🙈 Beyond Meat’s in trouble again

Food BioTech is moving out of the lab and into the real world.

After a decade of promise, the big question isn’t “can it work?” We know it does.

The real test now is moving from pilot to industrial scale, all while making the economics hold up.

That means manufacturing, inputs, partnerships, regulation and demand (not just great science) decide who makes it. The bottlenecks are getting clearer, and so are the paths forward, but it’s not without it’s challenges.

We asked 20 founders where scale actually breaks, what’s improving, and what still needs to change. Here’s what they told us.

This week in FoodTech:

🍌 Chiquita’s breeding climate-resilient bananas
🌊 Notpla brings seaweed packaging to 160+ QSR locations
🏭 MicroHarvest’s backing to turn ag waste into 15,000 tonnes of protein

The Digest

📈 What’s up? A new study published in the journal Science finds that global pesticide Total Applied Toxicity rose from 2013-2019, driven largely by a small number of widely used chemicals and concentrated in major agricultural countries.

📉 What’s down? Hong Kong-based cellular agriculture company Avant is winding down its Singapore research arm Avant Proteins, but will continue operating and pursuing regulatory approval for its cultivated fish products in Singapore.

🏆 As seen in Protein Report. Enter the FoodTech World Cup - the search for the world’s most promising Food BioTech startups.

🎨 The US FDA has issued new rulings to accelerate the shift from petroleum-based synthetic dyes to natural colours, allowing “no artificial colors” claims for products without synthetic dyes, where previously this could only be claimed if there was no dye product whatsoever.

⛔️ South Dakota Governor Larry Rhoden has vetoed a proposed 10-year state ban on cultivated meat, arguing it conflicts with free-market values and could trigger constitutional challenges.

🥛 Oatly has lost its final UK Supreme Court appeal, with judges ruling that its “Post Milk Generation” slogan cannot be trademarked or used on products in the UK.

🗓️ Useful: The FoodCons have helpfully created the 2026 Food&Tech Events calendar, including HackSummit on 22nd-23rd April. 

🤑 Interesting: Vincent Kuiper shares what makes a foodtech founder actually fundable.

Latest Funding

🥤 US-based cannabis beverage brand Willie’s Remedy+ raised $15 million in a Series A funding round led by Left Lane Capital, with participation from Second Sight Ventures, to scale its THC-infused spirits, seltzers and shots.

🇮🇩 Indonesian plant-based meat company Green Rebel Foods secured $12.5 million from investors including Unovis NCAP Fund II, Teja Ventures and AgFunder Alternative Protein Fund I to expand its Asian-inspired meat alternatives and foodservice partnerships.

🤖 Canadian ag robotics startup Upside Robotics raised $7.5 million in a seed round led by Plural, with backing from Garage Capital and Clearpath Robotics founders to scale its solar-powered autonomous robots that apply fertiliser precisely to corn crops.

🏭 Germany’s MicroHarvest received a €5.5 million government grant to build its first industrial-scale microbial protein plant in Leuna, which will convert agricultural waste into up to 15,000 tonnes of protein annually for pet food, aquaculture and human nutrition.

🚜 Singapore-based agtech startup Polybee secured $4.3 million seed funding in a round led by Paspalis Capital and elev8 VC, with backing from SEEDS Capital and business angels. It will use the funds to scale its AI-powered pollination and yield-forecasting platform, which uses autonomous drones.

🌳 Plastic-free gum startup Milliways raised $3 million in a funding round led by former gum industry executives including ex-Perfetti Van Melle North America CEO Mehmet Yüksek and Intergum owner Leon Amram to scale its plant-based, tree-sap chewing gum.

🍓 New Zealand horticulture robotics startup Agovor secured A$3 million pre-seed funding. The round was led by Tenacious Ventures with backing from the Hort Innovation Investment Fund and an Invest New Zealand-linked investor, and it will use the funds to scale its autonomous electric eTractor and smart attachments for vineyards, orchards and berry farms

🌱 The Bland Company, based in the UK, raised $2.67 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Initialized Capital with backing from Entrepreneur First, Transpose Platform, Behind Genius Ventures, Alumni Ventures and Vento to scale its technology that converts agricultural side streams into highly functional, soluble plant proteins, which are designed to replace eggs across multiple food applications.

