The Trendlines Group Trendletter July 2019
The Trendlines Group Trendletter July 2019
… Meet the 12 AgriVest 2019 companies … Escala’s study results published… BioFishency signs with the Technion … EdenShield signs with Agrostep … In the media and more …
From the editor: We recently changed our mail service provider. Our apologies if you did not receive the May or June Trendletters. You can see them on our site at May 2019 Trendletter, June 2019 Trendletter. NEWS
A global investment company has made a $5 million capital commitment  (PDF) to Trendlines Agrifood Pte. Ltd. Professor Mandeep Mehra has joined the Leviticus Cardio Scientific Advisory Board. NOW FUNDING
…..
Agrint Sensing Solutions
AgroScout has been shortlisted for the Poland Prize Season #3 acceleration program. EdenShield signed a distribution agreement with Agrostep, a Greek company focused on plant nutrition and protection. IN THE MEDIA
An interview with Saturas Co-Founder and CEO Anat Halgoa Solomon appeared in The Marker. Phytolon’s natural food coloring was featured in the Weizmann Institute of Science magazine. … Weizmann Professor Asaph Aharoni described the Phytolon breakthrough in an interview on Israel’s 103FM (in Hebrew). In this interview on ILTV, ZygoFix CEO Ofer Levy describes how the company’s zLOCK implant improves spinal fusion procedures. AT CONFERENCES

The Trendlines Group Trendletter July 2019

Editor’s Note: Kevin Chen, PhD, is CEO of Crop Enhancement , a venture-backed ag biotech startup based in San Jose, California. Here he writes about the different methods and technologies being introduced to reduce or eliminate the use of chemical pesticides in farming. When it comes to what we eat, the demands of conscious consumers are clear: They expect ethically produced and sourced food that is healthy, safe and affordable. Many of those consumers would be surprised to hear that the move away from toxic pesticide use is not a new phenomenon. In the 1970s, partly in response to early coverage of the damaging environmental impact of pesticides, the USDA established a nationwide integrated pest management (IPM) program to spur innovative methods to solve pest problems. Fast forward to April 2018, and the European Union announced that it plans to “completely ban” outdoor use of neonicotinoids, a class of synthetic pesticides blamed for killing bees. Neonicotinoids are used in the field as well as in seed coatings for corn, soybean, canola, and other crops. Some non-chemical approaches, such as pruning and crop rotation, have long been part of the sustainable cultural practices of many farmers. These approaches are now part of a larger IPM regime that increasingly offers sustainable solutions for industrial growers and small private farmers alike. Many large companies, following suit, have been adapting to the environmentally friendly elements of IPM to meet consumer expectations for safe and ethically produced food. As an example, France-based Danone and US-based Mars Inc, two of the world’s largest food manufacturers, created an investment fund in 2015 called Livelihoods 3F. The fund will invest $140 million during the next decade to promote responsible farming practices and technologies consistent with IPM that use natural resources sustainably to enhance smallholder farm resilience. Alongside some of the more established environmentally-sound methods of addressing the effects of pests, new and compelling solutions are beginning to emerge across the agtech landscape. Reintroducing Natural Enemies to Pests
In the US, many insect pests were accidentally introduced from other parts of the world through migration of people and goods. For instance, the infamous Asian citrus psyllid (ACP), which is a looming threat to California’s $3-billion citrus industry, set foot in California when one person brought home a piece of a citrus plant from a trip to Asia. Upon arrival, such foreign bugs often lack natural enemies capable of controlling or suppressing their populations. Introducing appropriate natural enemies sourced from a pest’s region of origin is one way to address this problem. Consumers who have bought ladybugs at home improvement stores to rid their gardens of aphids may already be familiar with this concept. Known as ‘beneficials’ in industry parlance, natural enemies in production agriculture work the same way, albeit on a much larger scale. Scientists at Cal Poly Pomona recently won the prestigious IPM Achievement Award for developing a method of raising parasitic wasps to be a natural predator of the ACP. Entomologists believe the wasps will play a key role in reducing ACP populations, replacing far-reaching pesticide campaigns in sensitive urban areas. Pheromone Releases
Pheromones, which are naturally-occurring chemicals released biologically by bugs to signal their presence or make themselves known, can be used to disrupt insect mating behavior. One application of these non-toxic, biodegradable semiochemicals acts as a lure to trap insects, reducing their populations below the levels that can be economically damaging. Pheromone sex traps have been used to kill the fall armyworm, which is currently one of the most challenging pests severely impacting major row crops around the world, using female-secreted pheromones to lure males. Once the males are ensnared in traps, there is no possibility of mating. Both lab and field tests have proven that traps baited with acetic acid capture significantly more male insects than control traps without the substance. The downside of pheromone-release approaches is that they are currently quite expensive and require additional innovation and development to bring the costs down to a reasonable level. Pheromones can also be volatile, so they will require new delivery and formulation mechanisms. Aiming to solve these challenges is biotech startup Provivi that’s producing pheromones from inexpensive vegetable oil using biosynthesis and olefin metathesis. Long-range Insect Repellents
Just as insect repellents work for humans at a summer picnic, they can also work in production agriculture. Insects rely on olfactory senses to detect food and mates, and they go out of their way to avoid plants that give off certain compounds. Long-range natural insect repellents such as aromatic oils deter insects from feeding and laying eggs on treated plants. Many varieties of insects are turned off by Achillea fragrantissima, a type of desert plant with a powerful odor and an associated natural insect toxin. To that end, Israeli agtech firm EdenShield is developing a green pesticide alternative based on the extracts of this plant, which can be found in the Judaean Desert. Short-range Insect Repellents
Neem oil – with the active ingredient azadirachtin – is one of the oldest insect-control products used to repel and disrupt a number of significant plant pests. This low-cost product is widely available in many forms and controls aphids, mealybugs, scale crawlers, mites, thrips and whiteflies. Agricultural oils are among the most widely used plant coatings. A pest that encounters a coating is deterred by its sensory properties, similar to the human use of bug spray, which repels biting insects. However, when overused or used incorrectly, oils can cause phytotoxicity and other side effects on plants. It is also worth pointing out that practical, wide-scale implementation of insect repellents is often compromised by the fact that it interferes with a plant’s natural functions including respiration and photosynthesis. Scientifically Engineered Coatings
There is an emerging approach for effective and sustainable pest control that uses environmentally friendly materials innovations to deliver new modes of action (MOA) in the growers’ IPM toolkit. Designed using a combination of surface science and materials engineering expertise, farmers use these formulations to shield crops with a protective, non-toxic, microscopic film at the plant’s surfaces (leaves, fruit, and stems) protecting them from pest and disease damage. These solutions can deliver benefits including improved yields, reduced labor and equipment costs, reduced residual levels, improved resistance management, and improved worker and environmental safety. Through materials design, for example, coatings can be tailored to offer growers the ability to cut back on the number of applications needed across a season, significantly reducing costs associated with labor and equipment. Case in point: cocoa producers today apply synthetic insecticides every two weeks, resulting in as many as 20 applications per year across two growing seasons. These new engineered coatings require growers to spray as few as four times per year – a 75% reduction in labor and equipment use. Increased Investment
As a result of this new wave of environmentally-effective approaches to pest management, investors and corporate players see significant opportunity for growth in the sector. According to AgFunder’s 2017 AgriFood Tech Investing Report, investment in ag biotechnology in 2017 saw some of the largest deals ever. And according to a Global Impact Investing Network survey, 63 percent of impact investors claimed they were putting dollars into food and agriculture. Impact investment in the sector has already grown at an annual rate of 32.5 percent since 2013. Given this influx of innovation, interest and investment, the quest for sustainable solutions will likely lead to expanding options in agtech. Increasingly, new ideas and technologies offer better quality with more limited risks. Needless to say, these new products and methods will need to be assessed within specific crop systems, with success based on the quality and quantity of yields and the economic value to growers. For the consumer, though, it appears that hope is on the horizon. Related Stories

