Max Yuan

We had an insightful panel at the Salinas Biologicals Summit on Getting to Market with Michael Wilbur Wilbur-Ellis , Elliott Kellner Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and Jerry Baron The IR-4 Project. We discussed the importance of partnering to get good data for regulatory and sales and getting help with regulatory to get through the process. Mike had many wise words about how to bring a biological product to retailers. Best if it solves a problem that doesn’t have a solution. If it is a replacement product it needs to work as well or better than product it is replacing and cost the same or less. And company needs to be easy to work with, not ask for extra help and have security of supply. #biologicals #IPM #agtech International Fresh Produce Association

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Dairy biomethane digester study for central California concludes: “These results indicate that EJ concerns are not a dominant factor when deciding whether to adopt biogas electricity production in central California. Conclusion - Dairy waste emissions in the SJV make minor contributions to regional O3 and PM2.5 concentrations.” Capturing methane emissions is good for local communities by improving air quality and reducing climate impacts while creating significant investment and job creation in lower income areas.

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Fascinating insights from Scott Dicker and Joshua Schall in BevNET's latest issue: protein continues to dominate the beverage space, fueled by health-conscious consumers. Here are some key takeaways: ☘ Plant Protein Powerhouse: The protein beverage market is surging with consumers seeking health benefits. Plant-based protein is a key driver, offering muscle-building and weight-loss potential. 💉 GLP-1 and Protein Synergy: GLP-1 medications for weight management are gaining traction, further boosting demand for protein shakes. Plant protein positions itself well in this growing market. 🍊 What's next for plant protein beverages? I'm excited for the expansion of plant-protein fortification into fruit beverages (PURIS HiLo unlocks this!). Can't wait to see who launches first! #plantprotein #beverageindustry #glp1 #health #wellness https://lnkd.in/gxbjNxec

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Should CPG food and beverage startups be focused on getting in restaurants? Should restaurants be focused on partnering with CPG food and beverage startups? Yes! Less competition drives more trials, increased sales velocity, and higher margins. This week in "Retail Is Not Dead?" I covered Chipotle Mexican Grill adding Open Water and poppi to their menu, and how to replicate that strategy. Also covered Mattel, Inc. and Whole Foods Market doubling down on experiences, June's strong eGrocery month, how to manage cash flow as a brand in retail, the shifting timeline of back to school, and how to use Sutro Software to build apps. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/g3KDzhh5

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Foodtech funding frenzy fizzles! VC investment in foodtech has plateaued at ~$2B quarterly for the past 18 months. Q1 2024 saw a slight uptick with $2.2B across 246 deals, but it's a far cry from the 2021 peak of $47B! Despite the slowdown, some big bites: Picnic Technologies: $388M Perfect Day: $90M Zepto: $665M Exits are sparse, but notable moves include Wonder gobbling up Blue Apron for $103M. Is foodtech simply taking a breather, or is it time for a fresh approach? As we navigate this evolving market, it’s crucial for entrepreneurs and investors to rethink strategies and explore new avenues for disruption. The future of food innovation is still ripe for the picking! data source: pitchbook #Foodtech #VCFunding #StartupTrends

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Not all innovation is ambitious. And not all ambitions relate to innovation. But when the two come together, great things can happen. (Key word being *can*.) In its inaugural post, Integral CPG dives more into our origin story and why we've decided to focus on ambitious innovation, further detailing just what it is, and why it should be important to most (all?) food & beverage players.

