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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

startups

Plant Jammer Gets €4M Investment for its AI-Powered Recipe Platform

Plant Jammer, a four-year-old Danish startup building an AI-powered cooking assistant, is one step closer to its goal of reaching one billion people, thanks to a €4 million investment in its AI recipe algorithm and platform. The Copenhagen-based company plans to expand its presence in the digital food space by licensing its API to third parties who can build branded customized experiences for their customers.

The new injection of capital comes from Danish investment firm Vaekstfonden, German food processing company Dr. Oetker, and German appliance manufacturer Miele. Miele had previously invested in Plant Jammer in 2018.

”Plant Jammer’s combination of recipe creation with AI is both unique and functional. We expect that this technology will be a core pillar in the connected kitchen of the future. Therefore, we believe Plant Jammer has great business potential,” says Dr. Christian Zangs, Managing Director of Miele Venture Capital.

Plant Jammer’s application, already in use by 10,000 households in Europe, allows users to build customized recipes by factoring in their individual preferences and what they may have in their home or what may be on sale in the local supermarket. While the app is focused on plant-based and vegetarian creations, partners who license the platform are not limited to those options. The database also contains food choices that include animal products and dairy; the PlantJammer app chose not to surface those results allowing the company to focus its version on a select niche.

In an interview with The Spoon, CEO and founder Michael Haase explained that partners who license the Plant Jammer’s API will pay based on the number of “calls” or accesses by users. For example, a grocery chain in Sweden can use the Plant Jammer API to develop a branded application such as a chatbox, that could include such extras as a link to online shopping. Each time a user of that third-party application builds a recipe, based on ingredients, tastes, diet, or any number of factors, the PlantJammer AI-driven database would work behind the scenes to deliver the results.

“I like to think of the analogy of the gold rush,” Haase adds. “We are interested in being the supplier of the jeans and shovels that enable others to do their jobs better.”

Personalized data from commercial partners will not be shared with Plant Jammer, but those partners can pass on generalized information via tags to allow the Haase’s company to continue to innovate on its platform. There are several areas Haase hopes to develop focused around food waste and the increased use of the excess capacity of local farmers and vendors.
Initially, the company founder says, the goal is to focus on food waste in the home. Haase says that 50% of all food waste takes place in the home, so we want people to build recipes based on what they already have in their refrigerator or cupboard.

“Our declared purpose is to empower one billion people with food habits that increase their health and the health of the planet,” Haase added.

That said, Haase admits his goal is a lofty one. “Right now, we are in a world of what I would call ‘trickle-down gastronomy’,” he says. “There is a huge divide between those whose world is focused on things such as molecular gastronomy and the masses. If we can show people that you can make something great in 25 minutes with simple ingredients, that would be great.”

Building The Next Great Food Tech Company? Apply for the Smart Kitchen Summit Startup Showcase!

Are you working on a new alternative protein product that you think will change the world? Building the cooking appliance or food robot of the future? Have an idea for AI could reduce the amount of food we waste?

If so, you’ll want to apply for the sixth annual Smart Kitchen Summit Startup Showcase!

Alumni of the SKS Startup Showcase have gone on to raise raise tens of millions of dollars in funding, appear on Shark Tank, and make some of the most exciting and well-known products in their categories.

And because North America’s leading food tech summit is going virtual this year, the 2020 Startup Showcase will be a truly global launchpad for your food tech company.

Just submit your application no later than September 15 to enter your company for consideration. We’ll be selecting 10 startups to tell the world about their ideas at the Smart Kitchen Summit from October 13 – 15, 2020.

We look forward to hearing about your company and helping you tell your story to the world!

Dairy Farmers of America Unveils the 9 Companies Selected for Its Latest Accelerator Cohort

Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) announced this week the companies chosen to participate in the 2020 cohort of its food-focused startup accelerator. Nine companies were chosen for this cohort, according to a press release sent to The Spoon. Among them are a company that makes premium spirits from whey and one that uses excess milk to make t-shirts.