There’s Hope on the Horizon for Pesticide-Averse Consumers

SG Dealbook: EdenShield raises $2m; BreadTalk-Song Fa JV
September 19, 2017
Trendlines portfolio firm EdenShield has raised a $2 million investment while BreadTalk and Song Fa have incorporated a joint venture (JV) in Shanghai. EdenShield raises $2m
EdenShield, an agriculture technology firm in the portfolio of The Trendlines Group , has raised $2 million (S$2.7 million) from strategic and financial investors. Kibbutz Yotvata, located in southern Israel, was a lead investor in the round along with venture capital crowdfunding firm OurCrowd . Investment proceeds will fund the acceleration of sales, expand farming operations at Kibbutz Yotvata and to expand portfolio of natural non-toxic crop protection products. Prior to this round, EdenShield had raised $2.8 million since being founded in 2012. The company is developing and commercialising natural plant-based crop protection solutions. BreadTalk-Song Fa JV launches in Shanghai
BreadTalk’s ba kut teh  JV with Song Fa Venture has incorporated a wholly-owned subsidiary in Shanghai. Bak kut teh is a pork-based soup with its origins in the Malayan peninsula. BTG-Song Fa Venture, which is 90%-owned by BreadTalk, incorporated Song Yu (Shanghai) Management Co. According to a filing, the registered capital of this firm is $3.01 million and its principal activities include restaurant management, corporate management consultation, and import and export business and provision of relevant services. The launch of the JV is funded through internal resources. Also Read:

