This is a weekly newsletter of what was interesting and important in the Bioeconomy.
Update #8
Funding
🌿Agragene - US - $ 4M - Series A - sustainable agricultural technology company developing eco-friendly alternatives to chemical pesticides LINK
🌿Hedera22 - Belgium - € 1M - Seed - development, discovery and production of new biomolecules LINK
🌿QuadSAT - Denmark - € 2M - Pre-Series A - drone tech company (with applications for agtech LINK
🌿Mzansi Meat - South Africa - n.a. - Seed - first africa-based cell-based meat startup LINK
🌿True Gum - Denmark - $1.2 M - Seed -plastic-free, plant based chewing gum LINK
🌿Infarm - Germany - $170 M - Series C - vertical farming LINK
🌿BinSentry - Canada - $7.7 M - Series A - feed sensor startup LINK
🌿Brightseed Bio - US - $ 27 M - n.a. - AI platform to discover and identify phytonutrients - chemical compounds in plants that could have beneficial effects on human health LINK
🌿Dendra - US - $ 10 M - Series A - forest patrolling drones (Investors - Airbus, Future Positive Capital and Lowercarbon Capital (Chris Sacca))
🌿Bulletproof 360 - US - $ 13 M - Series B - lifestyle company offering food, beverages and supplements for human performance
News, Readings & Interesting Things
🌿 Danone looks to a regenerative traceable, and plant-based future LINK
We are at the bridge between the old way of farming augmented by e.g. new business models and regenerative agriculture.
What is regenerative agriculture? - a brief.
The trend now: everything is plant based => everything needs to be grown
Problem: agriculture systems = growing commodity crops + planting annual crops year after year => degrades and burn down carbon + nutrients in the soil
Solution: regenerative agriculture = farming system = natural system design - aims to improve natural resources conditions + soil health + agricultural production
Benefits: reduction in carbon, greater water efficiency, better plant diversity, improved animal health
Consumer: Regenerative has the chance to become the next sustainability label similar to vegan, organic, local,… => buzzword potential e.g. regenerative plant-based meat & salad
How are we going to achieve this?: Converting conventional farmland to regenerative, organic farming via agtech, soilsensors, livestock tracking, farm management software, plant & animal data, bio-based fertilizers
🌿 Biodiplomacy is the new frontier for the bioeconomy. Since more and more countries develop a bioeconomy strategy, biodiplomacy is a novel governance of natural resources addressing the global challenges and rooted in the sustainable circular bioeconomies across the globe. LINK
🌿 How a purely SaaS focused vc fund argues the investment into Mission Barns (lab grown meat). This is a quite interesting argumentation rooted in a personal story of course. Will we see more of these shifts in investment focuses? FOMO? LINK
🌿 EON and Microsoft announced a partnership to bring 400 million products online by 2025. EON develops a CircularID Protocol and its connected products platform is powered by Microsoft Azure. This will make it possible for brands and retailers (in the fashion industry) easier to shift to circular models. Read LINK - Watch LINK
Fun & Random
🌿 TV ad in Israel promoting vegan friendly alternatives and animal health has reached 35% of the nations population. LINK
Cheers,
Eugene