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A start-up is combining 3D scanning and weaving technology to make the perfect pair of jeans, as consumers’ preferences shift from big-name brands to tech-inspired and sustainable fashion.<br /><br />San Francisco-based Unspun, which joined Hong Kong’s The Mills Fabrica “techstyle” incubator in February, touts itself as a zero-inventory store; jeans are only made when an order is placed. The incubator says techstyle covers material and supply chain innovation, wearables merging technology and style, and new retail experiences<br /><br />The two-year-old robotics and apparel company, which counts the National Science Foundation, H&amp;M Foundation, venture capital investor <keyword id="3485432" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="SOSV">SOSV</keyword> and the Mills among its early backers, aims to become a zero-waste operation. It is developing a 3D weaving machine that would completely eliminate fabric waste, with plans to deploy it in stores as early as the end of this year.<br /><br />“The best way to think about it is like a 3D printer for clothes,” said <keyword id="594669" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Walden">Walden</keyword> Lam, one of Unspun’s three co-founders. “But when people think of 3D printed clothing, they think its plastic-y, not something people would want to wear. What we are actually doing is using yarn that goes into everyday clothing and manipulating it into the final product.”<br /><br />With 3D weaving, Unspun will no longer have any cut waste, the discarded fabric from traditional apparel making techniques. For now, Unspun uses their cut waste to create reusable packaging for their jeans.<br /><br />“The packaging also happens to be able to fit a 13-inch laptop, even though we did not intentionally make it that way,” Lam said.<br /><br />Unspun is currently in talks to close a seed funding round, but declined to disclose further information on the deal or their valuation.<br /><br />According to Statista, the size of the global denim market was US$60.4 billion in 2017 and is forecast to grow to US$87.6 billion by 2023.<br /><br />A report from market intelligence firm ResearchAndMarkets.com last month showed that the growing popularity of online sales is enabling vendors to provide customised denim products tailored to each customer’s size and colour requirements.<br /><br />Unspun joins a host of luxury labels, making everything from jewellery to glasses frames that employ 3D body scanning techniques to boost sales.<br /><br />According to the consultants Deloitte, mass personalisation is being made possible with advances in <keyword id="883288" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="3D-printing">3D printing</keyword> technology.<br /><br />A recent report in <em>Wired</em> magazine, quoting a Deloitte survey in the UK, said that 15 per cent of respondents were willing to pay 40 per cent more than the regular retail price for a personalised fashion item.<br /><br />Unspun is banking on the trend catching on. It has partnered with a body scan company called Fit3D to set up more than 1,000 infrared scanners worldwide where customers can get a 20-second body scan – allowing for customised fittings, stitching and styling.<br /><br />The start-up said that most of these scanners have been placed in gyms, as one of their main customer groups are people who work out a lot, so they often are unable to find mass market clothing to fit their body type.<br /><br />“Customers will not be overwhelmed [as there are no] piles of small-, medium-, large-sized jeans,” said Lam, who also handles marketing and branding.<br /><br />Unspun’s founders chose to focus on jeans, which has one of the most polluting and labour intensive manufacturing processes. Workers who sandblast fabric to create distressed denim are saddled with chronic lung disease, while dyeing requires toxic chemicals and hundreds of litres of water per pair of jeans.<br /><br />“We want to change that and offer products that do not involve using labour to spray toxic chemicals, so we are experimenting with ozone wash and laser whiskering to create the patterns,” said Lam.<br /><br />Hong Kong-born Lam has been pleased with Unspun’s reception in the city, where he said there is a deeper market for fashion products.<br /><br />“Our very first pop-up we wanted to test whether people were open to 3D body scans and if they were willing to pay a little bit more,” he said, adding that the response was overwhelming.<br /><br />The company said they originally started out partnering with a workshop in Hong Kong, but since they could not meet demand they have roped in other manufacturers in China’s Guangdong province.<br /><br />Currently they do not have any pop-up stores in Hong Kong, but are doing it by appointment only.<br /><br />As for the price – a pair of Unspun jeans will set customers back by HK$1,962 (US$250). “It’s easier for prices to go down than to go up, but we have to scale to get there, especially when you are setting up your own infrastructure – we have to set up scanning stations and create a supply chain to support that,” Lam said.<br /><br />In addition, Lam said, standard jeans from other brands sell for the same price or more.<br /><br />“Levi’s sells custom jeans with an eight-week turn around, and their starting price is US$800. It feels like we are actually leaving money on the table, but we are trying to be disruptive so we will take it.<br />

Hong Kong start-up developing 3D technology to weave perfect pair of customised jeans with zero waste

