One Week in a Post #44: DeSci in Food, Instacart Stats, Cultivated Fat, Delivery Robots.
One Week in a Post #44: DeSci in Food, Instacart Stats, Cultivated Fat, Delivery Robots.
Food and climate highlights; easy to digest.
[Three pieces of news]
💭 How the DeSci Movement Could Change The World of Food
A16Z’s publication Future describes DeSci as a movement in which “a growing number of scientists and entrepreneurs are leveraging blockchain tools, including smart contracts and tokens, in an attempt to improve modern science. This podcast, led by Mike Wolf, explores how open-source approaches could democratize bio-tech, moving away from drug and food development that is centered around IP, and instead of prioritizing the final goal of saving patients and feeding eaters in a climate couscous way.
🫙 Instacart is Sharing Consumer Data
In the past year the search for “probiotic” grew by 30%, 13% for “organic” and 12% for “natural”; most of the fastest growing SKUs have a “better-for-you” value proposition (i.e., Good Good, Poppi, Slate Milk, Egglife); Milk remains #1 research followed by eggs and bread; only 16% of the interviewed segment is extremely satisfied with non-animal meats; younger consumers appear more likely to switch to non-animal to save money (so, how do we make them cheaper?). Here is the full study.
🐷 Lab-grown Fat Might be the Bridge
The future of meat alternatives—lab-grown meat, that is molecularly identical to the real deal, is at least several years away. But we can’t wait until then to eat less meat; it’s one of the single best things that regular people can do for the climate, and also helps address concerns about animal suffering and health. Lab-grown fat might be the bridge. It is created using the same approach as lab-grown meat, but it’s far simpler to make and can be mixed into existing plant-based foods. Yasmin Taiga tried it and wrote about it on The Atlantic!
[Three raises]
🍫 Chocolate / WNWN Raises a $5.6 Million Series A for Its Cacao-Free Chocolate
🚗 Electric Delivery / Kiwibot brings in $7.5 million in Pre-Series A funding
🔬 Precision Fermentation / Paleo has secured €12m in a Series A
[Three products]
🌊 Blue Evolution: regeneratively farmed seaweeds
🥯 Oatly: vegan philly-style cream cheese
🌮 Heura: veg tacos (grew by 260% in 2022!)