The Week in AgriFoodTech: HUNGRY bags $10m, USDA greenlights cultivated chicken labels, making leather from beer

Funding rounds continue to be slow and on the low side. Catering tech startup HUNGRY raised new capital, as did alt-meat startup Higher Steaks, which rebranded as Uncommon. In agtech, agribusiness platform Unnati Agri and alt-leather startup Arda Biomaterials announced new fundraises.

Foodtech funding

🇬🇧 Higher Steaks rebrands to Uncommon, raises $30 million Series A to scale production of cultivated pork. Balderton Capital and Lowercarbon Capital led the round. (AFN)

🇺🇸 Catering tech startup HUNGRY closes $10m Series C1. Existing investors Sands Capital Ventures, Motley Fool Ventures and others participated along with several athletes and chefs. (Technical.ly)

🇫🇷 Plant-based cheese startup Jay&Joy bags €2 million ($2.2 million) round led by High Flyers Capital. The company will hire new talent and increase R&D and production with the new capital. (Business Leader)

Agtech funding

🇮🇳 Agribusiness & fintech platform Unnati Agri lands Rs 28.5 crore ($3.5 million) pre-Series B led by IPL Biologicals. Unnati Agri will use the funding to expand its product line. (VC Circle)

🇦🇺 Synbio startup Number 8 Bio bags A$1.8 million ($1.2 million) pre-seed round to cut methane emissions in animal ag. Main Sequence, Possible Ventures & others participated. (AFN)

🇺🇸 Advancing Eco Agriculture leads seed round for precision ag startup Croptix. The Croptix platform aims to revolutionize the way farms analyze and manage plant health. (AFN)

🇬🇧 Arda Biomaterials raises €1.3 million ($1.4 million) to make leather from beer byproduct. Clean Growth Fund led the round. (EU Startups)

M&A, IPOs & partnerships

🇺🇸 Bunge agrees to buy grain company Viterra in deal valued at $34 billion. The deal, if approved, would create an agricultural giant in the grain-trading space. (AFN)

🇺🇸 Sam Nazarian, founder of virtual restaurant platform C3, buys virtual restaurant network Nextbite. The sale comes shortly after Nextbite made three rounds of layoffs. (Restaurant Dive)

🇺🇸 FreshRealm acquires fellow meal kit maker Blue Apron for $50 million. The latter transferred its fulfillment centers, equipment, know-how and other infrastructure to FreshRealm. (Winsight Grocery Business)

🇪🇪 🇱🇻 Climate tech/carbon credits startup Arbonics partners with Swedbank to launch an “afforestation loan program” for landowners. Loans will initially be offered to landowners in Estonia and Latvia. (Arctic Startup)

Funds, grants & accelerators

🇸🇬 Ross Digital is developing robots that can to cook, make coffee and clean dishes at restaurants. The Singapore government has invested S$3.5 million (US$2.6 million) into the company. (Tech in Asia)

🇬🇧 Broccoli upcycling startup Upp secures £800,000 ($1 million) UK government grant. Upp upcycles waste collected from the broccoli-harvesting process into “sustainable proteins.” (UKTN)

Other news

🇺🇸 Indoor ag company AppHarvest‘s largest farm faces foreclosure. Equilibrium Capital filed a lawsuit claiming “significant concerns” about the Richmond, Kentucky farm. (Produce Bluebook)

🇺🇸 Instant Pot & Pyrex parent company Instant Brands files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company cites high-interest rates, decreased access to credit, and dwindling cash as reasons. (The Spoon)

🇬🇧 AGRIVI launches an AI-based agronomic advisor named Ed. Ed is available to all agriculture-related companies through AGRIVI’s fully managed platform. (AGRIVI)

🇺🇸 Climax Foods debuts “world’s first” alt-casein. The plant-based ingredient mimics the flavor, texture, melt, and stretch of the dairy protein casein. (Green Queen)

🇬🇧 Extracellular to offer license-free cell banks to cultivated meat startups. The contract development & manufacturing organization (CDMO) will make these banks available to UK developers. (The Spoon)

🇬🇧 Vegan “mince” startup Meatless Farm facing closure. The company has stopped trading and made its workforce redundant. (AFN)

🇺🇸 UPSIDE Foods gets USDA approval for its “cultivated chicken” label in the US. GOOD Meat says it has also obtained USDA approval for its own cultivated chicken labels. (AFN)

🇹🇬 Togo breaks ground on “one-stop-shop” for sustainable ag. The Agricultural Services Centre is a joint initiative of the Togolese government & fertilizer giant the OCP Group, with support from the World Bank.