Agtech’s big news this week was the emergence of US-based Zordi, which came out of stealth with its autonomous greenhouse tech. Over in foodtech, funding went to DAIZ for Japan’s ‘largest’ plant-based meat factory and a couple new developments for bugs.
Foodtech funding
🇯🇵 DAIZ lands $47 million series C to build Japan’s “largest” plant-based meat factory. Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, Roquette and others participated in the round. (Green Queen)
🇱🇺 Moolec Science raises $30 million in cash and in-kind contributions from strategic investors. Investment will fund R&D projects and Moolec’s commercialization plans for its molecular farming platform. (AgFunderNews)
🏴 Beta Bugs secures £1.72 million to scale up insect protein production. The TRICAPITAL Syndicate led the round. (Scottish Enterprise)
🇳🇱 🇺🇸 Tyson Foods makes undisclosed investment in insect protein startup Protix. The two will build a facility to produce insect protein for animal feed ingredients, aquaculture and pet food. (AgFunderNews)
Agtech funding
🇺🇸 Zordi emerges from stealth, announces $20 million funding from Khosla Ventures. Zordi specializes in autonomous greenhouses equipped with robotics. (Vertical Farm Daily)
M&A, IPOs & partnerships
🇺🇸 General Mills and Walmart partner on regenerative ag. The collaboration will fund projects that accelerate adoption of regen ag on 600,000 acres by 2030. (Food Dive)
🇳🇱 🇬🇧 Alt-protein companies Vaess and Marlow Ingredients team up. The two will work together to develop protein alternatives made from mycoprotein. (Vegconomist)
🇺🇸 Farmers Business Network and ADM expand partnership on regenerative ag. FBN will help ADM expand its re:generations program to include more than 3,000 growers. (Business Wire)
🇳🇬 🇸🇳 UfarmX partners expands to Senegal via partnership with The SEED Project. The latter’s 2,000 students will get hands-on experience with agtech via UfarmX’s blockchain platform for agriculture. (AgriTech Tomorrow)
🇺🇸 Walmart renews food waste partnership with environmental waste services company Denali. The companies will divert non-edible food from landfills for compost, feed animals and renewable energy. (Waste Dive)
Funds, grants & accelerators
🇺🇸 Virginia Tech gets $80 million to help farmers implement “smart-climate” practices. The program will serve as a pilot for a national model for farmers of all sizes. (AZO Cleantech)
🇺🇸 The DOE‘s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management will pump $35 million into carbon removal tech. The Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) Purchase Pilot Prize will enable winners to sell carbon dioxide removal credits directly to DOE. (AgFunderNews)
🇺🇸 Grain-trading platform Bushel receives $3.5 million grant to develop carbon-intensity reporting feature. The funding is part of the North Dakota Industrial Commission through the Clean Sustainable Energy program. (Bushel)
🇨🇭 Aquaculture waste cleanup startup N-ovatio-N wins £70,000 award. The Converge Challenge recognizes novel ideas that have high commercial potential. (The Fish Site)
🇺🇸 Greentech company AFYREN gets silver medal from social responsibility platform EcoVadis. AFYREN was ranked in the top 21% of companies out of more than 85,000 assessed worldwide. (Business Wire)
Other news
🇮🇹 Italy withdraws bill to ban cultivated meat. The EU bill proposed a ban on making or marketing cultivated meat and restricted terms used for describing plant-based meat. (Vegconomist)
🇺🇸 South Carolina gets legislative approval to build vertical farm at a women’s correctional facility. The $1.2 million project is expected to produce 48,000 pounds of lettuce per year. (Vertical Farm Daily)
🇦🇺 Nourish shows off animal-free cooking fat at SXSW. The startup says its proprietary fat provides the distinct taste and aroma of traditional meat fats. (Business News Australia)
🇺🇸 Mars unveils new “net zero” roadmap. The CPG giant plans to half emissions by 2030, using a 2015 baseline, and be net zero by 2050. (Food Business News)
Sponsored
International Fresh Produce Association launches year 3 of its produce accelerator