FoodTech Weekly

Some highlights from FoodTech Weekly #235 (https://lnkd.in/gP4KpqD7) which was sent this morning: 🇳🇱 Vivici, a startup formed by Fonterra and dsm-firmenich to produce dairy proteins via precision fermentation, has closed a €32.5M ($34M) Series A round led by Invest-NL and APG. The startup is producing the whey protein beta-lactoglobulin and plans to launch production of bovine lactoferrin, a higher-value dairy protein, later this year 🇨🇵 Spore.Bio, which develops an AI-powered biotechnology that can detect bacteria in food, drugs, and cosmetics within minutes, has raised a $23M Series A round led by Singular and joined by e.g. Point72 Ventures, STATION F, LocalGlobe, Famille C, and No Label Ventures 🇮🇹 Arsenale Bioyards, which builds an end-to-end platform integrating advanced hardware, AI-driven software, and precision fermentation the company says can cut time and cost for biomanufacturing by up to 90%, has secured €9.5M ($10M) in funding. Planet A Ventures and byFounders led the round which was also joined by e.g. Plug and Play Tech Center and Grey Silo Ventures 🇯🇵 Kinish has scored $800K in Seed funding to advance its molecular farming technology. The company has developed a proprietary rice plant that produces casein (h/t ClimateHack) 🇺🇸 Actual Veggies has bagged $7M in Series A funding, led by Relentless Consumer Partners and backed by e.g. New Fare Partners. The startup caters to consumers that are looking for vegetables, beans, and other whole food ingredients for their burgers, rather than meat analogs made from extruded proteins. The startup forecasts $20M in sales for 2025, and says it’s close to being profitable 🇲🇽 Kigüi has banked a $500K funding round led by The Yield Lab. The company leverages AI to improve inventory management in the retail sector (e.g. identifying near-expiry products), which helps cut food waste 🇳🇱 Five Dutch entrepreneurs just won a €100K ($104K) cash prize each in The DOEN Foundation’s Fair Future Challenge, including plant-based icecream startup Goodoo and plant-based fish startup Monkeys By The Sea 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 uFraction8 has scooped up £3.4M ($4.3M) in funding led by Foresight Group and joined by Old College Capital, Scottish Enterprise, Alwyn Capital, and Thia Ventures, plus a grant from the the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development (uFraction8 has a fully-owned subsidiary in Poland). The company has developed microfiltration technology that could enhance the affordability and scalability of bioprocessing when producing food, feed, and bio-based products 👨🏻💻 New jobs at Improvin'’ (🇸🇪) and Better Nature (🇬🇧) 🎙️ Investment Climate podcast highlights (hosted by Alex Shandrovsky with Ines Sánchez-Castillo Velge of Beans ...and much more! Subscribe now at: https://lnkd.in/gnDVAjwx #FoodTechWeekly #FoodTech #AgTech #startups #funding #tech

Some highlights from FoodTech Weekly #234 (https://lnkd.in/gw8VQE2p) which was sent this morning: 🇺🇸 Oobli has raised $18M in Series B from e.g. Ingredion Ventures, Khosla Ventures and Lever VC. The company has developed sweet proteins called monellin and brazzein that are 2,000 to 5,000 times sweeter than sugar. 🇪🇸 MOA foodtech has received €14.8M ($15.4M) in funding from the EIC Accelerator and the EIC Fund to transform ag waste into high-value, functional ingredients using AI 🇩🇪 Kynda has bagged €3M ($3.1M) in fresh funding, led by Enjoy Ventures and joined by e.g. Clima Now and PHW Group. The startup uses food industry sidestreams to produce mycelium protein in just 48 hours 🇮🇱 IBI-Ag has scored $6.1M in Series A1 funding, led by Corteva Agriscience and joined by Trendlines, Iron Nation, Consensus Business Group, plus a grant from the Israel Innovation Authority רשות החדשנות. The startup develops bioinsecticides that allow farmers to fight pests and protect crops without using harmful chemicals 🇸🇪 Saveggy which develops a natural coating for fruits and vegetables to cut plastics use and extend shelf life, has been awarded a €2.5M ($2.6M) grant from the EU innovation program EIC Accelerator 🇪🇸Spanish solid state fermentation startup Esencia Foods also announced it just received €2M ($2.1M) from EIC Accelerator. 🇧🇪 Fyteko has closed a €13M ($13.5M) Series B round led by Crédit Mutuel Impact and joined by e.g. Supernova Invest and EIT Food. The company develops biostimulants, herbicide enhancers, and biopesticides that help boost crop yields in a sustainable way, preserving biodiversity 🇳🇱 Proba has harvested a €1M ($1M) Seed round led by Future Food Fund and The Yield Lab Europe, and supported by Value Factory Ventures. The company helps AgriFood companies cut Scope 3 emissions through insetting 🇮🇹 ExoLab Italia has banked €5M ($5.2M) in Series A funding from CDP Venture Capital SGR, dsm-firmenich Ventures, Linfa Fund and Maia Ventures. The company pioneers the use of plant-derived exosomes to boost the effectiveness of ingredients used in e.g. nutraceuticals 🇨🇭Food Brewer has announced it has extended this Seed round with new investments from Lindt & Sprüngli and Sparkalis bringing its total funding since incorporation to CHF 10M ($11.1M). The company produces sustainable cocoa, coffee, and fats through plant cell culture. 🇺🇸 Jord BioScience has scooped up $7M in Series B led by AgriFoodTech investor Silver Blue; the company develops microbial solutions that boost crop performance 👨🏻💻 New job at Hyfé  (🇺🇸) and Hoxton Farms (🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿) 💡Conversation with Bodil Sidén of Kost Capital 🎙️ Investment Climate podcast highlights (hosted by Alex Shandrovsky with Anoop Srikantaswamy of Moonrider.ai ...and much more! Subscribe now at: https://lnkd.in/gMzG3vJE #FoodTechWeekly #FoodTech #AgTech #startups #funding #tech