The DFA itself is a cooperative of family farmers that was formed in 1998 and now counts about 13,000 members from dairy farms around the U.S. The accelerator program works with companies using technology to improve aspects of the farming system. Past participants include ripe.io, which uses blockchain to improve supply chain transparency, and Labby, whose AI-powered smartphone app can test milk onsite and save farmers the time and money it takes to send samples to a lab.

Besides giving companies a foothold in the agtech industry, the program also connects DFA with startups, which are typically more agile and innovative than traditional agricultural companies. “[We] needed a way to partner with someone who could [get us] on the right path and get in front of some new technologies,” DFA’s director of innovation Doug Dressler told me last year.

Program participants receive mentorship and guidance around product development, marketing, and business development, connect with potential investors, and participate in a demo day at the end of the cohort.

The program runs for 90 days and is typically a combination of offsite, virtual programming and onsite work at the DFA headquarters in Kansas City, KS. Given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, virtual programming is particularly important to this cohort. The DFA said in its email to The Spoon that the first program will kick off remotely and rely heavily on “digital training tools and resources” for at least the start of the cohort.

It’s a tactic currently being used by other startup accelerators, including Food-X and the Iowa AgriTech Accelerator. How much of the DFA’s program will be virtual versus onsite remains to be seen. Program coordinators hope to have onsite work available by July. 

Today’s press announcement describes the nine chosen companies as follows:

  • Armenta (Ra’anana, Israel): a non-invasive technology for antibiotic-free treatment of bovine mastitis.
  • Capro-X (Ithaca, N.Y.): a sustainable solution for whey waste from Greek yogurt production.
  • Livestock Water Recycling (Calgary, Alberta, Canada): a manure treatment technology, which recycles 75% of manure into clean water while segregating manure nutrients for precision fertilizer application.
  • Mi Terro (Los Angeles, Calif.): a sustainable fashion brand that uses excess milk to make men’s and women’s t-shirts.
  • Chank’s Grab-N-Go (Millville, N.J.): a handheld snack company featuring pizza cones, philly cheesesteak cones and more.
  • GoodSport (Chicago, Ill.): a sports drink made from milk which uses only natural ingredients and has naturally occurring electrolytes and vitamins.
  • SuperFrau (Cambridge, Mass.): electrolyte drinks made from upcycling surplus whey, with real ingredients and no added sugars.
  • Wheyward Spirit (Eugene, Ore.): premium spirit made from whey.
  • Yaar Nordic Quark Bar (London, U.K.): Nordic chilled dairy snacks made with fresh quark, a mixture of cow’s milk and natural lactic acid.

The 2020 cohort is currently in session and runs until the July 30 demo day.

Surplus Veggies and High-Tech Farm Cooperatives: FS6 Accelerator Announces New Cohort

Food System 6 (FS6), a San Francisco Bay Area-based food and agriculture accelerator program, just announced the participants for its fifth cohort. The six chosen startups are focused on creating sustainable solutions for farmers, ranchers, and other upstream food producers.

All participating startups will receive a year of mentorship and support in areas like business development, marketing, and R&D. Through FS6’s partnership with investment fund 1st Course Capital, each cohort member will also get a $25,000 cash investment after they complete the accelerator program (in exchange for 1.5 percent in equity).

Without any further ado, here are the participants in FS6’s newest cohort:

  • Firebrand Artisan Breads – Oakland-based bakery supporting the local community through employment and high-quality breads and pastries.
  • Central Grazing Co. – Regenerative farming enterprise selling lamb and leather made from animals raised on the company’s zero-waste Kansas farm.
  • Matriark Foods – Upcycles surplus farm produce to create healthy vegetable products for large foodservice establishments like hospitals, food banks and schools.
  • Revel Meat Co. – Small-scale butchery and meat wholesaler focused on local meats raised in the Pacific Northwest.
  • Farm Generations Cooperative – Piloting GrownBy, an online sales platform for direct market farmers.
  • Keller Crafted Meats – Whole-animal butcher and charcuterie producer and distributor, purchasing from local farms.

