A Foot in the Door of Tomorrow’s Food: CULT Food Science IPOs and draws investors’ attention

Now more than ever, in order to preserve our planet, we are being tasked with finding a new way forward, with establishing a new normal, and that includes reconsidering traditional practices and conventional products. From the perspective of the food industry, this could prove to be a challenging time or it could be a great opportunity. The recent coronavirus pandemic exacerbated concerns regarding the reliability of the global food supply chain, exposing key vulnerabilities from production to distribution. Our dependence on a traditional industry and the weaknesses that have recently been exposed has catapulted food technologies from a casual interest to a pressing and essential shift in the ways that we produce and consume food.

But maybe that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Some facets of our industrialized society, and especially our food consumption habits, have long been overdue for an update to better suit our modern world. Venture capitalists have taken note of this enormous opportunity, with funding for U.S.-based food tech companies ballooning from about $60 million in 2008 to over $1 billion in 2015.

Many trends that we saw plant seeds last year, and even before that, are coming to fruition. These advancements in technology are expected to fundamentally change the way that humans interact with the planet and hopefully cut down on the consumption of natural resources and abuse of animals. The global food industry is already worth trillions of dollars and is expected to double in size in the next three decades. Looking ahead, we can expect to see these trends continue to grow, while new trends emerge.

That being said, perhaps this isn’t such a difficult time for leading-edge food companies. In 2019, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists grew the agri-food technology sector into a $20 billion space worldwide, which represents a nearly 10-fold expansion from the $2.4 billion invested just five years prior. Moreover, a record-shattering $22.3 billion was invested into the food tech and agricultural space in 2020, with $17.3 billion in food tech and $5 billion in ag tech. That’s a 35% jump over 2019 -- and an even bigger leap is forecasted for 2021. Despite food tech companies accounting for a tiny portion of the agrifood industry, they have become the sector’s bedrock. Even market analysts are convinced – platforms such as Research and Markets have conducted studies that estimate the sector’s total value will be over $250 billion in 2022.

It appears that times aren’t tough for food companies at all. In fact, the opposite is true. Consumer interest is not slowing down, as long as companies are adapting to the realities of the current climate. People are motivated by environmental concerns regarding the harm that traditional agricultural methods are causing, and they’re demanding new and sustainable food options.

Therefore, this is exactly the right time for investors and thought leaders in the food tech space to double-down on the demand for sustainable food systems and a secure future for food. This is the time to fight for food accessibility and equity, using all of the tools available to humanity, especially technology.

One young contender in the food tech space, CULT Food Science, is working to advance the future of food by sponsoring ingredient innovation. The first of its kind in North America, CULT provides unprecedented exposure to cutting-edge, lab-grown food companies around the world. This gives investors diversified exposure to exciting and disruptive food tech companies, including those specializing in cultivated meat and cultured dairy. Cultivated meat, also known as cultured or lab-grown meat, is genuine animal meat that is produced in a controlled environment, completely eliminating the need to raise, farm, and kill animals for food. Cultivated meat offers a solution to traditional farming problems -- both ethical and environmental -- without requiring consumers to change their eating habits whatsoever.

What’s more important is that the cultivated meat and dairy industry is in its infancy. It is, at this stage, highly fragmented with only one other publicly-traded company available to investors. Therefore, CULT offers stakeholders the opportunity to invest in the future of food by supporting a group of the most promising and unconventional private companies in the food tech sector -- and that’s not all.

When CNBC interviewed a group of investors and entrepreneurs in the food tech space, they said that while they’re motivated by the huge opportunity for growth in the food market, they’re also driven by the urgent need to create sustainable food options. The need to find solutions that will alleviate world hunger and protect the environment is more pressing than ever, and it is this urgency that is responsible for the industry’s recent and growing successes. Sometimes when things are important -- truly important -- they become close, and we have no choice but to act.