☕️ Backing Bean-Free Brews

Today we’re launching Hack’s first-ever Global Impact Survey, a chance for you to roast us (nicely), share your wins, lessons and stories that make the FoodHack community what it is.

Whether you’re a new subscriber or a loyal reader of our Friday recap, or have joined us for local Meetups and the HackSummit, we want to hear from you.

Some of the beginnings Hack has helped create, include:

• Securing a new job

• Finding a Co-Founder

• Closing a next investment

• Sparking a new collaboration

But we suspect many more go untold. That’s where you come in.

Head this way to share your story (+ check out the perks incl HackTrends, Hack cap) and help us measure our impact, see where we can go bigger and shape what’s next.

This week in FoodTech:

🍫 Mars partners with Pairwise to fast-track cocoa varieties
🌈 Scaling and funding precision-fermented natural colorings
🗝️ Commercial facility to scale Lemna-derived Rubi Protein™

The Digest

📊 Interesting: The 2025 SVG Ventures | THRIVE Top 50 AgTech and FoodTech reports just dropped.

📉 What’s down? California-based alt meat producer Planetarians is shutting down and auctioning its patented upcycled protein technology and assets as it seeks a strategic acquirer.

🗽 New York City’s three-Michelin-star restaurant Eleven Madison Park is reintroducing meat to its menu, with chef-owner Daniel Humm citing the need for greater profitability, diner inclusivity, and choice alongside its plant-based offerings.
+ Read Miyoko Schinner’s take on what they’re missing.

💡 Try this: The AI-First playbook for scaling startups by Extantia.

💸 12 Financiers reveal how they define and deploy Impact Investing.

🌍 Become our next FoodHack Ambassasdor in one of these 5 cities.

🎟️ HackSummit super early-bird tickets end in just 6 days. Get yours today.

New in Funding

🗽 Feed logistics company BinSentry, based in the US and Canada, raised a $50 million Series C round led by New York-based Lead Edge Capital to accelerate global expansion of its sensor and software platform for feed bin management.

🤖 Norwegian ag robotics company Saga Robotics raised $11.2 million from investors including Praesidium Agri-FoodTech, Aker Capital, Nysnø Climate Investments, Blystad, Hatteland, Melesio, Sanden, and MP Pensjon to scale its autonomous robots that use UV-C light to combat powdery mildew.

☕️ Singapore-based Prefer raised $4.2 million in a pre-Series A funding round co-led by At One Ventures and Chancery Hill Capital, with participation from Forge Ventures. It will use the funds to expand its bean-free coffee and cocoa globally, alongside new partnerships with Ajinomoto and The Coffee Ferm. See what’s next.

🧑‍🌾 Australian farm communications startup Zetifi secured $5 million from the Australian Government’s Industry Growth Program to help fund a $10 million plan to commercialise its smart antenna platform globally, with support from partners including Nextivity, Icom, and Telstra.

💸 Austria’s Revo Foods raised €1,603,427 from 212 investors in its latest crowdfunding campaign to scale production, boost marketing, and advance its patented 3D printing plant-based technology.

🍙 Malaysia-based biotech startup Seadling, which produces fermented seaweed-based functional ingredients, has opened a second processing facility following a $1 million seed round co-led by AgFunder, The Yield Lab Asia Pacific, Toyo Seikan Group, Katapult Ocean, and KUL Loesningar 3.

🧫 Californian biotech Geltor raised an undisclosed sum in a funding round co-led by Starlight Ventures and iSelect Fund, with participation from existing investors, to expand its AI-enabled, animal-free bioactive proteins, including precision-fermented collagen, to new markets.

🌈 Israel’s Phytolon secured bridge funding from Colorcon Ventures alongside existing investors including Rich’s, Ginkgo Bioworks, NextGen Nutrition, Arkin Capital, Trendlines, EIT Food, Yossi Ackerman, and Steve Dubin to commercialise its precision-fermented natural food colorings and expand into the nutraceutical and pharmaceutical markets.

New in Startups

🥘 Australian startup Nourish Ingredients received FEMA GRAS status in the US for its precision-fermented fat, Tastilux, meaning it can now commercialise its animal-free ingredient that adds meaty flavour and aroma to food products.

🐄 Ambient Carbon has successfully validated its Methane Eradication Photochemical System in a large-scale Danish dairy barn trial, achieving up to 90% methane removal and additional ammonia and odour reduction.

🧫 Singapore-based cellular agriculture company Umami Bioworks launched Marine Radiance, a line of sustainable, cell-cultured marine bioactives, debuting with animal-free PDRN for use in personal care and nutraceutical products.

🐾 UK pet food startup Omni unveiled LeanPaws, a vegan, drug-free weight-loss supplement for dogs that mimics the effects of Ozempic’s GLP-1 hormone to address the nation’s high rates of canine obesity.

🧉 Plezi Nutrition, co-founded by Michelle Obama, is expanding beyond its low-sugar kids’ juice boxes into products like Plezi Fizz and Plezi Hydration for teens and adults.

🥬 Good watch: How aeroponic farming can create 624 lettuces a year per tower, without soil.

Plant Based

🏭 Plantible opened its first commercial facility, the Ranchito, in Texas, to scale production of its Lemna-derived Rubi Protein™, featuring upgraded filtration systems and a higher-yield strain to boost output and reduce costs. Get the backstory.

🇹🇼 Taiwan is developing its first national plant-based diet policy, with multiple ministries and NGOs collaborating on a coordinated plan inspired partly by Denmark’s integrated approach to production, research, sales, exports, and education.

🤝 Australia’s v2food has acquired US vegan chicken maker Daring Foods and partnered with Japan’s Ajinomoto to drive its global expansion plans and develop next-generation plant-based food solutions for Asia and Africa.

💸 Century Pacific Food has acquired Atlantic Natural Foods assets, including the Loma Linda, Tuno, Neat, and Kaffree Roma brands, along with related manufacturing assets, licenses, and inventory, in a deal worth under $10 million.

🍀 New Zealand startup Leaft Foods launched Leaft Blade, a pre-workout drink containing 17g of fast-digesting Rubisco protein, marking its first consumer product in the performance nutrition market.

Big Food

🧬 Mars is partnering with US gene‑editing firm Pairwise to rapidly develop cocoa varieties with improved resilience to disease, climate stress, and supply chain volatility, using CRISPR-based methods to breed traits far faster than traditional breeding allows.

💪 Danone is launching Oikos Fusion, a yoghurt drink designed to help users of Ozempic and other GLP-1 drugs maintain muscle mass and support nutritional needs.

🛒 Amazon is expanding Same-Day Delivery to offer perishable groceries in 1,000 US cities, with plans to reach over 2,300 by year-end, in a bid to compete with Instacart and Walmart+ in the quick-commerce market.

🥤 Kraft Heinz puts it to the test: "If tomatoes are fruits, is ketchup a smoothie?"

From the Community

Apply for your next role:

• Marble are looking for a CEO for Ammonia Production

• Planet A Foods (Germany) are hiring multiple R&D roles

• Foreverland Food (Italy) are hiring a Sensory Scientist

🗽 Join us in New York, September 10th for a Meetup on the role of AI in the Food and Beverage space. Sign up here

🌈 Just for fun: Which cake is real and which is AI? Answer is here.

🍫 Not so fun: Life as a CPG retailer in 2025

Have your say: What did you think of today’s newsletter?

I love it 😁 Meh 😐 I hate it 🙁

Or hit reply to share your view.

Until next time - Stay Hungry