🎄 Season's Eatings

As 2024 draws to a close, the Hack community has grown stronger than ever. This year we hosted 107 Meetups and we are now present in 53 cities spanning 32 countries thanks to 134 Ambassadors.

We also hosted 2 global HackSummits counting almost 2,000 attendees (hats off to those of you who ‘did the double’ in both Lausanne and New York).

Soon we’ll be stepping into 2025 with cautious optimism, and one thing is for sure, the FoodTech community continues to show resilience, even through the toughest of times.

This week in FoodTech:
💰 €80 million AgriFoodTech fund
💸 The 14 final fundraises of 2024
🌎 12 takeaways from HackSummit

The Digest

📈 What’s up? Tesco says Brussels sprouts this Christmas are going to be 25% larger than last year, thanks to favourable growing conditions and the introduction of new varieties.

☕️ Also up. Coffee prices have reached record highs due to poor weather in Brazil and Vietnam, with Arabica beans up over 80% this year, signalling further price increases for consumers next year.

📉 What’s down? While public climate finance nearly doubled to $640B between 2017 and 2022, funding for food and agriculture declined to just 2.5%, according to a new report from the Global Alliance for the Future of Food.

🍌 New research shows that labelling lone fruits as “sad singles” evokes emotional responses in shoppers, increasing purchases and helping reduce food waste in supermarkets.

📊 Vita Mojo's 2024 data from UK quick-service restaurants shows a growing demand for plant-based options, with vegan orders up 56% and vegetarian orders up 64%.

🐥 Get one of the last remaining ‘Super Early Bird’ Tickets for the HackSummit in Lausanne and look forward to the must-attend gathering on May 15-16th.

AgriFood Fundraises

💰 Nordic Foodtech VC launched a new €80 million fund to support early and growth-stage startups in sustainable food innovation, with a specific focus on tackling food waste, alternative proteins, and healthier food solutions.

🌾 UC Davis spinout One Bio, whose proprietary technology is designed to convert agricultural waste into oligosaccharides that “bridge the fibre gap”, raised $27 million in a Series A funding round led by AlphaEdison.

🧬 Plant-and-soil health company Sound Agriculture raised a $25 million Series D extension to expand its flagship products, SOURCE and BLUEPRINT, into new markets while spinning out its advanced epigenetics platform for genetics innovation.

🍗 Chile-based Luyef Biotechnologies secured $12.5 million to scale its production of affordable cultivated meat. It will use the funds to focus on cost reduction and work towards commercialisation.

🚜 Spanish startup HEMAV secured €8 million to expand its AI-driven agricultural platform LAYERS, designed to enable sustainable farming through precision insights that help reduce input costs by up to 30%, enhance logistics, and deliver highly accurate yield predictions.

🧈 Israel's Gavan raised $8 million Series A funding to launch a new European pilot facility for Fatrix, its plant protein-based fat that replaces butter in bakery and dairy alternatives, with operations set to begin in April 2025.

🇬🇧 London-based New Wave Biotech raised €1.2 million for its AI-powered bioprocess simulation platform, which optimises R&D in synthetic biology and alternative protein production to enable faster, more efficient scaling.

👀 Check out the 14 final FoodTech fundraises of 2024 including Yeastup, Bpacks, Freya Cultivation Systems, ¡Ya Oaxaca! and AgriRobot.

Startup Milestones

🇮🇳 Mumbai-based Biokraft Foods hosted India’s first cultivated meat tasting, showcasing hybrid chicken and signaling plans for a 2025 market launch amid growing regulatory clarity and support.

✅ All G has achieved self-affirmed GRAS status for its precision fermentation-derived recombinant bovine lactoferrin, and plans to seek FDA GRAS approval in 2025.

📈 The EVERY Company secured a European Union patent for its precision fermentation-based recombinant ovalbumin, expanding its IP portfolio into a key market alongside existing patents in the US, Finland, Germany, Denmark, and Great Britain.

