⚡ Weed-Zapping Robotics

Nearly 3 billion people are either overweight or obese. Yet current GLP-1 drugs remain inaccessible or unaffordable for many, with significant side effects.

Enter Lembas, who are flipping the script with their food-grade bioactive, GLP-1 Edge, designed to help your body naturally regulate appetite and metabolism, by triggering the production of GLP-1 and other gut hormones that regulate appetite and metabolism.

With $3.6 million in pre-seed funding, Lembas came out of stealth this week and is set to stir up the $560 billion weight management industry.

“The discovery of GLP-1 is the biggest disruptor the food industry has faced in decades. Lembas is the first science-backed company enabling food players to seize this disruptive opportunity by setting a new bar for food-as-medicine," says Gil Horsky of FLORA Ventures. 

This week in FoodTech:

 🌾 What’s hot (or not) in AgTech 2025
🍕 The US economy explained in pizza
🦠 Burger King’s smart/gross marketing

The Digest

👀 Interesting: A new Tufts University study reveals that media coverage of the USDA's 2023 approvals of cultivated meat emphasised its benefits and legitimacy. However, this has since shifted amid rising misinformation, political pushback, and framing issues that shape public perception and policy.

🧬 Researchers at the University of Tokyo have found that free amino acids, especially glutamic acid, play a key role in shaping the flavour of cultivated beef, with levels doubling those in conventional meat, potentially offering a way to enhance taste through controlled cell culture conditions.

🧆 The US FDA is reportedly preparing to define ultra-processed foods to support clearer labelling and healthier market competition.

🎧️ Good listen: This week’s episode of Another ClimateTech Podcast discusses how universities are reshaping the future of food.

🌾 Is AgTech even relevant in 2025? Scroll through the slides and key takeaways for what’s hot and not so hot in AgTech.

🍕 What America’s pizza economy is telling us about the real one.

New in Funding

🤖 LA-based Coco Robotics raised $80 million to scale its zero-emissions last-mile delivery robots, which have completed over 500,000 deliveries and now operate in partnership with OpenAI to provide real-world data for AI model training.

🥕 Israeli startup Tastewise closed its Series B funding round with $50 million. It will use the funds to scale its AI-powered platform that helps global food companies develop successful products, reduce food waste, and stay ahead of consumer trends.

⚡️ RootWave raised $15 million in a funding round led by Clay Capital to expand its tractor-mounted electric weed-killing technology internationally beyond the UK’s permanent tree crop market.

🍅 Tomato sauce brand Sauz secured $12 million in a funding round led by Cavu Consumer Partners to expand its retail presence, launch new flavours, and strengthen its appeal to Gen-Z consumers “seeking unique culinary experiences”.

🚰 Dutch startup Aquablu, which offers smart, sustainable workplace hydration systems, raised €7 million seed funding, including €1.1 million pledged live on the Dutch Dragons podcast, to support international expansion, R&D, and automation as it scales toward €100 million in revenue by 2028.

🥡 Indian fast-food chain Wow! Momo Foods secured $10.2 million in debt financing from Stride Ventures to expand its store network, grow its FMCG and HoReCa segments, and strengthen its multi-brand presence across India.

💊 Israeli startup Lembas emerged from stealth with $3.6 million pre-seed funding to develop “GLP-1 Edge,” a bioactive peptide that mimics the appetite-suppressing effects of fatty foods by stimulating gut hormones like GLP-1, offering a natural, calorie-free alternative to weight loss drugs.

🥛 Portuguese startup PFx Biotech raised €2.5 million seed funding, matching a recent €2.5 million EU grant, to scale its yeast-based human milk protein production. It uses precision fermentation to create bioidentical milk proteins, like lactoferrin, for applications ranging from infant formula to elderly health and sports performance.

💶 Belgian AI startup Polysense secured €2 million seed funding to scale its waste-reducing, efficiency-boosting technology for food manufacturers, designed to enable faster defect detection and smarter process control.

🍫 Irish startup Home Chocolat secured a Feasibility Grant and an Innovation Voucher to advance its smart chocolate-tempering appliance and collaborate with experts to enhance chocolate-making tools across Europe.

New in Startups

🧬 UC Davis spinout Amplifye launched its first product: an enzyme called P24, designed to enhance protein digestion and unlock health benefits like improved glucose control, better sleep, and increased amino acid absorption.

🌾 Dutch food tech MaGie Creations debuted PowerBond, which it claims is the world’s first food-grade emulsifier made from upcycled brewer’s grain, offering a clean-label, sustainable alternative to synthetic emulsifiers for use in a variety of food products.

🥗 Czech unicorn Rohlik launched Veloq, an AI-powered grocery fulfillment platform developed from its own high-growth operations, offering grocers a modular, end-to-end solution for scalable same-day delivery with automation, forecasting, and real-time logistics optimisation.

🤝 UK-based gene editing startup Phytoform is partnering with ag giant Corteva to use its AI-powered CRE.AI.TIVE platform to enhance disease resistance in corn by activating native genes without introducing GMO traits.

📽️ Good watch: Is the next evolution in food storage technology an underground fridge?

🥔 TL;DR: How the humble potato changed the world.

Plant Based

🐐 Football legend Tom Brady debuted Goat Gummies, an organic, vegan fruit-based snack, in partnership with Gopuff, following a multi-year collaboration and his investment in the delivery platform.

🍔 Impossible Foods is reportedly considering entering the blended meat space to draw in more flexitarian consumers.

🥑 British charity Viva! launched a “Halfway Heroes” campaign, urging meat-eaters to go 50% plant-based and showcasing the ease and flavour of plant-based eating through a UK tour with free plant-based burgers from THIS.

Big Food

🚪GEA opened its New Food Application and Technology Center in Wisconsin to help companies develop and scale cellular agriculture processes, offering flexible bioreactors and advanced fermentation systems for producing alternative proteins and novel food products.

🐟️ Nestlé’s Institute of Agricultural Sciences is joining forces with research teams in the UK and New Zealand to explore integrated multi-trophic aquaculture as a sustainable food production method, with potential benefits for biodiversity, water quality, carbon reduction, and alternative packaging materials.

🍤 High Liner Foods is acquiring the Mrs. Paul’s and Van de Kamp’s seafood brands from Conagra for $55 million, aiming to strengthen its presence in the US retail market and build on its existing co-manufacturing relationship.

🥚 August Egg Company has recalled 1.7 million dozen eggs in the US due to potential Salmonella contamination linked to an ongoing outbreak.

🦠 Is this the smartest “gross” marketing move by Burger King?

From the Community

Get hired in FoodTech

• Planet A Foods is hiring for 5 roles in R&D 

• Hoxton Farms is looking to fill 3 job roles

• Roquette (USA) is recruiting in its R&D team

• Mercy For Animals is hiring its President

👋 Join us at the next FoodHack Meetup in Dubai or Lisbon on 17th June. Sign up here.

🦒 A not so graceful FoodTech exit

We always love to hear from you. What did you think of today’s newsletter?

I love it 😁 Meh 😐 I hate it 🙁

Until next time - Stay Hungry