Hi,
We just got back from Milan and Seeds&Chips to cook you a report (accessible here with a free extract) on what happened there. It will not be a surprise to tell you that much of the event’s discussions were around the future of meat with Beyond Meat’s IPO. However, if we look beyond that, many other things could be taken of the 190+ startups exhibiting and 200+ speakers.
Indeed, when your work is related to innovation, one of the best (or worst, depending on how you manage it) tasks is to keep up with what is “hot” right now. A single event can be used as a sample (with all the limitations due to the relatively small number of startups it hosts and the bias created by the organisation).
In 2018, the 3 top trends were about traceability (and mostly blockchain), insects, urban farming (and mostly home sized shelves to grow your vegetables). It’s interesting to see that only the first trend is still there one year later. In 2019, the 2 top trends were:
- plant-based and clean meat with almost every product covered from mayo to pork
- Innovations on the supply chain (with very few startups mentioning blockchain)
It seems that all those devices supposed to help you grow food at home have vanished, as most of insects startups. We have identified 3 emerging trends (again based on how many startups were there compared to last year) :
- Upcycling with many startups using food byproducts to create new ingredients
- 3D printing, robots and kiosks with startups such as Alberts‘ smoothie kiosk
- Meal replacement: not exactly a surprise in an already well-developed ecosystem but still going from 0 to 3 (Feed, Soylent and Vitaline) in one year.
As FoodTech itself, the event is getting broader with more startups (190+ startups exhibitors), lots of content (200+ speakers) and more themes covered. It requires more work from visitors to know in advance what they want to take out of it.
If most conferences were linked to the mentioned trends, a focus was given on how FoodTech can impact the food industry globally for the better. On our side, I had the opportunity to lead a panel on the various ways FoodTech is accelerated globally with various incubators and accelerators from Asia, the US, Europe and Australia.
Here is the link to access our 60 pages report. A free extract is available and the full report is priced €750 and €1500 for a personalised briefing.
Have a great read!
Matthieu
Big deals
Impossible foods raised $300m following the announcement of its US-wide distribution partnership with Burger King and the widely successful IPO of Beyond Meat (almost $4B in valuation). In this article (quoting DigitalFoodLab) from Les Echos also focuses on why so many stars invested in Impossible Foods.
Spain based Glovo raised another €150m. The consolidation movement continues. After Takeaway acquiring Delivery Hero assets in Germany,Glovo is acquiring its activities in Peru (Domicilios.com).
Grain, a Singapore based and notably profitable cloud kitchen raised $10m to expand its activities. Cloud kitchens are the next food delivery hot thing with competition just starting.
