[식품]벤처 캐피탈은 실험실에서 만든 친환경 식품에 대한 희망을 보고있다

Food Science

Venture Capital Sees Promise in Lab-Created Eco-Foods

By Brad Stone on January 24, 2013  

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-01-24/venture-capital-sees-promise-in-lab-created-eco-foods

Nestled among Internet startups in the bustling South of Market neighborhood of San Francisco is an innovator of another sort. The year-old Hampton Creek Foods’ 2,400-square-foot office is home to a state-of-the-art lab, with a stainless-steel triple-shaft mixer, restaurant-grade dishwashers, and 17 employees milling around in white lab coats. They’re developing a plant-based substitute for the hen-born egg that’s indistinguishable in taste and price from the real thing.

That, it turns out, is hard work. “We definitely have a new respect for eggs,” says Megan Clements, a research scientist, as she watches a fellow food scientist squeeze oil into a vat of company-made eggless mayonnaise. “Every day we are challenged to get better to make up for what is not there.”

Hampton Creek is one of several venture capital-backed startups trying to engineer dietary alternatives that are better for the planet and healthier for people—not to mention animals. The so-called clean-food movement follows in the wake of the high-tech industry’s disastrous bet on clean energy, which resulted in a crop of solar, wind, and fuel-cell companies whose fortunes fell dramatically amid the proliferation of cheap natural gas and low-cost competition from the Chinese.

Over the last year, two of the most esteemed VC firms on Sand Hill Road, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Khosla Ventures, have backed nearly a dozen startups trying to engineer healthier and cheaper alternatives to eggs, chicken, cheese, salt, and candy. The companies, whose creations are subject to FDA regulation, “are trying to replicate the sensory experience of proteins that we have all eaten,” says Amol Deshpande, a general partner at Kleiner Perkins who joined the firm from the agriculture giant Cargill. “It’s not just fake meat. The goal is to have a no-compromise solution.”

At a Khosla Ventures conference for investors late last year, Josh Tetrick, the 32-year-old CEO of Hampton Creek, gave Bill Gates and Tony Blair a blind taste test. He pitted muffins made with real eggs against those made with his egg replacement, called Beyond Eggs. Neither could tell the difference (nor could this reporter in a later test). The ingredients in the faux egg mix include peas, sunflower lecithin, canola, and natural gums extracted from tree sap.

The company’s food engineers laboriously test combinations of their ingredients, trying to match the egg’s taste and its functions as a thickening agent and emulsifier in baked goods while also making the substitute healthier and with a longer shelf life. Tetrick says he’s talking to a Fortune 500 company that he won’t name about using plant-based eggs for its sauces and dressings.

Beyond Meat, a two-year-old company based in Los Angeles, is making soy-based chicken strips based on formulations developed by two professors at the University of Missouri. Unlike previous soy-based substitutes, Beyond Meat’s come remarkably close to replicating the taste and texture of the genuine article. Last summer, the company received an undisclosed investment from Kleiner Perkins and Obvious Corp., an investment vehicle started by two of Twitter’s founders, and the meatless strips went on sale at Whole Foods Market (WFM) outlets in Northern California.

Another target of the venture capital-backed foodies is salt, a culprit in cardiovascular disease. Minneapolis-based Nu-Tek Salt, a Khosla-backed startup founded by two veterans of packaged foods giant ConAgra (CAG), has devised a formula that uses a mixture of sodium chloride (aka salt) and healthier potassium chloride, another naturally occurring mineral. The salt substitute is about 10 times more expensive per pound than pure sodium chloride, and it can taste metallic, but Nu-Tek is trying to ride the wave of publicly announced salt-reduction efforts by food companies like Unilever (UL), Sara Lee (HSH), and Kraft Foods (KRFT). The startup, which declined to comment on whether it has deals to supply any of those companies, just built a factory in Fargo, N.D., and CEO Tom Manuel predicts $10 million in sales this year.

A few of these companies have ambitious plans to change more than one aspect of our diet. Unreal, a startup based in Boston, entered the $30 billion-a-year candy market with Unjunked Candy, a line of low-sugar alternatives to popular confections like M&M’s. The rival brand is now being sold in some Walgreens (WAG), CVS Pharmacy (CVS), and Target (TGT) stores. Unreal, which has received funding from Khosla, plans to move into snacks, soda, and breakfast cereal soon as well. The founder of a startup called Sand Hill Foods, Patrick Brown, told NPR last year that his company wants to “produce stuff that will compete by being substantially cheaper and every bit as good and essentially indistinguishable to a consumer who loves meat or dairy.”

