💰 21 Fresh Funding Rounds

It’s been a hot minute since we took a break over the summer, but true to form AgriFood startups have continued to raise funds and hit new milestones.

We tracked 21 fundraising announcements totalling $300+ million over the last few weeks alone. Don’t worry we’ve got a quick recap here.

To Startups: If you’ve closed a round and think the FoodHack community should hear about, get in touch any time so we can help get the word out.

To Investors: If you’re looking for your next AgriFood investment, take part in our article on technologies VCs are looking to invest in. Hit reply to get involved.

This week in FoodTech:
🪸 Closing down: Kelp-based startup
☕️ Brewing up success: Instant coffee
🍚 Tracking down: Methane in rice farming

The Digest

📈 What’s up? Tyson Foods, Inc. reported one of its strongest earnings quarters to date, citing a "remarkable turnaround" in chicken and pork.

📉 What’s down? McDonald’s saw losses of 0.7% and 1.1% across its US and global sales respectively, caused by a drop in traffic fuelled by higher prices.

 📉 Also down. Kelp-based meat and seafood alternative producer Akua is shutting down its operations, due to ongoing plant-based market pressures.

🤝 EIT Food and Foundation Earth partnered to launch a new alliance to develop internationally recognised standards for the environmental impact data of food, to help the industry meet its net-zero commitments. 

🐄 A federal court in Brazil has fined a local cattle farmer $50 million for destroying parts of the Amazon rainforest, and ordered him to restore the land he deforested.

👎 A new, government-commissioned investigation by Ernst & Young has found that the Netherlands’ rejection of a proposed meat tax as ‘unfeasible’ was based on a one-sided, biased report.

New in Funding

💰 US-based Siddhi Capital closed its second fund with $135 million, doubling the size of its first fund. It will use the capital raised to support “growth-stage companies across consumer and food tech”.

🦄 Agrovision secured $100 million and hit unicorn status following a period of ‘meteoric growth’ and international expansion. The berry supplier will use the funds to further expand its operations.

🥛 Veganz Group, based in Germany, raised €10 million to scale production of its 2D-printed oat milk, Mililk, alongside its pea protein-based meat alternative and a potential almond milk-based product.

🇮🇳 Indian agribusiness platform Agrizy secured $9.8 million Series A funding to connect the country’s small food processors with global B2B customers.

🌾 US startup Mitti Labs raised $3 million to tackle methane emissions and water wastage in rice farming.

🧫 Poland’s first cultivated meat startup, LabFarm, received €2 million from the country’s National Centre for Research and Development as it works to optimise its bioprocesses and scale its production.

👀 Check out all 21 FoodTech Funding Rounds including for FoodTech World Cup finalist Typcal, sugar-removing juice tech, 50:50 oat and mycelium ‘meat’.

New in Startups

🍣 US-based AQUA Cultured Foods secured GRAS status for its fish-free seafood, including tuna and scallops, which are made via biomass fermentation. 

😸 ICYMI UK-based Meatly secured regulatory approval from the UK Food Standards Agency to sell its cultivated pet food, becoming the first company in Europe permitted to sell cultivated meat. Here’s the the timeline of cultivated meat.

🇫🇷 France’s Gourmey became the first cultivated meat company to apply for regulatory approval in the EU, and also filed dossiers in Singapore, the US, the UK and Switzerland for its cultivated duck.

🧫 Dutch startup Mosa Meat hosted the first public tasting of cultivated beef in the EU, bringing together Dutch cattle farmers, food product developers and industry representatives to taste its hybrid beef burger.

🥔 Israel’s ReaGenics has used plant cell culture to develop a potato with 31% protein content, and believes it can increase this to 40%.

☕️ Chicago-based Diamond Brew emerged from stealth to debut an instant coffee that fully dissolves in hot or cold water, which it says delivers the equivalent flavour, aroma, and caffeine content of premium brewed coffee.

Plant Based

🥩 Chunk Foods debuted what it says is the “largest piece of plant-based meat in food service”, in partnership with renowned New York deli Pastrami Queen.

✅ Impossible Foods’ proprietary heme ingredient has been ruled safe for consumption by  the European Food Safety Authority, bringing its burgers one step closer to European shelves.

🍔 Swedish plant-based dairy producer The Green Dairy has found a way to turn its oat milk residues into plant-based burgers, having developed what it claims is the world’s first pilot equipment for drying residual mass.

Big Food

☕️ Nestlé has developed a new high-yielding arabica coffee variety, selected for its resilience to coffee leaf rust and offering the “characteristic taste of Brazilian coffee”. Here’s what the buzz is about.

👎 General Mills is facing two federal lawsuits alleging that its popular Cocoa Puffs cereal contains dangerously high levels of lead.

From the Community

Get a job in FoodTech:

• Redefine Meat are hiring a Foodservice Culinary & Sales Representative in New York Region and Los Angeles Region

• HelloFresh are looking for a Sr Product Marketing Manager

• Every Company are recruiting a Commercial Operations Manager

👋 Join us the FoodHack Community at a Meetup in Amsterdam, Boston, Lima, Tokyo and Berlin. Sign up for free here.

9️⃣ Take these 9 things out of your pitch deck - according to one investor.

💔 Sifted reports on how to manage a Co-Founder breakup without killing your startup.

🚀 Save the date: 24-25th September for the $50k Green Shoots Pitch Competition. Express interest now to get involved and for your chance to win part of the $50k Fund and other prizes.

🤿 When your day running a FoodTech startup doesn’t go as planned.

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Until next time - Stay Hungry