This week carbon-removal-focused startup Mombak raised capital to expand reforestation efforts in the Amazon, Chicago-based restaurant predictive analytics provider ClearCOGS closed a seed round, and Swedish startup OlsAro raised funds to expand its crop breeding platform.
Elsewhere, UK vertical farmer Jones Food Company was placed into administration and BENEO opened a $57 million pulse-processing facility in Germany.
Startup funding
🇧🇷 Mombak lands $17m in debt to expand reforestation efforts in the Amazon LatamList
🇸🇪 OlsAro raises $2.8m pre-seed round to expand AI-enabled climate smart crop breeding platform OlsAro [Disclosure: AgFunderNews’ parent company AgFunder is an investor in OlsAro.]
🇨🇭 Switzerland’s Catchfree raises $1.5m to scale production of innovative plant-based seafood Vegconomist
🇫🇮 Finnish functional mushroom biotech KÄÄPÄ bags $1m investment to scale operations Nutraceutical Business Review
🇮🇳 AgNext Technologies Receives Investment From THG Finsmes
🇮🇩 Eratani closes Series A to boost food security and rice production across Indonesia AgFunderNews [Disclosure: AgFunderNews’ parent company AgFunder is an investor in Eratani.]
M&A, IPOs & partnerships
🇺🇸🇬🇧 Eat Just strikes deal with VFG to take plant-based JUST Egg to Europe AgFunderNews
🇸🇦🇺🇸 Liberation Labs heads to Saudi Arabia as NEOM Investment Fund ventures into biomanufacturing AgFunderNews
🇫🇷 French startup Standing Ovation to create recombinant milk proteins from Bel Group’s whey waste Green Queen
🇺🇸 Manus and Inscripta merge to create a leader in industrial biomanufacturing Manus
Funds, grants & accelerators
🇪🇺🇮🇱 PeakBridge FoodSparks closes four seed investments, from botanicals for gut health to functional mushroom extracts AgFunderNews
🇺🇸 JPMorgan AM raises $1.5bn for forest & climate solutions fund ESG Today
People moves
🇺🇸 GFI CEO Ilya Sheyman announces departure; SVP of Policy Jessica Almy to serve as Interim CEO; GFI to launch national search for next CEO Good Food Institute
Other News
🇺🇸 The death of cultivated meat has been greatly exaggerated, says report as Vow predicts it will soon be ‘unit margin positive’ AgFunderNews
🇩🇪 BENEO opens $57 million pulse-processing facility in Germany Vegconomist
🇬🇧 UK vertical farmer Jones Food Company placed into administration Just Food
🇬🇧 AgriDex launches the all-in-one solution for agricultural payments Globe Newswire
🇺🇸 The Better Meat Co. secures patent for turning potato sidestreams into mycoprotein Potato Business
🇧🇷 Cellva shifts focus to microencapsulation technology with launch of cocoa substitute Vegconomist
🇬🇧 MiAlgae submits plan for full-scale microalgae production plant in Grangemouth BusinessGreen
🇦🇹 Revo Foods launches “plant-based 3.0” mycoprotein product to move beyond meat imitation Food Ingredients First
🇪🇸 AgriFoodtech ‘sandbox’ launched in Spain Alt-Meat
🇮🇳 Zepto changes parent company’s name ahead of IPO Fortune India
🇺🇸 Rollins overhauls, renames Climate-Smart Commodities initiative Successful Farming
🇺🇸 GMO/Toxin Free USA sues Perfect Day alleging misleading claims about “Animal Free Dairy” PR Newswire
