Quick delivery had a good week for funding, with raises from “super app” Rappi and Indian platforms Citymall and FirstClub.
Elsewhere, alt-protein companies are suing Texas thanks to the state’s cultivated meat ban, and Apeel Sciences is suing a wellness influencer for defamation and “unfair competition,” among other things. Beyond the courtroom, CPG giant Kraft Heinz announced plans to split up.
Funding news
🇨🇴 Rappi secures $100M debt financing, its largest credit deal to date Latamlist
🇮🇳 Indian grocery startup Citymall raises $47M to challenge ultra-fast delivery giants TechCrunch
🇮🇳 Quick commerce startup FirstClub raises #23m led by Accel, RTP Global Deal Street Asia
🇪🇸 HappyRobot raises $44M Series B to scale AI agents for the supply chain Tech.eu
🇺🇸 The ‘AI farming company’ Orchard Robotics bags $22m to expand precision ag platform AgFunderNews
🇬🇧 Xampla receives $14m investment to accelerate plant-based alternative to single-use plastic Packaging Europe
🇫🇮 Finnish greentech startup raises $11.7m for plant-based dairy Tech in Asia
🇸🇬 Singapore startup Greenitio raises $1.5M for plastic-free cosmetics with mushroom-derived chitosan Green Queen
M&A, IPOs & partnerships
🇮🇱 CropX acquires Acclym (formerly Agritask) to power enterprise-scale sustainable food systems CropX
🇦🇺 FarmLab broadens its soil-measurement toolkit beyond agriculture with Ziltek acquisition AgFunderNews
🇳🇱 The Vegetarian Butcher and Vivera unite to form the Vegetarian Butcher Collective Protein Production Technology
🇨🇭 🇮🇩 Clarmondial and Supernova team up to boost nature-based investments in Indonesia Impact Investor
🇩🇰 🇫🇷 🇪🇨 BioMar, Innovafeed, Auchan partner to scale insect feed for Ecuadorian shrimp sector Seafood Source
🇳🇴 🇺🇸 EAT and Sodexo announce strategic partnership Eat Forum
Funds, grants & accelerators
🇬🇧 UK government announces £12.6m agtech competitions UK Tech News
🇩🇰 🇨🇿 🇵🇹 New €2.2M European project aims to accelerate adoption & consumption of plant-based foods Vegconomist
People moves
🇺🇸 Tom Bennett joins The Yield Lab Institute as global head of partnerships LinkedIn
🇺🇸 Dr. Sunil Chandran rejoins Amyris as chief technology officer PR Newswire
🇺🇸 Babylon Microfarms CTO Graham Smith steps down LinkedIn
🇳🇱 Meatable makes leadership changes Alt Meat
Other news
🇺🇸 Texas’ ban on lab-grown meat? California companies have beef with it, suing to reverse law The Dallas Morning News
🇺🇸 Land O’ Lakes restructures Truterra, reduces team The Daily Scoop
🇺🇸 Kraft Heinz is splitting into two companies CNN
🇺🇸 California launches statewide agricultural innovation network Fresh Plaza
🇳🇱 Carbon Robotics start production of LaserWeeder in the Netherlands Trekker
🇺🇸 College social app Fizz expands into grocery delivery TechCrunch
🇳🇱 CRAFT Consortium to build world’s first cultivated meat farm in the Netherlands Protein Production Technology
🇺🇸 Chef-powered meal service CookUnity launches food is medicine initiative with EmblemHealth AgFunderNews
🇺🇸 Apeel Sciences sues ‘Green Smoothie Girl’ Robyn Openshaw and GreenSmoothieGirl.com, Inc. for defamation, false advertising, unfair competition Perishable News
🇺🇸 Starbucks deploys AI for in-store inventory management Restaurant Dive
🇺🇸 Atarraya’s flat-packed high-tech shrimp farms roll out in New Jersey as tariffs upend trade AgFunderNews
