👡 Chasing AgTech Cinderellas

First it was coffee, then chocolate. Now oranges are in crisis.

Citrus greening disease has infected nearly half of Brazil’s citrus belt, the world’s largest orange supplier. And climate extremes are making the problem worse.

As global juice production plunges, growers are running out of options.

Big players like Coca-Cola are now betting on AI to detect and fight the disease to preserve your morning glass.

Because if solutions don’t come fast, the future of orange juice might not be quite so fruitful.

This week in FoodTech:

🥓 Blended bourbon-bacon sausages
🌾 Fertiliser from upcycled almond shells
🏭 Scandinavia’s first cultivated meat facility

The Digest

📉 What’s down? CPG co-manufacturing platform Rescale is shutting down less than a year after raising a $2.3 million seed round due to lack of product-market fit.

💡 The US FDA has proposed a rule that would end the practice of companies self-affirming ingredients as GRAS, instead requiring all food ingredients to undergo FDA review, a move expected to significantly impact the food tech sector.

🌴 The Rainforest Alliance launched a new Regenerative Agriculture Certification, starting with coffee, to help farmers improve soil health, biodiversity, and livelihoods, with certified products set to carry a distinct seal from early next year.

🥗 The Trump administration is considering an FDA proposal to require food packaging to disclose gluten and other allergens as part of its “Make America Healthy Again” strategy report.

👠 Opinion: Why VCs should still chase AgTech Cinderellas, according to Fast Company.

👀 Good read: Find out how ICL’s Planet Startup Hub is using CVC to back AI-driven startups as they supercharge corporate R&D and stay ahead of disruption.

New in Funding

🌾 US startup Nitricity secured $50 million Series B funding in a round co-led by World Fund and Khosla Ventures, with support from Chipotle’s Cultivate Next, Change Forces, Susquehanna Sustainable Investments, Energy Impact Partners, and Fine Structure Ventures. It produces organic nitrogen fertiliser from air, water, renewable energy, and upcycled almond shells, and will use the funds to open a new plant in Delhi, California.

🇬🇧 UK Research and Innovation awarded £27 million across 31 biotech projects, including funding for Lancaster University’s mobile carbon flux tracking platform to measure carbon movement on UK farms.

🧬 Iceland’s ORF Genetics raised €5 million from existing and new shareholders to scale production of its specialised proteins, made via its barley-based molecular farming platform for the cultivated meat industry.

🍹 Dublin-based Tipple raised €4 million seed funding, in a round led by Quadri Ventures with participation from Form Ventures and 7percent Ventures, to modernise the global alcohol trade with its digital infrastructure platform.

🛰️ British agritech startup Messium closed its seed funding round with €3.8 million. The round was co-led by the UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund and Expansion Aerospace Ventures, with participation from Mudcake, Laconia, GRDC GrainInnovate, Clear Current Capital, Moonstone Venture Capital, and SuperSeed, and it will use the funds to scale its AI- and satellite-powered nitrogen efficiency platform for sustainable farming.

🍳 Finland’s Perfat Technologies raised €2.5 million in Series A funding co-led by Newtree Impact and Beyond Impact, with backing from Nordic Science Investments, the University of Helsinki, and Big Idea Ventures, to scale its vegetable oil–based fat alternatives for the food industry.

🍸 Momo Kombucha, a London-based B Corp kombucha brand, secured £2 million in its largest funding round to date, backed by 24 angel investors including Jez Galaun of Brixton Brewery, to expand production capacity and scale its presence in the UK kombucha market.

🍄 German meat alternatives producer Pacifico Biolabs secured €680,000 in public funding to advance its mycelium fermentation technology for creating high-protein, clean-label vegan meat substitutes.

🍽️ SMAQO, a Swedish startup which makes hybrid mycoprotein food products, raised a new funding round led by Singapore-based Good Startup with participation from ITIL Partners and Nuora Capital, to scale its fermentation platform and launch its first consumer products this year.