These startups are more on the ag side of agtech, but all are thinking creatively to reinvent a certain aspect of how our food is produced. Farm Generations Cooperative and Matriark especially are tapping into some trends we’ve been seeing a lot of at The Spoon, like online marketplaces and upcycled food.

Food accelerator and incubator programs are so hot right now. It seems like practically every company, especially Big Food brands, is rolling out their own, hoping to attract a pool of startups to potentially acquire (and help then keep a finger on the pulse of innovation). As a nonprofit, FS6 has a slightly different agenda — though both are hoping that through mentorship and investment, they can help a new group of companies succeed.

We’ll check back in a year and see how FS6’s Cohort 5 is doing.

General Mills Invests in Good Catch’s $32M Series B to Expand Plant-based Seafood

Today Gathered Foods, makers of Good Catch plant-based seafood, announced it has closed a $32 million Series B round. Led by Stray Dog Capital and Rocana Ventures, other participants included Greenleaf Foods, New Crop Capital, Almanac Investments, CPT Capital and 301 INC (the venture arm of General Mills).

Good Catch’s plant-based tuna — made with 6 different plant proteins and algal oil — is currently available at 4,500 retail locations in the U.S., including Whole Foods. It will be moving into the U.K. market over the next few weeks.

This Series B builds on a $10 million convertible note round that Gathered Foods closed back in June 2019. Combined with its $8.7 million Series A, which it announced in August 2018, the New York-based startup has raised just under $41 million.

According to a press release, the net proceeds from the investment will go towards expanding Good Catch’s retail footprint across North America and Europe, as well as a push into Asia. The company will also use its fresh capital to develop new products — like the line of frozen entrées and vegan “crab” cakes it had previously teased for release later this year.

Just after news of the convertible note broke last year, Chris Kerr, co-founder and CEO of Gathered Foods, told NOSH that their upcoming larger round would include a “game changing” new investor.

That’s got to be 301 INC. The Good Catch investment is not the CPG giant’s first foray into the plant-based marketplace. 301 INC has already invested in Kite Hill, maker of animal-free dairy products, and vegan protein bar startup no cow. They were also an early investor in a little old company called Beyond Meat.

301 INC’s investment in Gathered Food certainly beefs up the CPG giant’s plant-based portfolio. It could also offer significant benefits to Good Catch; the startup will be able to leverage General Mills’ manufacturing expertise, R&D resources and retail relationships to accelerate new product development and gain placement on more grocery shelves.

Alternative seafood will also have the chance to play a larger role as fish stocks dwindle due to overfishing and the rise of ocean mercury levels. Good Catch isn’t the only one trying to get ahead of the curve. Sophie’s Kitchen makes vegan canned tuna and Ocean Hugger Foods turns tomatoes and eggplant into plant-based raw fish for sushi (and is also sold at Whole Foods). Back in September, New Wave Foods, which makes ‘shrimp’ from plants, snagged an investment from Tyson.

The rising investor interest in seafood alternatives mirrors consumers’ rising demand for plant-based everything. While grocery shelves are filling up with meatless burgers, hot dogs, and soon, ground pork, vegan seafood is an area that still has relatively few players — and lots of room for improvement. With this Series B round — and especially General Mills’ participation — Good Catch just got a significant leg — er, fin — up.

Two Trends to Watch Out for in 2020: Pop-Ups and Equity Crowdfunding

Based on the volume of digital ink I devoted in 2019 to cashierless checkout and robot-related startups, you’d think that I would pick those sectors as trends to watch in 2020.

While I think those segments will continue to grow steadily over the coming months, the two trends I’m most fascinated by are the ones I actually wrote very little about this year. If you’re looking for a couple of big, juicy trends I think you should pay attention to, you should explore semi-permanent pop-ups and equity crowdfunding.

Pop-up stores have been around for a while, but there are a number of startups looking to capitalize on their small footprint and easy setup to create new retail experiences. AiFi creates nano-stores are small, self-contained shipping container-like boxes that house an operation like a convenience store. These stores are cashierless (like Amazon Go), so customers can walk in, grab what they want and go.