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Agrifoodtech investor Big Idea Ventures has launched Bayou Best Foods, a new company in the #plantbased seafood space utilizing IP from alt-shrimp startup New Wave Foods, which ceased operations late last year. The eighth investment out of BIV’s Generation Food Rural Partners Fund, Bayou Best Foods is led by CPG veteran Kelli Wilson, who has held senior operational and management roles at Conagra, Niman Ranch, Blue Apron, Beyond Meat, Partake Foods and MycoWorks. The firm—which will use copackers to manufacture its products with a view to launching in the fourth quarter of 2024—will have an initial focus on plant-based shrimp with plans to extend into adjacent categories. #foodtech #plantbased #plantbasedseafood AgFunder

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And the Winners are... We’re pleased to announce the winners of this year’s Soy Innovation Challenge: 🏆 Grand Prize: Clean Label Solution for their breakthrough Bi-Pass Pro+ that enables beef and dairy cows to digest soybeans more efficiently, both reducing the need for palm oil in cow feed and reducing methane emissions. 🥇 First Runner Up: EDEN Concept Fill develops Cellyfill cushion products from soy hulls as a sustainable alternative to polyurethane foam. 🥈 Second Runner Up: NeuEsse creates OmegaSkin™ from soy protein as a human skin substitute for treating serious wounds and burns with minimal to no scarring. 🥉 Third Runner Up: Renewable Green Composites makes plastics and polymer building blocks from soybean meal to improve the sustainability of some plastics. Read more about these innovative and sustainable uses for soy at https://lnkd.in/gbKPzpVh #soy #SoybeanMeal #SoyInnovationChallenge #Sustainability #Innovation #StartUps #USSOY United Soybean Board U.S. Soy Mac Marshall Clean Label Solution LLC Mohammad (Mo) Arshadi, PhD www.eden-cellyfill.com Nancy Levens, Assoc. AIA NeuEsse Inc. Joseph Connell Renewable Green Composites, LLC Scott Loethen The Yield Lab Institute Cellyfill (tm) by E.D.E.N Concept Fill

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This resonates and is a terrific introspective piece by Andre Menezes. Love that he ends on an ambitious note: 🌱🍽️ "By focusing on addressing genuine consumer needs, fortifying health claims, and cultivating sustainable demand, the plant-based food industry can chart a course toward resilience and resurgence." 👉🏽As an early investor in both wins and losses in this space, I believe there is much more to come for alt proteins, and a resurgence is around the corner. #AlternativeProteins #Sustainability #FoodInnovation #FutureOfFood #ClimateAction #GlobalFoodSecurity https://lnkd.in/g8FwTivt

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Dice Cream was recently featured in an Entrepreneur article, “Shape the Future of Autonomous Food Innovation.” It’s all about how we’re combining the nostalgia of ice cream with cutting-edge AI and robotics to revolutionize the industry. The article highlights the booming ice cream market, which is projected to hit nearly $100 billion by 2028. By using robotics, we avoid traditional labor costs, allowing us to offer competitive pricing and better margins. Plus, our strategic partnerships in high-traffic areas like Japan and Korea are set to boost our visibility and market reach. Check out the article here: https://lnkd.in/gPhv_HCN 🤖 🍨 🤖 🍨🤖 🍨🤖 🍨🤖 🍨🤖 🍨🤖 🍨

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I don’t understand why you would rant about this product launch. Most successful products in the alternative meats and dairy section will likely be blends of plant, fermented, cultivated and even animal sourced raw materials. E.g cows milk fortified with extra fermentation-based protein. Plant-based raw materials are generally cheaper and more climate friendy, so making blended products that meet consumer expectations with the minimum amount of cultivated or fermented content should be attributable, not subject of a rant.

