- Pitch Reviews
- Posts
- Unicorn Alert: A Startup Saving The Food Industry From Itself, One DNA Test At a Time
Unicorn Alert: A Startup Saving The Food Industry From Itself, One DNA Test At a Time
Plus, a đ„ 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 â 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: Iâm now following an algo based on Peter Schiffâs gold tweets đ and Iâm up nearly 100% so... Youâre move!
I wrote a trading algorithm that buys #Bitcoin every time @PeterSchiff tweets about BTC and sells 72 hours later.
Since May, the algorithm would have executed 203 trades, achieving an annualized return of ~1000%. 65% of trades are profitable with a 3% average return.
â Sam Baker (@macromule)
7:59 PM âą Mar 2, 2021
Shoutout to our sponsors at M1 Finance: the finance super app that makes money management easier, smarter, and more automated than ever đ sign-up now and get $30 when going to M1finance.com/kitun.
For my newbs; every week I breakdown a startup pitch with the added hook that you donât have to be a rich guy to invest (if you don't know what that means, click here).
If you like what you see here and havenât already subscribed, please do đđđ
On the pod (w/disclaimer): If you read/listen to this and get upset, I donât care: Iâm so fucking tired of the rhetoric around VCâs investing in diversity. Iâve been on the front lines of this fight since the moment I entered the Chicago Tech scene and not just because itâs the right thing to do. Itâs the SMART thing to do. Whether you and grandpa Boomer like it or not, the worldâs changing (for the better). By 2030, nearly half of the US will be represented by what we currently call âminorityâ 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 âminority foundersâ, he struggled to raise seed funding, but rather than laughing it off, he and I cut it loose on my pod.
If youâre 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 đ https://apple.co/3c3CVYc
Follow me on Twitter @kitun.
Scott
#pitchreview time!
Company Bio
SnapDNA addresses the food industryâs 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, Iâll 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 SnapDNAâs founder & CEO. Prior to this, David spent his entire, decades-long career as an electrical engineer holding positions from VP to CTO. Davidâs team is small but mighty; including, former NASA biochemist Veronica De Guzman, to Tyson Foods sales executive Tom Jacobs.
Traction
Selected as the preferred food testing platform by the USDA-ARS
Paid pilots with PepsiCo and Nestle; the worldâs 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
Market Opportunity
If the events of the past year have taught us anything, itâs 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.
SnapDNAâs 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 worldâs largest food companies, will be a huge indicator for the companyâs future. So if youâre 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 đ 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 donât 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, thatâs 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, thereâs still SO much potential. What I donât 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. Whatâs 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, âshow me!â
That said, Theranos said trust me at a billion, with a helluva lot less work to show for.
Who should invest and why: If youâre an anti-vaxxer, I think thereâs 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 Iâd 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 âifâ than a âwhenâ type idea.
The type of bet Iâm willing to make.
As always, startup investing is super high-risk, anything can happen. So, don't invest money you canât afford to spoil đ„Źđž
Invest in SnapDNA here đ https://bit.ly/3pMeS5Z
Questions? DM me on Twitter @kitun