Apeel Sciences and Benchling are among the startups addressing the tools and services needed in the middle of the agrifood value chain.
Indian insect biotech startup Loopworm secures $3.4m seed round led by Omnivore and WaterBridge to scale up research and development and production.
Vive Crop Protection, a Canadian developer of crop protection products, plans to hold a second close of the round later this year as other investors continue due diligence.
Bolt Threads leads the category, followed by several other startups developing biomaterials to replace animal- and petroleum-based fabrics.
UM6P, the venture arm of the Moroccan university with the same name, says the deals are “investment-partnerships” as the two startups stand to benefit from scientific support and testing of their technologies at the university.
New York is the most diversified investment landscape with a greater mix of upstream and downstream agrifoodtech startups.
Zymergen will be acquired by fellow cell manufacturing company Ginkgo Bioworks for $300m, a sharp fall from Zymergen’s once $3 billion valuation.
Marica Quarsingh calls her cell-cultured seafood startup, Sea-Stematic, the “Tesla of seafood” to communicate how seafood should be produced: sustainably and with the right market insights.
Natasha Dhayagude, co-founder and CEO of Chinova Bioworks reveals to Agfunder her journey and maneuvering the bio-foodtech space
Phytolon, an Israel-based a developer of natural food colors via precision fermentation of yeast, will use the round to hone its technology and commercialize its products, pending regulatory approval.
The Canadian startup is producing a natural shelf-life extender from mushroom stems that’d otherwise be thrown away.
Seed funding will enable the US- and India-based company to further develop its milk alternative made with mammalian cell cultured technology.
Andreessen Horowitz led the Series A round, which will enable SCiFi to continue R&D on its blend of plant-based and cultivated beef burgers.
Impossible says its patent on a beef substitute containing synthesized heme – which gives the effect of blood – is being infringed by Motif.
Hemp hulls are normally discarded. But Brightseed says they contain compounds that could help treat metabolic diseases.
Startups developing biological crop inputs secured a total of $892 million in funding last year.
The biological inputs market is predicted to grow at a CAGR of 11.9% over the next five years, compared to chemicals’ 3.7%, according to recent market research.
Cellular agriculture startups aim to solve agrifood’s biggest sustainability problems. But smallholders must be part of the solution, writes Saron Berhane.
It seems counterintuitive that shorter crops can result in enhanced yields; but they are more resistant to high winds and other extreme weather events, writes Bayer’s Richard Lawrence.
The Series B funds will be used to scale up the Irish company’s platform, which aims to unlock additional health benefits for food and beverage products.
