Loliware scores $15.4m to replace single-use plastics with seaweed-based materials
Biomaterials startup Loliware has already scaled its alt-plastic straw made from seaweed and will introduce other products in the near future.
Biomaterials startup Loliware has already scaled its alt-plastic straw made from seaweed and will introduce other products in the near future.
“Conflict grew around the best path forward for future growth,” says Miyoko Schinner as the board of the plant-based dairy co announced its search for a new leader after removing her as CEO from the company she founded.
Funga is “rewilding” forest microbiome to grow more trees and McDonald’s & Beyond Meat test a new plant-based product in Germany.
The alternative protein sector was ‘overhyped, but now its demise is being over exaggerated,’ said investors at a recent industry event as the GFI unveiled results of a global investor survey suggesting a mood of cautious optimism.
Nine foodtech startups—from animal-free dairy companies to firms making meaty flavors for meat alternatives—have joined forces to create a new trade association: the Precision Fermentation Alliance.
Foodbytes has revamped its business from a pitch competition to an online hub fostering connections between startups, corporates and investors.
Ongoing labor shortages and a need to cut costs are fueling a new class of foodservice robotics, from ‘bots that mix drinks to burger vending machines.
Elo Life Systems has closed a $24.5m Series A to accelerate the development of a natural high-intensity sweetener, and Cavendish bananas engineered to resist the devastating Fusarium wilt fungal disease threatening global banana production.
Billions of dollars have flowed to precision fermentation and biomass fermentation companies in recent years, says Synonym Bio. “But achieving commercial adoption requires a network of large-scale infrastructure, which does not yet exist.”
APAC’s premier agrifoodtech event evokeAG brings investors, innovators and others together to address some of the biggest challenges of our time.
Investors are reluctant to fund large-scale fermentation facilities before products are tested in the marketplace, says Superbrewed Food, which has paused plans to build out its own biomass fermentation plant in Minnesota and is now aiming to scale up with a partner so it can still enter the market this year.
Arkeon claims that ingredients are a bottleneck in the alternative proteins and is out to produce ingredients combined with vital amino acids.
Two of the biggest hurdles facing plant-based meat, says Rebellyous Foods, are price and quality-at-scale, which the Seattle-based startup is tackling head on with technology it claims can dramatically increase yields and slash labor costs.
“I don’t know many companies who are really talking about the ethics of their supply chain in the plant-based world, other than the animal ethics part… I’m talking about the human ethics part of things and fair labor.”
Chipotle tests robotic makelines in its restaurants and Barcelona follows other European cities banning dark stores for quick commerce.
Israeli startup Remilk—one of the best-funded players in the nascent animal-free dairy space—has hit pause on plans to build the world’s large-scale precision fermentation facility in Denmark and is instead ramping up production with a contract manufacturer in western Europe.
Fable’s meaty mushroom products are minimally processed and clean label with all natural ingredients, a boon amid growing controversy about the alternative meat industry.
Sales of plant-based meat have slowed in the US market following a surge in the early months of the pandemic, but the category hasn’t fallen off a cliff.
The Covid-19 pandemic had a clear impact on brick & mortar restaurants and retailers, forcing them to innovate to stay afloat, so while globally there was a dip in investment during 2020, it soon picked up in 2021 as these stores adjusted to a new normal that forced many of them to digitize.
“You can’t change how meat eaters eat by making the same thing they already consume,” says cultivated meat startup Vow’s founder George Peppou.