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🚀🌿 Exciting updates in the world of #FoodTech, #AgTech and #ClimateTech! Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly newsletter, packed with groundbreaking news and industry insights. Here’s a sneak peek of what’s inside this week: 🌱 TurtleTree Announces Strategic Partnership with Strive to Innovate Functional Beverages 💶 eAgronom Secures €10 Million to Boost Sustainable Farming Practices 🥚 revyve's Innovative Ingredient Mimics Egg Functionality without Additives 🥗 FoodSmarto: Combating Food Insecurity with Innovative Solutions and $200M in Fresh Funding 🇩🇪 Rohlik Group Raises $170 Million to Fuel Expansion in DACH and CEE Regions ♻️ Samsara Eco Raises $100 Million to Expand Revolutionary Plastic Recycling Technology 🤖 Ai Palette Secures Additional Funding to Expand AI Capabilities in CPG Sector 🌾 Indigo Partners with Microsoft to Drive Soil Carbon Credits and Advance Sustainability 💸 AgFunder Assumes Management of Blue Horizon's $100m Growth Fund 🌍 Forey Bioscience Raises $3M to Protect and Restore Natural Ecosystems with Biomanufacturing 🍞 How Hero Bread Raises $21 Million In Less Than 90 Days To Accelerate Its Low-Carb Artisanal Bakery Business 💧 Beanstalk AgTech is building a $10 million venture studio to back nearly 100 startups focused on drought resilience 🌿 Crowd Investors Angry at Post-Series C Valuation of Plant-Based Meat Brand 🌾 AgTech Company HEMPALTA Launches Biochar Derived from Industrial Hemp 🔧 Seso Inc. is building software to fix farm workforces and solve agriculture's HR woes 🍅 Vertical Farming Company Bowery Farming Is Reimagining the Fresh Food Supply Chain 🎙️ And for more exciting news 🌱 Tune in to the latest episode of the #FoodTechJunkies #Podcast featuring Nicole Atchison, CEO of PURIS, as she dives into "Climate, Health, and Innovation: The Puris Plant-Based Revolution." 🌍💚 Discover how Puris is revolutionizing the plant-based industry, driving sustainability, and promoting healthier living. Nicole shares her insights on the future of food, policy and the impact of innovation on our planet. Tune into this inspiring conversation that’s set to change the way we think about food! 🎧 Listen now and join the plant-based revolution. 🌱✨ 🔗 Don’t miss out on these stories and more. t.ly/_9yU0 #Subscribe to our #newsletter and follow our podcast to stay informed about the latest innovations and investments driving the future of food and agriculture!

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Check out this blog to get a glimpse into why ColdSnap® is in high demand and has won two CES awards including Best of Show 2024. #icecream #frozencocktails #disruptive #technology #smoothies #proteinshake

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I am proud to have been a contributor to this white paper on pilot farms for longer-term GCC food security with Roger Rabbat Aya H. & Amir Assi! There are viable ways to transform agriculture in the GCC and utilizing the pilot farms development best practices outlined in this paper is an excellent starting point worth investing in. Take a read! Agritecture 🤝 Strategy& Middle East

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We need more ways to support innovation in #cpg, particularly for #emergingbrands. Nosh posted an article a little over a week ago about innovation in food and beverage CPG plummeting by almost 50% this year. I’ve been thinking about it a lot. First because it mirrors what I’ve seen at Pilot R&D—not a 50% drop, but we’ve found clients extremely restrained and risk-averse this year. Everyone’s dipping a toe in the innovation waters and starting with 1 SKU, not the normal 3 to 4, even though they know retailers will be clamoring for that bigger brand block. From where we sit, this new conservatism in innovation isn’t driven by consumer or retailer demand, which seems hotter than ever, but by capital pressures. It’s no secret that VCs have scaled back dramatically since the boom times of 2021 and have shifted their investment thesis to investing in brands focused on fundamentals and profitability. The issue, however, is that now many brands don’t have the necessary capital to properly resource their companies to deliver on those fundamentals. A conversation I’ve been having with small groups of people for the last 5 years is that #cpg is hamstrung by a single model for innovation and growth—the startup. Other industries, e.g. health and beauty and fashion, have additional models that allow founders to plug into existing infrastructures and capitalize on best-in-class resources to ensure strong fundamentals from the start, e.g. Coty and LVMH. In the absence of other options, and in a restrictive capital environment, startups are left between a rock and a hard place to focus on fundamentals without the necessary resources to help them do so, which leads to some crazy results like negative gross margins, companies needlessly co-packing overseas, companies failing to have core knowledge about their product, and companies failing to invest in their future through innovation. I am not a social media person. If I'm being honest, it intimidates me and, with LinkedIn particularly, triggers my imposter syndrome. That said, after 5 years of talking in small groups about this, I’d love to widen the circle and have a broader discussion. It’s also our mission at Pilot R&D to support brands and innovation any way we can, which includes raising our hand to help forge a new path in #cpg. In the absence of giant multinationals creating this infrastructure for brands in our industry, I think it will take strategic partnerships among the right players to build this new model. Given I never post on social media, I’m sure the algorithms will serve this to 4 people max, so if you know of anyone who has thoughts on this or is interested in building things, please share. If you think this is a terrible idea, by all means, let me know why. We need to come together to invest in innovation to ensure that next year we reverse this trend, as we’re creating way too many delicious products right now to see them fall by the wayside.  

