ambitious cheese company in the world (his phrase, not mine), without cows, moving beyond nuts as the key ingredient in plant-based cheese, and creating a simple, healthy alternative to dairy cheese with just a few ingredients.

Future Food News Review #3: Amazon's new private label food brand, Unabated meat consumption, SPACs for foodtech Apr 19, 2021

The Future Food News Review is part of a collaboration between AgFunder and Food+Tech Connect to host meaningful conversations about the future of our food system on Clubhouse and other platforms.

The journalists joining this week are:

Ximena Bustillo - POLITICO (https://www.politico.com/newsletters/weekly-agriculture)

Sam Silverstein - Grocery Dive (https://www.grocerydive.com/news/amazon-unveils-aplenty-its-newest-private-label-food-brand/598223/)

Leah Douglas - FERN (https://www.motherjones.com/food/2021/04/a-year-later-conditions-for-many-food-workers-at-high-risk-of-covid-19-remain-the-same/)

Jenn Marston - The Spoon (https://thespoon.tech/restaurants-breakup-with-single-use-plastics-has-begun/)

Lela Nargi - The Counter (https://thecounter.org/funding-investment-plant-based-proteins-meat-consumption/)

Chloe Sorvino - Forbes (https://www.forbes.com/sites/chloesorvino/2021/04/15/maker-of-mushroom-sourced-bacon-raises-40-million-to-reach-grocers-at-scale/?sh=498070b472d1)

Louisa Burwood-Taylor - AFN (https://agfundernews.com/grab-confirms-record-breaking-40bn-spac-deal-archrival-gojek-nears-18bn-merger.html)

Errol Schweizer - Forbes/TheCheckOut (https://www.thecheckoutradio.com/podcast/episode42-ufcw)

Elaine Watson - Food NavigatorUSA

Megan Poinski - Food Dive

Sign up for the Food+Tech Connect newsletter here

Sign up for the AgFunder Weekly newsletter and research here

Future Food News Review #2: Impossible's $10bn IPO, Vegan Cheese, CRISPR Tomatoes Apr 12, 2021

The journalists joining us this week were:

Joe Fassler - The Counter (https://thecounter.org/agrivoltaics-farmland-solar-panels-clean-energy-crops/)

Sarah Mock - freelance (https://sarah-k-mock.medium.com/no-your-great-grandfather-did-not-know-how-to-fix-our-food-system-83775d4f1852)

Larissa Zimberoff - Bloomberg and freelance (https://technicallyfood.substack.com/p/gene-editing-our-precious-tomato)

Sonalie Figueras - Green Queen Media (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-impossible-foods-m-a-exclusive-idUSKBN2BV2SF)

Alicia Kennedy - Eater and freelance (https://www.eater.com/22315684/vegan-cheese-history-ingredients-process-grocery-brands)

Kristen Hawley - Expedite (https://www.expedite.news/p/tock-to-squarespace-for-400-million)

Elaine Watson - Food NavigatorUSA (https://tinyurl.com/35sa4rv3)

Ximena Bustillo - POLITICO

Megan Poinski - Food Dive

Errol Schweizer - Forbes and TheCheckout Podcast

Reaching net-zero emissions by 2040 with PepsiCo Apr 06, 2021

PepsiCo started the year with a bang by pledging to more than double its climate goal, targeting a reduction of absolute greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across its value chain by more than 40% by 2030. It also pledged to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040, one decade earlier than called for in the Paris Agreement.

But how exactly is the company going to achieve this? And what role does technology play across its convoluted supply chain globally?

The Future Food News Review with Food Tech's Leading Journalists Mar 29, 2021

We're mixing things up here at Future Food and have partnered with Danielle Gould from Food+Tech Connect to host deep discussions about the future of our food system and we're going to be bringing those conversations to the Future Food podcast. Expect fireside chats, book clubs, and the format for this episode, the Future Food News Review.

