One of the biggest funding rounds this week went to Lithuanian agrifinance platform HeavyFinance, while Bezos Earth Fund announced a $60 million commitment to improve alt protein. Meanwhile, Impossible Foods unveiled a brand refresh this week with bolder packaging aimed squarely at meat eaters.
Foodtech funding
🇺🇸 Serenity Kids Closes $52m in Series B Funding FinSMEs
🇺🇸 Tierra Biosciences raises $11.4m series A to expand designer protein-to-order platform AgFunderNews
🇨🇦 Burcon closes over-subscribed $4.3 million non-brokered private placement to accelerate commercial plans Yahoo Finance
🇺🇸 KAS announces $3M funding round to expand astaxanthin production Nutraceutical Business Review
🇲🇾 Malaysia-based coffee chain Koppiku brews up $2.5m in funding Startup News
🇳🇱 Dutch startup 1-2-Taste closes seed round, aims to simplify ingredient sourcing for F&B companies Silicon Canals
Agtech funding
🇱🇹 Lithuania-based HeavyFinance closes €50M fund to decarbonise agriculture Tech Funding News
🇺🇸 Locus Fermentation Solutions raises $30m in debt financing following ‘strategic restructuring,’ revamps carbon farming scheme AgFunderNews
M&A, IPOs & partnerships
🇺🇸 Compeer Financial® partners with Bushel® to improve digital experience for ag lending Bushel
🇸🇬 Cultivated meat consolidation begins as UMAMI Bioworks to merge with Shiok Meats AgFunderNews
🇺🇸 AgEye announces acquisition of HYVE Vertical Farm Daily
🇺🇸 iYOTAH Solutions partners with The Dairy Brain to lead a new era of innovation iYOTAH
🇺🇸 Wynshop acquires grocery personalization specialist Halla Grocery Dive
🇺🇸 Treasure8 and Suja Life forge partnership to deliver organic sidestream technology FoodBev Media
Funds, grants & accelerators
🇺🇸 Centers for sustainable protein: Bezos Earth Fund to invest $60m for tastier, cheaper & healthier alt-protein Green Queen
🇮🇪 Ireland Announces €9M Funding Initiative to Develop an All-Island Bioeconomy Vegconomist
People moves
🇭🇰 EcoCeres latest news: welcomes Matti Lievonen as executive chairman iGrow News
🇫🇷 Bon Vivant welcomes Antoine Baule as its new chairman LinkedIn
🇺🇸 Liberation Labs taps biotech biomanufacturing veteran Rhys Dale to assist with development & operations of flagship facility Global Newswire
🇩🇪 Gelita installs new CEO Gelita
Other news
🇺🇸 Impossible Foods has always claimed to bleed red, now its label will Food Dive
🇫🇷 Danone discontinues 2 plant-based milk options under its Silk and So Delicious brands Food Dive
🇺🇸 With $1bn in farm operating lines, FBN sees ‘a greater need for financing’ on the near horizon AgFunderNews
🇨🇭 Swiss startup Planted rolls out ‘first of its kind’ fermented plant-based steak AgFunder News
🇺🇸 Deere to lay off 150 workers at Iowa plant Agriculture Dive
🇺🇸 M2 Ingredients expands with novel cultivation and processing facility Nutraceutical Business Review
🇺🇸 Sustainable packaging startup Mi Terro enters paid partnership agreement with Georgia-Pacific LLC Mi Terro
Sponsored
International Fresh Produce Association launches year 3 of its produce accelerator