Future Food with Analisa Winther

Samuel Scheer works at Innovation Center Denmark in Tel Aviv, where they have a focus on accelerating Ag & FoodTech businesses. In this episode, we focus on how Nordic companies can tap foreign VC and ecosystems to grow globally. We especially focus on why the Danish-Israeli connection is so interesting, what we can learn from each other, and how you can make the most of the connections and market opportunities these centers have to offer. 

Mia Maja Hansson helped to grow food entrepreneurship by establishing many of the spaces and facilities that Copenhagen food entrepreneurs use to get their businesses off the ground. This includes CPH Food Space, Street Food Around the Lakes, and Kitchen Collective. We discuss what each of these initiatives are as well as how and why they got started. We also dive into the history of food entrepreneurship and gastronomy in Copenhagen including what makes it such an innovative environment. 

Roberto Flore is the Manager of DTU FoodLab, part of the Danish Technical University's incubator/maker space DTU Sky Lab. Roberto is the former Head of R&D at Noma's Nordic Food Lab. In 2017, Rolling Stone Magazine cited Roberto as one of 25 innovators who are changing the world. In this episode, we discuss how DTU Foodlab is sparking radical innovation by using food to build bridges between disciplines and address the grand global challenges. We also talk about how students & entrepreneurs can get involved and access the lab. 

Keenan Pinto is the founder and CEO of Nordetect, which enables farmers to test their own soil samples for Nitrogren Phosphorous, and Potassium and then see the results in real time. This not only enables smarter farming practices, but also prevents over-fertilizing. With a diverse scientific and international background, Keenan shares his advice, lessons learned, and smart cuts for starting an Ag or FoodTech hardware / software company in the Nordics. We also discuss the pros and cons of building and scaling a company in Denmark and what's needed from the ecosystem to help companies grow. 

The FoodStack Community started as a meet up - the first one at Techfestival in 2017 - and quickly evolved into a powerful grassroots movement of food enthusiasts, makers, doers, biohackers, and entrepreneurs gathering together to develop new food solutions.

Frederik Lean is one of the forces that got the group off the ground. In this episode, he tells the story of how FoodStack got started and why it’s been so important for the Nordic FoodTech ecosystem to gather centrally. We also discuss the application of open source principles to food and how co-ops are being revamped for vertical farming.

For more information and episodes visit www.nordicfoodtech.io 

Peter Jorgensen is a Partner at Maersk Growth, the VC arm of Maersk Group. His focus is on investing in startups that address inefficiencies in existing supply chains, particularly to fight food waste.

In this episode, we look at how Maersk is thinking about and investing in a future of food based on data, structure, and transparency. We also dive into the details of their investment thesis, how to best pitch them, and what kind of partnerships they are looking to build!