Participated · Seed · Mar 2023

BlakBear develops smart labels and patented sensor technology that are inserted into protein (meat or fish) packaging to predict food quality by sensing gases emitted from the contents. The sensors aim to provide real-time package-level freshness information rather than relying on traditional "best before" or "sell by" dates. The company presents this as a leap forward to more accurately determine shelf life and reduce unnecessary waste. BlakBear positions its product to address the global scale of food waste, noting roughly one-third of all food is wasted. No operating metrics, revenue, users, or detailed financials were disclosed in the article.

Led · Seed · Sep 2022

ProFuse Technology builds enabling technologies for cultivated muscle tissue, including media supplements and immortalized cell lines. The company has launched PROFUSE-S1, a media supplement to accelerate muscle growth, and PROFUSE-B8, a bovine myoblast cell line that replicates indefinitely without genetic modification. ProFuse says its solutions increase yield, shorten production cycles and reduce production costs, and it reports validation with numerous cultivated meat producers. The company plans to use recent funding to scale up production processes, complete work required for regulatory safety approval, and deepen industry collaborations. ProFuse was established in 2021 under the FRESH START foodtech incubator; its technology is based on six years of research at the Tzahor Lab of the Weizmann Institute of Science and the company is based in Yokneam, Israel. In October 2022 ProFuse secured $3 million in seed funding led by Green‑Circle, a New York–based foodtech fund. Profuse Technology is a Kiryat Shemona–based foodtech startup that develops supplements for cultivated meat media. Its additives aim to reduce cultivated meat cost by increasing produced meat mass and shortening production time via activation (patent pending) of a biochemical signaling pathway that accelerates muscle cell differentiation and enhances cell fusion. The company was founded in June 2021 as part of the FRESH START Foodtech incubator and its technology builds on six years of research at the Weizmann Institute led by co‑founders Dr. Tamar Eigler‑Hirsh, Professor Eldad Tzahor, and Dr. Uri Avinoam; Guy Nevo Michrowski is co‑founder and CEO. Profuse closed a $2.5M seed round, bringing total funding to date to $3.75M. The new funds will be used to collaborate with cultivated meat producers, pursue FDA regulatory approval, expand R&D staff and laboratories, and position the company to raise significant capital at the end of Q2 2023 to commercialize customer collaborations. The company aims to receive FDA approval and sell its products as early as mid‑2023. ProFuse Technology develops additives and solutions to accelerate muscle-fiber growth for cultured meat, reducing the number of production cycles and increasing protein content per cycle. Its technology aims to enhance production capacity and improve the quality of muscle fibers in each batch. The approach is based on six years of research at the Weizmann Institute of Science led by Professor Eldad Tzahor, Dr. Ori Avinoam and Dr. Tamar Eigler. ProFuse was established by Fresh Start FoodTech and initiated operations in June 2021. The company is supported by the Israeli Innovation Authority and is operated by Tnuva, Tempo, OurCrowd’s investment platform and Finistere Ventures. Financially, the company has raised $1.25M in external funding as reported.