Zippin is another company building out cashierless retail experiences, though it’s “Zippin Cube” is more customizable. The Zippin Cube is modular, so it can fit into existing, odd-shaped real estate. The Cubes can also hold coolers and come pre-wired, so they can be assembled and up and running in as little as three weeks.

Both Zippin and AiFi allow retail brands to quickly, easily and inexpensively set up pop-up stores in sporting venues, office lobbies or even music festivals. Retailers can then extend their brand into new venues without expensive and permanent build out. Think: a mini-Safeway at the base of your office building or a 7-11 at Coachella.

The ability to cheaply squirrel these stores into the nooks and crannies of high-volume but unused space will entice retailers to try them out next year.

Speaking of enticing, I expect startups will sing their siren song next year to entice everyday people to pony up through equity fundraising. Unlike the traditional product crowdfunding on Kickstarter, equity crowdfunding offers investors real equity in the companies they back.

GoSun, GOffee (unrelated “Gos” there) and Miso Robotics all launched equity crowdfunding campaigns this year. GoSun has raised $345,000 with 25 days left in its campaign. GOffee raised $1.07 million, and Miso Robotics aims to equity crowdfund a whopping $30 million.

This is actually GoSun’s second round of equity crowdfunding. The company raised $500,000 in seed money from the crowd in 2017. I spoke with GoSun CEO Patrick Sherwin earlier this year about the reason for crowdfunding and he told me:

“Traditional VC will breathe down your neck,” Sherwin said, “And drive everything towards more profit. This gives us more flexibility and keeps us in charge.”

Greater control over their own destiny is an attractive proposition for startups, and equity crowdfunding also has the benefit of giving companies that aren’t located in major VC hubs access to capital.

There are still plenty of SEC hurdles that a company must go through when equity crowdfunding, but I imagine we’ll see a lot more companies go that route to grow the way they want to.

Perfect Day Closes $140M Series C to Expand Animal-Free Dairy Production

Perfect Day, a startup producing animal-free dairy using microbes, today announced it has closed a $140 million Series C funding round. The round was led by Temasek with participation from past investors.

This more than doubles the total amount of funding for the Berkeley-based startup, which raised a $34.8 million Series B earlier this year. Its total money raised is now $201.5 million.

Perfect Day uses genetically engineered microbes to ferment the protein building blocks of dairy, like casein and whey. It then combines them with fat and water to create milk that’s genetically identical to the real thing. Since it’s neither made from plants (plant-based) or grown from animal tissue (cell-based), the startup has coined a new term for its products: flora-based.

Perfect Day will use its new funds to accelerate growth by upping its production capacity, deepening partnerships and developing new products. “We’re trying to scale the supply chain and bring this to the world in a big way,” co-founder and CEO Ryan Pandya told me over the phone last week. Their goal is to be making thousands of metric tons of the proteins by 2022 (right now they’re making tens of tons). The company currently works with food giant ADM to help manufacture its dairy proteins in larger quantities.

Photo: Perfect Day

It also debuted its first product earlier this year: a limited line of ice creams made with Perfect Day’s flora-based milk. (I tried them, they were delicious.) Based on photos sent to us by the company, Perfect Day has also developed animal-free cream cheese, feta, and cheese spread, in addition to straight-up milk.

Though its first product was branded by and sold by Perfect Day, the startup actually plans to sell its dairy B2B to large food companies. We won’t have to wait too long to find out whom that will be — Perfect Day will announce its first commercial partnerships early in 2020. The company is also developing animal-free milk fat which will allow it to create a wider range of flora-based dairy products using only its fermentation technology.

The flora-based dairy space is quite young (the only other player is New Culture). Once Perfect Day uses its sizeable hunk of new funding to scale up and establish a few big-name partnerships, however, flora-based dairy might not be such a niche anymore.

Pepsi’s Greenhouse Accelerator Now Taking Applications for Its Second North American Cohort

Big food continues to seek big innovation by inviting younger, leaner startups to participate in food- and beverage-focused accelerator and incubator programs. This week, PepsiCo announced it will be holding a second North American cohort for its Greenhouse accelerator program, which works with small CPGs operating out of the U.S. and Canada.