New in Startups

🏭 Finnish startup ​​Enifer secured self-affirmed GRAS status in the US for its Pekilo mycoprotein, and is set to open a large-scale production facility in Finland next year.

🔑 Sweden’s Re:meat is partnering with innovation hub Biotech Heights to establish Scandinavia’s first cultivated meat facility in Lund.

🌭 German cultivated meat startup MyriaMeat is developing a hybrid sausage combining cultivated and conventional meat, supported by the ERDF and the state of Lower Saxony, using its novel iPSC-based process to create real muscle tissue with a lower environmental footprint.

🍞 Argentina-based BioBlends is developing gas-based bio-preservatives from bacterial VOCs to extend bread’s shelf life without chemical additives, now being piloted with a major industrial bakery.

🤝 Aleph Farms is partnering with The Cultured Hub in Kemptthal, Switzerland to establish its first European cultivated meat production site as it awaits regulatory approval in the region.

Plant Based

🍄 Carnéa Meat Co, a Houston-based startup founded by Parendi Birdie with former leaders from Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat, has emerged from stealth with a range of chef-crafted blended meats, such as truffle mushroom meatballs and bourbon-bacon sausages, that have outperformed Tyson’s products in taste tests.

👎 The European Parliament’s agriculture committee has voted to ban the use of meat-like terms such as “burgers” and “sausages” on vegan and cultivated meat products, advancing the proposal to a full Parliament vote that could lead to an EU-wide ban.

🧀 Israeli food giant Strauss Group is launching a CowFree milk and cheese range made with Imagindairy’s precision-fermented whey protein, marking the first such products to hit Israel’s supermarkets.

🧆 Berlin-based Nosh.bio is launching a hybrid beef mince and koji protein product through a collaboration with Speisemanufaktur Adlershof, where it will be served in dishes like burgers, meatballs, and lasagna to showcase its versatility and gather feedback.

🍗 TiNDLE Foods launched its new TiNDLE Gourmet Chicken, featuring its TrueCut™ technology to mimic real chicken, in the US market.

🧈 Canadian food product developer Vivian Villa launched UnButter, a shea butter-based, allergen-free plant-based butter alternative.

🧊 Heura launched Daditos: legume- and healthy fat–based cubes inspired by ham that are high in protein and vitamin B12, designed for versatile use across snacks and recipes.

Big Food

🍫 Mars, Inc. has teamed up with NFL quarterback Josh Allen to launch a limited-edition line of Snickers-inspired dipping sauces in caramel Buffalo, peanut teriyaki, and chocolate barbecue flavors.

🤝 Tetra Pak has partnered with Swan Neck Bio to integrate its DIRINOC™ starter culture technology into Tetra Pak’s New Food ecosystem, providing fermentation companies with a “turnkey, low-risk solution” to scale biomass and precision fermentation-derived food products.

🍊 Coca-Cola has joined the MIT Generative AI Impact Consortium to launch ‘Save the Orange’, an AI-powered initiative to combat citrus greening disease and address the global decline in orange supply.

👩‍🌾 PepsiCo, Mars, and ADM have launched a regenerative agriculture program in Poland to support 24 farmers in adopting rotational growing practices with technical training and financial incentives, aiming to improve soil health, reduce emissions, and build farm resilience.

From the Community

Apply for your next role:

• Zero Acre Farms (USA) are hiring a Head of Product

• Rockefeller (Kenya) are recruiting a Director of Regen Ag

• Voltiris (Netherlands) are looking for a Chief Commercial Officer

👋 Get your ticket to the HackSummit on December 10-11th to surround yourself with 500 builders and funders in Climate Deep Tech.

🗡️ To the AgriFood Founders building behind the scenes

Give us a thumbs up, or thumbs down in 10 seconds

I love it 😁 Meh 😐 I hate it 🙁

Until next time - Stay Hungry