🍎 New York-based CryoBio raised $1.3 million pre-seed funding from investors including Marble, AgVenture Alliance and New York Ventures to commercialise its fermentation-derived antifreeze protein spray that protects high-value crops like apples and grapes from frost damage.

New in Startups

🍬 Israel’s Amai Proteins received a US FDA “no questions” letter for its precision-fermented sweet protein Sweelin, clearing it for use as a general food and beverage sweetener and enabling commercial rollout.

🪸 Notpla has secured its first quick-service restaurant partnership with Dutch chain Kwalitaria, rolling out its seaweed-coated, plastic-free and compostable food packaging for fries and snacks across more than 160 locations in the Netherlands.

📈 Tokyo-based cellular agriculture startup IntegriCulture announced that it reached full-year profitability in 2025, driven by revenues from its cell-ag infrastructure platforms and product lines, especially cosmetic ingredients.

✅ Aleph Farms has completed the first phase of a collaboration with UK-based Roslin Technologies showing that externally developed bovine cell lines can grow in its proprietary animal-component-free growth medium.

🤓 Good watch: Here’s how Algenie’s helical photobioreactor works.

Plant-Based

💰 Dutch beverage manufacturer Refresco has agreed to acquire US plant-based food and drink company SunOpta in a $1.1 billion all-cash deal to expand its North American footprint and strengthen its capabilities in plant-based milks, creamers and better-for-you beverages.

📊 Oatly reported its first full year of profitable growth in seven years, posting 4.7% year-on-year profitable growth in 2025 following a multi-year strategy to strengthen operations and execute a more disciplined, region-focused growth playbook.

👩🏻‍⚖ Beyond Meat is facing a new investor class-action lawsuit alleging it misled shareholders and concealed the need for a major asset writedown in 2025, after delayed filings and impairment charges tied to manufacturing assets triggered sharp stock declines.

Big Food

🍌 Chiquita has completed the Yelloway banana pan-genome with partner KeyGene to map the full genetic diversity of Musa acuminata and accelerate breeding of disease-resistant, climate-resilient bananas, and is opening up the dataset to researchers to speed up industry-wide innovation.

🍋 US-based ingredient supplier Fiberstar launched Citri-Fi Pro, a citrus-derived fibre designed to replace up to 75% of acacia gum or modified starch in beverages.

🍫 Barry Callebaut is set to invest €250 million to modernise and future-proof its Wieze factory in Belgium - the world’s largest chocolate production site - upgrading production, food safety and logistics infrastructure to boost operational efficiency and supply reliability.

🚙 Uber is acquiring the domestic delivery arm of Turkish speedy grocery delivery company Getir from controlling shareholder Mubadala, covering food, grocery, retail and water delivery.

👄 US-based natural foods brand Purely Elizabeth has launched its first beauty-inspired limited-edition product, Purely Glow Salted Vanilla Pistachio Granola, a functional granola featuring collagen peptides and biotin.

From the Community

Who’s hiring in FoodTech

• Pow.Bio is scaling and looking for people to fill two commercial roles.

• Toniic is looking for a Junior Producer to support their podcast (and mission).

• Syngenta is searching for a Nursery Operations Manager in Puerto Rico.

• EggField is hiring for a Sales and Operations Manager.

💡 Good read: Leila Strickland (formerly of BIOMILQ) shares her journey this past year.

🇦🇪 Here’s what happened at the latest FoodHack Meetup in Dubai.

🇨🇭 Is 2026 the year we get intentionally sensory? 4 takeaways from exploring the senses at FoodHack Zurich’s latest Meetup.

🇧🇪 The 4th RFSI (Regenerative Food Systems Investment) is takes place again this year in Brussels - Fresh Venture Studios is curating the pitch event and is looking for regenerative start-ups to apply.

👀 Good watch: What Founders can learn from Aquabyte’s majority exit.

❤️ Just for fun: How to find love in the supermarkets.

What did you think of today’s round up?

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Until next time - Stay Hungry