FoodTech Junkies

Today, farm animals consume 20% of the world’s protein, in direct competition with human consumption, while fish, water and soil resources are dwindling. Paris-based startup Ÿnsect has the answer: indoor insect farming. A pioneer in the field, this B Corp uses advanced technologies to breed mealworms and process them to produce high-quality proteins for livestock, pet food, and fertilizers. Furthermore, the company is currently building the world’s largest, most technological, and carbon-negative vertical farm globally. In this episode, we speak to the company's Business Development Director, Guillaume Daoulas, about the insect revolution, its past, present, future, and impact. About Guillaume Daoulas Guillaume Daoulas is the Business Development Director of Ÿnsect, an innovative company producing premium ingredients from insects. With a fully automated process, Ÿnsect uses insects to bio-convert organic substrates, such as cereal byproducts, and transform those insects into sustainable and premium nutrient resources for feed, food, and crop fertilizer.  Guillaume Daoulas dedicated his last 10 years to innovative, healthy, and sustainable ingredients to reinvent the food chain. Cofounder and president of the association “Fishermen around the world”, he has been studying traditional fishing and aquaculture in 12 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America in partnership with private and public structures, NGOs, and politics. He published a book in 2015 at “De La Martinière publishing” to share stakes of traditional fishing and give a voice to fishermen and fish farmers around the world About Ÿnsect Ÿnsect is the world leader in the production of protein and natural insect fertilizers. Founded in 2011 in Paris, France, by both scientists and environmental activists, Next40 and B Corp-certified, the company processes insects into high-end, high-value ingredients for pets, fish, plants and humans. From its purpose-built state-of-the-art farms, Ÿnsect offers a long-term, sustainable, organic solution to accelerate protein and plant consumption. Ÿnsect uses pioneering proprietary technology covered by 341 patents across 41 categories, to produce lesser and yellow mealworms in fully automated vertical farms. Ÿnsect runs two production sites, one in Dole, France (commissioned 2016), one in the Netherlands (2017), and a third site, the world's largest vertical farm, in Amiens in France, is currently under construction. The company, which employs 250 people, has raised around $ 425 million from major global investment funds, banks and public bodies and exports its products around the world.

Journalist, editor, speaker, and podcast host Louisa Burwood-Taylor is a force to be reckoned with in the food innovation space. In this episode, we catch up with AgFunder's Head of Media and Research and Senior Editor of AFN to talk about the hits, misses, buzzwords, and promises of the agrifood tech renaissance. Together we discuss how to improve strategies for reaching future food goals faster. About Louisa Burwood-Taylor Louisa is Head of Media & Research for AgFunder and chief editor of its news site AFN, with 13 years of financial journalism experience. She has covered a range of financial products and markets during her career, from equities and institutional investment in Asia to structured bonds in Europe, before turning her attention to food and agriculture over eight years ago. She’s been responsible for launching two publications: an institutional investment intelligence service for the Financial Times and the first-ever title focused on agriculture investment, Agri Investor. About AgFunder AgFunder is an online Venture Capital Platform based in Silicon Valley. AgFunder invests in exceptional and bold entrepreneurs who are aiming to build the next generation of great agriculture and food technology companies. As a Platform-VC, we've leveraged technology, media and research to build a global ecosystem of over 90,000 members and subscribers, including over 5,000 investors. We build technology to help source, evaluate, and support our portfolio companies and invest at scale. Through special co-investment funds and Special Purpose Vehicles, AgFunder gives investors the opportunity to coinvest with them and other leading VCs.  AgFunder has been in Forbes, Bloomberg TV, TechCrunch, CNN Money, Reuters, CNBC, NY Times, WSJ, and the Financial Times. Our CEO was named by Forbes in their 2014 list of "Up and Comers" in the agriculture sector. Recently, AgFunder has increased its assets under management to $150 million.

