🍣 Advanced plant-based protein innovation nets $6m

📦 The Rounds, based in the US, secured $24 million Series B funding. It delivers recurring grocery and household essentials in reusable packaging via a subscription-based service, and will use the funds to expand into new markets.

🥜 A new AU$41 million initiative could see a significant boost to Australia’s fruit and nut production, through the development of new varieties of almond, apple, citrus, macadamia and mango. 

🇮🇳 India’s Agrim raised $17.3 million in a funding round led by Asia Impact. It is building a just-in-time supply chain to help agri-input retailers buy seeds, agrochemicals, nutrition and tools from a specific manufacturer.

San Francisco-based ZBiotics closed its Series A funding round with $12 million for its ‘proudly GMO’ probiotics, designed to target gut health, hangovers, and more.

🍫 David raised $10 million seed funding to develop science-based high-protein food products. Its first product, a protein bar, will offer the highest amount of whey protein per calorie on the market.

👩‍🌾 US-based HabiTerre secured $10 million at the first closing of its Series A funding round, led by John Deere. Its environment systems models are designed to deliver actionable insights to improve agricultural productivity, efficiency, and environmental outcomes.

🧮 Root Global, based in Berlin, raised €8 million seed funding for its RootOS platform, which helps food and beverage companies to manage their climate footprint and reduce their GHG emissions.

💦 Australia’s Inform Ag secured $7 million in its first external raise after 12 years in operation. It will use the funds to expand its farm management platforms, which address irrigation automation, data management and vehicle tracking.

🍣 New School Foods raised an additional $6 million in seed funding from global entities including Inter IKEA Group, Good Startup, NewTree Capital, and Hatch. The startup just opened a 28,000-square-foot pilot production facility in Toronto, where it will begin producing its first commercial product, a plant-based whole-cut salmon fillet, 

📲 Seattle-based startup Terrantic closed its seed funding round with $3.5 million to scale its data platform for food supply chain, designed to to assist food processing companies in minimising food waste and improving their yield by optimising their supply chain operations.

🌾 Brazilian startup BemAgro raised $2.6 million pre-Series A funding for its SaaS platform for agriculture, which combines image processing with AI and computer vision to monitor crops throughout their growing cycle.

🤎 British ag biotech company Legume Technology secured a grant of £2.15 million from the Gates Foundation and the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office to further develop its affordable soil treatments for smallholder farmers in Africa.

💸 US-based precision fermentation startup De Novo Foodlabs secured $1.5 million in a seed funding round led by Joyful Ventures. It will use the funds to scale production of its animal-free lactoferrin, NanoFerrin.

🇺🇸 The Better Meat Co., based in California, received a grant of $1.4 million from the US Department of Defense to scale production of its proprietary mycoprotein ingredient, Rhiza.

🪐 NASA awarded a total of $1.25 million to three US teams in the final round of its Deep Space Food Challenge. The winner of the $750,000 grand prize, Interstellar Lab, has developed a self-sustaining growth system for fresh vegetables, microgreens, and insects necessary for micronutrients.

🎣 Moonshot factory Alphabet X’s latest spinout, Tidal, secured undisclosed funding to support sustainable aquaculture, using AI and computer vision to give farmers a fuller picture of their harvests and catch potential issues before they can do any harm.