Two countries this week announced government grants for cell ag to foster more development of cultivated meat and dairy analogs – and in doing so, build up food security and sovereignty. Elsewhere, Microsoft joined a major debt financing round for an Indian B2B food startup; while vertical farming snagged more funding along with a role to play in skincare.
Foodtech startup funding
🇮🇳 Microsoft joins $225 million debt financing round for Udaan. The convertible notes offering comes ahead of B2B e-commerce startup Udann’s IPO, which is planned for the next 12-18 months. (BusinessToday)
🇺🇸 Energy drink company A Shoc raises $29 million Series B. Participants in the latest round included A Shoc distributor Keurig Dr Pepper, baseball players Aaron Judge and Freddie Freeman, and football player Michael Strahan. (Food Dive)
🇮🇳 UrbanPiper raises $24 million from food delivery giants Swiggy and Zomato, plus VCs Sequoia Capital and Tiger Global. UrbanPiper says its digital restaurant management platform currently processes about 18% of all online food orders in India. (The Economic Times)
🇮🇩 Cloud kitchen firm Hangry bags an additional $22 million. The round, led by Journey Capital Partners, brings Hangry’s total Series A funding to $35 million. (Technode)
🇨🇭 Planetary confirms $8.1 million seed round led by Astanor Ventures. Funding will go towards completing a flagship site for the company’s microbial fermentation manufacturing platform other brands can leverage to produce alt-protein products. (TechCrunch)
🇺🇸 Nowadays closes $7 million seed round led by Stray Dog Capital. New funding will help Nowadays scale its “proprietary whole-cut tech platform” for plant-based chicken and launch products at Whole Foods stores this summer. (Food Navigator)
🇪🇬 Cloud kitchen operator The Food Lab nabs $4.5 million pre-seed round. Nuwa Capital, Shorooq Partners, and 4DX Ventures co-led the round, which will enable The Food Lab to expand across Egypt. (Gulf Business)
🇰🇪 Female-founded Tushop secures $3 million in pre-seed funding. The Tushop platform helps customers access groceries cheaply and easily and will expand further around Nairobi ahead of other regions. (AFN)
🇸🇪 Cerve raises $2 million to automate and digitize the B2B food supply chain. Norwegian VC fund Orkla Ventures participated along with Norwegian private pension fund MP Pensjon and nFront Ventures. (Arctic Startup)
Agtech startup funding
🇳🇱 The Kingfish Company lands $81 million loan. The ESG-linked bilateral debt facility will aid the company’s expansion plans for its land-based yellowtail kingfish farms to the US and across the EU. (IntraFish)
🇺🇸 Vertical Harvest closes $8.35 million Series A. Nicoya AB and Raiven Capital led the round for the vertical farming company, which is currently breaking ground on its second US location. (Vertical Harvest)
🇧🇪🇮🇱 Water and fluid management company Aliaxis invests undisclosed sum in precision ag startup CropX. The two will collaborate on data-driven precision irrigation solutions for farms around the world. (CropX)
Other news
🇳🇱 Dutch government to allocate €60 million ($65 million) to domestic cell ag production. The funding proposal was submitted by Cellular Agriculture Netherlands – a consortium including startups, schools, and NGOs, among others. (Green Queen)
🇮🇱 Israeli cultivated meat consortium gets $18 million government grant. Funding from the Israeli Innovation Authority will last for a period of three years and assist Israel in improving national food security through cell ag development. (Times of Israel)
🇺🇸 Motif FoodWorks hits back at Impossible Foods in heme patent spat. Motif says it’s “confident the US Patent & Trademark Office will agree with our view that the patent never should have been issued, and revoke it.” (AFN)
🇺🇸 Chipotle hopes new $50 million fund will continue its “technological transformation” and help it grow. Funded solely by the fast casual chain, Cultivate Next will invest in seed to Series B-stage startups developing food and restaurant tech. (AFN)
🇬🇧🇺🇸 Just Eat Takeaway may sell Grubhub less than a year after buying it. The UK company has been under pressure from investors to offload the Chicago-based delivery service it acquired after a recent decline in orders. (Reuters)
🌐 A new report says that supply chain companies play a “critical” role in reducing dairy emissions. The report from Transform to Net Zero report calls for “immediate” adoption of manure management technologies to cut livestock emissions. (AFN)
🇺🇸 Amid rising food prices, three more Cargill family members join list of world’s richest 500 people. Siblings Austen Cargill, James Cargill II, and Marianne Liebmann — great-grandchildren of founder William Wallace Cargill — have seen their fortunes swell over 20% since the start of the year. (AFN)
🇪🇺 EIT Food identifies unmet needs of Europe’s agrifood SMEs in new report. The food-focused investment arm of the European Institute of Innovation & Technology suggests more specialist support is needed for agrifood innovators, over and above that which is already available to SMEs in general. (AFN)
🇺🇸 Chili’s expands test of Rita the Robot to 51 more locations. Rita, created by Bear Robotics, can host, run food, clear tables, and even sing “Happy Birthday To You” to the US casual dining chain’s customers. (Nation’s Restaurant News)
🇯🇵🇫🇷 Shiseido launches Ulé skincare line with vertically grown greens and plants. The Japanese skincare giant partnered with startup Tower Farm to build a vertical farm near Paris, France, where Ulé products will initially be available. (WWD)