The weekly Future Food News Review features leading journalists in foodtech and agtech sharing and discussing their top headlines of the week, hosted on Clubhouse. This was our second edition and featured:

~ Kim Severson, The New York Times
~ Chloe Sorvino, Forbes
~ Greenaway, Twilight, Civil Eats
~ Megan Poinski, Food Dive
~ Kate Cox, The Counter
~ Cathy Erway, New York Magazine
~ Kristen Hawley, Expedite
~ Monica Watrous, Food Business News
~ Brett Anderson, NYT
~ Sonalie Figueiras, Green Queen Media
~ Leah Douglas, The Food & Environment Reporting Network
~ Jennifer Marston, The Spoon
~ Errol Schweizer, Forbes
~ Elaine Watson, FoodNavigator

Expect a nuanced conversation about alternative proteins, picking up on news about Eat JUST's $200m funding round and consumer survey, the approval of the organic label for hydroponically-grown produce, how farmers are responding to the pandemic-induced restaurant industry shutdown in choosing what to plant, how states are rolling out Covid-19 vaccines for food system workers, how junk food companies are using TikTok to advertise to young people, and many more!

We're still testing out this format and would love to hear your suggestions for great journalists for us to include to ensure we're bringing diversity of thought to the headlines discussed.

👋 Join us every Friday at 7a PDT on Clubhouse

Featured articles this week:

https://agfundernews.com/eat-just-raises-200m-from-qatar-sovereign-wealth-fund-microsoft-cofounder.html

https://agfundernews.com/just-how-this-startup-became-the-first-to-serve-cell-cultured-meat-in-a-restaurant-podcast.html

https://www.fooddive.com/news/7-in-10-us-consumers-would-substitute-cell-based-chicken-for-that-from-an-a/597298/

https://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Article/2021/03/24/Alternative-proteins-will-account-for-11-of-global-protein-market-by-2035-predicts-report

https://thecounter.org/farmer-spring-planting-palisade-peaches-colorado-california/

https://agfundernews.com/hydroponic-produce-can-be-certified-organic-us-federal-court.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/23/dining/independent-restaurant-coalition-stimulus-money.html?smtyp=cur&smid=tw-nytfood

https://civileats.com/2021/03/22/are-junk-food-companies-using-tiktok-influencers-to-target-kids/

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/22/deliveroo-ipo-food-delivery-app-seeks-valuation-of-up-to-12-billion.html

https://thespoon.tech/gopuff-raises-1-5-billion-to-deliver-you-goods-in-under-a-half-hour-around-the-clock/

https://www.grubstreet.com/2021/03/philip-chong-canal-street-market-chinatown.html

https://www.forbes.com/sites/errolschweizer/2021/03/23/how-new-york-city-is-revolutionizing-good-food-policy/?sh=301b5d43779e

JUST how this startup became the first to serve cell-cultured meat in a restaurant Mar 23, 2021

Topics covered include:

how EAT JUST managed to get regulatory approval ahead of other cultivated meat startups
from plant-based to cell culturing
how investors reached a $1bn valuation for the company
new formats in the pipeline
advice for entrepreneurs
Josh's moonshot idea

Is this the fastest-growing vertical farming business in the world? Mar 11, 2021

When I returned from maternity leave in January, I reached out to my good friend Henry Gordon-Smith from Agritecture to find out what I'd missed and what sort of traction the highly funded startups were really getting. When thinking about which company was making the greatest strides, Henry highlighted Infarm, the Berlin-based vertical farming group with more than $300m in funding under its belt. Infarm's global footprint has expanded rapidly in recent months with its in-store units cropping up across the globe and even in Japan, one of the most developed indoor agriculture nations globally.

So we decided to co-host an episode with Infarm's two cofounders, and brothers, Guy and Erez Galonska, to dig in to this growth.

Expect to hear about their surprising commitment to sustainability, focus on their core customer -- the retailer -- expansion of their plant science team and evolution of their differentiated business model.

How can robotics startups respond to the urgent need for automation in the food industry? Jul 27, 2020

Labor shortages are nothing new to the agriculture industry and COVID-19 has excerbated this already existing problem. Is it sustainable and efficient to import labor from other countries like the US and the UK do?

The time for automation in the food and agriculture industry is now. But are the robots ready to be unleashed?