We’ve all heard about having your cake and eating it too…but what if you could savor the joys of dairy without its environmental or ethical downsides? This is what Jevan Nagarajah and his team at Better Dairy are trying to enable: “We want to transcend beyond the limitations of animal milk, and tap into a new era for milk and dairy. It’s a paradigm shift.” And they’re using precision fermentation to achieve this. To learn more, I recently sat down with Jevan. Read the full conversation here: https://lnkd.in/dfa9xXvm

Some highlights from FoodTech Weekly #233 (https://lnkd.in/d7xa4WY2) which was sent this morning: 🇺🇸 Indoor vertical farming scaleup 80 Acres Farms has announced $115M in fresh funding, bringing its total funding to $370M+. Investors included e.g. General Atlantic and Siemens Financial Services 🇸🇪 Agteria Biotech has bagged €6M ($6.25M) in Seed funding, led by investors Industrifonden and AgriZeroNZ and joined by e.g. Norrsken Launcher and Mudcake. The company has developed a patent-pending molecule which reduces methane emissions from cattle 🇪🇸 KOA Biotech has closed a €2M ($2.1M) round backed by Swanlaab Venture Factory Innvierte Agrifood-Tech, Fund F, and Faber. The Barcelona startup develops e.g. a biosensor system for aquaculture that detects waterborne infections in fish farms before they spread, which reduces mortality rates and antibiotic use, and saves farmers’ money 🇳🇱 Collie has banked €3.5M ($3.6M) in Seed funding led by Freigeist Capital. The startup provides a digital livestock management system which combines a specialized collar and an accompanying app, allowing farmers to create virtual fences and guide their herds remotely through beeps and vibrations, replacing the need for physical fencing 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Plant-based pet food startup omnipetcare secured £75K ($93K) in funding from two investors on Dragon’s Den UK this week. The business, which was valued at £3M ($3.7M), generated over £2.5M ($3.1M) in sales in 2022 and 2023 🇺🇸 Edacious, which develops a rapid testing and data insights platform to measure and map nutrient density in whole foods, has netted a $8.1M Seed round led by Patagonia’s venture fund Tin Shed Ventures 🇺🇸 Heritable Agriculture, which spun out of Google’s ‘moonshot factory’ X, has raised a Seed round (sum undisclosed), from investors like FTW Ventures, Mythos Ventures, SVG Ventures | THRIVE, and GV (Google Ventures). The data/AI-driven startup uses machine learning to optimize crop growth and reduce agriculture’s environmental impact 🇨🇭BRU, which has developed a machine that makes tea making as convenient as an espresso machine, has poured a nice cuppa of a CHF 2M ($2.2M) round backed by a ‘strategic partner’. The startup has sold 10K+ machines since launching in 2023 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 AgTech startup CroBio has harvested €850K in new funding from Defra and  Innovate UK. The company develops a low-cost living soil amendment that farmers apply in liquid form once per growing season 🇸🇪 hÄppi, which develops functional prebiotic sodas, has gulped down SEK 8M ($700K) in fresh funding from e.g Graphit NeoTaste 👨🏻💻 New job at Hyfé (🇺🇸) 💡Conversation with Jevan Nagarajah of Better Dairy 🎙️ Investment Climate podcast highlights (hosted by Alex Shandrovsky) with Andy Clayton of Fermtech ...and much more! Subscribe now at: https://lnkd.in/dZ_FvGYt #FoodTechWeekly #FoodTech #AgTech #startups #funding #tech

