Tyson Foods is the world's largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef, and pork. Tyson Food's brands include Tyson, Jimmy Dean, Hillshire Farm and Sara Lee. Tyson Foods has just spent $150M to launch Tyson New Ventures, who's goal is to invest in new technologies to feed the world more efficiently, with something beyond the firm's core meat products. The Venture Capital fund will invest in agricultural technology startups particularly those which create alternative forms of protein, eliminate food waste, and decrease inefficiency in the food production world.
Agricultural tech startups have begun to focus on seed genetics as well as bio-fuels. The technology for these new startups is centered around everything from drones and robotics to sustainable protein sources. Tyson's first investment from the fund was in a plant-based protein producer Beyond Meat. Beyond Meat has already created a psuedo-veggie burger that tastes, looks and even "bleeds" like the real thing. The product has begun distribution throughout the country and is even backed by Bill Gates.
Similarly, a new local food initiative also in Chicago, has recently concluded their "Team Leverage: Bringing it Home" Competition. The competition concluded with Evanston-based tech company FarmLogix beating out four other finalists to win half a million dollars to fund their company. The idea of the competition was to sell boxes of food creatively that can be sourced from Indiana farms at an affordable price to families who have little access to healthy food.
No comments:
Post a Comment