Our recent webinar with Josh Lessing from RootAI and Igino Cafiero Bear Flag Robotics tackles the inherent challenges of the space, and how to improve it forward in a post-COVID19 world.

Learn more about how these 2 trailblazers are automating harvests in greenhouses (RootAI) and retrofitting existing machinery with autonomous tilage equipment (Bear Flag Robotics), and how they are preparing agriculture as we know it for the new normal.

Foodtech & sustainability in Asia amid food security challenges Jul 17, 2020

Covid-19 started in Asia, and the region was the first to feel the social and economic impacts of the disease as it spread worldwide. It’s also where businesses, entrepreneurs, investors, and governments have spent the most time dealing with Covid-19 and its effects. Their insights and experience – and the strategies they’ve adopted to ride out the pandemic – could prove invaluable to agrifood players not just in Asia, but elsewhere in the world, too.

That’s why we focused the second episode of our new What The Fork?Digitalks by AgFunder series on Asia, and how agrifood businesses and investors here are tackling Covid-19. AgFunder’s hand-picked lineup of thought leaders also shared their thoughts on where the region’s investment landscape is headed as the pandemic eases.

Joining AgFunder founding partner Michael Dean were:

Anuj Maheshwari, managing director, agribusiness, at Temasek – a Singaporean sovereign fund and top tech investor with close to $222 billion assets under management;
Suresh Sundararjan, managing director and group head, global corporate services, at Olam – a Singapore-based agribusiness corporation which is a major player in the global food commodity trade;
Matt Kovac, executive director at Food Industry Asia (FIA) – an advocacy group representing the interests of food manufacturers, producers, and retailers across the region.

From software to regenerative agriculture, SoilWorks believes the key to better health is in the ground Jul 06, 2020

In this episode of Future Food, which I co-hosted with my wonderful colleague Lauren Stine, our reporter and resident rancher, we talk to Lew Moorman and Nick Honegger of Soilworks, a newly-created investment group focused on regenerative agriculture. Nick and Lew founded SoilWorks after working together at Scaleworks, the B2B SaaS focused investment organization founded by Lew.

We talk about how they moved into the very different world of regenerative agriculture, what regen ag means to them, their first investment – the acquisition of livestock management app PastureMap -- and more generally about where they see the future of our food systems.

Lew and Nick are driving for a more mainstream adaption of regenerative agriculture. They believe it could be the key to remodeling our existing food systems in a healthier and more sustainable way. There are a lot of aspects that need to come together to make the shift to a more regenerative system, so stay tuned to hear about how Lew and Nick believe we can facilitate the change.

Digging into the future and sustainability of protein in our diets Jun 24, 2020

The importance of protein in our diets is hardly breaking news; demand for high-protein diets is increasing globally.

When you combine the developing world’s desire to replace staple grains — that have dominated their diets for centuries — with increasing amounts of animal-based protein, with the over-consumption of meat and protein in the developed world, alongside a growing desire in multiple corners of the world to eat fewer animal-based products, there’s clear pressure on the globe’s protein supply.

In this episode, I speak to Sara Eckhouse and Victor Friedberg from FoodShot Global, an investment platform focused on Moonshots for Food. Precision Protein is their new focus area.

They always have a unique take on issues and their view on the protein debate is certainly refreshing and a break from the simplistic meat vs plants take that many have entered into in recent years.

So I hope you enjoy!

How the digitalization of agriculture will increase food's sustainability Jun 18, 2020

How does an environmentalist become an aerial imagery data analytics and AI entrepreneur? Find out in this episode with Al Eisaian, a serial entrepreneur from the mobile apps and software space.

Al's company IntelinAir uses images captured from airplanes to help farmers identify problem areas in their fields and make decisions that can reduce the burden of their activities on the environment, such as water usage, pesticide usage and so on. It can also importantly help increase the efficiency and therefore the bottom line of those farming businesses that typically operate on very tight margins.

So I hope you enjoy this farmtech episode and thanks for listening!

The future of agrifood investing in the wake of Covid-19 Jun 06, 2020

Covid-19 is the first big crisis for agrifood investing, an investment area that largely emerged in the wake of the global financial crisis. How will investors respond and what does it mean for the future of investment across the sector?