Some highlights from FoodTech Weekly #232 (https://lnkd.in/daNB5AnZ) which was sent this morning: 🇳🇱 OneThird has raised €3.5M ($3.65M) in Series A funding; the company develops an AI-powered near-infrared technology which helps cut food waste by accurately predicting produce shelf life. The round was led by Invest International and joined by investors Oost NL, SHIFT Invest, and Pymwymic   🇧🇪 BiocSol has scored €4.4M ($4.6M) in funding from investors including Pymwymic. The startup develops microbial-based biopesticides that protect crops like potatoes, vegetables and grapes from e.g. mildew (a form of fungus) 🇩🇰 Enduro Genetics has closed a €12M ($12.5M) Series A round from Supernova Invest, NOON Ventures, and Sandwater. The company has patented its ‘synthethic additction’ technology it says could help cut costs and emissions in biomanufacturing, in areas such as alt protein, industrial enzymes, biodegradable materials, and pharma 🇸🇪 Innoscentia which develops smart food labels that detect bacterial growth in food has bagged €500K ($520K) from a group of Swedish business angels 🇺🇸 Bonsai Robotics has harvested $15M in Series A financing led by Bison Ventures and joined by e.g. Acre Venture Partners and Fall Line Capital. The AgTech startup builds machines that navigate tough farm environments, helping to harvest e.g. nut crops like almonds and walnuts 🇳🇱 Mosa Meat, which develops cultured meat, has pulled in more than €2.5M ($2.6M) in crowdfunding 🇺🇸 PlantBaby, which offers plant-based milk (called Kiki Milk) to kids, has fetched $4M in Seed funding (at a $20M post-money valuation) in a round led by B2 Partners and joined by e.g. Big Idea Ventures and a few other investors  🇫🇷 Jay&Joy has clinched a €2M ($2.1M) round led by High Flyers Capital, and acquired fellow Parisian vegan artisanal cheese maker Les Nouveaux Affineurs. The company now aims to expand across Europe 👨🏻💻 New jobs at Essential (🇰🇪), FoodFacts (🇸🇪), Perfat Technologies (🇫🇮) and Hoxton Farms (🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿) 🎙️ Investment Climate podcast highlights (hosted by Alex Shandrovsky) with Guy Maurice of B'ZEOS ...and much more! Subscribe now at: https://lnkd.in/dZ_FvGYt #foodtechweekly #FoodTech #agtech #startups #funding #tech

Some highlights from FoodTech Weekly #231 (https://lnkd.in/daUCfe6t) which was sent this morning: 🇺🇸 Liberation Labs, which is building a commercial-scale precision fermentation biomanufacturing facility in Richmond, Indiana, has secured $50.5M in new capital via a convertible note 🇳🇱 AgTech startup Agurotech has bagged €2.25M ($2.34M) led by Navus Ventures B.V. and joined by ROM InWest and Rabo Ventures. The startup develops, manufactures, and delivers e.g. sensor tech, weather stations, and applications to farmers, helping them to make informed decisions about resources like water 🇨🇭 Voltiris, which optimizes solar energy use for greenhouses, has scored a CHF 4.8M ($5.3M) Seed round, backed by EquityPitcher Ventures, 3M Ventures, and Satgana 🇳🇴 Avisomo, which develops automated vertical farming solutions, has harvested €5M ($5.2M) in grant and equity funding from Innovation Norway and existing investors 🇫🇷 Beans has raised €1.4M ($1.45M) from Norrsken, maze impact, Waterlemon Ventures, FoodTech Founders, and a few angels incl. yours truly. The company rescues unsold CPG/FMCG food inventory from going to waste, instead selling it at a discount to consumers via e-commerce 🇮🇱 Pluri of Israel announced it has secured $6.5M in investment, and that it has acquired at least 71% of fellow Israeli company Kokomodo, which produces cell-cultured cocoa, in a transaction worth $4.5M 🇸🇪 Cgrain, which automates and digitizes visual grain inspection using AI, has closed a SEK 5M ($450K) funding round 🇫🇷 Le Fourgon has nabbed €8.2M ($8.5M) in funding from Id4 ventures, Teampact.ventures, La Poste Ventures, Bred, Noshaq and Future Positive Capital . The company offers a home delivery service for products like e.g. drinks, pasta, rice, hygiene, and beauty, that are delivered in glass bottles. On the next delivery, Le Fourgon collects the empty containers, which are then cleaned and reused. The startup delivers daily in 20 French cities and over 2,500 towns, preventing the use of over 9,000 tons of plastic 🇺🇸 Atomo Coffee, which produces a 50:50 beanless coffee blend, has hauled in $7.8M in Series B funding 👨🏻💻 New jobs at OlsAro (🇸🇪) and Foodtech Innovation Network (🇸🇪) 🎙️ Investment Climate podcast highlights (hosted by Alex Shandrovsky) with Steve Lockyer of Inform Ag ...and much more! Subscribe now at: https://lnkd.in/d8mUXXH5 #foodtechweekly #FoodTech #agtech #startups #funding #tech