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><strong>Particle said last month that it had raised a $40 million Series C funding round led by <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/qualcomm-ventures-thomas-kluz-explains-disconnect-between-doctors-and-new-technology-2018-9">Qualcomm Ventures</a>, the venture side of the $100 billion telecom hardware and superconductor company, and Energy Impact Partners, a cleantech investment fund backed by large utility operators.</strong></li><li><strong>Particle provides a platform for companies to build IoT capability on top of, while also occasionally assisting with implementation.</strong></li><li><strong>We spoke to Particle CEO Zach Supalla and got a look at the deck that the company used to raise its Series C. Take a look at the full deck below. </strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-decks-that-helped-hot-startups-raise-millions-2019-4">See more BI Pitch Decks here.</a></strong></li></ul><p>To most observers, the Internet of Things (IoT) is a story of smarter things: fridges that tell you what to buy at the grocery store, lighting and climate control that anticipate user's needs, or inter-connected machines that enable smarter and more efficient manufacturing.</p><p>For Particle, the story began in 2012 with a thing, a smart lightbulb, but has ended up with a focus on the connective tissue that makes IoT tech possible. </p><p>Particle announced last month that it had raised a $40 million Series C funding round led by <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/qualcomm-ventures-thomas-kluz-explains-disconnect-between-doctors-and-new-technology-2018-9">Qualcomm Ventures</a>, the venture side of the $100 billion telecom hardware and superconductor company, and Energy Impact Partners, a cleantech investment fund backed by large utility operators. The round also included previous investors Root Ventures, Bonfire Ventures, Industry Ventures, Spark Capital, Green D Ventures, Counterpart Ventures, and SOSV, who have helped the company raise a total of $81.3 million to date. </p><p>Particle provides a platform for companies to build IoT capability on top of, while also occasionally assisting with implementation. While this may sound abstract compared to making a smart thermostat, Particle believes that by selling a platform and offering implementation, it is solving the harder problem and leaving customers to work on the actual use of IoT in their products. </p><p>Qualcomm and Energy Impact Partner's investments seem to signal that they agree. Both make sense as a partner: Qualcomm makes money by providing the hardware behind the scenes of some of consumers' most-used products and invests in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/counterpart-ventures-founder-patrick-eggen-almost-passed-zoom-met-founder-eric-yuan-2019-5">platforms like Zoom</a>, and Energy Impact Partners invests for a group that has a need for an overarching platform to manage a complex mix of technology.</p><p>We spoke to Particle CEO Zach Supalla and got a look at the deck that the company used to raise their Series C. Take a look at the full deck below. </p>  <p class="tagline"><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/connectivity-and-tech-pro?IR=T&amp;itm_source=businessinsider&amp;itm_medium=ctgr_bii&amp;itm_term=ctgr_subscription&amp;itm_content=iot&amp;itm_campaign=connectivity-and-tech-pro-2"></a></p>

Internet-of-things startup Particle went from a failed Kickstarter to powering smart air conditioners and Jacuzzis. Here's the pitch deck it used to raise $40 million.

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Memphis Meats</span></p><p class="caption">Memphis Meats CEO Uma Valeti (centre) and his team.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Some of the world's richest people think that one day you'll be eating chicken, duck, and beef that's been grown in a lab.</p><p>Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Twitch cofounder Kyle Vogt, and Kimbal Musk - brother of Elon Musk - are among several high-profile backers of Memphis Meats, a San Francisco startup which develops meat from stem cells.</p><p>The company has raised a $17 million (£13.3 million) Series A round led by DFJ.</p><p>Food giant Cargill, venture capital firm Atomico, New Crop Capital, SOSV, Fifty Years, KBW Ventures, Inevitable Ventures and author Suzy Welsh all joined the round.</p><p>The new round brings Memphis Meats' total funding to $22 million (£17 million).</p><p>The company was founded in 2015 by cardiologist Uma Valeti, stem cell researcher Nicholas Genovese, and tissue engineer Will Clem. Like several other lab-grown meat startups that have popped up over the last three years, Memphis Meats is trying to reduce the world's reliance on meat, since it's so environmentally unsustainable.</p><p>It faces competition from startups like Hampton Creek, plant-based meat firm Impossible Foods, and Mosa Meat.</p><p>Memphis Meats hopes to have a viable lab-grown meat product available to consumers within the next five to six years, said Carolina Brochado, venture partner at Atomico. The company <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/memphis-meats-chicken-lab-grown-2017-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">unveiled the first lab-grown chicken earlier this year.</a></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Memphis Meats</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>"They are the ones closest to producing a different kind of meat - red meat, duck, chicken," she told Business Insider. "Adding things like texture is very hard to do technically. And replicating how meat tastes is important."