According to the press announcement, Pepsi will choose 10 startups to participate in the six-month program. Selected companies will receive $20,000 in funding and work with PepsiCo personnel on product development, supply chain management, media relations, and sales and distribution, among other areas early-stage startups must address. At the end of the program, one company will be awarded an additional $100,000 in funding.

To be eligible for the program, companies must be based out of the U.S. or Canada, have a product or service currently available in the market, and have more than $1 million in annual revenue, according to the Greenhouse Accelerator website.

Pepsi says is also looking for what it calls “purpose-driven” brands — i.e., companies whose products or services address issues in the food system, such as plant-based protein, sustainable packaging, and finding more natural ingredients for food and beverage products. 

Greenhouse is one of a growing number of food-focused accelerator and incubator programs run by major CPGs, including those by Chobani, Barilla, Mars, and many others. Part of the motivation behind this trend is that programs such as these are simple ways for large food companies to access new products, service, and technologies without spending huge amounts of money on R&D — an area they typically only allocate about 1 to 2 percent of their budget to.

Pepsi launched Greenhouse in 2017 in Europe before expanding the program to North America in 2018. Past participants of the program include Hapi Drinks, who makes sugar-free kids’ beverages to fight childhood obesity; YoFit, a plant-based beverage company that makes high-protein “milk” out of chickpeas; and alt-seafood company Sophie’s Kitchen.

Applications for the Greenhouse Accelerator are open until January 6, 2020.

3 Food Tech Accelerators Taking Applications Right Now

Thinking of joining a food accelerator? While they’re not for everyone, these programs offer a growing number of startups access to things like mentors and potential investors, as well as assistance in taking a business to its next phase of growth. Yes, there’s some money involved in many cases, though experts will tell you that shouldn’t be the prime motivator for joining an accelerator or incubator.

Applications for many of these programs will open in early 2020. In the meantime, here are a few early opportunities for startups both in the U.S. and overseas.

Chobani Incubator
New York City & Remote

Taking applications for Spring 2020 is the Chobani Incubator, one of the most well-known programs to be run by a major CPG company. According to the program FAQs, Chobani looks for early-stage food and beverage companies who are already producing and selling their products “with some early traction” to join the four-month-long program, which will kick off in March of 2020.

Chosen companies — usually six or seven — spend roughly one week per month onsite at the Incubator HQ in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood and visiting Chobani manufacturing sites. Other program work can be done remotely, though participants should expect to travel during their time in the program. Chosen startups also each receive a $25,000 equity-free grant, a stipend for travel expenses, mentorship opportunities, and access to potential investors.

Applications close December 1, 2019.

Food-X Food Innovation Accelerator
New York City

It feels like Food-X just started working with Cohort 10, but already the NYC-based accelerator is looking for startups to join Cohort 11, which will kick off in March of 2020 and run until June.

Food-X works with companies up and down the food innovation stack, with sustainability, health, supply chain efficiency, and food traceability being just a few areas of focus. Chosen participants relocate to NYC to work out of the Food-X offices in Manhattan. In exchange for 8 percent equity, companies also receive $70,000 in cash, mentorship, access to the larger Food-X community, and potential investment opportunity. Food-X normally takes about eight companies per cohort — from an applicant pool that’s in the hundreds at this point.

The final application deadline is January 12, 2020.

FoodStars
Den Haag, Netherlands

Netherlands-based program FoodStars looks for agtech startups to join its community on an ongoing basis. Companies can be developing new technologies, production methods, and business models that improve food production and prioritize things like health and sustainability. Some areas of focus include food waste, horticulture, and control farming.

Those chosen to join the community/program get a minimum 12 months of mentorship, training programs, access to FoodStars events, a startup visa (for international companies), and office space in The Hague. In exchange, FoodStars takes 2 percent equity.

Applications are taken on a rolling basis.

Anrich3D Wants to 3D Print Food Personalized Just For You

The concept of 3D printing food is already pretty futuristic. Add in nutrition personalization, and you get something that sounds even more like it’s straight out of Star Trek.

