This week, fundraises included one for Grow Indigo—Indigo Ag’s smallholder farmer initiative— as well as those for Israeli foodtech firm Brevel and Netherlands-based Grassa, which is developing grass protein production tech.
Meanwhile vertical farming company Plenty filed for bankruptcy after raising nearly $1 billion, and Brazilian group JBS acquired The Vegetarian Butcher from Unilever.
Agrifoodtech funding
🇺🇸 Vestaron raises over $20M in funding FinSMEs
🇮🇱 Aleph Farms lands $29m to commercialize lower-cost whole-cut cultivated steak AgFunderNews
🇮🇱 Israeli foodtech firm Brevel expands seed funding to $25m with additional $5m Tech In Asia
🇺🇸 Ecovative raises $11M to grow spin-off company BizJournals
🇳🇱 Grassa raises $3.9m to further develop grass protein production technology Vegconomist
🇧🇪 Antwerp-based ClimateCamp secures $3.8m to tackle Scope 3 Emissions with AI-powered platform Silicon Canals
🇨🇦 Lumi AI nets $3.7m to unlock supply chain insights with natural language prompts, led by AgFunder [Disclosure: AgFunderNews’ parent company is AgFunder.]
🇧🇪 ARK Capture Solutions raises $2.4m to tackle CO2 from Industry’s toughest emissions Tech.eu
🇩🇪 Differential Bio emerges from stealth with virtual scaleup platform for bioprocess optimization AgFunderNews
🇳🇱 Protix nets $1.1m for South Korean insect facility feasibility study Feed Navigator
M&A, IPOs & partnerships
🇺🇸 Oishii acquires Tortuga AgTech’s IP, assets, and engineering team to ‘supercharge’ its vertical farms AgFunderNews
🇺🇸 AI meets agriculture: Agmatix and BASF partner to develop Soybean Cyst Nematode detection tool AgReads
🇸🇪🇩🇪 Hexagon boosts autonomous farming with Septentrio acquisition Future Farming
🇳🇴 Fenja BioSolutions and NoMy combine expertise to scale mycoprotein production in Europe Vegconomist
🇧🇷🇳🇱🇬🇧 JBS acquiring The Vegetarian Butcher from Unilever Food Business News
🇺🇸 Enhanced rock weathering startup Eion secures $33m carbon removal offtake deal with Frontier AgFunderNews [Disclosure: AgFunderNews’ parent company AgFunder is an investor in Eion]
🇬🇧 McDonald’s, McCain and other corporates lead pilot to make regen farming ‘feel more achievable’ AgFunderNews
🇬🇧 Hoxton Farms and Sumitomo strike strategic partnership to bring cultivated fat to Japan, APAC AgFunderNews [Disclosure: AgFunderNews’ parent company AgFunder is an investor in Hoxton Farms]
Funds, grants & accelerators
🇮🇳 Agritech startup Grow Indigo secures $10m from BII Tech In Asia
🇬🇧 Elbow Beach launches new Climate Impact Fund with $81.4m Tech.eu
🇯🇵🇦🇺 New Forests draws $300m commitment from Oji Holdings to seed new open-end forestry fund AgriInvestor
🇸🇬🇦🇪 Temasek-owned asset manager Seviora opens Mideast office Finews.Asia
🇫🇷 Sienna IM provides $2.2m SLL from first debt impact biodiversity fund Environmental News
People moves
🇺🇸 Plant Based Foods Institute appointing former White House food and ag policy expert Sanah Baig as Executive Director Progressive Grocer
🇺🇸 Growers Edge announces Brian Weis as Managing Director of Mortgage GlobeNewsWire
Other News
🇺🇸 Plenty, an autopsy: It promised the moon, but plants don’t run on pitch decks, say experts AgFunderNews
🇫🇷 Bon Vivant rebrands to Verley, unveils ‘world’s first’ functionalized recombinant dairy proteins AgFunderNews
🇺🇸 AgZen enjoys exponential growth as growers see rapid ROI on ‘feedback optimized’ spraying tech AgFunderNews
🇺🇸 Yum Brands, Nvidia will deploy new AI at 500 restaurants Restaurant Dive
🇺🇸 Savor unveils first-of-its-kind ‘butter’ made without cows, plants, or microbes AgFunderNews
🇺🇸 FarmWise AI-powered weeding tech ‘commercially ready’ despite company restructuring and wind down AgFunderNews
🇦🇹 BioCraft gains EU approval to sell cell-cultured pet food ingredients Petfood Industry
🇩🇪 Bayer to pay $2.1B in Roundup case LinkedIn News
🇺🇸 San Diego bans digital-only grocery store coupons GroceryDive
