Check out a the pictures of the London FoodTech Meetup here

On 20th Oct 2022, we were pleased to host a buzzy #FoodTechMeetup at our London FoodTech Innovation Hub in partnership with Huckletree, for the launch of our latest report on the UK AgriFoodTech Ecosystem.

The report acts both as a deep-dive on the UK AgriFoodTech sector, and a full ‘landscaping’ of its key stakeholders. Throughout the report, we are covering the following:

• The UK Food System – Macroeconomic context and the challenges post-Brexit
• The UK AgriFoodTech sector deep-dive – Key numbers, investments trends, notable exits and strengths of the ecosystem
• Ecosystem mapping – AgriFoodTech Startups & scaleups, investors, Accelerators & incubators, Enablers
• Experts interviews – Challenges & opportunities for the UK AgriFoodTech sector

Download the report for free here

The UK AgriFoodTech landscape

To kick-off the event, our Co-founder & COO Max Leveau gave an overview of the newly released report, before inviting on stage top UK AgriFoodTech founders to present their technologies to a very engaged audience of fellow entrepreneurs, investors, corporates and FoodTech enthusiasts.  

The room was packed and we absolutely enjoyed sharing, learning, and enabling meaningful connections among like-minded people who want to create a positive impact on our food system.

 

The UK AgriFoodTech space overview

Despite the challenges that the UK has been facing for the past couple of years, and according to our FoodTech Data Navigator database, there are more than 700+ companies active in the UK AgriFoodTech space globally, which makes it by far the largest in the European region, by number of companies but also by funding. While the UK AgriFoodTech industry continues to navigate an uncertain post-Brexit landscape, the insights provided in the report show that the country will most likely be able to maintain its leading position within the European region. 

UK FoodTech companies cumulatively raised almost €5.2B in capital since 2012, ahead of Germany in Europe (€4.7B excluding Delivery Hero), and is in 5th position globally. Our study also shows that median funding rounds from Pre-seed to Series B are 20% higher in the UK than in the rest of Europe, and that there were 3x times more deals in 2021 in the UK than in the second most active European country (Netherlands).

In the alternative protein sector, the UK already leads the Plant-based meat sector with sales value of €502M in 2020, while Germany (€357M) and the Netherlands (€174M) trail behind. The country also counts twice more companies operating in Plant-based protein than the Netherlands coming second.

But more importantly, the Post-Brexit governance gives the UK the opportunity to be fully independent when it comes to regulation around Protein fermentation and Cellular agriculture, which could be developed and adopted more rapidly than in the rest of Europe, hence giving a strong competitive advantage to the country.

Let’s see what happens 😉

 

The speakers of the FoodTech Meetup

We purposely chose a panel of speakers with technologies covering the whole supply chain from farm to fork, in order to showcase the versatility of the UK AgriFoodTech ecosystem.

Matthew Guinness, VP Sustainability at Hummingbird Technologies

Matthew leads business development for Hummingbird Technologies, a regenerative agriculture monitoring and verification company based in London. He joined the company in 2020 to build the MRV business unit and scale regen ag programs and initiatives. Previously he worked in the investment industry as a sustainability equity analyst.

 

Sam Watson Jones, President & Co-Founder at Small Robot Company

Sam is Co-Founder and President of Small Robot Company and a 4th generation arable farmer with a clear motivation for making farming better. An experienced business operator, having run a diversified family business for many years. Sam has a range of previous experience including as an angel investor in EdTech startups.

Small Robot Company is revolutionising farming with an easy, low-cost, service of autonomous, precision agri-robotics for a healthier, more efficient and sustainable future. They have brought together a team of farmers, professors, service designers and engineers to create an autonomous robotic farming system we call Farming as a Service (FaaS).

 

Trishala Bopanna, Strategy & Partnerships Lead at Better Dairy

Trish is Better Dairy’s Strategy & Partnerships Lead, responsible for driving commercial traction, building out the go-to-market strategy, developing partnerships and seeking out new opportunities to grow the business. She brings extensive business strategy consulting, FMCG, retail and e-commerce experience from her time at Amazon, Meta and Accenture Strategy. Trish holds a BA in Economics & Politics from Durham University and an MBA from London Business School.