That’s exactly the device that Anrich3D, one of the finalists in our SKS 2019 Startup Showcase, is trying to make. The soon-to-be-incorporated company is developing a system of 3D printers which can precisely dispense food based off of an individual’s particular nutritional and aesthetic preferences. Pretty radical, huh?

We spoke with Anrich3D founder and CEO Anirudh Agarwal about why he thinks 3D printing could make food more nutritious, affordable, and accessible. Check out the Q&A then get your tickets to SKS to see Anirudh pitch live in Seattle this October!

Give us your 15-second elevator pitch.
We produce personalized meal plans for health enthusiasts based on information from health trackers, apps, wearables and medical check-ups. Each meal is personalized to the individual using multi-material food 3D printing at scale.

What inspired you to start your company?
Most people don’t know what to eat. There are many apps and services out there to give you very personalized advice. But there are no services to convert those apps into meals. Moreover, humans are good at and enjoy creativity, while number crunching is a machine’s forte. I may want to decide what physical form of food I am in the mood for or even what cuisine, but I don’t want to measure every ingredient according to my nutritional requirements.

A food 3D printer can provide personalized nutrition integrating data from all the apps, wearables and even medical records that exist to create the mathematically optimized meal for me — inarguably, the best possible thing I could be eating. It is said, “It’s 80% nutrition and 20% exercise.” With this, I never have to worry about my 80%!

What’s more, it can produce little bite-sized pieces I call “foodlets” so as to make every bite perfect and an absolutely effortless experience. The peak of convenience beyond what any fast food restaurant can provide. And when machines make it, with scale, it can be available and affordable for all.

With “fast-food” made healthy, we can liberate people to always have a healthy option no matter how busy or broke. There is a saying in Hindi, “Jaan hai to Jahan hai”: if you have your health, you have the world! Health is the foundation of our productivity. With optimal nutrition and therefore good health within grasp, people can reach their full potential and propel humanity forward. And of course lower instances of diabetes, obesity and other lifestyle diseases. A lower strain on the healthcare system. Preventive healthcare!

It doesn’t end there. With enough scale, we can transform the supply chain for food by applying manufacturing inventory management techniques. We can work with grocery stores to minimize inventory and even utilize the fresh produce left at the end of each day to minimize food waste. With more efficient distribution, we may be able to reduce world hunger if not eliminate it completely!

I could go on about specific ground-level applications, but this is the overarching vision. This drives me and gives me a reason to wake up in the morning!

What’s the most challenging part of getting a food tech startup off the ground?
Where do I begin! Food is a touchy subject. Literally — we need to be careful about what is literally touching the food! We need regulatory approval (FDA for the U.S.) for the parts, the machine and the process of preparing the food. We also need food handling certification for all personnel that handle the food.

Food is also “touchy” figuratively. People have deep emotional connections to their food. A new form of food may have a psychological barrier to cross for acceptance. We need to focus on demonstrations and education and make this “new” thing mundane and “normal” with exposure for the majority to adopt it. The good thing is, instead of giving supplements powders, we want to focus on real food ingredients and just give the precise proportions of those!

How will your company change the day-to-day life of consumers and the food space as a whole?
Food 3D printing at scale has the potential to make “fast” food healthy. In other words, make healthy food convenient and affordable!

No two people are the same. Everyone has different needs and goals. Food 3D printing at scale has the potential to make individual-level personalization available and affordable for all. Beyond personalized nutrition, people crave a personal touch. For some people, a sandwich is most convenient, while it may be a wrap or hot pocket for others. Some want a dish displayed traditionally, while others may like their toast carved as a dinosaur. With 3D printing, this personal touch can also be added.

Armed with personalized nutrition and this personal touch, Anrich3D can change the perception of food and what form it can take! Star Trek anyone?

For kids, healthier food can be delivered in the shapes of their favorite characters to improve their motivation to finish the meal. This can be made into a gamified nutritional educational program for kids where they unlock more characters by finishing each meal. As the levels progress, they need to identify ingredients and make estimates for the amounts of each ingredient in a balanced meal. The program gradually helps them acquire the taste for healthier foods and teaches them about healthy ingredients and nutrition along the way!