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Could a retail model like Foxtrot work at scale? What's the future of plant-based meat? How should CPG brands think about channel strategy? On the latest The Consumer VC, I chatted with Ashley Hartman & Andrew Bluestein from Bluestein Ventures. Bluestein Ventures invests in the future of food. Some of their early investments includes New Culture, meati™, Vive Organic, Bizzy® Cold Brew, Foxtrot. They are fresh off raising a $45 million fund 3. We discuss: • Going from family office to VC • Differences & similarities investing in inventory and technology businesses �� Could the Foxtrot model work at scale and be venture backed? • Retail Reinvention and the Future of Convenience Stores • Future of plant based meat and food tech • Trends in food industry digitization & much more To listen and be the first to know when a new episode drops, subscribe in the comments 👇👇👇 #food #podcast #venturecapital #fundraising #futureoffood #CPG #retail

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🥩 Meat vs 🥗 Plant-based vs 🍄 Fungi vs 💯 Cultivated --> As the alt protein market shifts, where do we draw the line between them as combinations emerge? GOOD Meat (Eat Just, Inc.) is always good for a headline, and this week they announced they're the first-ever cultivated company to release products in retail after launching a cultivated chicken product in the frozen section of Huber's Butchery in Singapore. 😲 Seemed cool at first, but we then learned the products contained 3% cultivated cells and 97% plant-based ingredients. Yes, you read that correctly. Three percent. 📢 Sonalie and I share our thoughts on this in this week's episode (link in comments), and I end up going on a bit of a rant as, it turns out, I really don't think much of this announcement. There are questions around the reason for doing this (just to be the first, investor pressure, etc?), if there's value to being the first to retail, if 3% is all that's needed to completely change the experience of the product vs 100% plant-based, etc. ⁉ But a really interesting question that was raised is at what % inclusion does a plant-based or mycelium/fungi product become a cultivated product? Where do we draw the line in the sand? 1% 3% 10% 25% Etc. Etc. 🤔 Does adding 3% of cells really make it go from plant-based to cultivated? How do we justify a specific number being meaningful? Is it simply whatever number that results in consumers being open to switching from conventional animal products? Will that number vary by meat type (I'd have to imagine so)? Will the masses be happy with, or interested in, anything less than 80%+ (I pick 80% because 80/20 beef/fat is very common - at least in the US)? 🤔 I think the % that matters is whatever number that will result in the masses of consumers being open to switching away from conventional animal products - but, again, we don't even know what that number is, and at this point it could very well be 100% What do YOU think? Genuinely want to hear everyone's thoughts. _______________________________________________________________ Separately, this week's episode also hits on: 🌱 Peter McGuinness of Impossible Foods shares thoughts on the plant-based sector w/ Bloomberg. A lot we agree with, such as the failure of the initial messaging in the space and what needs to change. Sonalie also makes me sound like a lying monster for saying it's okay to make the messaging of a mission-driven company NOT centered around the mission! Fun haha 🥚 I share how I'm extremely excited by this new about The Vegetarian Butcher and The EVERY Company, as it's what the space has been created for; HOWEVER, I do need to call out here that I may have gotten over-excited, as I may have missed the point that it's being used as a CMC replacer vs conventional egg. Need to learn more! Arturo 🇰🇷 Sonalie shares the positive of the week, which is the amazing government progress/support for sustainable foods in South Korea - could be the next Singapore!