SG Dealbook: EdenShield raises $2m; BreadTalk-Song Fa JV

EdenShield raises $2 million
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Editor’s note: News about EdenShield’s raise appeared in Calcalist,   mynet Kibbutz and  Sponser (all in Hebrew) and Calcalist CTech (English). EdenShield raised US$2 million from strategic and financial investors. Kibbutz Yotvata, located in southern Israel, was a lead investor in the round, along with OurCrowd, a venture capital crowd-funding company. EdenShield’s natural, nontoxic crop protection products mask plant odor and significantly lower insect attraction, eliminating the need for harsh pesticides. Funds raised in this financing round will be used to accelerate sales, expand farming operations at Kibbutz Yotvata to meet growing sales, and expand EdenShield’s portfolio of natural nontoxic crop protection products. Since its establishment in 2012, EdenShield had raised approximately US$2.8 million. EdenShield is developing and commercializing natural plant-based crop protection solutions. The Company’s products leverage the characteristics of plants that originate in Israel’s semi-desert region to mask plant odor and significantly lower insect attraction, eliminating the need for harsh pesticides. According to BBC Research, the global market for biopesticides was valued at US$3.7 billion in 2015 and has been projected to grow to US$7.7 billion in 2021 reflecting a 14.1% compound annual growth rate over the period (“Global Markets for Biopesticides,” January 2017). According to EdenShield CEO Yotam Gadot, “We are very pleased with the success of this funding round, especially given the participation of our strategic partner, Kibbutz Yotvata, and the ongoing support of OurCrowd. We have proven the success of our products through sales in Israel, Italy, Greece, and Spain and expect a significant increase in sales with our new distributor agreements in the European Union, United States, and Mexico.”
Trendlines’ Chairman and CEO Steve Rhodes, added, “EdenShield exemplifies many of the attributes of the Israeli start-up success story. Its founders took a unique Israeli resource, a plant found only in the Judean desert, and with the expertise of an Israeli chemist extracted a substance that would meet the market need for effective, cost-efficient, nontoxic pest control products. The need to ramp up production to meet increasing global demand for the EdenShield products was met with success not only in the fund raising we announced today but, equally important, in the strategic partnering with Kibbutz Yotvata to facilitate the increase in production.”

EdenShield raises $2 million - Trendlines

Published on July 5th, 2017 | by Sponsored Content
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July 5th, 2017 by Sponsored Content  
Israel, often referred to as the “Startup Nation,” is applying its tech-savvy know-how to the most ancient of practices — farming. High technology is making the desert bloom with a combination of cutting-edge agricultural technology and improved agricultural practices. “Since the Intel-Mobileye transaction, all hell has broken loose,” says Jon Medved, CEO of OurCrowd *, an Israel-based startup investing platform, in a report from CNBC . “The country is being overrun in a positive way by investors, corporations, and strategic partners.”
And agriculture is benefitting from all this fascination in Israel’s wealth of technology. Many innovative and sustainable tech-based solutions are now available for farms of all sizes and investors with a broad range of portfolio interests. Historical Interest in Agritech
Israel’s agriculture industry began in the kibbutz, a voluntary democratic community where people live and work together on a non-competitive basis. Its aim has always been to foster economic and social independence so that communal ownership of property leads to social justice and equality. With desert settings, kibbutz communities have always faced irrigation issues. After many droughts and water shortages in the 20th century, Israel looked to new solutions to reinvent its agricultural practices and industry. One company, Netafim , founded in 1965, helped to provide a range of products to meet the needs of drip/micro irrigation, including driplines, sprinklers, filters, valves, crop management technologies, technical education, and agronomic expertise. Agriculture today in Israel has made a huge shift, incorporating state-of-the-art technologies in water consumption. This has propelled Israel into a robust agricultural exporting relationship with the European Union . The Israeli Ministry of Agriculture estimates the number of active farmers to be 9,000 to 10,000, and Israel continues to receive recognition as a world leader in agricultural technologies. How the Leading Equity Crowdfunding Platform is Accelerating Ag Innovation
OurCrowd is a catalyst as a global innovation marketplace . Though its base of operations is in Israel, the platform also has taken a cosmopolitan approach undeterred by national borders. Recent countries in which OurCrowd has announced strategic partnerships include Singapore, India, Taiwan, and Australia, with more on the horizon. This philosophy has propelled OurCrowd as a leader in accessible startup investing and tech disruption. OurCrowd is a leading equity crowdfunding platform recently listed by Business Insider as one of the “25 Coolest Tech Companies in Israel in 2017.” With its community of investors from around the world, OurCrowd has raised over $440 million for 120 companies ranging in industry and focus, including the agritech and farming arenas. With an experienced team, OurCrowd vets thousands of companies each year, investing its own capital in every opportunity on its platform, alongside venture and corporate partners. OurCrowd’s global network of 20,000 investors, industry leaders, VCs, and multinational strategic partners work together throughout the startup lifecycle to strengthen portfolio growth. Three Israeli Startups in the Agritech Spotlight
As the agritech industry moves into a state of very high concentration, sourcing innovation will become more competitive. According to the World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit , early engagement is essential to build a product that is focused on a real market need and aligned with the strategic goals of the corporate partner. Among its numerous investment selections, OurCrowd has invested in three promising startups with the capacity to make a real difference in sustainable farming around the world. EdenShield
Exploring the unique characteristics of desert plants, EdenShield has studied and applied the beneficial extracts found in them to develop a family of natural, nontoxic products. The products can protect crops against damage from insects. Agritech is looking for more natural solutions for farmers as crop damage is costly, and conscious consumers are turning away from synthetic solutions. Other VCs are interested in this technology, with backers such as Trendlines Group also investing alongside OurCrowd. Taranis
Taranis is a tool for data collection and integrated pest management in the field. Taranis detects potentially problematic hot spots and prioritizes them for further investigation. Scouts then use a specialized app that directs them to these locations. The farm’s team can then track infestation levels, trends, and action thresholds and even decide on more localized sprays. The technology is particularly interesting because of its multifunctional uses, imputing from a variety of measures from rain levels to visual mapping, and the ease in which multiple people from all stages of the growing process can access precious data, creating cost reduction and increased productivity. Other investors in the product include Salesforce’s Marc Benioff. CropX
CropX helps farmers better understand water usage across their fields. Its low-cost soil sensors can increase crop yields while simultaneously cutting water usage by one-third. It has also made installation easy. This tech is a big deal in agriculture because it gives farmers tools to reduce cost, preserve resources, and work much more efficiently. Other notable co-investors include Robert Bosch Venture Capital and Green Soil. With the boom in the world’s population and food needs rising, agritech is becoming ever more important. Israel is a world leader in technology and is looking for ways to produce plant propagation with standards of fertilization, soil maintenance, product quality, and pest management. Opportunities within OurCrowd can help interested investors to achieve those goals and move toward a healthy agricultural global ecosystem. *This post was sponsored by OurCrowd. Farm image of Kibbutz Degania by Israel Tourism