The venture capitalists behind these startups believe that climate change and the planet’s dwindling natural resources will put more pressure on the food chain and that the food industry will require sustainable alternatives. It sounds reasonable, but venture investors placed similar bets on failed cleantech plays Solyndra and Fisker Automotive. The clean-food startups will face a different set of challenges, including the reluctance of consumers to give up familiar dietary fare.

Speaking about his company from the Mayo Clinic, where his father is recuperating from a heart operation, John Burns, CEO of Unreal, says consumers will be forced to reconsider what they put into their bodies. “I’m acutely aware right now of the need to move to better and healthier eating, both from a business standpoint and personally,” he says. “This is a macro trend that doesn’t change.”

The bottom line: Venture capital firms are funding eco-friendly food startups in the hope that they’ll fare better than their greentech investments.

요약

  Hampton Creek Foods의 최첨단 연구실에서는 진짜 계란과 구별할 수 없는 식물 기반의 대체 계란을 개발 중이다. Hampton Creek은 인간과 동물에게 더 건강하고 공장에게 더 나은 대체 식품을 개발하고 있는 벤처캐피탈의 지지를 받는 신생 기업 중 하나다. 소위 말하는 클린 식품 운동은 값싼 천연 가스와 저 비용인 중국의 경쟁력 확산으로 급적으로 감소하고 있는 청정 에너지에 대한 첨단 산업의 전철을 밝고 있다. 지난 한 해 동안, Sand Hill Road, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers와 Khosla Ventures에게 가장 호평 받는 VC기업은 더 건강하고 더 저렴한 대체 식품을 개발하는 데 지지해왔다. 작년 말 투자자들을 위한 Khosla Ventures 회의에서 Hampton Creek의 CEO Josh Tetrick은 Bill Gates와 Tony Blair에게 진짜 계란으로 만든 머핀과 계란 대체품 Beyond Eggs로 만든 머핀의 블라인드 테스트 기회를 주었다. 이 회사의 식품 엔지니어들은 유통기한이 길고, 더 건강한 계란 대체품을 만들기 위해 유화제와 농조화제 기능을 하고, 진짜 계란 맛이 나도록 노력하면서 재료의 조합을 시험했다. 

 2년된 Beyond Meat은 콩으로 만든 치킨 조각을 만들고 있다. 이는 기존 콩으로 만든 대체품과 달리, 진짜와 맛이 비슷하고, 질감도 유사하다. 지난 여름, 이 기업은 Kleiner Perkins와 Obvious Corp.의 투자를 받았고, 이를 공개했고, 북부 캘리포니아에 있는 Whole Foods Market에서 판매를 했다. 

 Khosla의 지원을 받는 Nu-Tek Salt는 염화나트륨과 더 건강한 염화칼륨, 자연적으로 발생하는 미네랄의 조합을 사용하여 공식을 고안했다. 소금 대체품은 순수한 염화나트륨보다 파운드 당 약 10배 이상 비싸며, 금속 맛이 나지만, Nu-Tek은 Unilever (UL), Sara Lee (HSH), Kraft Foods 식품 기업들의 소금 절감 노력의 물결을 타고 노력하고 있으며, 이 기업은 올해 1000만 불의 매출을 전망하고 있다.

 Unreal은 M&M과 같은 인기있는 과자의 저 설탕 대안인 Unjunked Candy로 한 해에 300억 달러짜리 사탕 시장에 뛰어 들었다. Unreal은 스낵, 청량 음료 및 아침 식사 시리얼까지 곧 확장할 예정이다. Sand Hill Foods의 CEO 역시 고기나 유제품을 좋아하는 소비자에게 구별하기 어렵고 저렴하고 좋은 대체품을 생산하고 싶다고 밝혔다. 

 벤체 캐피탈리스트들은 기후 변화와 천연 자원의 감소가 먹이 사슬에 더 압력을 가할 것이며, 식품 산업은 지속 가능한 대안이 필요하게 될 것이라고 믿고 있다. 클린 식품 신생업들은 기존 식품에 대해 친숙한 소비자들의 저항과 같은 문제에도 직면하게 될 것이다.