If food waste were a country, it would be the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world. On this episode of FoodTech Junkies we speak with Julia and Jordy Kay. One was an architect and the other a winemaker, and both have become eco-warriors. Their latest project involves diverting food waste from landfills and converting it into an eco-friendly alternative to plastic, and is only the first step in a long term effort. Tune in to find out more! About Jordy and Julia Kay We're Jordy & Julia Kay (the former architect and winemaker) and we're the Co-founders of Great Wrap. Our goal is to make products from the best materials possible, everyday. Currently we manufacture home compostable stretch wrap from food waste and with our team of brainy scientists and engineers, we will continue to improve our materials and offer many more products. Our team at Great Wrap are proudly developing technology that will change the world, one roll at a time. So buckle up and thanks for joining us on the ride!  About Great Wrap We saw a materials revolution happening around us. Everything was changing rapidly; energy, transport and agriculture yet plastic stayed the same. We knew the technology existed to put an end to plastic waste but there weren’t any products available on the market for us to use. That’s when Great Wrap was born. We invented the products we knew the world was missing so we can dump plastic once and for all. We are driven by impact, fuelled by demand and have a 10 year vision for a world where plastic doesn’t exist.

Restaurants and commercial kitchens have always faced challenges like staffing, inflation, food waste, and true costing. When the COVID pandemic hit, these and other issues were exacerbated and in many cases, spelled the end for many businesses. As we look to the future, both smaller restaurants and larger chains will need to deliver consistent quantity and quality in order to maintain their customer base. For some, the ability to pivot and think of new solutions has allowed them not only to stay afloat but to flourish in uncertain times. Can a modular, subscription-based, automated pizza robot transform the restaurant industry? In this new episode of FoodTech Junkies, we ask the CEO of Picnic, Clayton Wood, about what it means to reinvent the (pizza) wheel. About Clayton Wood Clayton Wood is CEO at Seattle-based Picnic Works and is responsible for overall development and growth for the company. Clayton’s passion as CEO is to build high performance teams and fully realize the financial and business potential of the company for all constituents. Clayton has served in key leadership positions in organizations ranging from startups to Fortune 100 organizations, across a variety of technology industries, including renewable energy, robotics and software. He has successfully taken companies from scratch to global publicly traded businesses or to successful acquisition. Prior to Picnic, Clayton served in C-suite positions as COO at IUNU, an award winning, venture-backed precision agriculture startup; CEO and President of Synapse Product Development; COO at Naverus; and COO/President at Xzeres Corp., a publicly traded global leader in small scale wind energy. Clayton spent 12 years at AlliedSignal and Honeywell where his roles included stewarding both the airborne radio and flight data recorder business units. Clayton holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Washington, as well as Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M. About Picnic Founded in 2016, Picnic (hellopicnic.com) has collected an experienced team of food and technology industry veterans to develop and provide specialized intelligent technology and solutions for the food service and hospitality industries. Restaurants, convenience and grocery stores, university and corporate campuses, casinos, hotels, cruise lines, sports venues, catering groups, healthcare cafeterias, small kiosks, ghost kitchen operators, mobile food operations, food trucks, delivery, and military sites are among the many segments poised to benefit from the company’s automated food assembly platform integrating RaaS, software, cloud, and deep learning technology. Picnic continues to receive high profile recognition including the National Restaurant Association “Kitchen Innovations 2021 Award,” GeekWire 2021 finalist for “Hardware/Gadget/Robotics of the Year,” inclusion in “The FoodTech 500 2020” by Forward Fooding and selected for the “Foodservice Robotics Pioneer Award” at Spain’s Expo HIP 2020, and “Best of CES 2020.”