</p><p>Given most people would still balk at eating lab-grown meat regularly, she added Memphis Meats was considering pop-up shops around the time of their next venture round to get people trying the product.</p><p>Valeti said in a statement:"The world loves to eat meat, and it is core to many of our cultures and traditions. Meat demand is growing rapidly around the world. We want the world to keep eating what it loves.</p><p>"However, the way conventional meat is produced today creates huge problems for the environment, animal welfare and human health. These are problems that everyone wants to solve, and we can solve them by bringing this incredible group of partners under one tent. This group will help us accelerate our progress significantly."</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-ios-11-location-app-browsing-privacy-2017-8">Apple's upcoming iPhone OS is taking major steps to protect your privacy - here's how</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

Bill Gates and Richard Branson backed a food startup which grows meat in labs

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><ul><li><strong>Looking Glass is a Brooklyn-based startup building 3D holographic displays.</strong></li><li><strong>They are targeted at 3D designers who might want to create experiences and graphics without wearing a VR headset for long periods of time.</strong></li><li><strong>The displays are now available on Kickstarter, starting at $600 and ranging up to $3000.&#xa0;</strong></li></ul><p>There's a tech startup based in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, inside an old glass factory. After snaking your way through a 19th century industrial world to their very modern space, you see a message written on their door in red paint: "No Dystopian Futures Allowed."</p><p>The dystopian futures that Looking Glass, the startup, is trying to avoid are those where everyone's plugged into headsets, according to founder Shawn Frayne - whether they're the virtual reality products from companies like Facebook's Oculus, or augmented reality systems from companies like Magic Leap which have been hailed by tech leaders as the future and the next logical step after the smartphone.&#xa0;</p><p>Looking Glass's <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lookingglass/the-looking-glass-a-holographic-display-for-3d-cre?">new eponymous product</a> is basically a very advanced 3D display, or a "holographic display." You plug it into a desktop or laptop computer with one USB cable and one HDMI cable, and it can display a 3D model or world in full motion from common 3D software programs like Maya and Unity.</p><p>Looking Glass is "philosophically different" from other companies developing 3D displays, Frayne said. Instead of sending "one guy into a virtual world," like in virtual reality, the Looking Glass allows people to bring little bits of a 3D virtual world into the real world.&#xa0;</p><p>In person, a Looking Glass is a moving, living 3D image that you can't take your eyes off of.&#xa0;</p><p>The displays enable 3D developers to create new characters or models and show them to clients, coworkers, or audiences without requiring anyone to don a VR headset, which can lead to eye fatigue. Looking Glass said that game designers, major movie picture studios, and CAD companies have tried the displays and are enthusiastic.&#xa0;</p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>There's a lot of tech and insights from over 100 prototypes that went into these displays, which are now available for preorder on Kickstarter for $600 for the 8.9-inch model, or $3,000 for a larger, 15-inch model. Both displays are about 7-inches deep.&#xa0;</p><p>When I visited the Looking Glass offices last week, most people had one of the smaller models on their desk.&#xa0;</p><p>The smaller Looking Glass has about 4 million points of light, Frayne said. The technology consists of two main components: a light field display and a volumetric display. The display creates 45 views of the world inside the display, which means you can see the 3D models from even a sharp angle off to the side.&#xa0;</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>Although the product is <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lookingglass/the-looking-glass-a-holographic-display-for-3d-cre?">first available on Kickstarter</a>, it's mainly to make it easier to pre-order, Frayne said. Looking Glass has raised $13 million in seed funding from Brad Feld's Foundry Group, Lux Capital, SOSV, and Uncork Capital valuing the company at $30 million, according to PitchBook Data.&#xa0;</p><p>Here's what it's like to look through a Looking Glass.&#xa0;</p><div></div></hr>

This $30 million startup is building a new kind of hologram display to save the world from the 'dystopian future' of virtual reality

