Agrifood’s biggest round this week was a Series A for protein bar maker David, which also announced it had bought ingredients firm Epogee. Insect-based aquaculture feed producer Volare secured funds to build a new factory in Finland, and India carbon removal startup Alt Carbon scored a seed round.
Elsewhere, John Deere acquired aerial imaging startup Sentera, while Perennial and rTek launched a strategic 10-year MMRV partnership to regenerate 500,000 hectares of degraded grasslands.
Startup funding
🇺🇸 Protein bar brand David closes $75m Series A, buys ingredient supplier Nosh
🇫🇮 Volare secures $29m to build insect factory in Finland AquaFeed
🇮🇳 Alt Carbon scores $12m seed to scale carbon removal in India TechCrunch
🇨🇷 ClearLeaf closes $3.5m financing round to bring non-Toxic pathogen control to global markets Agritech Tomorrow
🇦🇷 Calice raises $2.5m seed round LatamList
🇳🇴 NoMy secures $1.4m to commercialize mycoprotein technologies using resources from beet sugar manufacturing Vegconomist
🇨🇦 Brilliant Harvest secures $500k investment from SVG Ventures iGrow News
🇧🇪 Belgium’s ResultX secures over $454k grant to simplify ESG reporting for SMEs Silicon Canals
🇺🇸 FarmQA closes oversubscribed seed round, aims to ‘supercharge’ agronomists with AI AgFunderNews
M&A, IPOs & partnerships
🇺🇸🇨🇭 Honey-without-bees startup MeliBio acquired by FoodYoung Labs: ‘Founders need to adapt, but investors should not back away’ AgFunderNews
🇺🇸 John Deere acquires Sentera to integrate aerial field scouting PR Newswire [Disclosure: AgFunderNews parent company AgFunder was an investor in Sentera.]
🇺🇸🇰🇿 Perennial and rTek launch strategic 10-year exclusive MMRV partnership to regenerate globally degraded grasslands AgNews WIre
🇯🇵🇸🇬 Denso reportedly in talks to buy Axia Vegetable Seeds for $500m Seed Today
🇯🇵 Suntory and TOWING launch pilot test on the feasibility of high‐performance biochar The Manufacturer
People moves
🇺🇸 The Yield Lab Institute (YLI) welcomes Polly Ruhland to its Board of Directors! LinkedIn
🇧🇩 Fashol founder Sakib Hossain featured in Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2025 LinkedIn [Disclosure: AgFunderNews parent company AgFunder is an investor in Fashol.]
🇫🇷 In financial difficulty, Swap (ex-Umiami) changes boss L’informé
🇳🇱 Former Cosun executive Thijs Bosch succeeds Sue Garfitt as CEO of The Protein Brewery Vegconomist
Other News
🇸🇪 Millow commissions first large-scale plant for minimally processed alt meat in old LEGO hall AgFunderNews
🇺🇸 Receiver strikes deal with mystery buyer for Merit Functional Foods plant in Winnipeg AgFunderNews
🇺🇸 ‘Stunning’ MAHA report draws praise and fury: Stated goals undermined by GOP policies, say experts AgFunderNews
🇪🇺 European Commission announces EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy Silicon Canals
🇺🇸 ClimateAi launches ‘world-first’ AI model for climate resilience planning Business Green
🇺🇸 Enhanced weathering’ draws backers including Microsoft, Musk and JPMorgan Financial Times
🇬🇧 Meatly announces tech updates to cut cultivated meat costs The Grocer
🇺🇸 Modern Meadow to unveil newly branded INNOVERA leather alternative at Global Fashion Summit PR Newswire
🇨🇳 Meituan, JD.com lose $100b in food delivery battle Tech In Asia
🇮🇳 Subscription-based grocery provider Otipy shuts shop; impacts 300 employees The Economic Times