Some highlights from FoodTech Weekly #230 (https://lnkd.in/dUf2uRuG) which was sent this morning: 🇫🇷 AISPRID, which develops agriculture robots (especially for greenhouse farming), has closed a €10M (appr. $10.4M) funding round, led by INNOVACOM and Bpifrance. Its flagship robot is designed for tomato plant de-leafing 🇩🇪 ingarden has scored €1.2M (appr. $1.25M) in Seed extension funding, led by Gemüsering Stuttgart GmbH. The company’s main product is a fully automated mini-garden designed for home kitchens, that allow users to harvest fresh, nutrient-rich greens in just seven days 🇲🇽 Sistema.bio, which provides waste-to-energy solutions (such as turning waste into biogas and fertilizer) on e.g. smallholder farms, has bagged $7.75M from Novastar Ventures 🇩🇪 PROJECT EADEN has raised a €15M (appr. $15.6M) Series A round, led by Planet A Ventures and REWE Group, and backed by DTCF | DeepTech & Climate Fonds, Happiness Capital | Certified B Corp, AgriFoodTech Venture Alliance, Creandum and FoodLabs. The startup makes ultra-realistic whole-cut plant-based meat such as ham 🧀 Californian plant-based cheese producer Misha's, Inc. has acquired New York-based vegan cheese industry-peer Vertage for an undisclosed sum. In related news, alt cheese startup Willicroft will shut down after failing to meet its fundraising goals 🤑 Chipotle Mexican Grill will double the size of their Cultivate Next / Chipotle venture fund from $50M to $100M. The fund was established in 2022 and focuses on early-stage investments in startups developing innovations in ag, supply chains, automation, and restaurant tech 🥤 A new study by researchers at Tufts University estimates that sugary beverages lika soda and energy drinks contributed to over 330K deaths and 3M new cases of diabetes and heart disease combined in 2020. Since 1990, sub-Saharan Africa has had the biggest increases 👨🏻💻 New jobs at Essential (🇰🇪), Hooked Foods (🇸🇪), Terra Oleo (🇸🇬), Esencia Foods (🇩🇪/🇪🇸), New School Foods (🇨🇦), Win-Win (🇬🇧) 🎙️ Investment Climate podcast highlights (hosted by Alex Shandrovsky) with Maximillian Bogenmann of endless food co ...and much more! Subscribe now at: https://lnkd.in/d8mUXXH5 #foodtechweekly #FoodTech #agtech #startups #funding #tech

Some highlights from FoodTech Weekly #229 (https://lnkd.in/dendYcZB) which was sent this morning: 🇩🇪 Formo has been approved for a €35M venture debt loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) Bank. The scaleup, which now has raised a total of €135M (appr. $139M), produces cheese through micro fermentation (and has also researched producing dairy proteins such as casein via precision fermentation) 🇺🇸 Biosphere emerged from stealth with $8.8M in Seed funding, led by Lowercarbon Capital and VXI Capital. The company, which also announced a $1.5M contract with the U.S. Department of Defense, develops UV-sterilized bioreactors that it says can slash bioproduction costs 🇬🇧 Arborea has bagged €5M (appr. $5.2M) in new funding, led by Indico Capital Partners and joined by Banco Português de Fomento (BPF). The company aims to capture CO2 as feedstock and then mass-produce nutrient-rich food products via microorganisms with a carbon-negative footprint 🇺🇸 Plant-based chicken startup Rebellyous Foods has secured $2.4M, extending its $9.5M Series B round in 2023 🇦🇹 HelloBello, which offers personalized meal plans and freshly cooked food delivery subscriptions for dogs, has closed a €4M (appr. $4.2M) in Series A funding from investors including e.g. AWS 🐇 The startup Ten Lives has launched a precision fermented rabbit protein, used as a healthy snack for cats 🇳🇱 A public-private partnership in the Netherlands is launching two open-access scale-up facilities for food production via cellular agriculture, investing a total of €25M (appr. $25.7M) 🍎 Japanese researchers at the Shikoku Research Institute have developed a new technology that exposes fruits and vegetables to near-infrared light for just 0.1 second; the approach reduces mold and spoilage, and cuts food waste as well as pesticide use 🤝 French precision fermentation startup Standing Ovation is partnering with Ajinomoto Foods Europe, Solutions & Ingredients to produce its animal-free casein protein at industrial scale ⚠️ The FDA has proposed that at-glance-nutrition info on the front of packaged foods should be required 🤖 Chick-fil-A Restaurants’ lemon-squeezing robots are saving staff 10,000 hours of work 👨🏻💻 New jobs at Petgood (🇸🇪), Root Global (🇩🇪), Klim (🇪🇺), Jellatech (🇺🇸), Finally Foods (🇮🇱), and Fresh Ventures Studio (🇳🇱) 🎙️ Investment Climate podcast highlights (hosted by Alex Shandrovsky) with Emile Redant of Zymofix ...and much more! Subscribe now at: https://lnkd.in/d8mUXXH5 #foodtechweekly #FoodTech #agtech #startups #funding #tech