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>picture alliance/Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">A biotech lab.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>Rodrigo Mallo Leiva and Eleonora Mantovani are Partner and Associate of SOSV's Life Sciences investment team.</li><li>They've analyzed 1,227 early-stage biotech startups, and believe that investing in biotech companies can result in huge rewards.</li><li>They reason that this new wave of biotech is worth paying attention to because AI and automation have made it cheaper and easier for companies to build products that solve radically different problems than traditional biotech companies.</li><li>However, they emphasize that biotech is a tough industry to get involved in, and that early-stage tech investors considering this space should understand that patience and scientific integrity are key components of any investment.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul><p>"I invested in biotech once, and it only took me 12 years … to lose all my money." </p><p>As venture capitalists investing in highly technical verticals, we've heard tech investors make this joke multiple times over the past few years. It's funny, but it might not be accurate anymore. </p><p>Over the last two years, we analyzed 1,227 early-stage biotech startups, and we came across something interesting: Biotech is no longer limited to just therapeutics and diagnostics - it's being used to create products that solve problems in radically different industries. </p><p>Today there's a new subsector in biotech that's starting to focus on what we eat, how we take care of ourselves, and even how we manufacture products. Biotech companies are beginning to resemble traditional tech companies and build products like them. We believe that investment models traditionally applied to early-stage tech startups can now be applied to this "new biotech." </p><p>10 years ago, investing in early-stage bio-startups with less than $5 million per check was fairly risky. Back then, building these types of companies required a lot of capital, time, and a unique mix of talent: scientists, investors who take a big chunk of the company, and one or more non-founder operators that would eventually ride the company to the finish line (or lack of it). </p><p>The technological advances in the past decade have made experimentation, product development, and finding product-market fit much more accessible for this new breed of biotech startups. Decreasing costs in sequencing technologies, automation, and advances in machine learning are reshaping biotech at a foundational level. The tools and infrastructure for transforming these ideas into impactful realities have never been as efficient as they are today. </p><p>However, change doesn't happen overnight. The evolution of the biotech industry has accumulated over the last few years and is due to a combination of factors. </p><h1>1. The cost of DNA sequencing technology has significantly decreased</h1><p>The first human genome <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Genome_Project">took $2.7 billion and almost 15 years to complete</a>. In the last 11 years, this cost has dropped from $10 million to around $1,000 today. Reading the "code" of life of any living organism now costs less than a new iPhone.</p><p>As a reference, think of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore%27s_law">Moore's Law</a>, the projection by Intel's co-founder Gordon Moore that computing would increase exponentially in power while <a href="https://www.nap.edu/read/11134/chapter/12#156">decreasing in cost </a>- it almost looks like a flat line put next to what happened with genome sequencing cost.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Wetterstrand KA. DNA Sequencing Costs: Data from the NHGRI Genome Sequencing Program (GSP) Available at: www.genome.gov/sequencingcostsdata. Accessed September 2019</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><h1>2. Lab automation has made biology experiments faster, more reproducible, and cheaper</h1><p>This is an oversimplification of the innovative work scientists do, but most biology experiments consist of moving small amounts of liquid from one place to another and then spending time looking at them.</p><p>A startup can now buy an <a href="https://www.opentrons.com/">Opentrons</a> robot for just $4,500 and use a machine-vision SaaS platform to assess the results. Before this technology, one would need highly trained people moving small amounts of liquid around with a pipette and then spending hours looking through microscopes to achieve similar (potentially less accurate and less efficient) outcomes. In the lab, robots are replacing hands, and machine vision is replacing eyes. Finally, highly skilled scientists can focus on value creation rather than repetitive tasks.</p><h1>3. Artificial intelligence can replace our need for understanding </h1><p>Biology is an incredibly complex field, and even the best scientists can only understand a limited percentage of what goes on with living organisms; the most advanced, complicated, and dynamic systems ever. </p><p>Even with the monumental technological advances in the last century, we might never know for sure the correct answers to the most prominent "Why?" questions in biology.</p><p>Artificial intelligence and machine learning not only allow us to conduct experiments faster and cheaper, but they also enable us to do something that was previously impossible. We can create systems that output results without the need for understanding all the intricacies of the rules of biology.</p><h1>From infrastructure to applications</h1><p>We've seen the same signals in the past. When costs drop from their originally prohibitive levels and new sophisticated technologies become more accessible some very interesting things start happening.