The UK will soon get a new, large-scale controlled environment agriculture (CEA) facility thanks to a recent nine-figure investment in GrowUp Farms.
In the realm of alternative proteins, Spain’s Novameat netted several million dollars for its 3D-printed steaks – while a US company cultivating salmon from cells reeled in even more.
Agtech startup funding
🇬🇧 GrowUp Farms raises £100 million ($135 million). The vertical farm operator will build a new CEA facility in Sandwich, Kent. (The Grocer)
🇳🇱 PlantLab nabs €50 million ($57 million) as CEA funding surges. The Amsterdam-based developer of indoor urban farms that grow salad vegetables, herbs, tomatoes, and cucumbers raised the money in a round led by prior backer De Hoge Dennen Capital. (Crunchbase News)
🇸🇬 Silverstrand Capital acquires a stake in Hone after startup’s $4.7 million Series A . The Singapore-based family office led an $1.88 million secondary market transaction to join the cap table at Hone, which offers spectrometers for measuring soil carbon in realtime. (AFN)
🇮🇳 Krishify, a social network for farmers, closes $6.2 million pre-Series A round for national expansion. The investment came from Omnivore, Ankur Capital, Omidyar Network, and Orios Venture Partners. (Omnivore)
🇩🇰 FieldSense secures €2.9 million ($3.2 million) seed funding. The company provides hyperlocal weather forecasting for farmers. (EU Startups)
🇸🇪 Nordic SeaFarm raises €2 million ($2.23 million) for “plant-based foods from the ocean.” Investors in the round included JCE Ventures, Almi Invest, and Kale United. Nordic SeaFarm will use the funding to scale up its “unique” seaweed farms, where it grows organic sugar kelp and sea lettuce for human consumption. (Vegconomist)
🇦🇺 Building software for “teams working to restore and invest in nature,” Cecil nets $1.6 million. Tenacious Ventures, Macdoch Ventures, and Global Founders Capital participated in the pre-seed round. Cecil will use the funds to grow its team. (Tenacious Ventures)
Foodtech startup funding
🇫🇮 Finland’s Relex Solutions raises €500 million ($568 million). Its software platform automates retail supply chains, helping grocers reduce food waste and meet consumer demand more efficiently. (AFN)
🇺🇸 Cultivated seafood company Wildtype nets $100 million Series B funding. Pending regulatory approval, the company said it will use the fresh capital to make its cell-cultured salmon “ubiquitous” across the US (AFN)
🇺🇸 Cottage cheese brand Good Culture raises $64 million in Manna Tree-led Series C round. Funds will go towards further growth and new product development. (Food Business News)
🇫🇮 Animal-free eggs on the whey from Onego Bio, which has just raised €10 million ($11.3 million). The startup uses fermentation tech to produce albumins, key proteins found in eggs. (EU Startups)
🇺🇸 Sanzo raises $10 million Series A. The company hopes to bring what it calls Asian-inspired flavors such as yuzu, ginger, and lychee to the mainstream sparkling water category. (Food Navigator)
🇪🇸 Alt-meat maker Novameat nabs $6 million. It’s scaling up its business, which is known for its 3D-printed steaks made from pea protein, beet juice, and other plant-based ingredients. (Silicon Canals)
🇺🇸 Yali Bio raises $3.9 million to advance plant-based cultured fat. The Californian startup tailors healthier “designer fats” to enhance the flavor and functionality of plant-based meat replacements. S2G Ventures was among the participating investors. (Vegconomist)
🇺🇸 Reusable packaging player Returnity raises $3.1 million for seed round. It works with the likes of Estée Lauder, New Balance, and Walmart, among others. (TechCrunch)
🇺🇸 DishDivvy, a marketplace for home-cooked meals, closes $1.3 million pre-seed financing. DishDivvy is available throughout California and is now onboarding cooks in Austin, Chicago, Charlotte, Baltimore, and Washington DC. (DishDivvy)
🇪🇬 Supply chain tech startup OneOrder raises $1 million in early-stage funding. it’s aiming to solve inefficiencies in restaurant supply chains in Egypt before expanding to across the Middle East and North Africa. A15 led the round. (Arab News)
🇸🇳 B2B e-commerce platform ProXalys raises $150,000 in a pre-seed round. It wants to expand across its native Senegal and eventually to other Francophone African countries. (AFN)
M&A, IPOs & partnerships
🇺🇸🇨🇱 Kraft Heinz and TheNotCompany form joint venture. It’s goal is to use NotCo’s AI-powered platform to “democratize” plant-based foods, the partners said – potentially starting with Kraft’s iconic Oscar Meyer hot dog wieners. (CNBC)
🇮🇪🇩🇪🇲🇽 Kerry Group acquires two biotech companies. The Irish ingredients firm paid approximately €137 million ($155 million) for German precision fermentation company C-LEcta and €62 million ($70 million) for Mexican enzyme manufacturer Enmex. (Food Dive)
Other news
🇭🇰🇳🇿 Better Bite Ventures announces $15 million alt-protein fund. The firm will back early-stage founders developing alternatives to animal proteins in the Asia-Pacific region. (AFN)
🇮🇳 Indian government to create its own an equity fund for startups. Capital managed by private fund managers will go towards startups working on the digital economy, deeptech, agrifoodtech, climate action, and pharma. (Inc42)
🇺🇸 Regen ag sourcing solution Land to Market now monitors more than 2.5 million acres. More than 1,000 products from small companies and multi-national corporations alike now have the Land to Market seal. (Savory)
🇨🇳 Chinese food delivery services told to reduce their service fees. The announcement sent stocks and shares sliding as reduced fees will likely taper the profits of Meituan and others. (TechCrunch)
🇺🇸 Verdant Robotics officially launches. Its agtech platform combines data analytics and crop applications such as spraying and weeding into a single farming implement for specialty crop farmers. (AFN)
🇺🇸 Geltor completes first commercial-scale manufacturing run of bioactive collagen. PrimaColl is an animal-free food and bev additive and functional ingredient. (Geltor)
