🐶 Fur-st to Sell Cultivated Meat

Pet food manufacturers are feeling the squeeze. Supply chains are under pressure from climate change and pandemics. Avian flu found its way into cat food, prompting recalls, and ingredient costs continue to climb.

This disruption brings opportunity. “These new realities are an opening for alt proteins and fats (plant-based, cultivated, fermentation) to scale up in pet food,” investor Steve Simitzis told us last week in our 50 FoodTech innovations to watch.

“This will solve real business problems for pet food manufacturers. Pet food consumers, along with their cats and dogs, also benefit, with superior products for allergy relief, food safety, and longevity.”

And this week, cultivated meat producer Meatly made history with THE PACK launching Chick Bites, the world’s first pet food made with cultivated meat, into Pets at Home stores in the UK, marking a first for the global alternative protein industry.

1 innovation down, 49 to go.

This week in FoodTech:

🥤 28 drinks mapped on their health impact
🔬 11 AgriFood funding rounds announced
🤝 10 year-deal for microalgae specialist Brevel

The Digest

📈 What’s up? Veganuary 2025 saw record participation with 25.8 million people globally pledging to go plant-based, reflecting a 3% increase from 2024, inspiring a similar plant-based initiative set to launch in China this March.

🍗 Tyson Foods' chicken profits hit an eight-year high, driven by strong poultry demand as consumers prioritise protein.

📉 What’s down? BIOMILQ has filed for bankruptcy due to an ongoing IP dispute that made the startup “uninvestable and unacquirable.”

🥤 Liquid Death is pausing international sales, to focus on its US market after weaker-than-expected sales.

🔦 New Report: UBS ask 156 entrepreneurs around the world, what’s top of mind for them.

👀 Good Read: The Canadian Food Innovation Network released its Foodtech in Canada 2025 Ecosystem Report.

🧉 Map: You are what you drink, the health impact scores of drinks, mapped.

💡 Opinion: The evolution of AgTech from efficiency to intelligence

Fundraising

🇩🇰 Danish biotech Enduro Genetics raised €12 million Series A funding to advance its patented “synthetic addiction” technology, which enhances biomanufacturing efficiency by ensuring only high-producing microbial cells survive, reducing costs and emissions across industries like alternative proteins, enzymes, and pharmaceuticals.

🔢 Edacious raised $8.1 million, in a seed funding round led by Patagonia’s Tin Shed Ventures, to scale its rapid testing and data platform that analyses nutrient density in whole foods and provides insights linking farming practices to nutritional outcomes.

🥬 Oslo-based Avisomo secured €5 million to advance its automated vertical farming technology, supporting an industrial pilot with Coop set to produce 100 tons of lettuce annually by 2025 to enhance local food production and reduce imports.

🍄 Belgian startup BiocSol raised €4.4 million to advance its sustainable crop protection solutions, supporting R&D and global proof-of-concept for its biofungicides aimed at mitigating crop losses caused by fungal and oomycete pathogens.

🐟️ Barcelona-based KOA Biotech secured €2 million to develop a biosensor system that detects waterborne infections in fish farms before they spread, reducing fish mortality, antibiotic use, and environmental impact through real-time monitoring and early-warning alerts.

👀 Check out all 11 funding rounds from this week including for Google’s X “moonshot factory” latest graduate and the crowdfunding campaign that raised €1.5 million in just 24 minutes.

Startup Milestones

🐾 UK cultivated meat producer Meatly has partnered with THE PACK to launch Chick Bites, the world’s first pet food made with cultivated meat, into Pets at Home stores in the UK, marking a first for the global alternative protein industry.

🍫 Abertay University has partnered with Fermtech to develop Koji Flour, a sustainable ingredient made from repurposed spent grains, which enhances cocoa flavour and can reduce cocoa use in chocolate products by up to 30%, with a goal of 50% reduction this year.

🤝 Argentine biotech company Stämm has partnered with Israeli cultivated meat producer SuperMeat to integrate Stämm’s continuous bioprocessing technology into cultivated chicken production, aiming to improve efficiency and muscle tissue development.

Plant Based

🍽️ Duckweed, also known as water lentils, has been approved for consumption by the EFSA in the EU, offering a highly sustainable protein source that grows exponentially and yields over six times more protein per hectare than soy.

🐑 Juicy Marbles debuted Meaty Meat, a new marbled lamb product that features nearly 70% of the daily recommended intake of protein, and 40% of fibre, in the US and Canada.

🤑 A new study suggests that plant-based meat analogues become more attractive to consumers when priced lower than conventional meat, with taste being less influential in purchasing decisions.

🥛 Moroccan agrifood company Jaouda launched Nabatlé, the country’s first locally made plant-based milk brand, offering oat, almond, and coconut varieties that are calcium-fortified, free from gluten, lactose, added sugars, and preservatives..

🤍 Maïzly launched a dairy-free, gluten-free corn-based milk in the US, which has added vitamins and less sugar than dairy milk.

🍘 Italian algae startup KelpEat has launched high-protein crackers made with Solein® microbial protein and EU-farmed seaweed, featuring over 35% protein and key nutrients.

Big Food

🤝 Israel’s largest beverage manufacturer, The Central Bottling Company is partnering with microalgae specialist Brevel on a 10-year deal to develop functional drinks and dairy alternatives using Brevel’s microalgae-based proteins, oils, and antioxidants.

🛒 UK supermarket Sainsbury’s has removed Amazon’s ‘Just Walk Out’ technology, which it first installed in 2021, from its Holborn Circus store, choosing to revert to traditional checkouts and SmartShop mobile pay.

From the Community

Job opportunities with:

• Fermata (Israel) are hiring a Head of Agronomy

• Biotope (Belgium) are looking for a Stakeholder Manger

• Bloomberg (UK) are recruiting an Agriculture Reporter

• GFI Asia (Australia) are hiring a Sr Policy Specialist, Asia

👋 Join us at a FoodHack Meetup in Ljubljana, Boston and Lausanne - sign up here

🚀 Scale it Agro has an open call for Agro Innovation and are looking for startups with early market traction that bring more sustainability and resilience to the Agro space, find out more and apply today.

👀 Reactive marketing ad of Surreal vs Kellogg

🪴 Deep Dive: Feeding the world with Sustainable Ammonia

☄️ How fast is your startup’s burn rate?

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Until next time - Stay Hungry