</p><p>When <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_4004">Intel launched the 4004</a> in 1970, it kickstarted the entire personal computer industry. When the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_protocol_suite">Internet Protocol Suite</a> was standardized in 1982, it made the internet a worldwide opportunity for entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. When the US government discontinued the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Error_analysis_for_the_Global_Positioning_System#Selective_availability">Selective Availability</a> for GPS in the early 2000s, companies like Uber became possible. </p><p>The access to new infrastructure allows smart, hard-working founders to leverage and build innovative applications on top of it. The realm of potential applications is extremely broad and is not limited to what can be directly foreseen. On the contrary, we can witness the creation of a very interesting category of solutions that lie at the edge of the newly opened infrastructure and that oftentimes cross industry boundaries. A great example is Uber and the GPS: Though not a direct application, today's tech giant leveraged the technology that constitutes a key layer for its product. It wasn't easily predictable at the time, but Uber is now <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-jackpot-inside-one-of-the-greatest-startup-investments-of-all-time-11557496421">"one of the greatest startup investments of all time."</a></p><p>We're entering the applications era of biotech. An era where investing relatively small checks in young biotech startups is not only possible but could generate outsized returns. Lower amounts of capital can take biotech companies to inflection points that will change their risk profile. This new investment model is possible because biotech products are not just traditional ones anymore. There's a new group of startups working on applications at the edge of biotech.</p><h1>A tech investment model for the "new biotech"</h1><p>Good investors capture industry changes and capitalize on them; great investors find treasures where nobody's looking and generate outsized returns. </p><p>Although the "new biotech" startups can develop products cheaper and faster, allowing for iterations and shorter feedback cycles, it might seem like a big leap to compare tech products to biotech ones. What's missing from this picture is that not only is the product development more agile, at the same time the products themselves are different: they are "at the edge of biotech." They rely on an underlying biological layer, on top of which the tech is built. New biotech products are built with an engineering approach; they tap into new industries and face not so much scientific challenges as they do tech and commercial ones. Looking a lot more like tech companies, they also require similar check sizes to reach the next inflection point.</p><p>We're at the beginning of something new. The application era of biology promises to bring a wave of new companies that tech investors can understand and add value to, without having to drastically alter their investment model. </p><p>This shouldn't eclipse the fact that biotech still means biology, and biology is complex, slow, and sometimes unpredictable. Early-stage tech investors venturing into this space should understand that patience and, most importantly, scientific integrity are key components of any investment - and that's extremely important when these startups are building products that will have an impact on people's lives.</p><p><em><a href="https://twitter.com/rod_malloleiva">Rodrigo Mallo Leiva</a> (Kauffman Fellow Class 24) and <a href="https://twitter.com/Eleonora_Mant">Eleonora Mantovani</a> are Partner and Associate of SOSV's Life Sciences investment team based in London. They invest in pre-seed startups at the intersection of biology and engineering.</em></p><p><em>Read the <a href="https://www.kauffmanfellows.org/journal_posts/3-reasons-why-biotech-is-at-an-inflection-point-and-why-early-stage-vcs-should-be-investing-now">original article</a> on <a href="https://www.kauffmanfellows.org/">Kauffman Fellows</a>.<br /></em></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/taylor-swift-net-worth-singer-millionaire-makes-spends-money-wealth-2019-4">Taylor Swift is dropping a new album. Here's how the world's highest-paid celebrity makes and spends her $360 million.</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

Now's the time to invest in biotech, according to VCs who've analyzed 1,227 early-stage biotech startups. Here's why they're so sure.

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Katie Canales/Business Insider</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><strong>Since Dutch scientist Mark Post made the first <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/taste-test-first-cell-based-clean-sausage-meat-made-without-farm-2018-9">"lab-grown"</a> hamburger in 2013, a handful of startups have emerged with the goal of making meat without slaughtering animals.</strong></li><li><strong>But <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lab-grown-meat-startups-burgers-chicken-fish-plants-cells-2018-7#dutch-startup-mosa-meat-made-the-first-real-meat-burger-from-animal-cells-this-month-the-company-raised-88-million-from-drug-maker-merck-and-meat-processor-bell-foods-4">Post's burger</a> cost roughly the equivalent of a small house in Denver, or about $330,000. </strong></li><li><strong>So when will consumers be able to order a cultured meat burger for a reasonable price?</strong></li><li><strong>Three top-notch VCs who've backed <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lab-grown-meat-startups-burgers-chicken-fish-plants-cells-2018-7#silicon-valley-based-memphis-meats-has-let-people-taste-its-fried-chicken-meatballs-and-duck-all-of-which-are-made-from-animal-cells-but-hasnt-yet-unveiled-a-product-thats-restaurant-ready-6">startups like Memphis Meats</a> shared when they expect to be able to dig into a plate of clean meat. Their timelines might surprise you.