vegconomist - the vegan business magazine

Abillion, the world’s fastest-growing platform for reviewing plant-based food and products, just released a report determining the 10 best cities in the world for conscious citizens. These cities are said to particularly attract young people in the future, with plant-based nutrition playing a major role. For its new report, the platform has assessed global cities based on how much they have embraced plant-based lifestyles, their commitment to green policies, as well as greenhouse gas emissions and waste. According to abillion, these factors are indicators of where people want to live, especially for the very mobile Generation Z and Millennials who place personal well-being as highly as professional success. For these generations, ethics, commitments to causes, diversity and inclusion, and especially sustainable options, are part of the decision where to live. Top 10 most vegan-friendly and future-ready cities London, United Kingdom Los Angeles, United States of America Barcelona, Spain Melbourne, Australia Singapore, Singapore Johannesburg, South Africa Toronto, Canada New York City, United States of America Berlin, Germany Cape Town, South Africa London landed in first place among the best 10 cities in the world for conscious citizens. The city, which recently hosted the Plant-Based World Europe Expo, is home to the first all-vegan supermarket in the UK and is characterized by a perpetually growing vegan business community. Previously, the capital of Great Britain was named the best city for vegan dating and was among the top five cities for veganism around the world. In the US, the most future-ready cities are ...

On December 9-10, the world’s only 100% plant-based trade show will return to New York City. Plant Based World Expo at the Javits Center will be the biggest yet, with twice as many exhibitors than in 2019.  In addition to more than 200 plant-based brands from around the world, the show will feature a rich educational conference, keynote sessions with retail and foodservice thought leaders, special networking events and much more.  Thousands of industry professionals from grocery, foodservice and hospitality will come together under one roof to discover the opportunities that plant-based offers their businesses. Should you join them? Absolutely! Here are the top five reasons you won’t want to miss out: Taste the Latest Products  It may have felt like the world came to a halt last year, but businesses have been continuing to innovate at unprecedented levels. Be the first to taste the latest product launches from leading plant-based brands and bring them to your customers. Learn About the Next Big Trends From versatile plant-based whole cuts to meaty jerky made from mushrooms, learn what’s coming next in this vastly evolving space.  Reconnect with the Industry It’s been too long! Plant-Based World Expo is the perfect opportunity to reconnect with your industry peers and meet friends, old and new. Don’t miss the Networking Reception at 4-5pm on Thursday December 9 in the Exhibit Hall. Discover New Ingredients and Technologies Innovation is happening at all levels of the supply chain, including ingredients and manufacturing. Meet some of the companies ...

Oatly, the Swedish alt dairy leader, has opened its first Chinese production facility to meet growing plant-based milk demand in the country. Oatly also announced the introduction of its non-dairy ice cream bars to its North American frozen desserts portfolio.  “The Chinese market is an important part of Oatly’s global expansion” Oatly’s new Ma’anshan production facility is in the Anhui Province in China and has the potential to produce an estimated 150 million liters of oat-based products annually at full capacity. The news comes just a few months after opening its first Asian factory in Singapore in July. The new production facility is part of a wider initiative by Oatly to build factories fit for the future, with efficient use of resources and minimal negative impact on the planet. In other Oatly news, its new non-dairy frozen dessert bars will be available in four flavors, including Vanilla, Strawberry, Chocolate Fudge, and Salted Caramel, all with a chocolate coating. The latest innovation will be available at more than 3,000 retail outlets through national and regional grocers including Target, Wegmans, Schnucks, Harris Teeter, Giant, Stop & Shop, Fresh Direct, and more with a suggested retail price of $5.99. “The Chinese market is an important part of Oatly’s global expansion, and the Chinese people play a big part in shifting towards a more sustainable and mainstream plant-based consumption. We are confident in the continued growth of the Chinese market and that the new Chinese factory will accelerate our mission to drive a societal ...

