Restaurant-tech startup Incentivio scored new funding and one food delivery startup says it’s reached profitability.
“We’ve got a groundswell of young people who are trained in molecular biology,” says SynBioBeta founder Dr John Cumbers: “They’re not scared of GMOs. But they are scared of the environmental impacts of climate change and the unsustainability of our consumer culture.”
Plant cell culture has been around for decades. So what’s prompted the recent flurry of activity in the food and nutraceuticals space?
Plus, Meati expands across the US & agronomy service Agrii invests in Drone Ag.
Agrifoodtech investment in Europe fell 46% to $5.1bn in 2022, consistent with a 44% drop in global funding. But there were some bright spots…
Several biomaterials startups made headlines with fundraises, partnerships and other developments for leather, wood and oil alternatives.
One of a new wave of startups seeking to unlock the potential of plant cell culture in the food and nutrition industry, Ayana Bio has launched its first ingredients: lemon balm and echinacea.
Only half of agrifood corps have used startup scouting in open innovation efforts, preferring to collaborate with research, according to new report.
From ‘designer fats’ made by microbes to oleogels, the race is on to find replacements for animal fats in meat alternatives, say the founders of California-based startup Lypid.
US regulators have warned startups in the emerging field of ‘molecular farming’ that expressing animal proteins such as casein in genetically engineered plants will require strict allergen management protocols.
Meanwhile, vertical farm Kalera gets delisting notice from Nasdaq and Australian eGrocer Milkrun shuts down after just 18 months of operation.
Bel Group—the multinational firm behind cheese brands Babybel, The Laughing Cow, and Boursin—has teamed up with AI-powered startup Climax Foods to develop plant-based versions of its iconic brands for launch in Europe and the US by the end of 2024.
In part two of our roundup from the Future Food-Tech summit in San Francisco, we highlight startups spanning everything from molecular farming to upcycled prebiotic fibers.
Indoor mushroom startup Smallhold expanded thanks to a retail partnership with Sprouts, while reservations platform OpenTable partnered with ChatGTP.
2023 will be a pivotal year for cultivated meat, as a handful of well-capitalized startups hit the market and early-stage players wait with bated breath to see if consumers are sufficiently enthused to motivate anxious investors to keep funding the nascent space, said investors at the Future Food Tech conference.
“Right now, a lot of plant-based products are no better than animal products, and in some cases they are actually worse,” claims the CEO at Climax Foods, a data-driven startup reverse engineering animal foods and rebuilding them with plants.
If crickets—which pack an attractive nutritional punch with a low environmental impact—are going to gain traction in the alternative protein market, two things must happen, says Aspire Food Group. Costs must come down and supplies of consistent, high-quality raw material must go up.
Sugar-eating microbes dominate industrial fermentation today. But algae will be the “predominant biomanufacturing platform of tomorrow,” predicts Australian startup Provectus Algae, which is unlocking the potential of photosynthetic algae to make high-value ingredients.
Shiru has identified plant proteins that can be combined with unsaturated oils to create a solid fat that can replace highly saturated animal or tropical fats such as palm and coconut oil.
Thanks to advances in synthetic biology, startups are now programming microbes to express everything from egg albumin without chickens to whey protein without cows. But when animal products are no longer made by animals, what do we call them?