Better Dairy produces products molecularly identical to traditional dairy without needing to use any animals, using synthetic biology and fermentation.

 

Artem Khlebnikov, Director Bioeconomy, Food & Nutrition at Eagle Genomics

Artem Khlebnikov is Bioeconomy, Food & Nutrition Director at Eagle Genomics, the company innovating at the intersection of the microbiome, data sciences and bioinformatics, accelerating the generative economy through the digital reinvention of Science.

Before joining Eagle Genomics, Artem was Strategic Partnerships and Prospective, Director at Danone Nutricia Research, and was involved in Open Innovation in FoodTech with internal and external investment funds, public and private partners to drive Danone’s OnePlanet. OneHealth strategy enabling significant and sustainable growth for Danone health and nutrition brands. Artem has a Master of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology in Moscow and a Ph.D. in Biotechnology from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne. Artem has also completed post- Doctoral training in Molecular Biology at the University of California at Berkeley.

 

Zack Bishti, CEO at Neat Burger

Zack has deep hospitality sector expertise having worked as Creative Director for Cream Group, which operates a portfolio of premium venues in London.  He is a passionate believer in helping people eat less meat and alongside the other co-founders recognised that the plant-based burger products on offer in 2019 were not up to scratch for mainstream consumers. This led to the creation of NEAT which is focused on providing the best-tasting sustainable food in a new, fresh, exciting and dynamic format.

Neat Burger is a fast-casual food establishment selling plant-based products for a growing market of flexitarians, vegetarians and vegans. Their value proposition is to be a simple, easily digestible solution to a big problem: by creating great-tasting products and presenting them to consumers through an accessible and inviting brand, they aim to start a dialogue to encourage eating sustainably and influence long-term behavioural change.

 

Jamie Crummie, Co-founder at Too Good To Go

Jamie Crummie trained as a lawyer before pursuing his mission of fighting food waste. He is the co-founder of Too Good To Go, the world’s largest marketplace for surplus food, which connects restaurants and food retailers directly to consumers who save their surplus food from going to waste. 

Too Good To Go is now active in 17 countries. The market-leading app has 63 million users and 167,000 food businesses signed up, who have rescued over 163 million bags of food collectively. Jamie was named Sustainability Entrepreneur of the Year at the GB Entrepreneur Awards 2022, a Trailblazing Activist in the 50 Next class of 2021, One Young World’s Entrepreneur of the Year in August 2020, and one of Forbes 30 Under 30 in Europe in February 2019.

Fireside chat with Ahmed Khan, The Future of Cellular Agriculture

To close the event, it was a pleasure to host Ahmed Khan, founder of CellAgri, an insights platform that explores the future of food with cellular agriculture.

Via a fireside chat with our Co-founder Max Leveau, after a quick ‘crash course’ from Ahmed on what cellular agriculture is all about, we learned about the major players in the cellular agriculture sector, the key challenges and opportunities ahead in terms of regulation and scalability, and what is being done to promote a dialogue about this emerging field as a future alternative to the present livestock agricultural system.

At the end of the event, we had the chance to mingle with all the attendees for amazing plant-based food provided by Neat Burger, Heura and Tarwi, and surplus bread-based beers provided by Toast Ale.

Thank you again Neat Burger for providing all this delicious food!

 

We can’t thank enough our FoodTech community

At Forward Fooding, we are incredibly proud to have hosted these inspiring founders and experts at our London FoodTech Innovation Hub. 

A big thanks to our partner-in-crime Huckletree for hosting us as we keep fostering London’s FoodTech community. 

A huge thanks to all our speakers for taking the time to share their insights and inspire other entrepreneurs. And, last but clearly not least, thank you to all the participants who made this event so amazing and interesting. The incredible entrepreneurial talent who came together during this occasion is a testament to the vibrant FoodTech community that UK has to offer!

Download here the UK AgriFoodTech Ecosystem report, and visit this page to learn more about our London FoodTech Innovation Hub.

See you at the next event!

Want to learn more about our work at Forward Fooding? Get in touch to learn more!