</strong></li></ul><p>For roughly the price of a small house in Denver, Dutch scientist Mark Post created a real beef burger made without killing any animals.</p><p>Post's $330,000 <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lab-grown-meat-startups-burgers-chicken-fish-plants-cells-2018-7#dutch-startup-mosa-meat-made-the-first-real-meat-burger-from-animal-cells-this-month-the-company-raised-88-million-from-drug-maker-merck-and-meat-processor-bell-foods-4">lab-grown beef burger</a> graced a plate more than five years ago. Since then, a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lab-grown-meat-startups-burgers-chicken-fish-plants-cells-2018-7">handful of startups</a> have shared their own plans to turn Post's prototype into an affordable reality. All of them have the same goal in mind: create real meat with the purity of a veggie patty, at a cost that at least some folks will stomach.</p><p>But when will anyone besides a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/taste-test-first-cell-based-clean-sausage-meat-made-without-farm-2018-9">handful of journalists</a> and investors get to eat meat without the wasteful, grisly manufacturing processes that characterize modern-day factory farming?</p><p>Here's what three venture capitalists who've backed some of the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lab-grown-clean-cell-meat-photos-taste-review-2018-9">leading startups</a> in the space think.</p><h2>'A big risk with huge disruptive capabilities'</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Katie Canales/Business Insider</span></p><p class="caption">Three cell-based sausage links made by startup New Age Meats sizzle in a pan.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Transforming meat or fish cells into edible flesh is no easy task. From sourcing the animal cells to feeding them the proper mix of nutrients to brewing up enough of the stuff to feed more than a handful of people, there are a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/taste-test-first-cell-based-clean-sausage-meat-made-without-farm-2018-9">host of challenges</a> that researchers and entrepreneurs face.</p><p>No one knows these risks better than the CEOs of the startups who aim to make these products and the investors who've backed them.</p><p>"I see clean meat a little bit like the taxi industry - there's a big risk with potentially huge disruptive abilities," Laura Zaim, a partner with the Silicon Valley venture firm New Crop Capital, said at a lab-grown meat industry event called the Clean Meat Symposium in San Francisco on Thursday. </p><p>Zaim said she believed chicken would be the first kind of meat that most people would be able to eat and added that she saw it happening <strong>within the next few years.</strong> Her firm has backed Post's startup, a Dutch company called <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lab-grown-meat-startups-burgers-chicken-fish-plants-cells-2018-7#dutch-startup-mosa-meat-made-the-first-real-meat-burger-from-animal-cells-this-month-the-company-raised-88-million-from-drug-maker-merck-and-meat-processor-bell-foods-4">Mosa Meats</a>, as well as Silicon Valley startup <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dfj-vc-stopped-board-meeting-cultured-meat-diversity-women-2018-8">Memphis Meats</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sabra-company-funded-lab-grown-steak-clean-meat-2018-5">Aleph Farms</a> in Israel. </p><p>"I want to see it <strong>within three years</strong>," said <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/silicon-valley-life-science-biotech-vc-investor-list-2018-8#a-partner-at-one-of-silicon-valleys-leading-biotech-hubs-jun-axup-picks-the-startups-that-get-250000-and-four-months-of-hands-on-training-from-accelerator-indiebio-13">Jun Axup</a>, the scientific director of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/silicon-valley-biotech-hub-success-secrets-2018-4">Silicon Valley biotech hub IndieBio</a> and a partner with related VC firm <a href="https://sosv.com/">SOSV</a>. Axup, whose firm helped seed Memphis Meats and recently backed a new California-based clean meat startup called <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/taste-test-first-cell-based-clean-sausage-meat-made-without-farm-2018-9">New Age Meats</a>, agreed that chicken would likely be the first kind of lab-grown meat she expected people to taste.</p><p>Macy Marriott, a venture analyst with Missouri-based VC firm Stray Dog Capital (another backer of Memphis Meats, Mosa Meats, and Aleph Farms), said she'd want to see lab-grown meat "<strong>really, really soon</strong>." Marriott also expected to see chicken before any other lab-grown meat.</p><p>Despite the fairly long road in front of them, these VCs see their investment as having massive promise. The meat industry totals <a href="https://www.meatinstitute.org/index.php?ht=d/sp/i/47465/pid/47465">around $200 billion</a>, and demand for beef, pork, and chicken continues to rise across the globe.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/valentina-tereshkova-first-woman-space-travel-russia-2015-11">The first woman in space almost didn't make it back to Earth and she had to keep it a secret for 30 years</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

VCs are betting lab-grown meat could be widely available in just a few years, and it could have 'huge disruptive abilities'