What happens when you combine a powerful cultivation software with an AI and computer vision platform? No one would know better than the Founder of Artemis and Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Data Products at iUNU Allison Kopf, one of the 2019 Forbes 30 Under 30. She helps us understand how data-driven technology is transforming the agriculture business and paving the way for advances in inventory tracking, production planning, yield forecasting, pest and disease management, food safety, labor tracking, and much more. If it's part of the modern food chain, Allison Kopf knows how to fix it. About Allison Kopf Allison Kopf is the Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Data Products at iUNU, the leading Artificial Intelligence (AI) company serving the Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) industry. Previously, Kopf founded CEA software company Artemis, which was acquired by iUNU in 2021. Artemis won the highly coveted Disrupt Cup at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco in 2015. Kopf was named one of Forbes 2019 30 Under 30 as well as the 2021 Global Women Fresh "Woman of Impact." She is a sought-after speaker on the future of agriculture, giving keynotes at such conferences as TEDx, Forbes 30 Under 30 Summit, Forbes AgTech Summit and the Alltech Ideas Conference. Kopf sits on the Boards of Santa Clara University's College of Arts and Sciences, the Ciocca Center for Entrepreneurship, and Cargill EDGE; is an entrepreneur-in-residence at Ireland's national accelerator, NDRC; and is an Investment Partner at XFactor Ventures. About iUNU Founded in 2013, IUNU (“you knew”) is building the future of the controlled environment agriculture (CEA) industry. The company's AI-driven LUNA platform enables growers to develop a feedback loop between capturing data and managing processes to create precise, predictable production.

Following the largest Series A funding ever raised by a plant-based meat company, Singapore-based foodtech startup/multinational NextGen Foods is now ready to conquer the US. After that? The sky's the limit, thanks to a top-notch team and an innovative business model that has generated products like TiNDLE chicken. En route to the Food For Future Summit & Expo in Dubai, EPV founder and FoodTech Junkie Sharon Cittone connects with Alex Ward, food industry expert and COO of Next Gen, to learn more about their mission and recipes for success. About Alex Ward Alex has more than 25 years of experience in a B2B environment. He started his career selling consumer research programs to food companies in Europe. In 1999, he moved to Australia and then Singapore with a leading Internet audience measurement and research company, to establish the business for the Asia Pacific region. Since 2001, he has headed consumer insight, product innovation, and sales functions for the big brands in the flavor and fragrance industry, now joining Next Gen Foods to drive plant-based innovation. Alex is a regular speaker at alternative protein industry events, and sits on the Academic Advisory Board for the Food Science and Technology faculty at National University of Singapore. He has a passion for the alternative protein industry and wants to help change the global food system to a model better suited to the needs of this time.  Alex has lived in Singapore with his family for over 20 years, thoroughly enjoying the Singaporean craze for good food, and bringing TiNDLE, ridiculously good chicken made from plants, to the international stage. About Next Gen Foods Founded in 2020, Next Gen Foods is comprised of a team passionate about using plants to create food experiences so delicious and satisfying, it will make you forget why animals were used for food.  We at Next Gen Foods know that food universally plays an integral role in our lives. Beyond simply needing it to survive, food is often the key ingredient in our fondest memories — either as the meals directly or alongside the people you share meals with. Our goal is to create more of these precious moments to savour.  With an experience so enjoyable and tasty, it’s easy to save the earth.

What would it be like to have Mother Nature as your CEO? Amsterdam-based vegan cheesemaker Willicroft is on a quest to find out. Its mission to go beyond the net-zero has led to evolving practices, uncommon collaborations, and starting a movement to advocate for a better food system. On this episode, we chat with Willicroft's Founder Brad Vanstone, the grandson of a dairy farmer whose passion for regeneration, conservation, and cheese ignited an entrepreneurial spark. We'll ask him what it really means to put farmers first, and how mouthwatering vegan recipes come to life behind the scenes. About Brad Vanstone Fuelled by concerns about the future of our planet, I began eating a mainly plant-based diet on moving to Amsterdam. I found the transition easier than I'd imagine with the exception of cheese. Unable to find many plant-based cheese alternatives in the supermarket, I started making it at home. Months of experimentation later, and with some basic knowledge of dairy cheese making from time spent growing up on my Grandparents dairy farm, I founded Willicroft in 2018. Our name originates from Willicroft Farm in Devon founded by my grandparents in 1957. We're reimagining how we consume cheese combining age-old techniques with a more planet-friendly ingredient base. With Mother Nature as our CEO, we're placing the put the planet's future front and centre behind every decision we make. About Willicroft Want to eat more sustainably but can’t bear the thought of a life without cheese? You’ve come to the right place. Willicroft makes planet-proof, plant-based alternatives that are just as tasty. Inspired by our founders' dairy farming roots, we combine age-old techniques with high quality plant-based ingredients, creating alternatives that are as good for you as they are for Mother Nature.