This is part of a new series of webinars AgFunder is hosting to navigate the crisis. This first episode features Dave Friedberg, founder of The Climate Corporation, agtech's first unicorn which sold to Monsanto for $1bn, and Blake Stevens, principal at Alexandria Ventures, part of real estate investment juggernaut Alexandria Real Estate (NYSE: ARE) and lead on its agtech efforts. They were joined by myself and my colleague Rob Leclerc, founding partner at AgFunder, one of the most active investors in foodtech and agtech.

These special hour-long sessions are longer than you're used to, but I hope you still find them interesting!

Oatly co-founder on scaling alt milk and the need for local food production Jun 01, 2020

In this episode, I speak to Bjorn Oste, who cofounded Oatly, the dairy alternative company that recently saw its flagship oat milk product fly off the shelves during the first weeks of the Covid-19 pandemic due to its shelf-stable nature. Bjorn is such fun and candid and tells a great story of the founding of Oatly with his brother and the fantastic, ESG-oriented company it is today complete, with quirky and bold branding often seen adorned on the side of buses.

We actually recorded this just as the pandemic was kicking off and before that oat milk rush, so you’ll hear limited conversations about that but what’s really cool is how he answers my typical question on how you view the future food system in 2050; a lot of what he says now feels extra relevant given the challenges Covid-19 has presented and ways in which the food system has had to adapt.

We also talk about his new food ventures which includes a focus on combatting diabetes and how he transitioned from IT to food in the 1990s.

This is an extra special and slightly longer edition of Future Food but please hang in there as there are a lot of great insights! As always, thanks so much for listening.

How to clean your house with food waste May 19, 2020

Amanda Weeks is converting food waste into a natural house cleaner. With her startup Ambrosia, that recently re-branded from Industrial/Organic, Amanda has been recycling food waste for many years and after an initial focus on making fertilizer, almost accidentally came across the byproduct's cleaning properties.

I catch up with Amanda nearly 5 years after we first met to find out more about the re-brand, the new product line Veles, and the challenges she's faced in building this business.

Digging into dairy sustainability with Danone & Connecterra Apr 29, 2020

You’re forgiven if you missed Earth Day last week. I’m sure sustainability and climate change are far from many people’s minds right now as you grapple with a new normal that might involve sick loved ones, loss of a job, or serious challenges in your day-to-day life.

Of course, our planet continues to face the same environmental challenges it did before the pandemic.

Danone, the French multinational yogurt and dairy products company, certainly agrees; the company, a classified B-Corp, is a frontrunner in the food industry for tackling sustainability issues — recently recognized for its work reducing deforestation — and last year launched a coalition to look into the widespread adoption of regenerative agriculture practices in the dairy sector.

Working with Danone in that coalition is Connecterra, a Dutch AI startup using data and analytics to help dairy farmers become more efficient. Connecterra is charged with measuring the impact of different farming practices as the coalition looks to create a set of guidelines for farmers at the end of the initiative in two years’ time. (Full disclosure: Connecterra is an AgFunder portfolio company.)

So I sat down today — virtually of course — with Cees Jan Hollander, global director of farm relations at Danone and Yasir Khokhar, CEO of Connecterra, to find out how the coalition “Farming for Generations” is going and check in how Covid-19 is impacting their businesses. If you’re reading this, you’re no doubt aware of the devastating impact Covid-19 is having on the dairy industry after food service demand dried up and you’ve no doubt seen the upsetting videos of large amounts of milk being dumped in the countryside.

Hollander and Khokhar offer some fascinating insights there — hint: consumer demand for milk products has increased dramatically; as Khokhar referenced “breakfast is having a come back with everyone being at home.” We also discuss how the pandemic is accelerating other trends such as a move towards more localized production, which happens to fit neatly into Danone’s existing local production strategy.

Milk from peas? Method co-founder Adam Lowry on making protein and learning from mistakes Feb 13, 2020

Climate scientist, inventor and founder of two sustainable businesses, Adam Lowry is currently CEO of Ripple Foods, a dairy-free milk products company. His first company was Method, the sustainable cleaning products brand that's now a household name.

