It was a rough week for cultivated meat. Israel’s Aleph Farms, a longtime trailblazer in the industry, announced it was laying off 30% of its staff, while over in the US, SCiFi Foods closed up shop entirely and various groups were up in arms about the US military dabbling in cultivated meat.
In brighter news, EvodiaBio secured funds for “sustainable aroma” and Microcaps landed new capital to bring micro-encapsulation technology to various sectors including food. Meanwhile, a longtime hot-dog-eating champion got the boot from a famous contest, and plant-based meat is the culprit.
Foodtech funding
🇩🇰 Copenhagen-based EvodiaBio secures €7 million aiming to revolutionise the market for sustainable aroma EU Startups
🇬🇧 Kelpi secures £4.3m investment for seaweed-based packaging solutions FoodBev Media
🇦🇺 Plant-based nutrition startup The Leaf Protein Co rolls up $850,000 pre-Seed raise Startup Daily
🇸🇬 AgriG8 gets Better Bite Ventures’ backing to decarbonise rice production in SEA e27
Agtech funding
🇬🇧 Researchers net $85m to tap ancient eDNA to inspire next-gen climate resilient crops: ‘The early data is breathtaking’ AgFunderNews
🇨🇭 Swiss startup Microcaps secures €9.6M to advance its microencapsulation technology Silicon Canals
🇬🇧 Downforce Technologies secures $4.2m to scale revolutionary soil organic carbon measurement tech Downforce
🇦🇺 Farmbot raises A$4.6 million in capital funding FarmingAhead
M&A, IPOs & partnerships
🇺🇸 Cargill, Target and FibreTrace partner to verify raw cotton Agriculture Dive
🇺🇸 Neutral Foods merges with grass-fed dairy milk brand Zeal Creamery Neutral Foods
🇬🇧 RootWave partners with precision equipment maker Garford to develop new weed management tech for row crops AgFunderNews
🇺🇸 Ripelocker strikes deal with global berry producer Agrovision to roll out shelf-life extension tech AgFunderNews
Funds, grands & accelerators
🇺🇸 After hits like Reddit and Scopely, Collaborative Fund easily raised a $125M fund to tackle climate, health and food TechCrunch
🇺🇸 NFWF announces $10.2 million in grants to cultivate conservation practices on agricultural lands Global Newswire
Other news
🇺🇸 Cultivated meat co SCiFi Foods closes up shop, appoints firm to run sales process AgFunderNews
🇰🇪 🇪🇬 Sources: Wasoko-MaxAB e-commerce merger faces delays amid headwinds in Africa TechCrunch
🇸🇪 Mycorena discontinues large scale factory project to focus on new pivoted growth plan My News Desk
🇦🇪 New economic cluster launched in Abu Dhabi to tackle global food shortages, water scarcity Gulf News
🇩🇪 Redefine Meat announces launch of extensive retail portfolio in Germany Vegconomist
🇺🇸 US Department of defense calls for proposals to develop cultivated meat for military rations Cultivated X
🇮🇱 Cultivated meat startup Aleph Farms lays off 30% of staff CTech
🇺🇸 Microsoft-backed agtech innovation network Grand Farm expands to Georgia AgFunderNews
🇺🇸 Meati Foods dealt blow in alt meat IP dispute with The Better Meat Co; judge slams firm’s ‘sandbagging,’ and ‘shenanigans’ AgFunderNews
🇺🇸 Joey Chestnut barred from Nathan’s hot dog contest over Impossible Foods deal Washington Post
