The Week in AgriFoodTech: GOOD Meat, UPSIDE make first US sales of cultivated meat, Farmy raises $11m

Between the US Fourth of July holiday and lousy economic environment, startups were mostly quiet on the fundraising front this week. However, plenty of other news surfaced, including the first sales of cultivated meat in the US, a new climate tech accelerator in Asia, and a new R&D center for seed products and services.

Foodtech funding

🇨🇭 Online farmers market Farmy nets €10.7 million ($11.6 million) from existing investors. The company’s valuation had to be lowered by 75%, in line with the current trends for online retailers. (EU Startups)

🇸🇪 Alt-seafood startup Hooked Foods catches €644,000 ($699,000) in crowdfunding campaign. New funding will enable new products expansion across the Nordic Region and Germany. (Green Queen)

🇫🇷 Proteme closes first funding round of €605,000 ($657,000) for its edible coating for organic food. Exerte Partners as well as a number of angels participated. (Proteme)

Agtech funding

🇮🇩 Aquatech firm eFishery nets $200 million Series D. The round, which puts eFishery at Unicorn status, was led by Abu Dhabi-based 42XFund. (Tech in Asia)

🇸🇪 Treebula bags SEK 28 million ($2.5 million) to grow its digital forest management service. Industrifonden and existing owners participated in the round. (FinSMEs)

M&A, IPOs & partnerships

🇺🇸 Mars scoops up healthy meal company Kevin’s Natural Foods for undisclosed amount. The latter will operate as a standalone business in the Mars Food & Nutrition division. (Food Dive)

🇺🇸 Nutrisystem’s parent company Wellful acquires the Jenny Craig brand. Jenny Craig, which went bust in May, will be relaunched as a direct to consumer brand. (Food Business News)

🇨🇦 Plant ingredients corporation Burcon partners with hempseed ingredients company HPS Food. The two will launch the “world’s first soluble hempseed protein isolate” (Burcon)

Funds, grants & accelerators

🇬🇧 UK government launches £5 million ($6.3 million) grant funding competition for sustainable farming projects. Projects should focus on farming resilience, net-zero goals and sustainable environment solutions. (Vertical Farm Daily)

🇭🇰 Venture accelerator Brinc unveils debut cohort of its climate tech program. The four participants are AirHive (UK), CarbonBridge (US), Formwork IO (HK), and Poas Bioenergy (Costa Rica). (PR Newswire)

Other news

🇺🇸 UPSIDE makes first sale of cultivated meat in the US. The company launched its whole-textured cultivated chicken at Michelin-starred Bar Crenn in San Francisco. (PR Newswire)

🇺🇸 GOOD Meat sells its first cultivated chicken in the US. A dinner at Washington, DC’s China Chilcano by José Andrés will honor the late Willem van Eelen, aka the “godfather of cultivated meat.” (Business Wire)

🇨🇱 Done Properly & AB InBev to develop natural replacement for sodium. The initiative will convert waste brewer’s yeast into the natural ingredient at a facility in Chile. (Entreprenerd)

🇺🇸 Plant-based foods brand Tattooed Chef to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The firm, which entered the public markets through a merger with a SPAC in 2020, intends to pursue a sale of “substantially all of its assets.” (AFN)

🇺🇸 The White House says precision fermentation is critical to expanding the US “bioworkforce.” A new report (PDF) details the Biden-Harris administration’s plans to expand the country’s biomanufacturing. (Vegconomist)

🇳🇱 Dutch cabinet will make cultivated meat tastings legal in the Netherlands “in a few weeks’ time.” Up to now, scientists have had to conduct tastings via computer software. (Vegconomist)

🇸🇪 Re:meat emerges from stealth with cultivated Swedish meatballs. The startup is is developing what it says will be “Scandinavia’s first large-scale cultivated meat facility.” (Green Queen)

🇺🇸 Impossible Foods adds Ginkgo Bioworks as a defendant in its patent infringement lawsuit. The lawsuit against foodtech rival Motif Foodworks concerns the use of heme proteins in meat alternatives. (AFN)

🇫🇷 Insect protein producer Ÿnsect appoints new CEO amid strategy shift. Shankar Krishnamoorthy takes over with the support of now-former CEO and co-founder Antoine Hubert. (AFN)

🇺🇸 Syngenta opens the Syngenta Seeds R&D Innovation Center. The facility will bring farmers and researchers together to accelerate advancements in agricultural seed products and services. (Crop Life)