We talk about the contrast between launching a cleaning products business and a food business, why food was the next step for him, the key mistakes and lessons learned from Method, how he and his colleagues chose the pea as the key ingredient for their products and his moonshot hope for the food system.

Adam is set to speak in-person at the Future Food-Tech Summit next month in San Francisco - don't miss it! Find out more: https://futurefoodtechsf.com/

Pork Tech, ASF, Transparency: how are your sausages grown? Jan 28, 2020

In a world of African Swine Fever, increasing scrutiny of the meat industry and consumer demand for transparency, the pork industry needs to modernize. But according to Chris Bomgaars, founder of EveryPig, a software platform for pork producers to track pig health, moving away from the pen + paper records that still dominate, many in the industry are reticent to do so. Find out why -- and what they think of the growing number of meat alternatives on the market -- in this episode.

Why foodtech and agtech VC? I ask AgFunder's investment team Jan 09, 2020

Why work in the foodtech and agtech investment space? Which category of this emerging venture capital industry are most exciting? These are some of the questions I asked two of my teammates Yanniv and Quinten who joined AgFunder in 2019. Also find out who their favorite team member is - hint - it's me!

2020 Special: AgFunder's Rob Leclerc on the last decade in ag and foodtech Dec 23, 2019

This episode is perhaps a tad awkward as I interview my boss Rob Leclerc, founding partner of AgFunder, but Rob was as insightful as ever, sharing his thoughts on working in and around the agriculture sector for the past decade.

Rob first started working with our other founding partner Michael Dean when they set up an agriculture business in West Africa at the start of the decade before founding AgFunder in 2013.

We talk about agtech acquisitions, food trends, the impending shift to look at food as medicine, lessons he's learned since starting to invest and who is favorite team member is - hint, it's me!

Alt proteins: Catching up with GFI's Bruce Friedrich Dec 12, 2019

In this episode, I speak to Bruce Friedrich, the executive director and co-founder of the Good Food Institute (GFI), a nonprofit that promotes plant-based alternatives to meat, dairy, and eggs, as well as those using cellular agriculture to produce replicas of these animal-based products at the cellular level, without any animal involvement. GFI engages scientists, policymakers, and entrepreneurs to advance the creation and adoption of these food products by producing research and a range of resources to help innovators and the industry at large come to grips with this emerging food sector. The organization has achieved a lot in its short life as it was only founded in 2016. I've known Bruce since the start, and this conversation is us touching base to talk about GFI's epic growth and that of the alt protein sector generally. And it's also me picking up on a few things I asked him back in a 2016 interview. Bruce is an awesome interviewee, especially as I did jump this podcast on him when he answered the phone; we were just scheduled for a catch-up call but I thought I'd grab the opportunity, so he very graciously allowed me to record our conversation, and this is it. Thanks Bruce!

We cover the entrance of the large food companies into the plant-based space, the role GFI took in getting government funding and policy advances for the sector, how alt protein companies are communicating about their use of genetic technology, costs of cultivated meat, white spaces of innovation for entrepreneurs, how to separate the winners from the losers, and of course, what Bruce had for breakfast.

Key quote: "Our goal is not to change anybody's metrics for food choices; our goal is to change the foods so that the plant-based and the cultivated alternatives have significantly lower external costs, no need for antibiotics, and a fraction of the climate impact so that consumers choose them because they are the most delicious and most affordable alternative."

Enjoy!

Who's responsible for obesity? And why Futurist Jack Bobo is pro-traditions Nov 06, 2019

In this episode I speak to Jack Bobo, founder of Futurity, a consultancy firm for startups and established food brands to consider the future of food and what it means to them.

"I'm very optimistic and excited about what the world will look like in 2050 but I think it is helpful though to think about where we've come from in order to think about where we're going."

Tune in to hear why Jack think CBD is not hot and the problem with fad diets and why the sugar tax on sodas - fizzy drinks to my British pals - doesn't make sense.

Don't miss the end when we talk about how the livestock industry could come to terms or even benefit from the wave of plant-based and cultivated meat alternatives coming down the pipe. Enjoy!