The pandemic has put food systems at risk throughout the entire global agro-food chain. Now more than ever, people realize the importance of growing food locally as a means to secure access, foster education, and cultivate economic growth. Few people know this better than Farm from a Box's Brandi DeCarli. Her system is helping to strengthen local communities around the world that need it most, by enabling them to grow their own nutritious food using clean technology. We sit down with her to find out what the future holds for local food chains. About Brandi DeCarli Brandi DeCarli is the Founding Partner & CEO of Farm from a Box, a cleantech powered infrastructure for community-based local food production. She is currently an Explorer’s Club EC50 Member, an advisor of the Jordanian agritech accelerator HASSAD, and a Rising Talent with the Women's Forum for Economy & Society. She is a frequent global speaker on technology's role in climate resilience, economic empowerment, and women's leadership, including her TEDx talk, "How technology and togetherness can transform our world." A firm believer in the power of collaboration, Brandi is passionate about rejecting old rules and driving positive change in the world through innovation, compassion, and connection. About Farm from a Box Farm from a Box is a cleantech powered infrastructure for community-based local food production. As an off-grid, decentralized modular farm system, we help strengthen local and regional food systems by providing the technology needed to increase production sustainably, efficiently, and regeneratively. Instead of mass production, our goal is to empower production by the masses.

The global food and agriculture system is much more than a web of faceless companies and corporations. It contains a wealth of success stories and innovations that can be scaled, adapted, and replicated to benefit farmers, communities, and industry across the world. Since 2013, Food Tank has been telling these stories and in the process, uniting actors across the food chain to inspire change and promote a healthier food system. Today, Food Tank co-founder Danielle Nierenberg shares her story with us. Along the way, we discuss climate change and COVID, farmers and soil, and why we should feel good about the future of food. About Danielle Nierenberg  Danielle Nierenberg is President of Food Tank and an expert on sustainable agriculture and food issues. She has written extensively on gender and population, the spread of factory farming in the developing world and innovations in sustainable agriculture. Danielle co-founded Food Tank, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, in 2013 as an organization focused on building a global community for safe, healthy, nourished eaters. Danielle has an M.S. in Agriculture, Food, and Environment from the Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and spent two years volunteering for the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic. About Food Tank Food Tank is a non-profit organization focused on building a global community for safe, healthy, nourished eaters. We spotlight environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable ways of alleviating hunger, obesity, and poverty, and we create networks of people, organizations, and content to push for change in the food system.

Investors play a crucial role in fueling transformation within the food industry, and innovative business models and technologies can be lucrative investments. But contrary to many other fields, this isn't the major driver of investment in the food space. In this episode we sit down with Renske Lynde, Co-Founder of the accelerator Food System 6, General Partner of early-stage Venture Capital firm 1st Course Capital (1CC), and long-time advocate for healthy and sustainable food systems. Together we ask key questions, starting with the most critical: when it comes to food innovation, what does impact really mean? About Renske Lynde Renske Lynde has been an advocate for a healthier & more sustainable food system for 20+ years. She is a General Partner of 1st Course Capital, an early stage venture fund in food & agriculture. Renske is also a co-founder of Food System 6 which is a non-profit accelerator based in the SF Bay Area that supports mission-driven entrepreneurs from around the world transforming how we grow, produce and distribute food. Renske began her career in the food system advocating for sustainable agriculture in global trade policy agreements and went on to build direct markets for growers and producers in Philadelphia. She subsequently directed efforts to improve the food stamp and school meal programs for the San Francisco Food Bank. She holds BA degrees from Boston University in Political Science and Psychology and an MPP from UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy. About 1st Course Capital 1st Course Capital®️ is an early stage venture capital firm investing primarily in Seed and Series A companies developing innovations that will positively impact our food system.