This week, prepared meals service Everytable raised new funding along with cultivated fish startup Bluu Seafood and aquatech company eFishery. Outside of funding, Nextbite is facing a lawsuit over its May layoffs and Joyful Ventures launched a new alt-protein fund.
Foodtech funding
🇺🇸 Everytable raises $25 million series C-2 for meal delivery service. Dohmen Company Foundation’s Impact Investment Fund led the round. (Restaurant Dive)
🇩🇪 Bluu Seafood secures €16 million ($17.5 million) Series A led by Sparkfood & LBBW. Bluu Seafood will use the funds to scale up its cultivated fish production. (Vegconomist)
🇺🇸 Bio-manufacturing startup Hyfé raises $9 million seed round led by Synthesis Capital. Funds will go to advancing commercial partnerships, increasing headcount, and progressing towards pilot scale technology demonstration. (AFN)
Agtech funding
🇮🇩 🇦🇪 Abu Dhabi Sovereign Wealth Fund ADQ invests $20 million into aquatech startup eFishery. The investment is part of eFishery’s Series D round. (Deal Street Asia)
🇪🇪 eAgronom raises €5 million ($5.4 million) to expand its carbon program in Europe and Africa. Icos Capital, Soulmates Ventures and others participated in the round.
🇦🇺 Family office Tayside Australia invests in automated indoor farming startup Stacked Farm. The investment brings Stacked’s total capital to AUD $98 million ($65 million). (Fruitnet)
M&A, IPOs & partnerships
🇨🇳 Food delivery giant Meituan buys AI startup Light Year for $281 million. The buyout comes as Light Year’s founder steps down from his role at the food delivery company. (SCMP)
🇺🇸 🇮🇹 Microbial discovery startup AgBiome partners with chemicals giant Lamberti. The two will develop biological crop products for agriculture. (AgBiome)
🇺🇸 PE firm Sandton Capital Partners buys vertical farm seed breeder Vindara. Sandton acquired the company for an undisclosed sum from troubled vertical farm company Kalera. (Vertical Farm Daily)
🇸🇬 🇳🇱 B2B protein company Sophie’s Bionutrients teams with Danish Technological Institute. The two are producing alt-ice cream made with chlorella. (PR Newswire)
Funds, grants & accelerators
🇮🇳 Omnivore makes $150 million first close of its third fund. It will invest in startups developing breakthrough technologies for agriculture, food, climate, and the rural economy. (AFN)
🇺🇸 Innova Memphis announces $40 million first close of its Innova Ag Innovation Fund VI. The fund will invest in pre-seed, seed and early-stage startups addressing the evolution of agriculture. (AFN)
🇺🇸 New alt-protein firm Joyful Ventures raises $23 million. The fund will invest in early-stage startups working on “sustainable” and “regenerative” protein. (FinSMEs)
Other news
🇮🇩 COP26 plan to end deforestation is “well off track,” says Global Forest Watch. However, a reduction in forest loss in Indonesia provides some hope. (BBC)
🇺🇸 Nextbite & Ordermark facing class-action lawsuit over layoffs. A former Nextbite alleges the layoffs violate the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act). (Restaurant Dive)
🇺🇸 Synonym Bio launches “techno-economic analysis” for fermentation. Scaler, the free, interactive tool, aims to help companies project costs at commercial scale. (Synonym Bio)
🇺🇸 Liberation Labs breaks ground on its first commercial-scale biomanufacturing facility in Richmond, IN. The $115 million facility will have 600,000 liters of capacity and is set to become operational by the end of 2024. (Inside Indiana Business)
🇬🇧 Molecular farming startup Moolec claims to have produced soybeans containing up to 26.6% pork protein. The company is targeting the meat alternatives market with ingredients from yellow pea and soy crops modified to produce bovine and porcine proteins. (The Spoon)
🇩🇪 Bayer AG’s genetically modified “short” corn receives USDA safety approval. The “Smart Corn System” plants are 30% smaller with the same yields. (Feed & Grain)
🇺🇸 National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) urges FDA to crack down on ‘animal-free dairy milk’ labels. The NMPF says products from brands such as Bored Cow should instead be called ‘synthetic whey beverages.’ (AFN)
🇬🇧 UK gov.-backed Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI) launches the Claims Code of Practice. The new code aims to help investors examine corporate carbon claims. (Reuters)
🇳🇱 Honest AgTech declares bankruptcy after liquidity shortage. The company was known for its autonomous driving horticulture robot and is looking into a relaunch. (Horti Daiy)
🇺🇸 Indoor mushroom farmer Smallhold receives Certified B Corporation status. The company grows specialty mushrooms in high-tech indoor farms in Los Angeles, Brooklyn and Austin. (Business Wire)
🇬🇧 🇸🇪 Biotech giant AstraZeneca announces $400 million investment in reforestation and biodiversity. The company aims to plant 200 million trees across six continents by 2030. (AstraZeneca)
