New in Funding: 🍋 Series C for a fruit marketplace

💰 Ara Partners announced over $3 billion in capital commitments to support decarbonising sectors including chemicals and materials, energy efficiency and green fuels, and food and agriculture. 

💶 The European Union has committed €50 million over the next year to aid startups and small businesses in scaling alternative protein production through its European Innovation Council Work Programme 2024, with a particular focus on technologies such as precision fermentation.

🍒 Indian startup Vegrow secured $46 million Series C funding, in a round led by GIC, for its B2B marketplace for fruits. It claims to have experienced a fivefold increase in revenue and reached operational profitability in the past year.

🗝️ New York-based Keychain raised $18 million in a seed funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. Its manufacturing platform for the consumer packaged goods industry uses AI-powered technology to help brands find a manufacturing partner to fit their business needs.

🔬 Spore.Bio raised €8 million pre-seed funding for the “world’s first” device that uses AI to detect bacteria in food, drink, pharmaceutical and cosmetic products faster, reducing sampling times from 20 days to only minutes and working directly on the factory floor.

☕️ US ready-to-drink alcohol brand Jiant secured $6 million, in a Series A funding round led by Natureza Growth Partners, to extend distribution of its fresh-brewed hard tea, kombucha and cocktail-inspired drinks.

🥘 Australian startup Clove secured $4.15 million seed funding, in a round led by Blackbird Ventures, for its ‘Pinterest for recipes’ platform, which allows home cooks to browse personalised recipes and helps with weekly meal plans or meal ideas to use up the remaining ingredients in your fridge.

🍹 US-based canned margarita company SipMargs raised $2 million in a funding round led by Lab Capital Advisors. Its beverages are made with tequila from the Highlands of Jalisco, Mexico, and are low-sugar, low-calorie and low-carb, with an alcohol level of 5% ABV.

🍕 Tech-powered pizza restaurant MOTO Pizza raised $1.85 million to open its first outlet outside of Washington State and expand its technology portfolio, including trialling a salad-bowl robot from Vancouver-based startup Cibotica.

💡 Seasony secured €1.5 million to “revolutionise indoor farming through advanced robotics”. Its flagship mobile robot, Watney, automates farming tasks like planting seeds and harvesting in vertical farms, to optimise efficiency and productivity.

🥗 Tallinn-based Inspectle Foods raised €400,000 pre-seed funding for its B2B SaaS technology that helps food production employees streamline the food inspection process to reduce cost and waste.

🔍 Singapore-based ProfilePrint Pte. Ltd. announced the successful closure of its Series B funding round. Its food ingredient analysis platform uses artificial intelligence to detect quality, taste profile, and freshness.

🍄 Mycelium meat company Meati Foods secured investment from gymnast Aly Raisman and NBA star Chris Paul as it continues to work towards its goal of becoming the US plant-based meat market leader by 2025.

💸 Israeli NGO Volcani International Partners and Western Negev Farmers launched ReGrow Israel, an Emergency Fund seeking to raise $50 million to help restore and rebuild farming communities hardest hit by the October 7th terrorist attacks.