One week in a post #32: Plant-Based Downturn, Alt Coffee, Cultured Oil, a New Carbon Law for Nature.
3 Highlights of the Week
1/ Exponential Roadmap for Natural Climate Solutions
A new report from Conservation International came out this week. It establishes a new “Carbon Law for Nature” – a benchmark for emissions from the land sector each year. Currently, 12.5 Gt of greenhouse gas emissions are released each year from humanity’s use of land. The aim is to reduce this to net zero by 2030, a 5 Gt sink by 2040 and a 10 Gt sink by 2050. The 4 steps suggested are: Scale up actions that protect, restore and improve nature’s ability to store carbon; Transform what we eat and how we grow it; Rapidly scale low-cost, centuries-old practices in land management; Reverse agriculture-related deforestation in supply chains.
2/ Questioning the plant-based trend
Beyond Food stocks (IPO price: $25, highest peak: $234 in 2019) is now at a its lowest value: ~$15. The WSJ claimed this week that about 5% of Americans “consider themselves” vegetarians, and Beyond has a little to offer to the remaining 95%. On the Washington Post last week, Eve and Sophie wrote about how the plant-based diet is actually missing plants. Data shows that the number of shoppers purchasing plant-based creamers fell 25% in Q222, as well as dairy-free yogurt (down 9%), dairy-free cheese (down 8%), burger alternatives (down 7%), chicken alternatives (down 6%) and dairy-free ice cream (down 3%). It’s a challenging time for plant-based lovers, but we need them, as well.
3/Alt coffee
An LCA shows the carbon footprint of Arabica coffee:15.33 (±0.72) kg of carbon dioxide equivalent per 1 kg of green coffee for conventional coffee production. A few companies are entering the space with a number of approaches. Atomo just secured $40M to scale its plant-based coffee. Swiss retail giant Migros says it is launching a proprietary coffeemaking system aimed at replacing single-use coffee pods. Compound Foods (launched in 2020) uses synthetic biology to create coffee without coffee beans by extracting molecules. MUD/WTR uses the power of fungi to elevate the coffee experience.
Recently raised $
Kate Farms closes $75M Series C Round to expand plant-based nutrition in hospitals.
Standing Ovation raises €12M for animal-free casein production.
Rival Foods raises a €6 million series A to improve on plant-based meat development.
True Food Kitchen (Oprah-Backed healthy chain) raises in $100 million for expansion plans.
Biobetter raised $10 Million Series A to bring cultivated meat growth media down from $500,000 per gram to $1.
Prolific Machines (Mark Cuban and Emily Ratajkowski backed) raised $42 Million to scale (cheap) cultivated meat.
Profuse Technology raised $2.5M for technology that lowers cost of cultured meat.
MicroHarvest raised €8.5m to bring bacteria-based protein production to scale.
InnovaFeed nabs $250M to extend its vertical insect farms to the US.
Climate Friendly Products of the Week
1/ Naturli
Organic vegan butter. What stands out:
They did the math. They measured their product’s CO2 impact and claimed it’s 75% less than animal butter.
Sensory. Who tasted it, says it’s very exceptional!
Quality. Certified Organic.
The first cultured oil on the market. What stands out:
Fist comer. Out of the companies working in the alternative fat space, Zero Acre is the fist one to launch a consumer product made with fermentation.
Big challenge. Global production of vegetable oils has increased over 1600% since the early 1900s, has doubled in the last 20 years, and is expected to grow 30% in the next four years.
Cool look. Appealing branding and great sense of humor!
Vegan milk made with fermentation. What stands out:
Funding. Up to now the company raised +$130M.
FDA approved. The company got the approval last June.
Fun branding. Super fresh and welcoming!