🌭 Everybun for Everyone

PLUS: $80M funding announced this week, 300+ LATAM AgriFoodTech startups, mapped.

August 22, 2025

August is often written off as a slow month, but FoodTech is defying the odds. This week alone, Founders raised +$80 million incl, The Better Meat Co, Keychain, Singrow, Soil Action and Veganz Group (scroll on for full details).

And 2 new tools also launched to keep on your radar:

What if August is just the warm-up for what’s to come?

This week in FoodTech:

🐶 Launching Ozempic for dogs
📍 Become a FoodHack Ambassador
💡 World’s largest indoor farming networks

The Digest

📍 Take a look: The 300+ strong LATAM AgriFoodTech Map 2025

📉 Good Read: J.P. Morgan shares the reasons why cocoa prices are (finally) coming down.

🍬 Former FDA commissioner David A. Kessler, MD, has filed a citizen petition urging the FDA to revoke the GRAS status of refined carbohydrates, including sweeteners, flours, and starches, arguing they contribute to obesity and chronic disease in the US.

🇵🇱 Polish think tank Green REV Institute has lodged a complaint with the European Ombudsman against the European Commission over delays and lack of transparency in delivering the Sustainable Food Systems Law, which was promised under the Farm to Fork strategy but dropped from the 2024 legislative agenda without explanation.

🗝️ India’s first Animal Stem Cell Biobank and Laboratory has opened at the National Institute of Animal Biotechnology in Hyderabad, aiming to advance research in disease modelling, tissue engineering, reproductive biotechnology, and support cellular agriculture applications like cultivated meat.

📈 Hot take: How Prefer scaled from 0 to 1 in FoodTech (without AI).

2️⃣0️⃣ Overlooked Food and Climate Technologies, according to 20 VCs.

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

New in Funding

Credit: The Better Meat Co

🍽️ California-based The Better Meat Co raised $31 million in a Series A funding round co-led by Future Ventures and Resilience Reserve, with participation from Glenn Hickman, Epic Ventures, Sigma Ventures, and other investors, to scale commercial production of its Rhiza mycoprotein and make it “cheaper than beef”.

🔑 AI-powered CPG manufacturing platform Keychain, based in New York, secured $30 million Series B funding in a round led by Wellington Management and existing investor BoxGroup, with participation from other returning backers. It will use the funds to support the rollout of its KeychainOS operating system and expand its network of 30,000+ manufacturers and 20,000+ brands and retailers.

🇩🇪 Berlin-based plant-based food company Veganz Group raised approximately €8.44 million through a combination of equity measures, including a rights offering, private placements, and the use of conditional capital, to strengthen its equity base and support its growth strategy.

🌾 US ag intelligence startup Soil Action raised $5.25 million in a seed funding round led by R7 Partners, with participation from Climactic VC, Dolby Family Ventures, Ponderosa Ventures, the University of Wyoming Foundation, and Ag Ventures Alliance, to deploy its AI-powered real-time soil chemistry analysis platform for farmers.

🌱 Singapore-based Singrow secured $4.5 million Series A funding from Finc Pte. Ltd., Cyanhill Capital, Pasudeco, Eastern Wind International, and returning investors Ritz Venture Partners and AgFunder. The plant genomics and precision agriculture company will use the capital to expand its seedlings, vertical farming, and genetics platform across Asia and beyond.

🇨🇦 Canada’s Better Origin Ingredients raised $1.25 million from strategic and internal partners. It distributes premium plant-based lipid ingredients, and will use the funds to expand its operations as it aims to be the go-to supplier for plant-based DHA.

🧬 Oxford-based agri-biotech spinout SugaROx raised an additional €1.1 million in a seed round extension, which included investment from The Mosaic Company and returning angels and funds including UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund and Regenerate Ventures, to accelerate development and production of its crop-enhancing biostimulant.

🥔 Cropin, the ‘world’s largest’ AI platform for food and agriculture, secured a €700,000 contract from EIT Food to launch its FIRST Potato initiative in Europe, using AI-driven field intelligence to accelerate regenerative potato farming.

🌎 Californian startup Tuyyo Foods, which makes Latin American aguas frescas-inspired powdered beverage mixes, raised $68,000 in an equity crowdfunding round to expand its operations.

New in Startups

Credit: Meatable

🧫 Dutch startup Meatable has acquired UK-based Uncommon Bio’s cultivated meat platform, including key technology, IP, cell lines, and staff, for an undisclosed sum, strengthening its portfolio with non-GMO capabilities to accelerate development of chicken, lamb, and more.

🍻 Iku Bio unveiled what it calls the world’s smallest controllable brewery - a credit card–sized circuit board that brewed real beer - as a proof of concept for its biotech platform aimed at advancing cell culture and biological data capture.

💡 80 Acres Farms and Soli Organic have merged to form one of the world’s largest indoor farming networks, headquartered in Ohio, with projected first-year revenues of nearly $200 million and distribution to over 17,000 US storefronts.

🌾 Good watch: What happens when you remove all life from soil?

Plant Based

🌭 Oscar Mayer, a Kraft Heinz subsidiary, debuted the EveryBun Pack, a limited trial offering that combines its classic meat hot dogs and plant-based Not Hot Dogs in one package without cross-contamination to cater to flexitarian consumers.

🐾 UK plant-based pet food brand Omni launched LeanPaws, a patent-pending natural supplement described as “Ozempic for dogs,” developed over two years with a proprietary amino acid, probiotic, fibre and resistant starch blend that mimics GLP-1 effects to aid weight loss, regulate blood sugar, boost metabolism, and promote satiety.

🙅🏽‍♂️ Beyond Meat has denied media rumours that it is filing for bankruptcy, stating it has no such plans despite ongoing sales declines, layoffs, and restructuring efforts.

Big Food

Credit: Wyke Farms

🧀 Wyke Farms, the UK’s largest independent cheese producer, has launched a three-year “Birdsong for Biodiversity” initiative with Chirrup.ai, using AI-powered bioacoustic monitoring to track bird populations and enhance ecosystem health as part of its broader sustainability strategy.

🏭 OCOchem is partnering with ADM to build a CO2 conversion facility at ADM’s Decatur, Illinois complex, using OCOchem’s Carbon FluX Electrolyzer to transform biogenic CO2 emissions from ethanol production into carbon-negative formate products for industrial and consumer applications.

🍫 Nestlé is piloting a new process that uses up to 30% more of the cocoa fruit, including pulp, placenta, and pod husk, to help boost chocolate output, reduce waste, and increase farmer incomes.

🤝 Just Eat Takeaway.com has partnered with Swiss robotics firm RIVR to trial Europe’s first physical-AI delivery ‘robo-dogs’, which are hybrid wheel-legged machines capable of carrying 40 litres, climbing stairs, and operating safely in varied weather and urban conditions.

From the Community

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

🎟️ HackSummit super early-bird tickets end next week. Get yours today.

🔍 Mondelez International has 4 open challenges for FoodTech startups.

🦆 Just for fun: Day in the life of a FoodTech Founder

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