🌾 AI’s digging into agtech

This week, three agtech startups raised fresh capital to tackle farming from the seed up, using AI. Rainbow Crops bagged €9.7 million to speed up AI-powered gene editing for better crop varieties. Picketa raised $1.5 million to swap slow lab tests for in-field nutrient scans that read leaves in minutes. And OneSoil secured €1 million to grow its satellite-powered farming assistant that spots flooded zones, pest risks, and field changes before they become expensive surprises.

With climate volatility, input costs, and yield pressure all cropping up at once, farming can’t afford to run on guesswork. Faster decisions, smarter use of fertiliser, water, and land… and maybe one AI use case we can all feel good about. 

This week in FoodTech:

💶 Vivici scored €12.5 million from the EIC Accelerator
🤖 Using AI-optimised Plasma to make green ammonia
☕️ Dolly Parton’s new coffee brand

The Digest

🏅 Five alternative protein companies - Redefine Meat, UPSIDE Foods, Impossible Foods, BlueNalu and Mosa Meat - have been named in TIME and Statista’s 2026 World’s Top GreenTech Companies ranking.

🏷️ The European Parliament has voted by a large majority to support stricter labelling rules that would prohibit plant-based and cultivated meat products from using traditional meat-related terms and descriptors.

New in Funding

💰 Anterra Capital hit an €86 million first close for its Fund III, backed by investors including Rabobank, Novo Holdings and Zoetis, to invest in and build science- and software-led food and agriculture companies.

🏭 Solar Foods secured €77.8 million in grant and loan financing from Business Finland to scale Solein, its gas-fermented protein made from carbon dioxide and electricity, with the funding being used to construct, commission and ramp up its industrial-scale Factory 02 facility in Lappeenranta, Finland.

🇳🇱 Netherlands-based Vivici secured €12.5 million from the European Innovation Council Accelerator to scale production and commercialisation of its precision-fermented, animal-free whey protein ingredients.

🌾 Belgian agtech Rainbow Crops raised €9.7 million in an oversubscribed seed round led by LIFTT and LIFTT EuroInvest, with participation from AIF, PINC, VIB, Corteva, and Maia Ventures, to advance its AI-powered multiplex gene-editing platform that develops climate-resilient, high-performing crop varieties

🤖 Canada’s Picketa Systems secured CAD$2.1 million in a funding round led by Tall Grass Ventures, with BDC Seed Fund, Verdex Capital, Skull Diamond & Heart Capital, NBIF, Koan Capital and East Valley Ventures, to expand its AI-powered portable crop nutrient testing technology. 

👩🏻‍🌾 Zurich-based OneSoil raised €1 million from existing investors to expand its AI-powered precision agriculture platform, which helps farmers monitor fields, analyse productivity, create variable-rate application maps and make daily field decisions.

New in Startups

🥚 US-based The Every Co. is teaming up with Bulgaria-based Huvepharma to nearly quadruple production of its precision-fermented egg protein OvoPro.

🧫 Tufts University spinout Deco Labs is turning canola oil industry leftovers into cAlbumin, a plant-based albumin replacement that could dramatically cut cultivated meat media costs.

🧪 Faraday Earth is using AI-optimised plasma to make green ammonia without Haber-Bosch, aiming to turn air, water and renewable electricity into decentralised, lower-carbon fertiliser at a target cost of around $500/ton.

Plant-Based

✅ Netherlands-based The Protein Brewery secured landmark EU Novel Food approval for Fermotein, its fungi-derived protein ingredient, making it the first whole-food mycelium ingredient authorised for sale in the EU.

📉 French startup Swap Food, which specialises in whole-cut plant-based meat alternatives made from fermented fungi and legumes, has entered judicial liquidation after failing to secure additional funding.

🌱 Heura has won an appeal against six meat lobby groups, with the court clearing the plant-based meat company of unfair competition claims over its advertising and confirming it can continue using comparative messaging around the environmental and nutritional benefits of its products.

🥛 A Canadian judge has authorised a class-action lawsuit against Starbucks, Tim Hortons and Foodtastic over non-dairy milk surcharges, after allegations that customers were charged more than six times the actual cost of swapping cow’s milk for plant-based alternatives.

🫘 Actor Kevin Bacon has temporarily rebranded as Kevin “Bean” to help US animal welfare group Humane World for Animals launch Beansday, a weekly campaign encouraging people to swap meat for beans every Wednesday to support animals, health and the planet.

Big Food

📦 Jealsa has partnered with Tetra Pak to launch the first carton packaging for shelf-stable tuna, replacing cans and jars with a lighter, recyclable carton format designed to improve convenience, reduce transport emissions and lower packaging impact.

💊 US supplements brand Vital Nutrients has partnered with New York-based Helaina to launch a children's multivitamin gummy containing effera, a precision-fermented human lactoferrin ingredient designed to support immune health, cognition and nutrient absorption.

🤍 Nestlé USA has completed the removal of all artificial FD&C colours from its US food and beverage portfolio, replacing them with alternatives such as colours from natural sources while maintaining product taste, quality and safety.

🍪 AAK debuted Illexao En 10, a cocoa butter equivalent for enrobed products such as chocolate bars, cookies, cakes and wafers, designed to help manufacturers manage cocoa price volatility, supply uncertainty and rising production costs while improving formulation flexibility.

🍾 Aldi UK launched a World Cup-linked promotion that will cut the price of its Specially Selected Prosecco from £7.99 to as low as £4.49 if England progresses through each stage of the tournament.

☕️ Community Coffee has partnered with Dolly Parton to launch Dolly’s Southern Brews, a new line of flavoured coffees inspired by Southern-style desserts and Dolly’s personal tastes.

From the Community

🔥 On 22nd June, FoodHack and ClimateHack are teaming up to host a free meetup in Instanbul.

🌾⛰️The Alps have fed Europe for centuries. What comes next? Join our ambassador team and Food Hub Valais on June 25th to explore ancient grains and the future of Alpine food innovation.

👀 FoodTech Weekly has transformed into a founder-focused agrifoodtech community, expanding its offering with fundraising, networking and advisory platforms designed to help startups raise capital, scale and exit.

🚀 NASA has launched the Deep Space Food Challenge, a competition inviting innovators to develop sustainable food production systems capable of feeding astronauts on long-duration missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond. 

🍺 Just for fun: The US really underestimated Scottish football fans!

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Until next time - Stay Hungry