The new year started with new fundraises from India-based nutraceutical startup Botanic Healthcare and agriculture-focused data science company Fermata.
Meanwhile, Ohalo teamed up with farmers in Florida to develop a “disease-resistant strawberry,” Bayer and Neste launched an initiative for renewable fuel, and vertical farming company Plenty is reportedly in talks for a more than 90% value cut.
Startup funding
🇺🇸 Seed gene-editing startup Inari eyes commercialization with $144m round AgFunderNews
🇮🇳 India’s Botanic Healthcare bags $29 million led by PE firm Skateboat capital DealstreetAsia
🇮🇱 Fermata closes $10M Series A funding to build the brain of Ag HortiDaily
🇬🇧 🇵🇹 Arborea raises €5M for to cultivate proteins on any surface Tech.eu
🇺🇸 Plant-based chicken maker Rebellyous Foods raises $2.4m Geekwire
🇮🇳 Indian electric tractor startup secures $2.2m seed funding TechInAsia
🇻🇳 Touchstone Partners leads seed funding in Vietnamese agritech startup Enfarm Touchstone Partners
🇮🇩 Indonesia’s HiFeed secures pre-seed funding from Wavemaker Impact tnglobal
🇮🇩 bukaPO secures seed funding to empower Indonesia’s home chefs e27
M&A, IPOs & partnerships
🇺🇸 Agtech seedlings: Florida farmers team with startup Ohalo to breed a disease-resistant strawberry AgricultureDive
🇦🇺 Idemitsu and Terviva to begin trial of non-edible oilseed crop for aviation fuel Reuters
🇮🇱 🇺🇸 Groundwork BioAg, ADAMA form partnership to offer Rootella inoculants for Chinese farmers AgriBusinessGlobal
🇩🇪 🇫🇮 Bayer and Neste to develop feedstocks for renewable fuels AgTechNavigator
🇺🇸 🇳🇿 BioConsortia and H&T Partner to launch nitrogen-fixing microbial seed treatment in New Zealand BusinessWire
🇫🇷 🇯🇵 French animal-free casein maker Standing Ovation strikes deal with Ajinomoto to scale up manufacturing Green Queen
Funds, grants & accelerators
🇮🇹 🇫🇷 Major Italian corporates back 360 Capital’s new €200m climate tech fund Sifted
🇳🇱 BPL Pensioen invests further €90m in Dutch farmland fund Impact Investor
🇦🇺 Artesian and Hort Innovation launch A$60m horticulture fund Agri Investor
🇬🇧 UK announces £15m fund to distribute surplus food from farms & tackle waste Green Queen
🇺🇸 NFWF Announces $14.7 m in grants to bolster regenerative agriculture on working lands The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
🇪🇺 €5M DELICIOUS project uses microbial fermentation to enhance sensory & nutrition properties of dairy alternatives Vegconomist
🇨🇴 LatamList
People moves
🇮🇳 Zepto’s VP of central operations leaves company TechInAsia
Other news
🇺🇸 Serve Robotics raises additional $80M as it scales sidewalk delivery robots TechCrunch
🇺🇸 Plenty Unlimited in talks for more than 90% value cut Bloomberg
🇺🇸 California board approves a definition for regenerative agriculture Agri-Pulse
🇺🇸 Meati faces another false advertising lawsuit over ‘Mushroom Root’ claim Green Queen
🇺🇸 New York signs law to fine Big Oil polluters $75B via climate change superfund Green Queen
🇺🇸 GLP-1 users’ grocery spending drops, but then levels out after 12 months – Circana data AgFunderNews
🇺🇸 Smithfield Foods files for public offering on US stock exchange Food Dive
🇫🇷 French startup Bon Vivant cleared to sell animal-free whey protein in the US Green Queen
GLP-1, GWP*, and the state of ag robotics: the top 10 guest posts on AgFunderNews in 2024