This can be a government-mandated nutrition course in every school all over the world to raise a generation of healthier kids with an acquired taste for healthier food and a deep understanding of nutrition to create a healthier and more productive tomorrow!

Even beyond all that, Anrich3D can streamline the food supply chain from farm to grocery store to your plate so as to minimize waste and redistribute existing produce to minimize hunger. Mobilizing forces across countries, we can end world hunger!

Come watch Anirudh pitch live and at the SKS Startup Showcase next month! Get 25% off your tickets here.

Perfect Day Launches Ice Cream Made from Cow-Free Milk, and We Tried It

Since we first heard about Perfect Day, the Silicon Valley startup making dairy without animals, we’ve been eagerly waiting to see what their first product would be.

That time has finally come. Today Perfect Day is doing a limited release of three ice cream flavors made with its cow-free dairy. They’re selling 1,000 orders of an ice cream trio that includes a pint each of dry ice-packed Vanilla Blackberry Toffee, Milky Chocolate, and Vanilla Salted Fudge. The cost will be $20 per pint (so $60 total) plus shipping. That’s pretty significant, but compared to some of the fancier plant-based ice creams out there, it isn’t completely outrageous — especially when you consider the level of tech that went into making Perfect Day’s product.

Perfect Day makes its dairy by genetically modifying microflora to produce the two main proteins in milk: casein and whey. They combine the dried proteins with plant fats, water, vitamins and minerals to make a lactose-free product that has the same properties — taste, consistency, and nutritional breakdown — of milk.

Far left, plant-based ice cream. Perfect Day’s ice cream in the middle and right. (Photo: Catherine Lamb)

A few weeks ago I got the opportunity to visit Perfect Day’s labs and give their ice cream a taste. Co-founders Perumal Gandhi and Ryan Pandya laid out three ice cream samples for me to try: two were theirs, and one was from an unnamed plant-based dairy company.

After I tasted the first bite, I could tell immediately which of the three were Perfect Day’s; they tasted just like ice cream. Creamy and smooth, I was almost surprised how much it didn’t surprise me at all. All I could think was “yep, that’s ice cream.”

According to Pandya, the company landed on ice cream as their first product because it’s “synonymous with dairy delight,” and because there’s not a really good plant-based option for ice cream on the market right now. “They all lack the right mouthfeel,” he said. Perfect Day’s, however, exactly copied the experience of eating a spoonful of ice cream — without the odd iciness or aftertaste that can come with plant-based alternatives.

Left: Perfect Day’s protein alone. Right: Mixed with water and fat to make “milk.” (Photo: Catherine Lamb)

In tandem with their new product launch, Perfect Day is also doing a rebrand of sorts. They’re now calling their core product “flora-based” dairy, as the milk proteins are made by genetically engineered microflora, not plants or lab-grown cells. “We want people to know it’s plant-based but not from plants, it’s an animal product but without animals,” Pandya explained.

Since it doesn’t come from an animal, the company has to be careful about how they refer to the ice cream on its packaging. To avoid ruffling the FDA’s feathers, the flora-based ice cream will actually be labeled “frozen dairy dessert.” Pandya pointed out the importance of keeping the “dairy” term in there for safety, as Perfect Day’s milk would trigger dairy allergies just like the stuff made by cows.

Perfect Day’s master plan is to focus on B2B sales and provide their dairy technology to large CPG companies in order to “make the greatest change possible,” according to Pandya. However, they decided to do this initial launch under their own brand to get their name out there and establish the legitimacy of their product. Eventually they envision partners putting “powered by Perfect Day” on their packaging.

Photo: Perfect Day.

In short, Perfect Day wants to become synonymous with their animal-free milk. And they might actually have a good chance. Startup New Culture is also creating dairy proteins through fermentation, though they’re still a ways away from being able to do a product launch. Of course there are all the plant-based dairy competitors, from oat milk to almond milk and beyond. But while some of these options do a pretty good job of imitating dairy, they can’t hope to have the exact same nutrition, taste, and physical properties of milk. Perfect Day can.