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Today's energy grids are unable to keep up with the intense demand being heaped upon them.</li><li>Startups are working to fix this, and investors are betting that AI and data will play a key role.</li></ul><p>As more cars, stoves, and heating systems are electrified, a lot of strain will be put on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-largest-federal-investment-ever-try-fix-power-grid-2023-10">decades-old grids</a> in the US and Europe.</p><p>In the US, over 70% of transmission lines are over 25 years old, while about 40% of Europe's distribution grids are over 40. Faulty infrastructure can lead to blackouts, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cybersecurity-ai-mobile-app-data-protection-2024-3">vulnerability to cyberattacks</a>, or other emergencies.</p><p>The power system, which was built for gas and coal, is increasingly distributed, with power generated offshore and on roofs. There aren't enough power lines to connect wind, solar, and geothermal power with households and businesses potentially miles away.</p><p>The International Energy Agency has said that to meet the Paris Agreement's goal of keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, renewable-energy capacity needs to triple by 2030 and global investment into grids needs to double, to $600 billion a year.</p><p>But infrastructure projects are costly and time-consuming. Globally, energy projects struggle to overcome permitting hurdles. Projects finished in the US in 2022 are expected to take five years on average to be connected to the US grid, while projects in the UK have had to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-65500339">wait up to 15 years</a>. Like a motorway at rush hour, lines can become congested and blocked, slowing the flow of power, causing outages, and damaging infrastructure.</p><p>Issues are compounded as more <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ev-demand-still-strong-despite-slowdown-hybrids-survey-2024-1">electric vehicles</a> and heating systems are plugged into the grid. At the same time, increased domestic manufacturing in the US is expected to cause a surge in demand for energy. Investors told Business Insider that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-war-spurs-research-into-lithium-ion-battery-alternatives-sand-2023-8">Russia's war in Ukraine</a> shined a light on energy security and price volatility.</p><p>It paints a picture of a fragile system — but investors are optimistic about solutions and are backing startups positioning themselves as such. Many are betting on AI to help optimize existing infrastructure.</p><p>"We must leave no stone unturned, both technical and political, to address these challenges," Rajesh Swaminathan, a partner at Khosla Ventures, a US venture-capital firm, told BI.</p><h2><strong>Making smart grids a reality</strong></h2><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/oct/11/energy-first-as-uk-successfully-transmits-data-via-national-electricity-grid">Data was transmitted</a> across a national energy grid for the first time in 2016. People in the industry hailed it as a revolution paving the way for a smarter, automated system that could tweak energy consumption to reduce strain on the grid. The idea is that by better balancing grids, providers can avoid firing up polluting energy sources during peak times or when the sun isn't shining and the wind isn't blowing.</p><p>But it's only recently that grid operators were able to know how much capacity is being used in real time or how much electricity is flowing through a cable, said Andrés Dancausa, a partner at the early-stage VC fund TheVentureCity who's based in Europe.</p><p>Operators could use new technology and AI to collect data on voltage, capacity, grid infrastructure, and usage to plan what energy should go where at a certain time, helping avoid congestion and blockages, Dancausa said. This is "something that couldn't happen a few years ago," he added.</p><p>Swaminathan said the US grid is inefficient because it does a poor job of allocating power where and when it's needed most. "Instead of overhauling the entire grid, we can address this quickly and easily via AI-powered smart meters installed at the edge," he said, referring to smart meters at the home or at the point of consumption.</p><h2><strong>The intersection of energy and AI</strong></h2><p>Smart meters, which are at the core of some grid digitization strategies, can monitor voltage, grid capacity, and power quality. This data is used to prevent and manage outages and disturbances, to model future supply and demand, and to reroute power when the grid is congested. Some can also track how much energy consumers generate.</p><p>The US Department of Energy has earmarked $8.4 million for grid-enhancing technologies, including smart meters.</p><p>Startups selling them are hoping to alleviate pressure from physical grid infrastructure and allow operators to do more with the infrastructure they have.</p><p>Dancausa pointed to his portfolio company Plexigrid, which has developed a suite of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-most-promising-artificial-intelligence-startups-of-2023-2023-8">AI software tools</a> to automatically adjust household energy consumption based on usage at a certain time. Bidgely, a startup in Swaminathan's portfolio, also uses AI to help match energy supply and demand.</p><p>Investors told BI that AI could change how consumers pay for and interact with energy.