No, FoodDelivery start-ups are not the only Foodtechs to watch out
By GabrielleThomas
Within the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN agenda to be achieved before 2030, the 2nd SDG is « Zero Hunger ».
How to reach a world with “no Hunger” in 2030 ? is it only possible ? SDG 2, set by the UN agenda starting in 2016, is « End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture »
Over public and non-profits initiatives committed to do their best to achieve these Development priorities, Yes, tech start-ups should contribute to SDGs. Not only they can take part in it, but they can do it with a unique creativity and relevance, thanks to User Experience improvements, design thinking tools and Lean methodologies, etc. Tech start-ups may scale fast and spread their positive impact on society and environment while growing from local stakes to international challenges. A more holistic approach towards sustainable development could consist in including tech start-ups role into SDGs global agenda, that is what I pledge for.
Through Food-oriented hackathons, agri-food accelerators and events reviews & our 1500 annual start-ups deaflow , as a tech VC, I noted various foodtech start-ups contributing to SDGs agenda in France.
Here are some trends and examples of Foodtech start-ups (non exhaustive) to address SDG2 within French ecosystem.
1. « End Hunger »
In France, the motto of many foodtech start-ups could be : « Stop wasting food whether you can share it instead !».
Some of them try to avoid Food waste , interacting with supermarkets :
- within a BtoB approach like Phenix, Zerogachis, Eqosphere and Comerso,
- within a BtoC approach , for example Ugly Mugs , and its partnership with MicroDON — l’Arrondi ; or LePetitProducteur , enabling relevant sticking for sustainable food.
Other foodtech start-ups prefer to interact with restaurants, like LoveYourWaste, linking collective restauration to energy production plants or like Mummyz promoting local sharing.
Some other foodtech start-ups against Food waste are used to interacting with every grocery (Optimiam), restaurant (TooGoodTooGo) or every consumer’s fridge and habits (PartageTonFrigo).
2. « Achieve food security and improved nutrition »
Poor nutrition causes nearly half (45%) of deaths in children under five — 3.1 million children each year worldwide.
This is why producing both nutritive and sustainable food is a worldwide important stakes :
- With Meat : This is what Ynsect , Jimini’s & Gryo are planning to use insects to give proteins, like Faso Pro in Burkina Faso does. EntomoFarms proposes to raise your own eatable insects-based products.
- With Vegetables : Gourmet Spiruline , Algama , Ferment’Alg and are planning to use algs to create nutritive added value , while Alg & you is selling spiruline farming tools.
- Finding & sharing new ways of farming in urban contexts : aquapony experiments like Urbanleaf or Citizenfarm; Agricool, with vegetables walls full of strawberries in the city of Paris; Ecomoutons, using sheeps to mow the urban grass.
Hacking junk food and raising awareness about its risks on Health is also a challenge for our societies. Some Foodtech start-ups are committed to check up food quality, as Green tropism setting non invasive food quality test in situ . Yuca rates food in supermarkets with « healthy » criteria to better consumer’s habits. Bloomizon, Hapifork and Clearkarma aim at improving people’s choices of food regarding their specific needs and diets. Other citizens’ initiatives are encouraged by Generations Cobayes, spreading critical news about endocrine disruptors and its risks for the Youth.
3. « Promote sustainable agriculture »
First, sustainable agriculture is about reducing water waste & protecting nature. Some tech start-ups aim at solving part of this challenge, with sensors in the fields like Sencrop , Weenat and Airinov; or through data management like The Green Data, used to improve water waste into agriculture like Demande Side Instruments for example. Wefarmup provides a platform to share devices for agriculture and avoid over-indebtness troubles.
Sustainable agriculture is also about producing local food . According to the UN, “500 million small farms worldwide, most still rainfed, provide up to 80% of food consumed in a large part of the developing world. Investing in smallholder women and men is an important way to increase food security and nutrition for the poorest, as well as food production” . This is why La Ruche Qui dit Oui! is creating decentralized marketplaces through local ambassadors to spread local food and habits. While Kelbongoo is another digital example of the rise of access to local and fresh food for all and of the local farming support, Cuisine Chefs brings local food to restaurants.
Some Foodtechs start-ups allow the crowd to support sustainable farming, for example the French BlueBees (loans and givings) and Miimosa (givings).
All these foodtech start-ups have a more and more important «impact » on society’s concerns , according to the SDGs stakes. Some of them are already backed by impact investing VC funds, such as XAnge Impact did with La Ruche Qui dit Oui!, Le Comptoir de l’Innovation for Phénix or Impact Partenaires for Comerso.
It’s all clear that tech start-ups have a big role to play in terms of creativity , UX design for people’s essential needs, and improvement of scalable solutions to reach SDGs priorities before 2030. According to the resilience and the relevance of more and more tech tools today, why not underlining tech innovations in the Sustainable Development field ? For sure, Foodtech start-ups are more and more part of these challenges & We cannot reach SDGs achievements without tech start-ups contribution.