Israel Is A Hotbed Of Sustainable & Innovative AgriTech

Agrostep is involved in plant nutrition and protection within the agricultural sector. The company provides products related to crop storage, pest control, and post-harvest treatments. Agrostep's offerings target the agricultural market, particularly in vegetable and fruit tree cultivation. It is based in Heraklion, Greece.

Agrostep

EdenShield is excited to bring its solutions to the Greek market , and especially pleased to be doing so in partnership with Agrostep .

EdenShield signs distribution agreement with Agrostep - The Trendlines Group

Companies in the advanced materials space, including polymers, biomaterials, semiconductor materials, and more.

Advanced Materials

Companies in the agtech space, such as equipment manufacturers, surveying drones, geospatial intelligence firms, and farm management platforms

Agriculture Technology (Agtech)

Angel - II

EdenShield is an AgTech company focused on developing plant protection products for the agriculture sector. The company offers products that address insect infestations and health and yield of cannabis, vegetable, and flower crops. EdenShield's products use blends of botanical extracts and minerals, seeking to reduce or eliminate the need for chemical pesticides. It is based in Israel.

Date	Round	Amount	Investors	Valuation Valuations are submitted by companies, mined from state filings or news, provided by VentureSource, or based on a comparables valuation model.	Revenue	Sources
9/19/2017	Angel - II	$2M	OurCrowd	$XXM	0 FY undefined	2
1/6/2015	Angel	$XXM	Subscribe to see more	$XXM	0 FY undefined	10
	Other Investors		Subscribe to see more	$XXM	0 FY undefined	0

Date	9/19/2017	1/6/2015
Round	Angel - II	Angel	Other Investors
Amount	$2M	$XXM
Investors	OurCrowd	Subscribe to see more	Subscribe to see more
Valuation	$XXM	$XXM	$XXM
Revenue	0 FY undefined	0 FY undefined	0 FY undefined
Sources	2	10	0

First funding	Last Funding	Investor	Rounds	Board Seats	Type	Location
9/19/2017	9/19/2017	OurCrowd	1 Angel - II		Equity Crowdfunding	Israel
		The Trendlines Group	Subscribe to see more		Venture Capital	Israel

First funding	9/19/2017
Last Funding	9/19/2017
Investor	OurCrowd	The Trendlines Group
Rounds	1 Angel - II	Subscribe to see more
Board Seats
Type	Equity Crowdfunding	Venture Capital
Location	Israel	Israel

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