🍳 JUST Getting Started in Europe

Nothing beats getting together IRL. With the Spring Summit-Season in full swing, you likely have a busy schedule of upcoming events.

But what about those on your doorstep? Like FoodHack Meetups next taking place across 3 continents: New York, Dubai, Zürich, Berlin. Always free to attend and always full of new and familiar faces from across the city. Sign up here.

And of course it goes without saying, the HackSummit is one event you won’t want to miss next month. Tickets are selling fast, but there’s a seat for you here if you’re ready to join us.

This week in FoodTech:

📈 $3.7 billion investment in developing markets
 🍻 Serving up alcohol-free electric beers
☕️ Cocoa substitute from upcycled coffee husks

The Digest

📈 What’s up? Data from AgFunder reveals that agrifoodtech investment in developing markets surged 63% to $3.7 billion in 2024, defying the global downturn and driven largely by larger deals and strong activity in countries like India, Mexico, Vietnam, Chile, and Singapore.

📉 What’s down? The UK government has suspended import tariffs on 89 food and drink items until 2027 to support economic growth and reduce prices for consumers.

🇪🇸 The Spanish government has launched Europe’s first AgriFoodtech Sandbox to accelerate agrifood innovation by providing startups and companies with a controlled environment to test new technologies, ingredients, and processes under regulatory oversight.

🤝 The NEOM Investment Fund has partnered with Liberation Labs to build a precision fermentation facility in Saudi Arabia, supporting NEOM’s goal to become a global hub for sustainable, industrial-scale food production through its food innovation arm, Topian.

🇯🇵 Researchers at the University of Tokyo have developed a bioreactor that mimics a circulatory system, using hollow fibres to evenly deliver nutrients and oxygen and enabling the scalable production of over 10 grams of cultivated chicken meat with improved texture and flavour.

🛒 Good read: 5 ways to navigate supermarket relationships, when no-one’s taught you how.

Fundraising

🍅 Seattle-based indoor agtech company IUNU secured a $20 million Series B extension to expand its AI-driven automation tools for greenhouse growers across North America and Europe.

🫖 The Ryl Co., which makes functional zero-sugar iced teas, secured $15 million Series B funding to fuel national expansion to over 40,000 stores by the end of 2025

🍹 Hello Soju, a US-based sparkling soju brand, raised $6.8 million to expand production, launch a premium bottled soju, and relaunch its RTD range.

🍚 Indonesian startup Eratani secured $6.2 million Series A funding to expand its community-driven digital platform that helps smallholder rice farmers boost productivity, improve livelihoods, and access markets, while scaling precision-farming tools and supporting the country’s push for food sovereignty.

💦 Wet Hydration raised $4.5 million seed funding to support its expansion, with plans to launch new functional and non-functional beverages—including a kiwi passionfruit protein water, probiotic water, and relaxation lemonade.

⚙️ AI-powered restaurant forecasting startup ClearCOGS secured $3.8 million seed funding. It offers decision-ready insights that help operators reduce food waste and improve efficiency, and will use the funds to further expand its platform.

🍝 Italian food maker Monte’s Fine Foods secured $2 million from Night and Shrug Capital to expand its team, grow its product line—including new dried pasta—and scale national distribution, as it continues building a culturally resonant brand rooted in a century-old family sauce recipe.

🍤 Swiss startup catchfree raised CHF 1.2 million to scale production and launch its plant-based seafood alternatives—including shrimp, fish burgers, and fish bites—in Switzerland this summer.

🧫 Green Bioactives secured a grant of up to £1.1 million from Scottish Enterprise to scale production of sustainable plant-based bioactive ingredients, made using its Plant Cell Culture Technology platform.

🥚 Proeon Foods received a €1 million grant from the Province of South Holland and the ERDF to support its EGGcellent project, developing a sustainable egg alternative for industrial baking in collaboration with Vivici, Applikon Biotechnology, and Planet B.io.

4️⃣ PeakBridge announced four new seed-stage investments made through its €30 million FoodSparks fund, backing GanEden (plant-based ice cream), KÄÄPÄ Biotech (functional mushroom extracts), SOUS (culinary digitisation platform), and Evinature (gut-friendly botanicals).

New in Startups

🐟 Mumbai-based Biokraft Foods unveiled India’s first cultivated seafood prototypes, developed in collaboration with a government-backed research institute. It also plans to seek regulatory approval for its cultivated chicken this summer, advancing the country’s entry into the cell-based meat sector.

☕️ Cellva has used microencapsulation technology to launch CoffeeCoa™, a sustainable, cocoa substitute made from upcycled coffee husks, designed to replicate the taste, colour, and texture of cocoa, and offer added nutritional benefits, such as increased fiber and antioxidants.

🇺🇸 The Better Meat Co received its sixth US patent for a process that produces high-protein mycelium using potato waste, advancing its sustainable mycoprotein technology as it prepares for its next growth phase.

🤝 Shiru and GreenLab are joining forces to commercialise sustainable food proteins for the CPG industry by combining Shiru’s AI-powered ingredient discovery with GreenLab’s corn-based protein production system.

👀 Take a look at Japan’s latest 3D-printed cultivated meat.

Plant Based

🍧 New York-based Oddball launched a plant-based, ready-to-eat jelly snack inspired by Asian agar-agar desserts, aiming to disrupt the traditional Jell-O and fruit snack category with gluten- and dairy-free options.

🐟 Austrian startup Revo Foods launched THE PRIME CUT, a mycoprotein-based functional food designed for health and longevity, offering high bioavailability protein, omega-3s, and essential vitamins through a minimally processed, 3D-extruded plant-based format.

🍳 Eat Just has partnered with UK-based Vegan Food Group to bring its flagship plant-based JUST Egg to Europe, with local production set to begin in Germany later this year using mung bean protein sourced from the US and a slightly tweaked formula for European markets.

Big Food

🧀 Bel Group has partnered with its portfolio company Standing Ovation to upcycle acid whey waste into precision-fermented casein proteins, which can be used to create animal-free dairy products with the same taste, texture, and functionality as conventional cheese.

🍻 Carlsberg Sweden and Einride have launched an "electric beer" — a limited-edition alcohol-free brew delivered via 100% electric, autonomous transport — to showcase the future of sustainable logistics and smart freight technology.

🏭 Beneo inaugurated its first pulse-processing plant in Obrigheim, Germany, following a €50 million investment by Südzucker Group, to produce sustainable, locally-sourced faba bean ingredients for food and feed.

🍮 Kraft Heinz unveiled its first plant-based dessert, Jell-O Oat Milk Chocolate Pudding, targeting dairy-free and vegan consumers with a creamy, oat-based twist on the classic treat.

From the Community

Get hired in FoodTech

• Vorwerk Ventures (Germany) is looking for a Principal

• Esencia Foods (Germany) are hiring a Food Scientist

• Planetary (Switzerland) are recruiting a Commercial Director

👋 Join us at a FoodHack Meetup in New York, Dubai, Zurich, Berlin. Sign up here.

🍫 Why the next generation of chocolate is closer than you think.

🫘 Reel: 5 facts you should know about soy.

🔥 Just for fun: Startups trying to lower their burn rate.

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Until next time - Stay Hungry