</p><p>Victoria McIvor, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/world-fund-investor-victoria-mcivor-first-job-in-vc-nuclear-2022-6">an advisor to energy startups</a> who was formerly an investor at the European climatetech firm World Fund, imagines a future where energy tariffs dictate when energy-intensive appliances run. "It will be a thing of the past that you put the washing machine on whenever you want," she said. "Your washing machine will turn on at some point in the day when it makes sense, and you won't think about it too much."</p><p>"Things in your house will be moving in a smart way according to energy prices," she added.</p><p>Some flexible tariffs and money-back programs that incentivize off-peak energy usage are emerging, such as those run by the UK's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.energylivenews.com/2023/07/19/national-grid-amazon-octopus-and-ovo-to-boost-household-energy-flexibility/">National Grid, OVO, and Octopus Energy</a>.</p><p>Infrastructure providers can also use AI to monitor grids.</p><p>Enline, a Portuguese startup, uses AI and digital twins, or virtual replicas of real-life assets, for predictive and real-time monitoring of grid infrastructure. The company says its technology allows customers to model and detect energy faults, reduce energy transmission loss, analyze the effects of weather events, and monitor vegetation to prevent it from coming into contact with power lines, which can <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pge-caused-california-wildfires-safety-measures-2019-10#:~:text=power%20lines%20have%20caused%20more,over%20safety%20measures%20for%20decades.">cause wildfires</a>. Overstory, a startup in Amsterdam, also uses AI and satellite data to monitor vegetation for utility companies to reduce that risk.</p><h2><strong>Rolling out software and hardware in parallel</strong></h2><p>VCs prefer investing in software companies that tackle big problems because they can typically scale rapidly at low costs.</p><p>But Timothy Barat, the CEO and cofounder of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gridware-10-million-lowercarbon-fifty-years-electricity-wildfires-pitch-deck-2023-6">Gridware</a>, said the fear is that relying on software for the grid could lead to postponements of crucial infrastructure builds and upgrades.</p><p>"There can't be any delays," he said, adding that software-driven boosts wouldn't be "nearly enough" to hit climate goals in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-change-migration-where-moved-escape-natural-disasters-extreme-weather">California</a>, where he lives.</p><p>AI could help make physical infrastructure builds more efficient, too.</p><p>Gridware attaches sensors to transmission-line poles that assess their location 6,000 times a second. It uses <a target="_blank" href="https://techcrunch.com/2021/02/17/gridware-is-building-early-detection-sensors-for-power-grid-failures-and-wildfires/">AI and machine learning</a> to crunch the data and detect issues to help avoid outages and increase grid resilience. Barat said this, in turn, frees up more resources for building infrastructure.</p><p>Generative AI, the tech that powers ChatGPT, is also being applied to the energy industry. Some startups, such as <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deck-verse-generative-ai-for-clean-energy-coatue-2023-7">Verse</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/reel-startup-b2b-clean-energy-provider-raised-5-pitch-deck-2024-1">Reel</a>, say they're using it to help speed up contracting for projects. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deck-energy-startup-gridcog-4-million-albionvc-2024-2">Gridcog</a>, a London startup that recently raised $4.2 million from VCs, has developed a platform to model and simulate renewable-energy projects so, say, a supermarket chain can figure out which stores and warehouses are most suitable for solar.</p><p>Meanwhile, the Scottish startup Continuum Industries says it has developed an AI platform that lets developers map out power-line routes and analyze infrastructure plans based on their environmental and social impact, engineering requirements, and cost.</p><h2><strong>Innovating around the grid</strong></h2><p>Many of these startups sell to utility companies, which can be slow and bureaucratic, investors told BI. This can get in the way of grid upgrades and hobble startup growth, as it can take a long time to secure a deal with utilities and roll out their technology.</p><p>Duncan Turner, a general partner at the VC firm SOSV, described it as a difficult pitch for VCs who want to back startups that can scale quickly and widely. "Either governments and utilities are going to figure out how to move quicker, or the private sector will continue to find ways to innovate around the grid," he said.</p><p>Turner said his firm is eying opportunities in long-duration energy storage, such as batteries and hydrogen, to avoid dealing with grids and having to sell to utility companies. Batteries can store clean energy to be used later — when the sun isn't shining but energy demand is high — and can be sold directly to consumers with their own solar panels.</p><p>McIvor said grids used to be relatively simple networks. But today's systems have sprawling distributed infrastructure with renewable energy and energy storage systems, where power is purchased at cheaper rates and deployed when it would be traditionally more expensive. This makes them "infinitely more complex," McIvor said.</p><p>Software, she added, is at the heart of making sure it works well.</p>

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