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Retail stores and distributors making #ESG #organic and #regenerativefarming commitments need to make sure their pricing structures aren't counter-acting their other initiatives. Here's my run down of a few--I'd love to hear more examples you've seen/experienced. 1) #SproutsFarmersMarket and #WholeFoodsMarket have their own commitments to supporting #regenerative and #organicfarming. Both seem to have moved to dynamic algorithm-driven pricing that seemingly isn't reviewed or approved by the category manager. The brands aren't informed. I know of two brands sourcing organic and regen US grown ingredients that saw their shelf price increase 20% - 40% multiple times last year with 100% of the markup going to the store. Each time they reached out to the CM to ask for a price adjustment, typically after a few months of collecting data proving everyone is losing--the consumer, the brand, the store, the farmer. In the meantime, even if you get a price roll back, -- you lose customers who threw up their hands and got angry at the brand over the price increase -- the brand has already lost revenue -- sometimes the store loses revenue -- the farmer sells less because brand sales are down Question: Can Sprouts and Whole Foods look at their commitments more holistically and make sure they aren't unintentionally damaging the amount of regen and organic US crops brands can commercialize for farmers through practices like this? 2) #NewSeasonsMarket is a wonderful chain. It's launching a project with 25 brands to donate to the nonprofit Zero Foodprint to help farmers and ranchers implement regenerative farming practices. But NSM is considered one of the most expensive stores for a brand to launch products measure by discounts, freefills, demos, and ad requirements. Smaller brands are important in supporting farmers as they shift to regen practices and have smaller loads they need to commercialize. But smaller brands can't afford to launch in NSM. The standard measure from brokers is you won't see ROI at NSM until year 3. I'd love to see NSM reduce or eliminate those sell-in fees for #usgrown org/regen products. #Wegmans is able to launch new products without similar fees. 3) #UNFI has a new SSA program to charge brands 2.5% for decreases in fees for launching new products and for access to market data on sales. I'm sure this takes a bite from larger companies but I'm giving UNFI a win on this one. This program is great for smaller brands, especially those that are data-focused like my company ZEGO LLC. We really can't afford SPINS (though I've paid for it bc I'm super data focused). And we are rolling out new products to pull organic / regen crops through from US farmers to consumers. Between the two, the SSA program will save us money and give us data that is much more user friendly than a basic package with SPINS. I know brands are scared to call out stores and distributors but LinkedIN is one of the few places we can exercise a collective voice.

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Here’s yet another shrink-to-grow portfolio move (speculated) in the food space.  If it wasn’t clear before, it is now: big food companies are VERY focused on improving growth and apparently shedding slow-growth anchors is a preferred lever in this environment. This strategy is understandable, because they can control a divestiture more than trying to make an acquisition, or a series of acquisitions.  Of course, they still need a counter-party to do a deal, but this specific business and others that have been announced, discussed or completed (e.g., Kellogg and cereal, Unilever and Ice Cream, General Mills and Yogurt) is big enough that the public markets are always a viable transaction partner. If you needed any more convincing (which you probably don't), the divestiture bandwagon suggests some conviction about future growth levers in the big food c-suite: 1. The pricing window is truly closed.  Pricing has driven topline in the recent past but now organic growth will have to come from other sources – and the only foreseeable catalysts for unit growth are lower pricing (no thank you, apparently) or innovation (see point 2). 2. Innovation confidence is low.  Small food companies are the innovators and growth-makers in this industry.  They are taking share and have been for over a decade.  Apparently the big guys do not expected this to change anytime soon. 3. Portfolio growth exposure = growth reality.  Big food companies are growth-takers.  They grow at the underlying growth rate of their combined geographies and categories – faster growth will come if they can improve this underlying growth exposure. https://lnkd.in/gaNBYeKS

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