Quick-delivery continues speeding ahead in India, the latest development being a mega-raise from Zepto that values the company at $5 billion. Elsewhere, food waste think tank ReFED got a new executive director, Impossible Foods opened a brick-and-mortar store, and, in the biomaterials business, Bolt Threads went public via a SPAC.
Foodtech funding
🇮🇳 Zepto raises $340M at a $5B valuation as India’s quick-commerce market heats up TechCrunch
🇫🇮 Finnish company Collo gets €5 million to optimise food & beverage industry EU Startups
🇬🇧 Adamo Foods raises £2m to bring ‘ultra-realistic’ steak alternative to market The Grocer
🇳🇿 Kiwi grocery shopping insights app MenuAid rebrands as Appetise after swallowing NZ$4 million pre-Series A Startup Daily
Agtech funding
🇧🇪 Belgian startup Hedera-22 raises €2 million to accelerate progress for a sustainable agriculture EU Startups
M&A, IPOs & partnerships
🇨🇦 Above Food announces $34m acquisition of The Redwood Group’s crop ingredients business FoodBev Media
🇺🇸 Berkeley-based startup Bolt Threads goes public via SPAC merger Biz Journals
🇺🇸 Cargill and Goanna Ag pilot irrigation efficiency technology on Mississippi Delta cotton fields Business Wire
🇺🇸 Arda Biomaterials and Beavertown Brewery team up to turn brewery waste into sustainable fashion accessories Retail Technology Innovation Hub
🇺🇸 Indoor grower to add electric truck to their fleet Horti Daily
🇳🇿 🇺🇸 Fonterra and Superbrewed Food collaborate to advance postbiotic protein tech AgFunderNews
People news
🇺🇸 ReFED announces Sara Burnett as new executive director ReFED
🇺🇸 Starbucks names Brian Niccol as chairman and chief executive officer Business Wire
🇺🇸 Nutrien taps new CFO as fertilizer profits decline Agriculture Dive
🇳🇴 Former Nutreco-exec joins Norwegian mycoprotein producer Aquafeed
🇺🇸 Leading agtech company, TerraClear, appoints Devin Lammers as new CEO PR Web
Other news
🇺🇸 Impossible Foods opens first brick and mortar concept Food Dive
🇨🇱 New bill to define and label plant-based alternatives as “simulated food” Vegconomist
🇺🇸 Florida’s cultivated meat ban faces constitutional challenge in federal court The Capitolist
🇺🇸 Mission Barns unveils ‘novel, scalable, adherent’ bioreactor for cultivated meat, fat AgFunderNews
🇸🇬 Ajinomoto to launch two products made with Solar Foods’ air-based protein in Singapore Vegconomist
🇺🇸 Kelly Hills Unmanned Systems debuts with the largest commercial autonomous crop sprayer in the US AgFunderNews
