MISTA

Back to Seoul after another energizing trip to California! One highlight was definitely the MISTA #Healthy #Nutrition Symposium followed by the MISTA #Reception where 18 startups showcased their technologies and solutions to 250+ #food and #foodtech leaders from all across the industry. This was the official kick off of a 2025 journey that will culminate early October into another exciting #GrowthHack, showcasing the outcomes of collaborations between selected startups and MISTA Corporate Members around the themes of #HealthyBeverages, #HealthySnacking, and #CenterOfPlate. For CJ CheilJedang Foods we have also enjoyed the opportunity of this event to push forward two of our ventures, #KimKik #Probiotics and our partnership with Tulua in the space of Functional Beverages, and #Seoulfully! with our new range of Korean-inspired fermented culinary sauces for foodservice. More exciting news to come on these two ventures very soon, stay tuned! Thanks Celine Schiff-Deb, Scott May, Jim Taschetta, and all the MISTA team for another inspiring event! Looking forward to October!

?? What’s Next for Food Innovation? Insights from Future Food-Tech San Francisco. We asked our Chief Business Officer, Thomas Creswell, to share his key takeaways from Future Food Tech in California. His response? ?? "The food industry is at a turning point, and precision fermentation is taking center stage. Here’s why:" ?? 1?? Precision Fermentation: A Game-Changer for Ingredients Beyond sustainability, precision fermentation allows us to tailor and design ingredients with outstanding performance—helping formulators unlock new possibilities across various industries. ?? 2?? Scalability Matters More Than Ever As the industry seeks cost-effective, high-impact solutions, precision fermentation stands out for its strong scalability potential, making it a key focus for the future of food innovation. ?? 3?? Chocolate Needs a Sustainable Future Cocoa prices are skyrocketing, and long-term supply challenges make it critical to explore sustainable alternatives. Precision fermentation has the potential to replicate cocoa butter’s functionality, offering a scalable, resilient solution for the chocolate industry. At Melt&Marble, we put PRECISION into precision fermentation—delivering tailored, high-performance ingredients designed for the next generation of food. Do you want to learn more about the Melt&Marble technology? Drop a note in the comment section! ?? #NextGenIngredients #PrecisionFermentation #FoodInnovation

??What does the Future of Food look like??? Tonight, we gathered at the?SVB Experience Center in San Francisco?for an inspiring discussion on?FoodTech innovation! From?alternative proteins?to?AI-powered food solutions, our panelists explored the groundbreaking advancements shaping how we eat and drink. Key takeaways from the panel: ? The role of?AI in food innovation?– optimizing production, reducing waste, and enhancing personalization. ? The?alternative protein revolution?– from plant-based to cultivated meat, what's next? ? How?startups & investors?are navigating the evolving FoodTech landscape. A huge?thank you?to our brilliant speakers for sharing their insights: - Sarah Al Sayadi?– Food Scientist - Arnaud Auger?– Director at Cathay Innovation -?Vipin Jain?– CEO & Co-Founder at Blendid ???This event was made possible thanks to the incredible work of the?EDHEC Business School GETT students,?who took the lead in organizing it from start to finish.?Special thanks to?Tiphaine Le Denmat, Ugo Spialtini, Pac?me Thibault, Coline Guyot, Manon Liger, and Alizée Bernard?for their dedication! ?? A big thank you to?Andy Tsao, Sawyer Levy, and Chadd Turner from SVB?for welcoming us and supporting innovation in FoodTech. We were also honored to have?Florian Cardinaux, Consul General of France,?join us to support the students and celebrate the Franco-American entrepreneurial spirit! And thank you to?Fabrique Délices,?Petit Pot, and the?FRENCH AMERICAN HOSPITALITY AND GASTRONOMY ASSOCIATION?for their generous support, the buffet was delicious! Let’s keep the conversation going – what do you see as the next big disruption in?FoodTech? #FoodTech #Innovation #Networking #FrenchTechSF #FutureOfFood #Startups #Entrepreneurship #AIinFood