Klaus Kunz tells us how Bayer is cleaning up its act Sep 23, 2019

In this episode of Future Food, I speak to Klaus Kunz, head of Sustainability and Business Stewardship at German agro-pharma giant Bayer on the sidelines of the Seed & Chips Innovation Summit in Milan.

We talk on many topics including smallholder farmers, concerning data regarding biodiversity but one can’t get through a conversation with Bayer without addressing its pesticides. The company has come under serious fire for its glyphosate-based weedkiller Roundup, which is made by its now-subsidiary Monsanto. Environmental organizations have also been lobbying for it to be banned, as some researchers have linked its use to bee deaths. Klaus calls it a “very emotional topic” to him, having led the company’s task force in addressing the ugly issue, for three years.

“[There are] very heated debates in the public on the safety of [neonicotinoids] to bees. And it's absolutely true if you apply this class of chemistry in the wrong way, it's toxic to bees. So it is a matter of massive stewardship, positioning of these insecticides in the right place, in the spring cycle, and not in the wrong place,” says Klaus. “For example, spraying into flowering of bee attractive crops is a no-go with this class. What I realized is that at one point of time it was very difficult to have a fact-based conversation. It became very emotional.”

This episode, though heavy, is full of important insights from Klaus, who addresses pertinent issues in the bigger agriculture picture. Don’t miss it!

From the moment we're born, we're going to know exactly what foods we should eat, for what purpose Jul 29, 2019

Sofia Elizondo started her career as a management consultant in New York and after attending Stanford business school, discovered the world of food tech. She cofounded Brightseed in Silicon Valley to unlock the potential for plants to positively impact our health.

In this episode, we discuss the vast untapped potential of the natural world for our nutrition; just 15 of the 50,000 edible plants on the earth provide 90% of our calories! So Sofia founded Brightseed to unearth the bioactive compounds in plants that have positive impacts on our bodies using artificial intelligence and computational biology.

"Thirty years from now I think for sure we will know much more about the impact that food has on us. More or less, the level of science today is vegetables are good so have more of that, but I think in 30 years time, from the moment we are born, we're going to know exactly what foods we should eat, and for what purpose, and we are going to be able to source them, and enjoy their benefits."

Sofia also provides great tips for other female founders.

Enjoy!

(Disclosure, Brightseed is an AgFunder portfolio company and I work for AgFunder.)

Consumer Signals Influence the Biggest Agtech Startup: Indigo Ag Jul 04, 2019

In this episode of Future Food, I speak to Jennifer Betka, the chief marketing officer of Indigo Agriculture, the Boston-based agtech startup that's one of the highest valued in the industry today.

Jennifer is an expert marketer with a career spanning many different industries outside of agriculture, most recently at StubHub the event ticketing business, so it's really interesting to hear about her transition into this industry.

Jennifer does a great job explaining the work of Indigo that has transformed from a seed technology to a full service for farmers and a supplier of sustainable ingredients for food companies. And she talks about her marketing strategy.

"When I look at our brand, I think it's a really curious brand that's asking really important questions," she said giving an example of research she's doing into consumer signals. "If growers can be incentivized to put carbon back into the soil, do consumers care?"

I absolutely loved this conversation with Jennifer and please hang in there for some excellent insights around the 25 minute mark and onwards.

Enjoy!

A Moonshot Idea for Avocados? Nadia El Hadery from UK's YFood Shares Her FoodTech Journey May 14, 2019

The UK is the most active ecosystem for foodtech and agtech startups in Europe and Nadia El Hadery has played a role in it from London since 2013. Nadia is founder and CEO of YFood, an event and media company focused on the industry. London FoodTech Week is next week - find out more about the event, Nadia's vision for the future of food -- including drones and personalized food delivery -- her love of avocados, and some of the challenges startups have faced in the UK and beyond.

How Whole Foods' Walter Robb Thinks about Food Tech and the Future of Grocery May 01, 2019

There's perhaps no deal more representative of the changes taking place in the food system, and the meeting of technology and food, than Amazon's acquisition of Whole Foods in 2017.

