Making the List

In Print

• Member Spotlight: FTW Ventures, Food Waste Funders Circle, Jenn Burka discusses our mission at FTW Ventures to reduce and reuse valuable food waste streams for profit and purpose.

• Investors Outlook, Rethinking Materials
  Tawny Scanlan weights in on areas of innovation for Sustainable Materials when it comes to food packaging.

• Slaughter-Free Meat Sounds Futuristic, Because It Still is, Bloomberg
  Brian is quoted in an article detailing the hurdles still to overcome for Cultured Meat to reach more consumers and ultimately become mainstream.

• From biotech to robotics: FTW Ventures talks food tech in the era of Covid, FoodNavigator
  A wonderful, detailed overview of FTW Ventures and our sectors of interest for investments: Ag Tech, Advanced Materials, Supply Chain Solutions, AI/ML, Automation & Consumer Products.

• AgTech Sector Blooms as More Dollars and Startups Rush In, Crunchbase
  How a ‘problem-focused’ venture fund in food & ag tech will stand out from all the tech-focused firms and some of the FTW Ventures thesis areas.

• FTW Ventures Announces $4M Fund for Early-Stage Food Tech Investments, The Spoon
  We spoke about the origination of the first fund, and its strategy to invest in 15-20 innovative startups in Food & Ag Tech.

• Social Impact Investors: How Brian Frank of FTW Ventures Is Helping To Make Our Food System More Resilient, Sustainable & Healthy, Authority Magazine
  How and why we started FTW Ventures, along with early learnings from running the firm and how we make decisions on investments.

• SavorEat gets funding for 3D printer that builds and broils plant-based patties, AgFunderNews
  Brian Frank of FTW Ventures stressed the importance and challenges of sound market research for these sorts of products.

• COVID-19 clears a path for more restaurant robots, Restaurant Business
  ”You combine all of those things and it opens up this massive window for food robotics and prep”, said Brian Frank, founder of FTW Ventures, an early-stage venture fund that invests in food tech.

• Investments in bioproducts surge as Geltor nabs new money, TechCrunch
  The company had previously raised capital from … FTW Ventures, according to information in Crunchbase.

• How the changing restaurant industry has shaped investors’ appetite for food and robotics, Pitchbook
  Investors will take a harder look at food automation startups following Zume’s high-profile troubles, according to Brian Frank, the general partner at FTW Ventures.

• Making Protein from Thin Air? Yes, Startups are doing it, Forbes
  Scientists have been developing microbial ‘factories’, and even taking ingredients out of the air, to produce new forms of protein.

• Instacart Tries to Hold on to Whole Foods as Amazon Swoops, Bloomberg
  Most grocers don’t have the resources to build their own online delivery system, says Brian Frank, who invests in food-tech companies through his FTW Ventures fund

• Silicon Valley's $400 Juicer May Be Feeling the Squeeze, Bloomberg

  “Investors are very intrigued by businesses that combine the one-time sale of hardware that ends up leading to repeat purchases of consumable packages, “ says Frank, who doesn’t own Juicero shares.

• These Startups Want to Bring Surplus Food to Those in Need, Fast Company

  Frank says the [Food Waste] space has strong potential as the startups are finding a way to monetize underutilized resources.

• Why Invest in Food Tech?, Edible Manhattan
  We caught up with Brian to learn more about how he got into food tech and what compels him to continue his work in the space.

• Brian Frank of FTW Ventures On the Future of Food Tech, Food Inno Circle

  Brian shared with us how he transitioned from a technology product guy to a food tech investor, where he sees this industry going.

• The Future of Food: 5 Trends to Watch, Open for Business by OpenTable
  We enjoyed a special presentation from FoodTech advisor and investor Brian Frank, who spoke about the future of the food industry [Open for Business by OpenTable]

On Camera

• Is Food Tech Ripe for Investment?, Bloomberg West

• Investment Opportunities in Food Robotics, Articulate

• Investing in Food Tech: Hardware, CPG & Future Food, Smart Kitchen Summit

• How Technology will Transform our Food System, Winter Fancy Food Show

• Molecular Food Revolution, Smart Kitchen Summit

• The Power of Personalized Nutrition, Smart Kitchen Summit

• SFA Live Innovator Series, Winter Fancy Food Show

• How Will We Buy Groceries in 2050, FoodLovesTech

• Next Gen Food & Ag Tech, FoodLovesTech

• Shared Plate: How the Sharing Economy impacts Food & Cooking, Smart Kitchen Summit

• Scaling Voltaggio, Smart Kitchen Summit

• Food Innovators, Food-X

• The Future of Food, Impact.Tech

Podcasts

• Tech’s impact on the food system: an interview with Brian Frank of FTW Ventures, Understanding VC

• Investing in the Future of Food with Rob Rhinehart and Brian Frank, Village Global’s Venture Stories

• A Primer on Food Tech with Renata Quintini & Brian Frank, Village Global’s Venture Stories

• The Smart Kitchen Show: The Personalized Kitchen, The Food Tech Show with Michael Wolf