Global food conglomerate Nestlé has invested in Sundial Foods, a Californian plant-based meats company. Specializing in vegan chicken wings which include skin, muscle, and bone, Sundial has completed a $4 million seed round led by Nestlé.  After participating in the Nestlé R&D Accelerator in Lausanne, Switzerland in 2020, Sundial co-branded a product with Nestlé’s plant-based food brand Garden Gourmet and ran a successful test launch in more than 40 retail outlets across Switzerland. Sundial’s proprietary technology allows for the simulation of a whole cut of meat, with a fibrous meat texture, including muscle, and plant-based skin and bone. Sundial expects its chicken wings to be available in US restaurants in spring 2022, with the company planning to use the new funding to expand its team and commence production for its US launch at the Rutgers Food Innovation Center in Bridgeton, New Jersey.  Nestlé – the world’s largest food company – has been diversifying its funding across the alt protein spectrum and is entering various segments, including alt meat, alt dairy, alt egg, alt seafood, and even cultivated meat.  “Our goal is to make meats that replace the butcher, so our product can be enjoyed as a center-of-plate experience,” commented Sundial co-founder Jessica Schwabach. “We want to give consumers—whether vegetarian, vegan, flexitarian, or meat-eating—a plant-based meat-eating experience that’s interesting, craveable, and versatile.”   ...

Foodland Ventures recently announced the APAC AgriFood Tech Ecosystem Map 2021 ahead of the virtual APAC Food & Beverage Innovation Summit 2021. The map is set to demonstrate that major leaps in development are emerging in the APAC region, with Singapore leading the way. The team at Foodland Ventures, the food tech VC & Accelerator, selected 200+ innovative companies from 14 categories across the entire AgriFood value chain as an overall review for its inaugural APAC AgriFood Tech Ecosystem Map. These innovators come from across the entire value chain from farm and food production to consumer-facing solutions. Innovation and F&B brands have been relatively fragmented and funding for Asia Pacific’s AgriFood tech sector has lagged behind that of the US and Europe in the past. However, in view of a rising and hungry middle class in many regions and Asia’s overall importance for the global food supply chain, this won’t be true for much longer. Alt-Protein is on the Rise, with Singapore Leading in APAC In the first half of 2021, China, India, and Singapore saw over $7 billion invested into AgriFood tech and a large wave of AgriFood Tech innovators is emerging to disrupt the sector. Within the rising alt-protein space, Singapore is leading in APAC. According to Foodland Ventures, alt-protein brands in APAC are seeing high growth and catching up with their American and European counterparts. Well-funded startups in the space include: Australian alt-meat brand v2food ($135 million Series B round) recently announced strategic partnerships with three major ...

Most meat alternatives don’t contain the type of fat found in conventional meat, meaning they may struggle to achieve the right taste and texture. But Swedish company Mycorena says it has found a solution. Alt-meat products usually get their fat from vegetable oils, which melt quickly when cooked and don’t release as much flavour as the fats in meat. To solve this problem, Mycorena has used fungi to create a type of fat that behaves in the same way as animal fat, enhancing the flavour of alt-meat products. The company has already begun using the fat in its fungi-based products, which include burgers, chicken filés, and whole-cut meat alternatives. According to Mycorena, the fat “takes plant-based meat to the next level”. While several startups are working on ways to improve the fat in alt-meat products, many are focused on cultivated fat, which is often not considered vegan due to its use of animal cells. Mycorena’s fat could allow plant-based companies to improve their products while retaining their vegan status. The Silicon Valley of Foodtech Mycorena has grown rapidly since it was founded in 2017, and last year the company announced it would be opening a new facility with the intention of establishing a “Silicon Valley of Foodtech in the Nordics”. This June, Mycorena raised $9 million, one of the largest ever investments in a Nordic vegan food-tech company. It said the funding would be used to “prepare the company for rapid commercialization”. “We’re excited to bring fungi beyond mycoprotein, and ...

Agri-food investment company Eat Well Group has revealed it is investigating the possibility of a public listing in the US. The company is already listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange. To explore listing options for the US, Eat Well’s Board of Directors has engaged investment bank Roth Capital Partners. The planned listing will be on a major exchange, though Eat Well has yet to confirm which one. Plant-based investments Eat Well invests in high-growth agribusiness, food tech, plant-based, and ESG companies. The company’s plant-based investments have been particularly strong this year, and are expected to achieve more than CAD$60 million of revenue in 2021. For next year, revenues of CAD$90-$110 million are being targeted. Eat Well recently acquired a majority stake in Amara, which is a producer of plant-based baby foods. The investment company was issued 2,047,299 Series A preferred shares in Amara’s capital in exchange for a subscription price of USD$11,600,000, representing a 51% equity ownership of Amara. Eat Well also has full ownership of Sapientia, a plant-based snack brand, and pulse processer Belle Pulses. “Eat Well Group’s plant-based food investments have created one of the only vertically integrated platforms in the plant-based food industry, and we want to capitalize on the momentum and opportunity we have in our business,” said the company’s President Marc Aneed. “We have always been focused on enhancing shareholder value and believe a listing on a major US exchange will help broaden our institutional investor shareholder base. We expect both Roth’s experience in the ...