🧫 British biotech company Multus launched Proliferum B, an animal-free alternative to fetal bovine serum, designed to address cost, reliability, and ethical concerns while accelerating cultivated meat production.

🐣 NestFresh Eggs welcomed the first US hatch of in-ovo sexed chicks, aiming to end male chick culling. It will transition its egg line to this process, with certified eggs launching at major retailers in July 2025.

❄️ Seattle-based Tomorrow unveiled the Tomorrow Fridge, a new refrigerator designed to better preserve fresh produce by adjusting storage environments to reduce water loss and spoilage, with a patent-pending system set for release in 2025.

🍦US startup Mojoz GummiCone has developed a vegan, gluten-free, and halal edible gummy candy ice cream cone, designed to provide a clean, non-sticky eating experience that complements frozen desserts.

🪺 Food Standards Australia New Zealand has opened a second public consultation on Vow’s cultivated quail, proposing a standards-based approach to regulate cultivated foods following its safety approval.

Plant Based

🇯🇵 FamilyMart, one of Japan’s largest convenience store chains, launched its plant-based Blue Green range, featuring four animal-free products aimed at protecting the environment, including desserts and savoury options like Keema Curry and Bibimbap-Style Rice Ball.

🐟 Oshi put their new Oshi White Fish on the HackSummit stage that they will be launching this early 2025. This product is not mimicking any specific fish, derived from algae and it is bringing delicious ocean flavors to life. See for yourself.

🇸🇪 The DELICIOUS project, a €5 million Horizon Europe initiative led by RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, has launched to develop affordable, tasty plant-based dairy alternatives using microbial fermentation, advanced technologies, and a production process with 30% lower carbon emissions.

🇨🇿 The Czech government is proposing an amendment to ban terms like “mushroom schnitzel” and “soy sausage” for plant-based products, a move ProVeg Czechia argues will confuse consumers and harm plant-based businesses.

🥣 Researchers at Monash University have developed a nutrient-rich, plant-based "super-yoghurt" made from Australian sweet lupins and oats via probiotic fermentation.

🍄 Meati Foods has settled a class action lawsuit over claims it falsely advertised its products as “made from mushroom root” when they are actually made from Neurospora crassa, a type of mould.

Big Food

🔒 Oatly is closing its Singapore production facility as part of its global "asset-light strategy" to streamline operations and address mounting losses amid rising costs and supply chain challenges.

👩‍⚖️ Albertsons Cos has terminated its $24.6 billion merger with Kroger and filed a lawsuit alleging breach of agreement after court rulings in Oregon and Washington blocked the deal, citing antitrust concerns.

🇪🇺 Belgian dairy companies Vache Bleue Group and Flanders Food Production have merged to form a “new European cheese giant”. The European Dairy Company will expand production capacity and strengthen its market position across Europe.

From the Community

Find your next role:

• Pink Pear (remote) is looking for freelance copy / PR / campaign gurus.

• Prefer (Singapore) is hiring a Sales Intern

• Luya (Switzerland) are recruiting for a Product Developer

• Are you hiring? We can help spread the word. Hit reply and send us the link to apply.

🇺🇸 Calling US investors: Take part in Swissnex Deep Tech Investor Roadshow to dig into the Swiss Deep Tech ecosystem on a 5 day tour across 3 hubs. Find out more.

👋 Join us at a FoodHack Meetup in Istanbul (today) or Amsterdam on January 16th.

💦 The world’s first drought venture studio is on the hunt for agtech ideas to future proof farmers.

🎧 Is it true: "Everyone has written us off". Tune in to the "Eat for the Planet" podcast for honest conversations between 2 Founders.

🥬 Good watch: Why hydroponic farms are more circular with 95% less water and 0 pesticides.

☃️ Time lapse of the day, and Happy Holidays to all who celebrate.

Thank you for all your support this year.

Before you wrap up for the holidays, tell us what you thought of today’s edition:

I love it 😁 Meh 😐 I hate it 🙁

Until next time - Stay Hungry