Good Morning
What weāre reading this week:
Throughout the rich world, the young are falling out of love with cars (E)
Tesla will open its charging network to other EVs (AX)
The GreendicatorĀ
Top Deals of the Week
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Zeekr, the luxury EV brand of Chinaās largest private carmaker Geely, raised a $750M Series A at a $13B valuation from CATL, Yuexiu Industrial Fund, Tongshang Fund and others (TC)
Checkerspot, a startup designing materials and ingredients at a molecular level to enable more sustainable, high-performing products, raised a $55M Series C led by ArrowMark Partners (BW)
Micro-EV subscription startup Dance raised a $12.8M debt / equity round led by HV Capital, Eurazeo, and BlueYard (TC)
German battery recycling startup Cylib raised an $8.55M seed extension round led by World Fund, bringing the total seed round to $12.6M (TC)
QiO Technologies, a startup helping businesses lower emissions, raised a $10M Series B from WAVE Equity Partners (BW)
UK-based transport tech startup VivaCity raised an $8.4M round led by ENV, Foresight Group, and Gresham House Ventures (FN)
Robigo, a startup biomanufacturing precision crop protection solutions, raised a $6.85M seed round led by Congruent Ventures (BW)
Plant-based protein startup Planetarians raised a $6M seed II round led by Mindrock (TC)
Funga, a startup using fungus to capture carbon, raised a $4M seed round led by Azolla Ventures (TC)
Sustainable materials innovation startup Kelpi raised a $3.65M seed round led by Science Creates Ventures and Green Angel Syndicate (FN)
BlueTrace, a provider of traceability solutions for the seafood industry, raised a $3.2M seed round led by York IE, Maine Venture Fund, and Coastal Enterprise Ventures (FN)
Green Theory
Why Alternative Proteins?
Last week, we started to look into hesitations around alternative proteins. Including precision fermentation, plant-based, and cell-cultured proteins, tooāthis category has had some alternatives go mainstream, while others have room to prove more impact.
Why spend energy to transform vegetables into plant-based meats? 3 charts help explain the reason this industry, and other alternative proteins cropped up.
Animal Protein Takes Up A Lot of Land, Among other Costs
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Animal agriculture eats up over a third of habitable land on earth, or more than 3 quarters of agricultural land. For all of this land, water, food, and antibiotic use, animal agriculture offers humanity a measly 18% of our calories. Plants, by contrast, offer up over 80% of our calories on just 10% of habitable land: less than a third of the space of animal agriculture for 4x the caloric yield.Ā
Still, over a third of our protein supply comes from animals. Though the author of the 1971 vegetarian breakthrough book, subtitled āHigh Protein Meatless Cookingā would later argue plant-based eaters neednāt worry about eating too little protein, it seems wealthier countries want more protein.Ā
Demand for Protein Pushes Higher and Higher
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Eating more and more protein, whether because of marketing or personal taste, a growing human population runs up against a fixed amount of land, and other constraints. As demand for beef grows, more forests are burned or cut down to grow feed. To be sure, much pastureland could not be repurposed to raise crops. At the same time, just converting animal feed cropland into human-feeding crops, to the loss of animal foods, we could just about replace the lost protein supply.Ā
Trading out animal foods for other alternatives saves an incredible amount of land, water, medicine, and more, making for a potential business and social cost reduction in one. Alternative protein companies aim to replace specific animal products seen as protein sources: all the way from industrial sub-ingredients to main courses.
The new food category suggests, itās worth the extra energy to try and imitate meat with plants, if it can feed more people healthier food, thatās less expensive, and they enjoy, at less harm to animals, the environment, and communities (or some combination of these goals).Ā
Plant Protein Abounds: What can help it take over?
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Even as expanding animal protein demands loom large, plant-based foods already provide ample protein, even in countries such as the US. Whether itās a revival of simple roasted veggies, or an imitation burger made from plants, turning more parts of more meals away from animals likely makes a far bigger difference for the environment than the emissions from processingāprovided youāre sure these plant-based bites are replacing meat bites.
If protein demands persist and grow, and taste for animal foods sticks around, we might need even more sources of protein, besides plants, to replace animals. For this hurdle, technologies such as precision fermentation and cell-culture meat hold promise for sustainable paths to delivering perfect replicas of animal proteins.Ā
How can we know if 1,200 Impossible burgers spares us the societal costs of a cow? Is it safe to eat these new foods, anyway? The damages of animal agriculture, especially amid growing risks, stand out more clearly than proof that alternative proteins can solve the problem. To build the link between today, and a future with less animal protein, weāll have to look at the different attempts to move the market in more detail, beyond just the soy or pea āburgersā.
The Closer
āI call them deathbed storiesā¦ā