Participated · Equity · Dec 2020

Hooked Foods develops plant-based fish substitutes and vegan seafood products. The company completed a Crowdcube crowdfunding campaign that raised more than one million Swedish kronor (reported as €644,000), entering an overfunding phase after its first day. Last year Hooked Foods raised €5m ($5.5m) in venture financing from Oysterbay, Big Idea Ventures and Brightly. The new funding will be used to develop a new range of products and to expand across the Nordic region, with a specific push into Germany. To support German expansion the company is collaborating with sales agency Ooha and is intensifying efforts to establish partnerships with leading food distributors. CEO Tom Johansson said the funds will be used to continue innovation and provide sustainable alternatives for fish lovers. Founded in 2019 by Emil Wasteson and Tom Johansson, Hooked Foods develops plant-based seafood products and is based in Stockholm. Its current range includes Toonish, a plant-based tuna analogue sold in Swedish retail chains and restaurants, made from soy, wheat protein, sunflower oil and algae and offered in three flavours. The company has raised €3.8M in a new financing round to support ongoing R&D and product expansion. With the fresh funds Hooked plans to speed up product innovation, scale up the team and expand its presence in Sweden. A key near-term project is a plant-based shredded salmon developed using wet extrusion and containing seaweed and algae oil to provide omega-3 fatty acids; the company says it will be the first of its kind. Last year Hooked raised $600,000 in seed funding from alt-protein investors including Katapult Ocean, ProVeg, Kale United and Veg Capital. Hooked Foods develops plant‑based seafood alternatives, notably Toona (a soy‑based plant‑based tuna) and a shredded vegan salmon called Salmoon. Toona is produced from soy protein via a wet extrusion manufacturing process and includes sunflower oil and algae to provide omega‑3 fatty acids. The company plans a nationwide rollout of Toona across major restaurant chains in Sweden in Spring 2021 and has long‑term ambitions to expand across European markets. Hooked was selected to join the Berlin‑based ProVeg Incubator. The startup raised SEK 5 million (US$600,000) to fund the launch and further product development. The articles position Hooked within a growing plant‑based seafood market that has attracted both startups and major food companies.

Participated · Seed · Apr 2017

Wasteless completed a $2M funding round to support growth. Led by Ben Biron (founder & CMO) and Oded Omer (CEO), the Amsterdam- and Tel Aviv-based company provides dynamic pricing software for grocery retailers. Its system uses inventory, orders and sales data to execute differentiated pricing based on expiration dates and delivers prices via Electronic Shelf Labels or online at checkout. The company plans to use the funds to expand its team, further develop its proprietary dynamic pricing algorithm and manage rollouts with food retailers. Wasteless implemented its solution at a leading Spanish food retailer earlier in the year and is currently in talks with several leading food retailers worldwide to introduce the system to their stores. Wasteless is developing a machine learning-powered tracking solution that enables grocery stores to offer dynamic pricing based on product expiration dates. The system combines item-level RFID sensing, a dynamic pricing engine, and Electronic Shelf Labeling to let consumers choose price based on expiration. It continuously monitors stock levels, alerts stores when items are nearly out of stock, and can automatically reduce prices for items that have been on the shelf too long. The company raised $400k in seed funding and intends to use the proceeds to complete the platform and create prototypes for field trials. Wasteless participated in the Food-X accelerator by SOSV and is currently in trial with several retailers. The company is led by Ben Biron and has offices in Tel Aviv and New York.