Investment company Agronomics, which has a focus on cellular agriculture, has led the pre-seed funding round for cultivated meat company Ohayo Valley. Ohayo is developing cultivated Wagyu ribeye steak, with plans to produce other beef products. The company was co-founded last year by Dr. Jess Krieger, who was previously the CSO at cultivated meat company Artemys Foods. Agronomics has completed a subscription of $1.5 million in Ohayo, in the form of a Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE). The company will pay for the subscription using its own resources. It is expected that the SAFE will convert into preferred shares in Ohayo Valley at a future equity financing round of at least US$ 1.5 million. This will grant Agronomics approximate equity ownership of 18.75% and the right to a board seat. The subscription is the latest in a series of alt-protein investments for Agronomics — the company has recently funded The Every Company, BlueNalu, Rebellyous, and more. Ohayo has also recently received funding from CULT Food Science, an investment company with a focus on the future of food. “We are thrilled to work with Agronomics to achieve our mutual goal to create a sustainable and secure food system in the era of the anthropocene,” said Dr. Jess Krieger, co-founder and CEO of Ohayo Valley. “The challenges facing human civilization are massive, but so are the opportunities to redesign entire industries to optimize efficiency. Consequently, we are rapidly approaching a new agricultural paradigm through radical innovation of animal products. The cultivated ...

A new report by multinational pharmaceutical company Merck has explored the potential impact of cultivated meat on society, the food industry, and the future of meat consumption. While Merck is not a producer of cultivated meat, it acts as a technology enabler, helping with challenges such as developing efficient cell culture media and optimising cell lines. To gain a better understanding of the future of the industry, Merck surveyed scientists across a variety of disciplines to compile the new report. Is the world ready? The report begins by questioning whether the world is ready for cultivated meat. Findings are optimistic, with a growing number of people worldwide expressing a willingness to try it. However, the results must be interpreted with caution as most people have still not heard of cultivated meat. There are also a significant number of people who are closed off to the idea. How important is naturalness? Secondly, the report questions whether the perceived “unnaturalness” of cultivated meat is likely to be a stumbling block. While most scientists surveyed recognised that “natural” does not always mean good (and vice versa), the general public often does not think in this way. Some scientists and industry experts in the study point out that the way meat is produced on industrial farms is extremely unnatural — and moreover, cultivated meat can be produced using natural ingredients such as beta-carotene from carrots and omega-3 fatty acids from algae. The challenge will be to convince the consumer of this. What will cultivated ...

German luxury fashion label Melina Bucher has launched handbags made with Mirum®, an entirely biodegradable and plastic-free leather alternative made by Natural Fiber Welding (NFW). Founded in 2019, Melina Bucher is an ethical and sustainable label using only vegan materials. Due to concerns about the environmental impact of the plastics used in most synthetic leathers, the brand was keen to find alternatives. But it found that many “plant-based” leathers, made from materials such as apple waste or pineapple leaves, still rely on plastic resins and adhesives. Mirum, which is made from natural rubber and colourants such as charcoal, is different. The material does not require tanning, which is an extremely polluting process, and it takes far less water to produce than conventional leather. Mirum is also said to be circular, as it can be repeatedly reused to make new products and is fully biodegradable. Setting new standards Earlier this year, Natural Fiber Welding, which produces Mirum, received an investment from car company BMW. The investment makes sense, as BMW has announced it will soon be removing leather from its Mini and 5-Series cars. The car manufacturer has also announced ambitious plans to cut its carbon emissions, and is keen to explore more sustainable materials. In an interview with vegconomist, NFW claimed to be one of the only truly plastic-free vegan leather brands. The company said it was aiming to set new standards for animal-free leather. “NFW believes ‘vegan’ should mean ‘plants’, not ‘plastic,’” said Founder & CEO Dr. Luke Haverhals. ...