Ice cream — er, frozen dairy dessert — is just the start. Pandya told me that they’re working on dozens of prototypes. Just the other week I saw an Instagram post from the company featuring bagels topped with cream cheese made from their dairy. So far the startup has raised $61 million in funding and has a staff of 60.

Today’s release is a one-time deal. Pandya said Perfect Day’s ice cream will be more widely available in 2020, either through partners or under their own brand. Based off of my taste test, I think their technology has the potential to (and I hate this word, but it fits here) disrupt the way that we make and consume dairy alternatives. If you want to try Perfect Day’s flora-based ‘scream for yourself, you can order it starting now on their website.

Perfect Day co-founder Perumal Gandhi will be speaking about forging the future of protein at the Smart Kitchen Summit (SKS) in Seattle this fall! Early Bird tickets are on sale here. 

Food-X Unveils the 8 Startups Chosen for Latest Accelerator Class

This morning foodtech accelerator Food-X announced the eight startups chosen to participate in its Cohort 9 class, which is currently underway at the Food-X space in NYC.

There was an applicant pool of 500 companies this time around, and we asked Food-X Program Director, Peter Bodenheimer, how they waded through that list to select just eight. “We take a bit of a portfolio approach to how we do things,” Bodenheimer told me by phone earlier this week, “We try and balance it between the technology in the industry and the more consumer-product side.”

In keeping with that balance, the startups who will participate in Cohort 9 range from an AI-enabled voice assistant for restaurants to a company that makes functional foods for soon-to-be mothers. As Bodenheimer explained it, Food-X has a couple of main areas it focuses on when it comes to whittling down the application pool and choosing participants.

The first is what he calls “the application of advanced technology across the food system,” which can be anything from voice tech to AI to sentiment analysis. The other area Food-X looks to is ingredient tech — or finding new functions for ingredients, whether that’s pea protein for plant-based proteins or infusing coffee with wildcraft mushrooms as a natural energy boost.

Into this latter category also goes the concept of food as medicine, which was, according to Bodenheimer, the original inspiration behind that mushroom-infused coffee. “We believe the next generation of ideas will go beyond just “healthy” and deliver products and systems that become integral parts of how we avoid and treat disease,” Bodenheimer wrote in a recent blog post on Medium.

More generally, Food-X also carefully considers the actual people behind the products during the selection process. “You can have the best idea in the world, but if the team can’t execute, it won’t happen,” says Bodenheimer.

He also notes that part of the reason for this emphasis on people is the importance Food-X places on the community aspect of its program. Alumni from past cohorts are encouraged to work at the Food-X space alongside current members, and in doing so they create a lot of potential for collaboration between different companies: “Having that stability and having that sense of community between the different founders, it sounds a little bit hokey to say but that’s where the magic happens,” he says. “A connection gets made, an epiphany happens, a problem gets solved. That’s the stuff I love about having our current cohort companies and our alumni cross-pollinating.”

All participants to the current Food-X cohort get $120,000 (for which Food-X takes a small equity stake), mentorship opportunities, space in the NYC Food-X office, and, as mentioned, continued access to the latter once the cohort wraps.

Cohort 9 is happening as we speak. Here are the participating startups:
Kafina: an organic energy elixir
Mushroom Cups: maker of the aforementioned mushroom coffee
Paragon Flavors: a flavor encapsulation company
Mindwell: maker of plant-based “meaty” snacks
Simply Good Jars: sustainably packaged ready-made meals
Sweetie Pie Organics: food for expectant mothers
Vaartani: AI-powered insights for companies based on customer data
Voix: an AI-powered automated voice assistant

Previous participants to Food-X include Ingest.AI, an AI-powered management system for restaurants, RFID-enabled waste-reduction solution Wasteless, and Kindly, whose meal-delivery company services patience with chronic illness.

Cohort 9 is taking place right now in New York City. Stay tuned to learn more about these companies in the coming weeks.