??? 5 hot takes on the Expo West + MISTA + Future Food Tech marathon (+ why I don’t care about RFK) 1) After all the GLP-1 friendly products at Expo, I was primed for the GLP-1 panel that opened the MISTA symposium. The panel featured dietitian Cate Ward, PhD, RD who shared stories of her patients with morning sickness-like symptoms and malnutrition on these drugs. GLP-1 drug side effects are an underdiscussed topic so I appreciated Cate's insights. I still expect growth to self-limit as people avoid the drugs over side effects. But there's no going back. We know now that regulating satiety, not enforcing willpower, is what works for weight loss. Food-as-medicine will pick up this opportunity, and the two growth curves will cross in 2026. 2) Can AI make better food? At FFT, Alexandre B. discussed how AI can stimulate creativity and eliminate trial and error. For cost reduction, manufacturing, etc, AI is a no-brainer. The jury is still out on AI for ideation of recipes and flavors. Are they tastier/healthier than our human intuition about food? The true test will be if an AI-informed product can outsell a control, as judged by real consumers. 3) Best moment at MISTA was Ian Roberts reminding us that, for many populations, “Better For You” isn’t about having better ingredients – it’s about having food, period. 4) Brands are going B2B, and B2Bs are launching brands. FoodTech startups are seeing corporates as their ideal customers in the long run. In the short run, launching a brand is still the fastest way to get revenue and product feedback. The challenge is these are two different businesses with different team DNA, but can be pulled off by talented founders. 5) What I didn’t see: Pet food. Expo West and Future Food-Tech are too quiet on this space. But pet food is where alternative proteins will find scale first, and is a fast growing segment for new brands. Pet food needs to be in the broader food system conversation. How do we get this done? Lastly, I heard so much worrying about RFK and policy uncertainty. But the fundamentals remain the same: climate change and pandemics are threatening the global food system; cocoa and egg prices are just a taste of what’s coming; global politics are increasingly unfriendly to trade. FoodTech is building the solution. The same technologies to futureproof our food system will bring healthier and more delicious products, and enhance longevity and healthspan. The next 4 years are a blip against these megatrends. In the meantime, US founders can commercialize freely in countries that are net importers of food and don’t have cultural baggage about “lab grown”. So keep calm and keep building ??????♂? PS. Thanks Steven Finn for capturing my first time eating cultivated meat at Mission Barns! And HUGE congrats to Natalie Rubio for winning the Supply Change Capital pitch competition! ?? Startups to watch: Akarso Bio FitBiomics Mothership Materials ZOLX Deco Labs New School Foods Maia Farms

?? The?MISTA Growth Hack 2024 Symposium on Biomass Fermentation?was a powerful example of?how startups and corporations can unite to accelerate innovation. Celine Schiff-Deb, Chief Scientific Officer at MISTA: “The Growth Hack is a hands-on program designed to accelerate the growth of startups and the evolution of the food system, through synergistic exploration with leading food companies.” In our latest?Ones to Watch feature for PPTI, we highlight startups that participated: Nutrition from Water? (NXW) –?“Our unique capability is developing dairy-like complete nutrition solutions that can achieve scale at an everyday price-point.”?–?Alex Worker, Founder & Director The Protein Brewery –?“We’ve selected a robust fermentation process that is very cost-efficient and easy to scale.”?–?Samuel Claes, Commercial Director revyve –?“We are the one biomass fermentation company that does not do fermentation!”?–?Cedric Verstraeten, CEO The Better Meat Co. –?“We have invented efficient new methods of mycoprotein production.”?–?Doni C. Allen, MBA, EVP Business Operations MOA foodtech –?“Our key differentiator is the combination of biotechnology and AI to transform byproducts into high-value ingredients.”?–?Bosco Emparanza García, CEO & Founder Solmeyea –?“These proteins offer a promising and potentially game-changing alternative to traditional ingredients.”?–?Harshni Selvaraj, Head of Downstream Ingrediome Inc. –?“We are not just competing in the alternative protein space – we are fundamentally redefining the future of meat.”?–?Aviel Even ???, CEO & Co-founder Arborea –?“Our technology is highly scalable and versatile, so it can be implemented quickly, without large CAPEX, anywhere the world needs it.”?–?Julian Melchiorri, Co-founder & CEO Solar Foods –?“We have a proven technology that is regulatory approved, scaled up to commercial level, and offers great nutrition, taste, and functionality.”?–?Juan Benítez-García, CCO EQUII –?“We are very affordable relative to other fermented proteins: we’ve achieved price parity with whey, and are cheaper than eggs and chickpeas.”?–Monica Bhatia, Co-Founder & Co-CEO California Cultured Inc. –?“Plant-based biomass generation coupled with ultra-efficient reactor technology allows us to produce high-value ingredients that outperform traditionally sourced products.”?–?Alan Perlstein, CEO Superbrewed Food Inc. –?“Instead of modifying what nature has already perfected, we create the ideal environment to optimize its potential.”?–?Julie Post-Smith, JD, MBA, Chief-Commercial Calysta –?“The ability to jump straight to commercial volumes is a real differentiator for us.”?–?Lori Giver, Chief Scientific & Sustainability Officer Sempera Organics Inc. –?“We have developed a scale-out (versus scale-up) process that allows for low CAPEX and a flexible OPEX approach to commercialization.”?–?Nirmal Nair, CEO & Founder ?? Read the full feature now in PPTI: https://lnkd.in/eMs-p-Tp