Some highlights from FoodTech Weekly #228 (https://lnkd.in/de3FAry7) which was sent this morning: 🇺🇸 Inari has scored a $144M Series G from e.g. NGS Super; the company uses AI to speed up plant breeding and gene editing to create high-yielding, climate resilient seeds for commodity crops such as soy, corn and wheat 🇮🇩 HiFeed has banked a pre-seed round (sum undisclosed) from Wavemaker Impact. The company makes easy-to-digest cattle feed pellets that reduce enteric fermentation, the process that produces methane in livestock 🇮🇳 Moonrider.ai has closed a $2.2M Seed round from Advantedge Founders and Micelio Technology Fund. Founded in 2023, the company develops heavy-duty electric tractors, sold at price parity with diesel-powered tractors, aiming to save farmers costs by eliminating the need to buy diesel fuel 🇮🇱 Fermata has harvested $10M in Series A funding from Raw Ventures. The startup develops AI-powered decision-support systems for precise plant monitoring in greenhouses and indoor farms (e.g. automatically discovering pests and diseases at the earliest stages) 🇳🇱 Odd.Bot - "Robotics for a Sustainable Future", which builds autonomous agricultural robots, has bagged €2M (appr. $2M) in pre-Series A funding, led by Iconic Ventures and joined by e.g. PolKa Capital Management and Horizon. 🇬🇧 New Wave Biotech has raised €1.2M (appr. $1.2M) from investors incl. Innovate UK and EIT Food. The company does bioprocess simulation software, meaning they can help food companies predict the output, costs, and sustainability impacts of their food production processes 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Kaly, which grows seaweed, has reeled in £300K (appr. $370K) in funding led by TRICAPITAL Angels Limited and Scottish Enterprise 🇸🇪 Chromafora, a water treatment startup able to remove heavy metals from water, has secured €22.5M (appr. $23M) in debt funding from the European Investment Bank (EIB) 🇺🇸 Amogy has reached $11.2M of its targeted $90M round. The company produces green ammonia, aiming to provide fuels to various transportation markets from agriculture (e.g. farm tractors) to maritime and long-haul trucking 👨🏻💻 New jobs at Volta Greentech (🇸🇪), The Future is Fungi Award (🇸🇪), Foreverland Food (🇮🇹), Revo Foods (🇦🇹), Nosh.bio (🇩🇪), NitroCapt AB (🇸🇪), The Rockefeller Foundation (🇺🇸) 🎙️ Investment Climate podcast highlights (hosted by Alex Shandrovsky) with Jan Rune Nordhagen of Vestland Pharma AS and Jon Trygve Berg, of Sarsia ...and much more! Subscribe now at: https://lnkd.in/d8mUXXH5 #foodtechweekly #FoodTech #agtech #startups #funding #tech

Justin Hughes spent over a decade as a fighter pilot in the Royal Air Force (RAF). Today, he's fighting another battle -- climate change. Production and field application of synthetic fertilizer causes about 2% of total greenhouse gas emissions. NetZeroNitrogen, which Justin leads as CEO, uses a non-GM bacteria that does nitrogen fixation, meaning the company will hopefully be able to replace up to 50% of synthetic fertilizer use -- a huge win for the climate. Read the full conversation here: https://lnkd.in/dmCcPN2V