Solvable Syndicate

𝗥𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝗶𝗴 𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝗽𝗶𝗴𝗴𝘆 𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗸! 🐽💸 We are super excited to share that The Raging Pig Co. has successfully raised its seed round, joined by Sprout & About Ventures, Livian, Solvable Syndicate, and a number of curated Business Angels.💕 The funds will be directed towards product development and further accelerating Raging Pig's growth as one of the leading plant-based sausage dealers in Germany.🚀🌭 With fresh funds, Raging Pig is more than ready to do their wurst in providing even more customers with the best plant-based pork imaginable! 🌭🥓🐷

We are honored and immensely proud to welcome the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation into the Nilus family. With DFC's support, we will expand our presence in Mexico and continue to reduce the cost of food for low-income individuals and communities by utilizing community group buying, enhancing access to affordable and healthy groceries in urban food deserts. We would like to express our gratitude to Dia Martin, CFA, Olivia Thompson and Nathan Walker for their exemplary leadership and dedication throughout the due diligence process, as well as to Lindsey Doolittle for her exceptional guidance in the technical assistance process. Through this investment, we are confident that we will become a more robust and effective organization. The ultimate goal is to benefit our clients, who should not bear the burden of higher grocery prices simply due to their socioeconomic status. Together, we are making significant strides towards altering this unjust reality. Go Nilus! Lucas Borrell, Leonardo Hugo Lujan, Ruben Sosenke, Nadia Corsetti, María Cecilia Oberst, JUAN PABLO CAVAGNA, Lucio D., Manuel Aristarán, Pablo Martínez, Ignacio Castelli, Jose Antonio Soto, Fernando Lelo de Larrea H., Federico Cristofani, Rafael Valdez Mingramm, Julie T Katzman, Farooq Abbasi https://lnkd.in/e5j2584p

“Consumers don’t want cultivated meat” is 100% true, but consumers aren’t the real customer. What we know about consumers is that almost no one buys for sustainability. They buy based on price, taste, and convenience, and the vast majority are buying factory farmed and processed meat. Even the most conscious consumer of regenerative grass-fed beef will eat a hot dog at the ball park without asking too many questions. Once cultivated meat tech reaches taste and price parity (and it will), I still don’t see consumers going out of their way to buy a meat product labelled as “100% Cultivated”. Parity just means is it’s identical to conventional meat, and by definition parity isn’t a differentiator. So are the haters right? Is cultivated meat a solution in search of a problem? Absolutely not. Meat producers, not consumers, are the real customer of cultivated meat. Once you redefine who the customer is, product market fit falls right into place. What do meat producers need? Stable supply, stable prices, and consistency. In other words, their problem is resilience, and cultivated meat is the solution. Beef prices just hit a 17 year high. Cattle herds are at historically low levels. Climate change is coming for every commodity, not just cocoa, and will impact feed prices, water, and land for grazing. (Not to mention labor shortages, horrible conditions in factory farms, and new pandemics starting in the meat supply.) Maybe consumers see these threats as too distant to worry about. But the trillion dollar meat industry does worry about them, and they need cultivated meat as soon as humanly possible to insure them against a chaotic future. We know, for example, that McDonalds wants a sustainable supply chain for burgers and chicken nuggets. Mars wants a sustainable supply chain for pet food. Cultivated ground meat and cultivated fat can blend right into both, and would improve the overall quality of the meat – more climate resilient, less disease from pathogens, less mistreatment of animals, better labor conditions for workers. Cultivated meat startups that are focused on resilience for meat producers, and away from premium consumer products like whole cut steaks, will have the first big businesses to come out of this next wave, and are likely investable today thanks to enabling technologies like continuous harvesting. So whether or not consumers will seek out cultivated meat is beside the point. We know they want taste, price, and convenience, and meat producers want to deliver it to them. Will transitioning their supply over to cultivated meat be their best and most resilient option as climate change accelerates over the next 10 years? I believe yes, but that’s the bet. 👋 If you enjoyed (or hated!) this post, follow along as I explore/refine a thesis for Cultivated Meat 2.0 and where venture capital can find opportunities. #cultivatedmeat #venturecapital #climatetech #foodtech #agrifood (Thanks Deena Shanker for the beef prices graph)

Our conversation with Alexander Skarsgard (whom you may remember from the TV Shows Succession and Big Little Lies) is now live on Spotify. Had an incredible time reflecting on the causes of food insecurity, and the way Nilus is addressing the problem. Thank you Norrsken and Spotify for this amazing opportunity to showcase our work! Tune in here: https://lnkd.in/dQcfm_cV

🌟 The Future of Protein Production Chicago takes place next week on April 24th and 25th, so this is your final chance to book your spot at this exciting event. Get your pass today: https://hubs.ly/Q02t7MB40 In our dedicated Startup Symposium, we have 15 companies and 15 expert adjudicators, with three sessions on Day 1 alone. Good luck to Vahid Hosseini from Hatchless, Andrew Sayles at Livestock Laboratories, Adam Yee at Sobo Foods, Luiza Villela from unClassic Foods, Panos Kostopulos from Proxy Foods, Deb Anderson from The Protein Brewery, Zoe Yu Ting Law from New Wave Biotech, Haotian Guo from Ailurus Bio, and Paul Schierz from Arborea! On Day 2, it's time for Vanessa Small from Alcheme Bio, Stephanie Bernstein from AQUA Cultured Foods, Candice Choi from Geem, Guy Furman from Windy City Mushroom, Christie Lagally from Rebellyous Foods, and Aleh Manchuliantsau from PLANETARIANS to impress the judges. And while we're here, a special thank you to our judges, including Kantha Shelke from The Johns Hopkins University, Michael Spinelli from NewEpoch, Stu Strumwasser from Green Circle Capital Partners, Jim Slama from Naturally Chicago, Steve Gaither from 1o8, Nate Crosser from Blue Horizon, Shayna Harris from Supply Change Capital, Jamie Valenti-Jordan from Catapult, Steve Simitzis from Solvable Syndicate, Francisco Codoner from ScaleUp Bio, Andrew Bluestein from Bluestein Ventures, Scott Glassman from Black Ink Ops and Joshua Errett. Aside from our Startup Symposium, this dynamic two-day conference features over 85 industry expert speakers discussing the future of protein production. Topics will include regulations, retail & food service, processing technologies, next-generation manufacturing, collaborative value chains, facility development & scaling, and much more. Gain insights and network with the best in the business. Register now before it's too late! #ProteinProduction #ChicagoEvent #AlternativeProteins #NetworkingOpportunity

📣 We are so happy to share that yesterday Nilus won an award at the Founders Games organized by Webit.Foundation during the World Economic Forum in Davos. Nilus was selected, by a high-class jury, as one of five winners among 4500 applicants from 150 countries. 🚀 This huge recognition motivates us to keep on working, harder than ever, to lower the cost of living for low-income people. 💪 Congratulations to BeeHero, inHEART, JENTIS, AwanTunai, and all finalists for their outstanding achievements! #PovertyShouldNotBeMoreExpensive