🧪 New in Funding: Carbon-neutral green ammonia

💸 The US state of Illinois is investing $680 million to create the Illinois Fermentation and Agriculture Biomanufacturing (iFAB) Tech Hub. The new hub will aim to leverage the state’s agricultural strengths to drive innovation and economic growth within the sustainable biomanufacturing sector, including precision fermentation.

🤑 Cibus Capital secured $645 million across two funds to support mid-market and late-stage agrifood companies contributing to more efficient, less resource-intensive food production. Its portfolio to date includes pollination tech startup BeeHero and clean-label ramen company Borealis Foods.

💰 The Qatar Development Bank is managing a $100 million fund to support startups in the country working within sectors including fintech, clean tech, agritech, B2B SaaS, health tech, marketplaces, proptech, AI & ML and robotics.

🐟 Sustainable aquaculture investor Hatch Blue raised €75 million at the second close of its latest fund, with which it will support up to 15 European companies focused on ocean technology, aquaculture, and blue carbon.

🏭 German startup ProteinDistillery secured €15 million seed funding. It uses biomass fermentation to create new protein ingredients, and will use the funds to support the launch of Europe's first protein-competence centre in the South of Germany. 

💵 Protein Industries Canada is investing CAD $13.2 million into advancing the country’s fava bean ecosystem, testing the functionality of new fava bean varieties for use in consumer-facing products, particularly snack foods.

🥗 Bene Bono, based in Paris, raised €10 million in a funding round led by AXA Venture Partners and 2050. Its food waste-fighting platform saves organic fruits and vegetables rejected by major supermarkets for aesthetic reasons and offers them for sale directly to consumers, and it will use the funding to further expand its operations.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 University of Edinburgh spinout Wobble Genomics, currently operating in stealth, secured €9.9 million to commercialise its novel approach to RNA sequencing, which could be used in everything from drug development and research to agriculture and ecology.

🌾 Australia’s Jupiter Ionics raised $9 million to develop carbon-neutral “green” ammonia for the agriculture sector, using its own electrochemical technologies to combine nitrogen from the air with hydrogen produced via water electrolysis.

🇸🇬 Singapore-based Ai Palette secured $5.7 million Series A1 funding to expand its AI-powered platform, designed to help food companies ‘accelerate and de-risk the product innovation process’.

🤍 Swiss startup Cultivated Biosciences raised $5 million seed funding to scale production of its yeast-derived fermented cream, designed to deliver a better flavour and textural experience to alt dairy products, as it works towards a 2025 launch in the US.

🍙 Umaro Foods, based in California, secured $3.8 million to scale production of its seaweed-based bacon, which it claims to be able to produce at ‘half the cost’ of animal-based bacon, as it gears up for a retail launch.

🐶 US plant-based dog food brand PawCo Foods, founded by former Impossible Foods scientist Dr. Mahsa Vazin, raised $2 million in a seed funding round led by Elevate Ventures. It claims to be the first plant-based dog food brand using AI technology to improve the nutrition and palatability of its products, and it will use the funds to open a second production facility.

🇨🇦 Opalia, based in Canada, raised CAD $2 million in a funding round led by Netherlands-based Hoogwegt Group to scale its cell-based milk towards commercialisation. 

🇺🇸 US-based biotech Van Heron Labs secured $1.1 million seed funding, in a round led by FoodLabs, to develop precision nutrition strategies for maximising cell growth using genetics, bioinformatics, and AI.

🥛 Plant-based milk company MALK Organics closed a funding round led by the Benvolio Group and Rotor Capital. It will use the funds to expand its retail operations, starting with the launch of three new products: a cashew-based milk and two shelf-stable milk alternatives.

💰 Agricultural insights platform Gro Intelligence secured some ‘11th hour funding’ just after reportedly laying off 60% of its workforce, having faced a challenging funding environment and a “fundamental mismatch between the product and the market”.