Unicorn Alert: A Startup Saving The Food Industry From Itself, One DNA Test At a Time
Plus, a 🔥 podcast with the future of digital commerce -- A MUST LISTEN.
Heyyyo,
What. A. Week. First, I had a podcast end with a guy telling me how rich he is, then hanging up on me — more on that next week. My stonks plunged 15%, soared 28%, then @StoolPresidente announced his own ETF called $buzz that tracks social media trends for investing (before you scoff, I think this is brilliant, no matter how much #DDTG makes per transaction)… Welcome to the ROARING TWENTIES.
Lastly, if crypto confuses you, I give up. Free tip: I’m now following an algo based on Peter Schiff’s gold tweets 😂 and I’m up nearly 100% so... You’re move!
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For my newbs; every week I breakdown a startup pitch with the added hook that you don’t have to be a rich guy to invest (if you don't know what that means, click here).
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On the pod (w/disclaimer): If you read/listen to this and get upset, I don’t care: I’m so fucking tired of the rhetoric around VC’s investing in diversity. I’ve been on the front lines of this fight since the moment I entered the Chicago Tech scene and not just because it’s the right thing to do. It’s the SMART thing to do. Whether you and grandpa Boomer like it or not, the world’s changing (for the better). By 2030, nearly half of the US will be represented by what we currently call “minority” groups. And, this represents a massive (investment) opportunity. One such example is CASHDROP founder Ruben Flores… When I was first introduced to Ruben I knew he was the real deal… but like many “minority founders”, he struggled to raise seed funding, but rather than laughing it off, he and I cut it loose on my pod.
If you’re wondering why first-time founders, minority and female-led businesses are overlooked give this a listen and help us do something about it!
Here's my podcast with CASHDROP founder Ruben Flores 👉 https://apple.co/3c3CVYc
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Scott
#pitchreview time!
Company Bio
SnapDNA addresses the food industry’s most critical need: reducing the number and the severity of outbreaks, lowering production costs, and allowing fresher, safer food.
SnapDNA has the first self-contained, on-site analysis designed to replace all food pathogen lab tests. Results are available in 20 minutes and hundreds of samples can be analyzed per day. Unlike lab tests, SnapDNA provides quantitative data to reduce the time to find contamination from months to days, enabling predictive analytics to help prevent outbreaks.
SnapDNA test results are available when product is ready to ship enabling fresher, safer food. Food companies save millions of dollars/year in storage costs and reduce exposure to contamination and recalls.
The impact of this business cannot be overstated. Rather than pontificate, I’ll leave you with this takeaway: How much money would Chipotle have paid to avoid an $8 billion loss??? SnapDNA does that; similar to how cyber security CISO companies eliminate the risk of data breach. Does this make sense? By now, it really should.
Meet the Founder
Watch my full interview with SnapDNA founder and CEO David Medin, here.
David Medin is SnapDNA’s founder & CEO. Prior to this, David spent his entire, decades-long career as an electrical engineer holding positions from VP to CTO. David’s team is small but mighty; including, former NASA biochemist Veronica De Guzman, to Tyson Foods sales executive Tom Jacobs.
This is pretty easy. When it comes to team-building, you lean on experience and it doesn’t get much better than this. I have a law; if I can’t learn it (meaning I acknowledge the talent gap has passed me by; I acquire it and share my learnings), I hire for it. That’s David and team. He recognized, to be successful he needed three things, engineering (him), Bio (Veronica) and sales (Tom) - the rest he can hire and deploy.
Traction
Selected as the preferred food testing platform by the USDA-ARS
Paid pilots with PepsiCo and Nestle; the world’s largest food companies
Reduces outbreaks, lowers food costs and allows for fresher, safer food
Leading the change in the $10 Billion per year food pathogen test market
Projected ARR of $150M in 2 years
$3M raised to date
The most important bullet is the pilot with PepsiCo and Nestle — more importantly are the message boards with PepsiCo employees saying, “this is a potential game-changer.” Typically, I laugh at the wild projections, but in SnapDNA’s case, $150m ARR is not a pipe dream. It’s realistic, possibly even conservative. In a vacuum, this is another business trying to push the system forward. But, we don’t live in a vacuum, COVID-19 has obliterated that idea, between the emphasis on public health and shared scientific research; the vacuum is science itself.
This is a bona fide moment, and SnapDNA (and you if you invest) stand to gain.
Market Opportunity
If the events of the past year have taught us anything, it’s that our current technology and manufacturing infrastructures are woefully ill-equipped to handle a crisis. SnapDNA wants to solve that problem, at least as far as the food supply chain is concerned.
SnapDNA’s proposition, updating an out-of-date food testing system and drastically reducing the time it takes to identify potentially lethal pathogen outbreaks, is highly lucrative for both food manufacturers and the governments that regulate them. Whether SnapDNA can deliver on that promise is another story altogether.
How SnapDNA performs in its pilot programs with Pepsico and Nestle, two of the world’s largest food companies, will be a huge indicator for the company’s future. So if you’re looking for an investment opportunity with tremendous upside but whose chance for success is highly uncertain, SnapDNA is a good bet.
Terms & Takeaway
Invest in SnapDNA here 👉 https://bit.ly/3bbCvQr
Security Type: Crowd Safe
Valuation Cap: $28,000,000
Discount: 10%
Investment Goal: $1,070,000
Raised (as of publishing): $580,092
Minimum Investment: $150
Here's what I like: This is a BFI (big fucking idea). I don’t know shit about science. Mr. Edwards gave me a C+ in 7th grade Earth Science (with good reason). But, I do understand business economics pretty well and I can name three companies that lost a collective ten-figures on recalls! To me, that’s enough to bite on SnapDNA.
In the end, this is a bet on science and tech, as much as anything.
Here's what I don't love: $28,000,000 (w/ a 10% discount) are you fucking kidding me?? This deal is crazy … but Lordy lord, there’s still SO much potential. What I don’t care for (other than the price) is that as tech and access to COVID-related open studies allow others to enter the space and it only puts pressure on Tom to sign up more food brands. What’s to stop others from supplanting SnapDNA?? Furthermore, we live in a docuseries-fake news world where Theranos comes to mind, until the pilots are in I am forced to say, “show me!”
That said, Theranos said trust me at a billion, with a helluva lot less work to show for.
Who should invest and why: If you’re an anti-vaxxer, I think there’s not much else to say. If you believe in science, support its advancements and obviously recognize the absurd opportunity in saving food companies billions by eliminating recalls this is a big time bet! As stated, I love the team, tech and green field. And, while I’d like to see the value cap cut in half; I also get it.
This is a massive big bet! TAM is yuuuuuge. This is a 1% of 2021 dispensable income wild card bet on the future, with a better than average payout, given the concept is less of an “if” than a “when” type idea.
The type of bet I’m willing to make.
As always, startup investing is super high-risk, anything can happen. So, don't invest money you can’t afford to spoil 🥬💸
Invest in SnapDNA here 👉 https://bit.ly/3pMeS5Z
Questions? DM me on Twitter @kitun