Walter Robb, the former co-CEO of Whole Foods, was a key player through the transaction and for many years at Whole Foods before it.

A proponent of whole and natural foods, Walter is increasingly exposed to new food technologies through his work as executive-in-residence at agrifood tech investment firm S2G Ventures, TPG's the Rise Fund, and managing his own consultancy and personal portfolio through Stonewall Robb Advisors.

In this second edition of Future Food, I chat to Walter about his food preferences, his contrarian views of the plant-based meat trend, the role of big data in food, and how the Amazon deal came about -- did you know Whole Foods was looking for a digital partner?

We also talk about his vision for the future of food and hopes of providing fresh food to underserved communities.

As an incredibly experienced food retailer with extensive knowledge and opinions on eating well, Robb's take on the future of food and the development of new technologies is unique. It's also essential listening for consumers thinking about new food tech trends, corporates wondering how to approach new innovation -- he offers some specific advice here -- and grocery-focused startups

What is the Future of Food? CEO of Agtech's 1st Unicorn David Friedberg Offers His Vision Feb 28, 2019

For entrepreneurs and investors in the agtech startup space, David Friedberg is a major celebrity. When he sold his weather data startup The Climate Corporation to Monsanto for $1 billion in 2013 - achieving that elusive "unicorn" status - he put the category on the map. Ever since, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists have flocked to apply the latest in technology to the food and agriculture industries in an effort to cure it of its many woes, including climate change, obesity and the dominance of a few mega agrifood businesses globally.

Since selling Climate Corp, David became an investor himself, quietly building a portfolio of companies from fark to fork for his investment company The Production Board over the last five years.

This episode is my exclusive conversation with David where he revealed further details about The Production Board and offered his vision for the future of food.

David is a visionary and the insights he offers on what and how we will be eating in the future are inspiring, exciting, if perhaps a little scary.

I hope you enjoy this special first edition of Future Food!

How are Food Corporates Interacting with Startup Innovation and Are We Headed for Margarine 2.0? Aug 06, 2018

In this podcast, Louisa talks to Nick Fereday, a consumer foods analyst at Rabobank, about how the large food and agriculture companies are reacting to new innovation and working with startups. They also talk about the acquisition of Whole Foods by Amazon, and consumer trends around natural, simple food as well as alternative meat products.

Consumer Preferences and the Role of Women in Food & Ag Innovation Jul 30, 2018

Women still make the majority of food decisions in the home -- around 65% according to some estimates. While this has fallen from over 95% 20 years ago, women are still underrepresented in leading roles at food companies globally. I this week’s podcast, Louisa discusses the impact of this underrepresentation and how tech innovation is adapting to consumer demands with Beth Robertson-Martin, sourcing lead for organic, natural and non-GMO ingredients at General Mills, Kellee James, founder of Mercaris, the organic commodities trading platform, and Sanjeev Krishnan, partner at S2G Ventures, an agrifood tech venture capital firm. (Disclosure: S2G is invested in Mercaris.)

How an Artificial Intelligence & Robotics Startup Got Acquired by John Deere Jul 16, 2018

Blue River Technology is a Silicon Valley startup bringing robotics to the farm. In August 2017, Blue River was acquired by John Deere, the world’s largest tractor company, for $305 million. This was extremely exciting news for the agtech industry as exits for the venture capital firms backing the sector have been relatively few and far between. In this episode, Louisa speaks to Jorge Heraud, founder and CEO of the company about the startup's journey to success.

What Does Obama Think About Food Technology? Jul 02, 2018

In this episode, Louisa speaks to Sam Kass, venture partner at Acre Venture Partners, the food system venture capital firm. Kass has had a varied career working as a chef in the White House, as well as a nutritional policy advisor, and launched the Let's Move campaign with Michelle Obama. Here he speaks about investing in food technology and the importance of access to nutritional food.

Plenty Vertical Farming: From Stealth to Raising $200m Jun 18, 2018

After a few years in stealth mode, vertical farming group Plenty hit the public domain with a bang, raising a record-breaking $200m from Japanese banking group SoftBank over the summer. Louisa talks to CEO Matt Barnard to hear more about the company's growth and future plans.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected