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Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

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Hybrid VC Firm Big Idea Ventures Wants to Scale the Alternative Protein Revolution

We hear a lot about plant-based startups raking in big funding dollars — cough, Impossible Foods, cough — but not a lot about the companies investing in them.

One such company working to fund the alternative protein revolution is Big Idea Ventures (BIV). Helmed by Andrew Ive, formerly of food innovation accelerator Food-X, Big Idea Ventures is a hybrid venture firm with a VC arm and accelerator program.

It tore onto the scene a few weeks ago when it closed its first fund: the New Protein Fund, which now stands at roughly $50 million. “It’s the first and largest plant-based accelerator fund,” Ive told me over the phone last week.

The fund is backed by giants like Tyson Foods and Temasek, the Singaporean government’s VC arm. It will focusing heavily on plant-based protein startups, Ive said they’re are allocating 5 to 10 percent of their money for cell-based endeavors.

That makes it all the more interesting that they chose to make their first investment cultured shrimp company Shiok Meats. Ive told me that they were drawn in by the Singaporean startup’s product focus: crustaceans. He believes that the flavor and texture of cultured shrimp will be easier to commercialize than, say, beef or chicken. I’m not sure if that’s true, but it is impressive that Shiok Meats, which is less than a year old, has already done an (apparently successful) taste test of its minced “shrimp” in dumpling form.

BIV is also launching physical accelerator programs in two locations: New York City (to launch in Q3) and Singapore (to launch in Q4). Mike Lightman, Managing Partner of BIV, told me that they plan to accept 8 to 10 companies per cohort and do two cohorts per year. All accepted startups will receive $250,000 in funding, a space to work, and mentorship from their entrepreneurs in residence in exchange for a convertible note. Once the program is over, BIV will allocate $1 to $3 million among the top-performing companies. Over the next four years, Ive said that BIV is hoping to back around 100 companies.

In a lot of ways, this accelerator follows the typical script: young startups get funding and advice in exchange for a portion of their company. But BIV’s program diverges in a few ways. Firstly, it’s five months long as opposed to the more traditional three-month programs like Y Combinator and Food-X, which Ive found was too short to really help a company grow. BIV also has a full kitchen in their accelerator space, so startups can actually work on developing/scaling their products in-house. Finally, with their dual presence in Asia and the U.S. (with plans to expand into Europe sometime in the future), Lightman also noted that they can help reduce opportunity costs for entrepreneurs by giving them ready access to multiple markets.

BIV is entering the scene at a time when every major company and their mother seems to be launching a new accelerator. For mega CPG companies, like General Mills, Danone, and Kraft-Heinz, they’re a relatively easy way to discover new companies for acquisition and keep a finger on the pulse of what’s new and “hip.”

With this in mind, it’s not hard to see why Tyson and Temasek want to get in on an alternative protein accelerator.

Tyson has set out to become the number one provider of protein, no matter the source. It has invested widely in both plant-based and cell-based meat companies, including Memphis Meats, FutureMeat, and, up until recently, Beyond Meat. They’re also developing their own line of plant-based proteins set to launch this summer. Through their involvement in the BIV accelerator, Tyson will have access to a wide range of innovative new alternative protein companies, which they can try to acquire or just use to gain inspiration.

For Temasek’s part, Singapore has been quite progressive in pushing for innovation the alt-protein space. Through its new RIE2020 plan, the city-state will invest over $100 million in foodtech endeavors like cultured meat and microbial protein production. Temasek can use BIV’s cohorts to attract promising new alt-protein startups to Asia; which we’ve already predicted will be a hotbed for cell-based meat.

TL;DR: If you’re curious about what new companies are shaking up the alternative protein space, keep an eye on what Big Idea Ventures is up to. Another good way to stay up to date is to subscribe to our Future Food newsletter! You’ll get a weekly dose of in-depth analysis on the plant-based and cultured protein landscape.

If you’ve got a plant- or cell-based startup of your own, you can apply for BIV’s inaugural accelerator program here.

Future Food: How Big a Deal is Beyond Meat’s IPO, Really?

This is the web version of our weekly Future Food newsletter. In it we cover the alternative protein landscape, from plant-based meat to cellular agriculture to insects. Subscribe here!

Unless you’ve been living under a rock (no shame), you’ve heard about how Beyond Meat’s IPO is crushing it. At the time of this post, the company’s shares have more than tripled in price — from $25 to $78 — making it the biggest IPO pop since the 2008 financial crisis. Beyond Meat is now valued at almost $4 billion.

You can almost hear the investors drooling.

Beyond’s IPO success has proven that the plant-based protein craze isn’t just a fad; it’s a radical turning point in consumer preferences. Younger generations are demanding more from their foods — Gen Z especially is seeking out dining options that are ethical and environmentally sustainable. And companies like Beyond, who have a mission to halt climate change by reducing meat production, are reaping the profits.

So how big a deal is Beyond Meat’s IPO? Pretty darn big. In fact, I’m betting it will have significant ripple effects on the protein landscape over the next few months.

  • Beyond’s competitors — notably Impossible Foods — will likely follow suit with an IPO of their own (that is, if Impossible can overcome its recent supply issues).
  • Get ready to see lots of new alt-protein startups bring their animal-free eggs/milk/sushi rolls to market. This is where companies like Motif Ingredients, which provides protein R&D services, will soon be in high demand.
  • Mega food corporations like Nestlé and Unilever will invest more heavily in alternative meat products than they already have, possibly even following in Tyson’s footsteps to develop their own line of plant-based proteins.
  • More fast food and fast casual chains — big and small — will add high quality plant-based alternatives to their menus. Burger King went all-in on the Impossible Whopper last week, and I’m betting McDonald’s isn’t far behind.

A chicken patty that’s two-thirds meat, one-third Better Meat Co.’s protein blend.

Stuff is happening in the cell-based meat space, too. Last week Shiok Meats, the Singapore-based cellular aquaculture startup growing shrimp in bioreactors, raised a $4.6 million seed round. That makes them the third best-funded cell-based meat company in the world, after Mosa Meats and Memphis Meats.

Not too shabby for a company that’s only been on the scene for a year.

Instead of making totally new meat products, others are trying to improve the ones we already have. This week the New York Post wrote a story about food scientists in Australia who are incorporating insects into sausages and the like.

It may be a smart strategy to reduce the environmental footprint of meat while keeping a high protein content, but will consumers be okay with eating hot dogs filled with maggots? Probably not. (Though celebrities and celebrity chefs are working on it.)

This brings up an interesting point, though. People might balk at eating bugs, but the concept of replacing some meat with non-meat protein is sound. For example, startup Better Meat Co. makes a wheat protein that can be blended into processed meats, like hot dogs or bologna. It’s a clever way to reduce meat consumption without asking consumers to compromise or adjust their dining habits, at least until cell-based meat gets to market.

Lightlife’s new plant-based burgers.

Plant-based news ’round the web:

  • Lightlife, a plant-based meat company owned by the Canadian meat giant Maple Leaf Foods, brought its new, more realistic line of vegan burgers and ground “beef” to retail shelves this week.
  • Taco Bell U.K. is experimenting with a new plant-based taco filling made from pulled oats (h/t Livekindly).
  • Future Tense (via Slate) posits that cell-based meat is nothing more than “a cotton-candy bedtime story about making a different world through food.” It’s an interesting read asking if cultured meat will actually create a better protein source, or if it’ll continue to promote harmful industrialized agriculture practices.
  • NPR interviews Lou Cooperhouse of cellular aquaculture BluNalu on whether consumers will take to cultured seafood. FYI, they say it’s about 5-10 years from your plate.

Finally, last week Eater staffers brainstormed a list of hilarious (and hilariously bizarre) names for the next unicorn alt-burger company. My personal favorite: Meat Cute.

Eat well,
Catherine

Del Taco is First Mexican Fast-Food Chain to Put Beyond Meat on Its Menus

As a vegetarian, whenever I hit up a fast-food Mexican spot — my road trip go-to — my menu options are typically pretty limited: basically, I can have bean tacos or bean burritos. But starting at the end of this month, Del Taco is offering a new plant-based option at all of its 580 locations across the country.

Del Taco will offer two dedicated plant-based tacos filled with Beyond Meat’s meatless crumbles: the Beyond Avocado Taco (which is vegan) and the Beyond Taco (which has cheese). The tacos are $2.49 each, which is just a smidge pricier than Del Taco’s other taco offerings. Customers can also substitute Beyond Meat as a protein in their burritos, fries, and nachos.

The Mexican chain first started serving Beyond Meat tacos last September with a test run at two Southern California locations. With this rollout, Del Taco will be the first Mexican fast-food restaurant to put Beyond Meat on its menus.

Beyond is making bold strides into fast-food menus across the country. Back in January they rolled out the Beyond Famous Star burger at over 1,000 locations of Carl’s Jr. Add up Beyond’s presence at Carl’s Jr., Del Taco, and at Canadian chain A&W, and that’s a lot of plant-based fast-food burgers.

However, they’re not the only alterna-meat company targeting quick service restaurants (QSR). Impossible Foods’ plant-based patties are available at White Castles throughout the U.S., and it really stepped up earlier this month by announcing a partnership with Burger King. As of now, the Impossible Whopper is only available in a few locations around St. Louis. But if they’re successful — and early reviews are favorable — we could soon see Impossible burgers in all 7,200 BK locations.

We’ve entered into a sort of plant-based war for fast-food supremacy. Yes, demand for alternative protein is skyrocketing and there’s plenty of room for multiple players in the plant-based space. However, there’s probably not room on QSR menus for more than one alt-meat product. Beyond has won Del Taco. We’ll see what chain makes its next plant-based allegiance.

Meet Space Food X, Japan’s New Initiative to Feed People in Space

With all the challenges earth faces in the form of global warming, resource constraints and geopolitical unrest, many among us are already working on technology to get humanity into space for the long haul.

And sure, while we’re still working out how to get a bunch of us up into space permanently, perhaps the biggest puzzle we need to solve for long-term space colonization is figuring out how we’ll feed ourselves. And while it’d be nice to just store a bunch of Funyuns and Tang for those multiyear trips up to the nearest moon base or space station, the reality is long-term space survival will require self-sustaining, circular food systems that can scale and operate over decades.

Luckily for us, Japan is here for it in the form of a new initiative called Space Food X, a program to develop new food technologies and systems to solve the challenges of food production in space.

At the center of this new initiative is a consortium of 30 different organizations from Japan comprised of a variety of technology and food companies, universities, investment firms and researchers. The group of 30 is led by three founding members: JAXA (Japan’s space agency, the equivalent of US’s NASA), RealTech Fund (a Japanese venture fund) and SigmaXYZ, a consulting firm and organization.

(As both disclosure and humble-brag, I have to note that SigmaXYZ is also a partner with our company, as we co-produce Japan’s leading foodtech event in the Smart Kitchen Summit Japan. In fact, the Space Food X Deputy Director is Tanaka “Hiro” Hirotaka, one of the chairs for SKS Japan. And yes, you can bet I will get Hiro to talk space food at SKS in Seattle).

You can see all the companies participating in Space Food X below:

What will Space Food X be working on? From the (translated) website:

In order to live for a long time on the moon or Mars, various techniques and wisdom are required, such as techniques for efficiently producing food with less resources locally. In addition, the problem of food is a common issue even on the earth where the population increases. We at Space Food X combine the power of superior technology, business and culture from Japan to solve the food problem that is a common problem of the universe and the earth.

The announcement points to a variety of recent technology and food science developments in the areas of cellular meat, algae and ‘plant factories’ that will be core to their new efforts to develop long term solutions, as well advancements in robotics, AI and 3D food printing.

From the (translated) release:

By making the best use of these excellent technologies and food culture, it is possible to construct closed material circulation systems, food production systems, food supply services, etc. with a high degree of superiority in space life. Products and services are considered to be able to solve the food problem that is a common issue in the universe and the earth.

The new group has a phased approach that will ultimately move towards fully sustainable space based food systems. The five phases which will take place over a twenty year time period culminating in 2040. This future is visualized in the image below. Just look at those happy space residents sitting around a table, laughing, enjoying their space food!:

Of course, Japan isn’t alone in focusing on developing new food technologies to feed people in space. NASA and the European Space Agency as well as Russia and China’s space agencies are all working on developing long-term space food solutions. That said, none of the other efforts will produce teleported sushi (Open Meals, the company behind this idea – is a part of Spacefood X), so they’re all instantly at a serious disadvantage.

Stay tuned for more information on this effort (and for an upcoming presentation on the topic at SKS North America).

Beko Shows Off Grundig Smart Wall Oven that Blasts Water Inside to Clean Itself

Amidst all the faces on cookies, cheese making robots and world champion pizza chefs packed into a Las Vegas casino ballroom last Tuesday evening for the inaugural FoodTech Live @ CES , a new smart wall oven from one of Europe’s largest appliance makers made its US debut.

Called the Gourmet Chef Oven by Grundig, the new built in connected wall oven unveiled by Turkish appliance giant Arcelik (Beko is the US brand for Arcelik) has some interesting features, with one in particular that had the crowd at FoodTech Live buzzing with interest.

Beko unveils Grundig built-in smart wall oven at FoodTech Live at @CES 2019

As can be seen above, the Gourmet Chef not only comes with many of the capabilities you’d expect from a smart oven such as food recognition and guided cooking, but also has a unique self-cleaning feature that includes an internal water spray and special detergent dispenser.

“It cleans, it washes, it dries,” said Sazi Bugay, Product Director for Beko US. “Every time you use it, it gives you a clean interior.”

Admittedly, watching water splash around the inside an oven is a bit discombobulating at first, making one half-wonder for a moment if this is a dishwasher or a cooking box. It also made me ask myself how frequently one would need to wash their oven (raise your hand if you clean your oven pretty much never). That said, self-cleaning features may become a necessity in the age of smart ovens in order to ensure those internal cameras that identify food and enables cook-session monitoring stay relatively clean.

In the end, the self-cleaning feature plus some other nice-to-haves like a dehydration capability, steam oven and baking plate for pizzas make the Gourmet Chef an interesting and differentiated addition to the smart oven space. The Gourmet Chef (as well as Whirlpool’s new offerings which debuted at CES) also underscores the acceleration of a trend I highlighted in my 2019 outlook: the entry of big appliance makers into the smart oven market with built-in offerings that help move the segment beyond just the countertop.

According to Bugay, Arcelik’s new oven will be rolled out in Europe by the end of 2019 and should enter the US market in 2020 under the Beko brand. Pricing has not been disclosed.

Kitchens Aren’t Going Away, But They Will Adapt To Better Fit A Changing Consumer

When you have a conference focused on the future of food and cooking, people inevitably ask you what the kitchen of the future will look like.

That usually means talking a lot about emerging cooking technologies, new appliances and futuristic kitchen designs — but what if the answer to the question about what happens to the most central room in the home is that, in a world with push-button food delivery, grocery store meal kits and the eventual rise of cooking robots, the kitchen as we know it might cease to exist?

It’s certainly a topic I’ve been thinking a lot about over the past few months, so I figured what better question to ask during the opening session of the Smart Kitchen Summit.

When I put the question to Hestan Smart Cooking‘s Jon Jenkins, he said that when framed in pure economic terms, doing away with the kitchen makes lots of sense.

“It’s hard to make any kind of economic case that it makes sense for you to be doing cooking at home if all you’re cooking for is to get food to fill your stomach up,” said Jenkins.

In other words, if a kitchen’s sole purpose is sustenance, there are lots better ways to spend your money than sinking a whole bunch of it into a space that’s almost always the most expensive room in the house.

That’s why, according to Jenkins, the act of cooking and creating food needs to be about more than just putting fuel in the tank.

“We better hope there’s something more that you get from cooking, that there’s some amount of pride in the thing you created,” said Jenkins. “If that’s the thing we manage to enable with these technologies, then I think all have a really bright future.”

According to Dana Cowin, host of the Speaking Broadly podcast and longtime editor of Food & Wine magazine, it’s this emotional connection to cooking that needs to be the focus for those industries with the most to lose.

Penny the robot brings water to thirsty panelists

“What that means is anyone who is invested in appliances, in cooking, in teaching, in gathering, needs to create even more of a movement of explaining what the value is, and really not actually selling the appliance,” said Cowin. “It’s really what is the emotional transaction that happens here because the physical transaction can be so easily replaced.”

Cowin also felt that the most likely evolution path for the kitchen is that it will morph over time to better fit how people use them.

“One of the things to keep in mind is all kitchens and all people are not created equal,” said Cowin. “Right now we have one kitchen model that people plug into. What we’re gonna see with kitchens of the future is lots more flexibility and a reinvention of what that kitchen model looks like.”

So how might the kitchen adapt to changing consumer behavior?

According to Cowin, kitchens in the future will have smaller appliances, have a bigger focus on recycling packaging from delivery, and may even have managed fridges stocked with food from a service provider.

“I can see a kitchen supplied easily by an outsider like a Farmer’s Fridge, except the home version,” said Cowin.

Ultimately, while both panelists felt that more technology in the kitchen is inevitable, the future of cooking and the kitchen itself will depend on how well the technology serves the consumer beyond simply automating tasks.

“Everything we use in the kitchen aside from our hands is technology,” said Cowin. “It’s investing the intellect in the way food is being made rather than pressing the button.”

You can listen to the full conversation with Dana Cowin and Jon Jenkins on the latest episode of the Smart Kitchen Show podcast by clicking play below or subscribing on Apple Podcasts.

Take Advantage of these Food Tech Black Friday Deals

It’s the most, wonderful time of the year… for getting a good deal on food tech gear! Black Friday is tomorrow, and we’re on the lookout for bargains to make your connected kitchen even better.

Let us do the work and make your life easier by plucking kitchen-related gear that’s being sold at great prices and list them here. Be sure to check back with us throughout today and Friday as we add more deals to the list! And if you know of any good holiday deals on food tech or smart kitchen gear, let us know in the comments.

ANOVA SOUS VIDE COOKERS
If you’ve ever wanted to try sous vide cooking, here’s your chance: Anova has discounted both its Anova Sous Vide Cooker with WiFi+Bluetooth ($199 $99) and the newer, smaller Anova nano ($99 $75). Anova makes solid sous vide wands (you can read our review of the Nano here), so if you haven’t dipped your toe into the warm water bath of sous vide yet, what are you waiting for?

CHEFSTEPS JOULE SOUS VIDE COOKER
Another excellent sous vide wand is the ChefSteps Joule, which is now 20 percent off at the ChefSteps store ($199 $159). Bonus, this wand features a magnetic bottom so it will stay put in your pot of water with no clips necessary.

HESTAN CUE
Why not give the gift of guided cooking? Now you can get the Hestan Cue for 40% ($499.95 $299.97)  off by using the discount code BLACKFRIDAY18 at checkout. This deal gets you the full Hestan Cue system, including both the smart pan as well as the induction burner.

INSTANT POT
When you purchase the insanely popular Instant Pot 6 quart ($99.95 $70) multicooker, you not only get a versatile countertop device, you also get a rabid online community that can help you get the most out of it.

SMART SPEAKER ASSISTANCE
Smart assistants like Amazon’s Alexa and Google Home are getting smarter, more useful in the kitchen, and thanks to Black Friday — more affordable. The Verge has a great breakdown of all the smart speakers from both Amazon and Google going on sale.

GREENPAN VENICE PRO
Like the idea of non-stick pans, but worry about the chemicals that might leech into your food? The GreenPan Venice Pro ($180 $69) might be for you . According to Food52, this ceramic pan “is made without PFAS, PFOA, lead, or cadmium, and is oven and broiler safe up to a whopping 600°F. It also won’t blister, peel or release toxic fumes even if it’s heated up to over 850°F (unlike most nonstick pans).”

BREWIE HOME BEER APPLIANCE
Brewie is knocking knocking $1,000 off the price of its Brewie+ home beer making machine (making the cost $1,500) when you subscribe to their mailing list.

PICOBREW’S HOME BEER (AND HOOCH!) MACHINE COMBO
Bored with just brewing beer and want to try the hard stuff? Aspiring moonshine makers can save bigtime on Black Friday by picking up a PicoBrew Pico C and PicoStill Combo for $300 off ($748 $499). If you already have a Pico C (which you need to use the PicoStill), you can pick up a PicoStill for $100 off($349 $249).

KITCHEN-AID COLD BREW
Cold brew coffee lovers can get their fix at home as Kitchen-Aid has discounted both of their Cold Brew Coffee Makers. Pick up the 28 oz version for ($129 $49) or the 38 oz version for ($169 $92).

WAGYU STEAKS
Wagyu beef is renown for its melt-in-your-mouth flavor, and Crowd Cow is running a sale where you can pick up authentic Japanese A5 Wagyu steaks for your very own. They still aren’t cheap ($192 $149 for one 1.125 lb ribeye), but if you’re looking for a way to indulge yourself and your taste buds, this is about as good as it gets. (Chris here, I’ve tried the CrowdCow Wagyu and it really is delicious!)

DOORDASH’S BLACK FRY-DAY
After all those fist fights for oversized TVs at Walmart, reward yourself with free food courtesy of DoorDash and a handful of major restaurant chains. This Friday, they’ll give an order of free fries to the first 15,000 customers to place a DoorDash order of $5 or more with one of the following: Wendy’s, Wingstop, Jack in the Box, Applebee’s, Burger King, Chick-fil-A, and Buffalo Wild Wings. The offer is limited to one order per customer, and applies to delivery orders only. You can use the code BLACKFRYDAY to get yours.

MEAL KIT DEALS
If trying a meal kit service is on your bucket list, now would be the time to test one out, with some of the major meal kit companies offering deals in honor of Thanksgiving/Black Friday. HelloFresh has a sale going for $20 off the first four boxes for first-time subscribers, for a total of $80 off. That boils down to $8.99 $5.66 per serving for the Classic meal plan. Sunbasket is running a similar sale, also for $80 off.

ATLAS COFFEE CLUB SUBSCRIPTION
Atlas Coffee Club, who curates coffee from around the world and delvers it via subscription service, will offer $15 off the first shipment for new subscribers to the Coffee of the Month Club. The coffee subscription company is also offering up to $50 off for 12 month subscribers in a Black Friday sale that runs from November 23–25.

EMBER MUG BUNDLE
The expensive-but-worth-it temperature controlled coffee mug just got a little bit cheaper… when you buy two of them. Get a pair of ceramic Ember mugs for $149 (normally $159).

GOSUN SOLAR GRILLS
GoSun makes portable grills that harness solar energy to cook food. Perfect for the camper in your life that doesn’t want to bring fuel into the forest, or anyone looking to make outdoor cooking a little more clean, you can pick up the GoSun Sport ($249 $199), GoSun Grill ($699 $599) or the GoSun Portable ($139 $99).

GOURMIA AIR FRYER. Let’s face it, people either love or hate the air fryer. For some like Wired’s Joe Ray, the air fryer overpromises and underdelivers, while for others it’s hot crispy love from the get-go. If you’re looking to figure out where you stand on one of the day’s most heated (sorry) issues, you can pick up this Gourmia air fryer for $59 through Friday only.

FARMBOT
Forget cooking robots. It may just be time to get a robot to run your garden. You can now pick up the Farmbot Genesis XL garden robot for a full $600 off.  Of course, the deal doesn’t come with a backyard or labor to put it together (that’s for you Farmer Ted), but we can guarantee this will be a one of a kind gift for your home gardening loved one.

GROW DUO
If you’re looking to add some smarts to your garden but aren’t ready to fully outsource it to the robots, try out the Grow Duo, which is on sale for 50% off through Monday.  The Grow Duo comes with everything to start your back porch smart garden, including a smart planter, two grow kits and organic potting soil.

NOMIKU
Mike Wolf recently wrote about how Nomiku reinvented itself as a sous vide-powered food delivery business, offering meals ranging from Five-Spice Short Rib to Minestrone Soup, all ready in 30 minutes. If you want to sample some of that food delivery for yourself, now’s the time — you can take $25 off any order placed on Cyber Monday, and you’ll automatically get a $15 credit applied to December orders. Nomiku is also offering free shipping on all orders over $99.

LARQ
Despite your best cleaning efforts, reusable water bottles can start to get a bit, well, smelly. LARQ’s water bottles use UV-C light to kill bacteria which can cause bad odors, purifying your water at the same time. They’re also pretty stylish. LARQ’s bottles are 15% off today, so you can snag one for $80 (normally $95).

Smart Garden Startup Click & Grow Raises $11 Million To Fuel Expansion

Estonian smart-garden startup Click & Grow announced this week it has raised $11 million to help accelerate growth for its hyperlocal grow systems into new markets.

Investors in this round include two strategic corporate investors in Swedish holding company Ingka Group (which owns and operates the majority of IKEA stores) and French conglomerate Groupe SEB, as well as Y Combinator and Shanghai-based Yunqi VC. The round brings the total invested in the nearly 10 year old company to $17.9 million.

Investor interest in one of hottest indoor-gardening startups is not surprising given the strong growth in the home-grow space as of late. Demand for smart-grow systems has surged as consumers embrace the healthy aspects of indoor farming and — let’s be honest — start their own mini ganja farms as cannabis becomes legal in parts of the US and other countries like Canada.

While Click & Grow was one of the first of a wave of startups bringing technology to indoor gardening for the home, there is no shortage of competition in the space. New entrants like AVA, Verdical and SproutsIO are working to to bring their products to market, while Natufia, another Estonian smart garden startup, just raised $1.2 million in funding. Even long-time market leader AeroGrow (over 1.4 million units shipped as of 2016) has also seen a resurgence as majority owner MiracleGrow freshens up the product lineup.

IKEA’s involvement is intriguing for a couple reasons. For one, there’s no doubt the home furnishings giant has increasingly embraced smart home technology in recent years and the Click & Grow investment will strengthen extend this tech push into the garden. The deal is also interesting because IKEA had already launched a home grow system a couple years ago, which they are apparently still selling.

Either way, the Swedish company sees lots of potential in its new partnership:

“We see this as another step forward in our journey to serve IKEA customers and our co-worker’s healthier and more nutritious food, and it opens up new opportunities for IKEA Retail markets to become more self-sufficient by growing fresh local produce,” explained Krister Mattsson, Head of Investments, Ingka Group.

The Estonian startup, which has sold 450 thousand total systems and 2.1 million plant pods since launch, said it plans to use the funding to expand into new markets.

The State of European Food Tech: Who, Where, and What’s Next

In the past week, not one, but two companies have released reports on the state of European Food Tech: one by Five Seasons Ventures called “The State of European Food Tech 2018,” the other from Digital Food Lab titled “FoodTech in Europe: FoodTech Investments from 2014 to 2018.”

We’ve had our eye on the growing food tech scene in Europe for a while. That’s why this June we decided to bring the Smart Kitchen Summit across the pond to hold our first European event at Dublin’s Guinness Brewhouse. Reading these reports filled in some color to what that event already showed us: the European food tech ecosystem is evolving to include more startups, more funding, and more innovation.

Here are a few of the most interesting parts of the reports which shed light on the startups and trends shaping the European food tech market, plus what we can expect in the future.

Where’s the action?
Three countries are currently snagging the majority of the funding: Germany, the U.K., and France. In fact, Five Seasons Ventures reported that in 2017, 63 percent of all European food tech investment was in Germany and U.K.-based startups. 

The Netherlands and Denmark have each had one notable food tech startup: Dutch food delivery service Picnic raised €100 million (~115 million), and Danish wine recommendation service/marketplace Vivino raised €56 million (~$64 million). Interestingly, while German and the U.K. led the pack in terms of amount of money invested, Five Season Ventures pointed out that Spain and Italy actually stand out in terms of number of funding rounds. 

Delivery companies like Deliveroo are snagging the majority of food tech investment in Europe.

What are VCs investing in?
There’s a significant amount of investment going into the European food tech market. Digital Food Lab projects that, by the end of 2018, €750 million ($860 million) will be invested in food tech in the continent. Five Seasons Ventures is even more optimistic: they estimate the number at €1 billion ($1.15 billion). And the trends indicate that those numbers will only grow: the VC firm stated that there had been a 63 percent annual growth in food tech investment since 2013.

No question: by far the most food tech investment activity is in food delivery. Five Season Ventures’ report states that VC’s have invested €6.5 billion (~$7.5 billion) in European food tech since 2013, nearly half of which was in companies doing food delivery. In fact, eleven of the top 15 largest food tech investments have been in food delivery companies.

Though delivery may be taking the lion’s share of food tech investment, there are lots of new players emerging in other categories — and snagging funding, too. This year, French Ekim raised €2.2 million ($2.5 million) for its pizza-making robots. Swedish startup Karma raised $12 million for its app which reduces food waste by connecting people with leftover restaurant food. German smart water appliance company Mitte, who won the Startup Showcase at the Smart Kitchen Summit Europe in June, recently raised $10.6 million.

Challenges
European food tech startups are struggling to raise significant funds — the really big numbers. Digital Food Lab speculates that this might be because investors are “less inclined to trust Europe’s startups with a few million before they have proven their worth,” which definitely plays a role. On the whole, U.S. startups promote the “fail fast” approach, taking bold risks with big gains (or failures). European startups and VCs are generally more cautious, raising and investing money more gradually. At the same time, over $4 billion invested in food tech over four years isn’t small change.

There’s a wealth gap between the more established startups (that is, ones that have been around for more than a few years) and the emerging ones. Digital Food Lab’s report cited €4.2 billion ($4.82 billion) invested in foodtech since 2014, roughly 60 percent of which has gone to the top three startups: Deliveroo, HelloFresh, and Delivery Hero (unsurprisingly, mostly delivery-focused companies). This is partially because first generation food tech startups have become very acquisitive, creating fewer, larger food tech companies and less investment potential for smaller players. 

Europe is also a far trickier market to pin down than the more homogenous U.S. It’s composed of many different countries, with different languages, culinary customs, and consumer preferences. Startups that may solve a problem in the U.K. may not be met with the same enthusiasm in Italy, or Portugal, or Slovenia. Plus, each country has its own food regulations, which can be a big hurdle for CPG companies.

Photo: Five Seasons Ventures report, The State of European Food Tech 2018.

Conclusions: room for growth
Both reports ended on the point that the European food tech ecosystem is poised for some serious growth — though it needs more capital to do so. The continent’s share of global investments is only 13 to 17 percent, despite the fact that they have a 25 percent share of the global agriculture and food (agrifood) market. 

Here at the Spoon, we’ve also noticed the recent boom in European food tech startups. From 3D printed restaurants to personalized dining recommendations to upcycled food insulation made out of wool to smoothie-blending robots, European companies are capitalizing off of major trends in the food innovation space. Some are even leading the way.

So while Silicon Valley is still the de facto epicenter of food tech — and has the massive funding to prove it — it’s worth keeping an eye on what’s going on across the Atlantic.

Announcing the Smart Kitchen Summit 2018 Program

Hard to believe, but we’re just six weeks away from the Smart Kitchen Summit, our flagship industry event that brings hundreds of executives, innovators, startups and media together in Seattle’s Benaroya Hall for two days to forge the future of food, cooking, and the kitchen.

It’s been three years since we held our first in an old cannery in 2015, and since that time we’ve become the hub across three continents for the world’s biggest brands in appliances, food, and tech to connect and discuss food tech.

And now, after lots of emails, planning meetings and Google sheet rejiggering, we’ve released our agenda for the Smart Kitchen Summit! We’ve got an incredible lineup with panels, TED-style talks and fireside chats featuring some of the most exciting people in the space. Check it out!

A few highlights:

  • The Wall Street Journal’s Wilson Rothman will sit down with the person who ran product on both the Amazon Echo and the Juicero –  Malachy Moynihan – to ask why kitchen products succeed or fail.
  • Dr. Karsten Ottenberg, the CEO of one of the world’s biggest appliance manufacturers, BSH Appliances, will talk about how his company is building its future around services.
  • Executives from Cafe X, Chowbotics and Zimplistic will talk about the future of food robotics
  • Walmart’s VP of Food Safety Frank Yiannas will speak on a panel with Raja Ramachandran of Ripe.io and Jasmine Crowe of Goodr about the potential for blockchain to increase transparency and reduce waste throughout the food system.
  • The CEOs of June, Brava, Tovala, and Suvie will talk about how cooking appliances will change over the next decade.
  • We’ll find out why Eli Holzman, the creator of Project Runway & Project Greenlight, has made the intersection of technology and cooking his next big project.
  • Tom Mastrobuoni of Tyson Ventures, Carmen Palafox of Make in L.A., and Brian Frank of FTW ventures will explore strategies for food tech investment, from hardware to CPG and beyond.

That’s just the start. We have sessions on personalized food, the future of restaurants, AI & food, cooking robots, food & cooking data, blockchain & food, IoT security in the smart kitchen, reinvention of the grocery store and much more.

Peppered throughout the day we’ll also have 12 new startups (companies to be announced soon!) pitching their companies before a panel of investors and executives. Our panel of judges will vote on the winner, who will get a $10,000 cash prize! You can view the new full conference schedule here.

Our last shows have all sold out, so make sure you grab your tickets now, and we’ll see you in October!

SKS Japan: Excitement, Growth & a Rapidly Maturing Food Tech Ecosystem

Last week I was in Tokyo for Smart Kitchen Summit Japan. It was the second edition of our Japanese event, and while it’s only been twelve short months since that first gathering, the amount of progress I witnessed in the Japan food tech scene over the course of the two days in Tokyo was amazing.

Here are some of the trends, products and innovators that stood out to me last week:

In Japan, Much of the Innovation Comes From Big Companies

For those familiar with Japan, you’ll know it’s not surprising that much of the innovation comes from within established companies. These “intreprenuers” often work in R&D or as part of new business units specifically to innovate new product concepts.

One of these innovation units is Panasonic’s GameChanger Catapult. We’ve written about Catapult as they’ve been showing off innovative product concepts like a food softener for the elderly or home fermentation system.  As it turns out, the innovation unit from Panasonic is still working on those ideas as well as a few new ones.

One of Catapult’s product concepts is Tottemeal, which first showed up at SXSW in Austin in March 2017 as a product concept called Bento@YourOffice. It was comprised of an IoT-powered smart fridge and app system, which is similar in concept to Byte Fridge in that both offer fresh food for sale. Since SXSW last year the company has approached partners and refined the concept to work with any fridge.  The company is now testing out the service in Panasonic’s event/innovation hub, Kura-Think, in Tokyo.

Another large company that’s been busy working on future-forward food tech concepts since last year’s SKS Japan is CookPad. The digital cooking site, which boasts 100 million users worldwide, introduced a smart kitchen platform a couple months ago called OiCy that connects their recipes with appliances to create a guided cooking platform. At SKS Japan, the company outlined the future vision for OiCy in the form of a six-level roadmap for the smart kitchen platform. They also announced an updated partner list which includes hardware manufacturers such as Sharp and Hitachi.

Japan’s Startup Ecosystem Is Gaining Momentum

While much of Japan’s innovation comes from within large organizations, there are also signs of a rapidly maturing food tech startup ecosystem.  Part of the growth is being driven by Japan’s bigger companies like Kirin (who launched their own accelerator). However, there were also a number of young and innovative entrepreneurs that spoke at SKS Japan such as Integriculture’s Yuki Hanyu and Open Meals’ Ryosuke Sakaki.

We’ve written about both companies before in the Spoon. Chris Albrecht was the first to write about Integriculture’s impending $2.7 million funding round when he covered Shojinmeat, the open source project from Hanyu. As Northeast Asia’s only lab-grown meat startup, CEO Hanyu has big plans to jumpstart alternative meat production in the Asia market, and discussed his plans for doing just that.

Open Meals made a big splash this March at SXSW with their sushi teleportation demo. While true food teleportation may be a ways off, the Open Meals vision of creating a food digitization and printing framework is pretty fascinating. Company CEO Sasaki presented an ambitious 100-year look into the future for the idea around food digitization that spanned from digitized food restaurants in Tokyo in just two years and eventually sees space colonies where we’re sharing food experiences in real time with people on earth.

Dinner time in space

Japan’s Smart Kitchen Community Embraces Ideas From US & Europe

The Japan smart kitchen/food tech community is also really interested in innovation happening from the West. One of the speakers at SKS Japan this year was Jon Jenkins, the head of product for the guided cooking group within Meyer, Hestan Cue. Jenkins, who goes by JJ, gave a talk about the role of technology and software in the kitchen and later gave a hands-on demo of the product to a capacity crowd:

It wasn’t just cooking demos. A highly engaged audience packed the room to hear conversations with innovators from the US and Europe such as Jason Cohen of Analytical Flavor Systems talk about the impact on AI on food personalization and flavor. They also heard from Suvie’s Robin Liss as she discuss her company’s four-chamber cooking robot and how today’s appliance companies need to start innovating around food services. The Future Food Institute’s Sara Roversi talked about taking her food innovation platform, which she started in Europe, across the globe. They also listened to Amar Krishna of Chefling and Kevin Yu of SideChef discuss the differences between the smart kitchen platform market in the US with CookPad’s Tad Yoshioka.

Collaboration, Innovation & Community

The biggest takeaway for me from this year’s SKS Japan was there a growing sense of collaboration, innovation, and community in Japan’s food tech market.  Part of it was the hard work of our partners for SKS Japan, SigmaXYZ, who have done a great job over the past year fostering the SKS community. But, just as with the US and Europe, it’s clear now that the Japanese market was ready for an event to catalyze innovation and to bring it together, and I couldn’t be more thrilled that event is SKS.

I’m excited to see how our event in Japan has just done that and has become the go-to food tech event in the Japan market and for much of Asia and I can’t wait to go back next year. I hope I’ll see you there.

If you’re interested in being a part of our global community, don’t miss SKS in Seattle in less than two months!  Robin Liss, Jon Jenkins, Jason Cohen and many more will be there, so you will not want to miss out. You can check it out here and don’t forget to use discount code SPOON for 25% off tickets!

Chick-fil-A is Paving the Way for Fast Food Meal Kits

Today Chick-fil-A announced that they would roll out “Mealtime Kits” in 150 Atlanta area locations this August, making them the first fast-food company to enter the crowded meal kit market.

Each Chick-fil-A box will contain fresh, pre-measured ingredients to make one of five meals, from chicken enchiladas to chicken flatbread to pan-roasted chicken. (Sense a theme here?) The kits will cost $15.89, feed two people, and can be prepared in 30 minutes or less.

The key differentiator here isn’t what’s in the meal kits, but where you can buy them: they’ll be available Chick-fil-A drive-thrus, indoor ordering counters, or through the company’s app. The company claims they’ll sell them until mid-November, though they might extend or expand the run if it’s successful.

This move will be an interesting test case to see if restaurants — specifically fast food restaurants — will get into the meal kit space. On one hand, it seems counter-intuitive to buy a meal kit from a drive-thru window when you could buy ready-to-eat food from the same place for a comparable price. At the same time, it’s hard to beat the convenience; as soon as you decide you want to make chicken enchiladas for dinner, all you have to do is swing by your local Chick-fil-A and grab one.

As Chris Albrecht mused last week, white label meal kit startup Chef’d’s abrupt shut down last week might be a death knell for independent meal kit companies. Those that remain seem to be trying everything they can think of to gain a foothold: Blue Apron has tried branding kits with celebrities, Purple Carrot debuted 100% recyclable packaging, and other companies are offering doctor-recommended options.

Meal kit point of sale is also in flux. Lots of companies are moving away from the at-home delivery model and transitioning into selling kits in grocery stores, drugstores, and beyond. Chick-fil-A could start offering their boxes at third-party retailers too, of course, though they’ll have to compete for shelf space with other meal kit companies. By selling their kits in drive-thrus, Chick-fil-A brings the sale one step closer to the consumer — they don’t even have to get out of their car.

If Chick-fil-A’s experiment is successful, we’ll no doubt see other fast food joints, from Arby’s to Zaxby’s, rolling out branded meal kits of their own.