This week, French foodtech Fungu’it raised $4.6 million to transform agricultural by-products using filamentous fungi, while Swedish startup BlueRedGold netted $3.1 million to commercialize indoor saffron production through robotics and automation.
Elsewhere, Tetra Pak opened a new tech centre to fast-track fermentation-derived foods and Planted inaugurated a cutting-edge facility for plant-based meat production in southern Germany.
Startup funding
🇺🇸 Seafood robotics company Shinkei Systems raises $22m in Series A funding round SeafoodSource
🇳🇱 Rival Foods raises $11.6m Series B to scale shear cell tech for plant-based whole cuts AgFunderNews
🇨🇦 Future Fields raises $8m Series A to expand fruit fly biomanufacturing platform: ‘Clients come to us because they’ve struggled to make proteins in legacy platforms’ AgFunderNews [Disclosure: AgFunderNews’ parent company AgFunder is an investor in Future Fields.]
🇫🇷 Fungu’it raises $4.6m to transform agricultural by-products into natural flavourings Tech.eu
🇸🇪 BlueRedGold raises $3.1m to commercialize indoor saffron production through robotics and automation Robotics and Automation News
🇫🇮 Helsinki’s Ovido secures $2.7m seed funding to expand AI-powered compliance platform Arctic Startup
🇺🇸 St. Louis agtech firm Saluna raises $1.5m to advance hemp crop development St.Louis Inno
🇫🇮 Helsinki-based startup Nvelop closes $1.4m seed round to tackle procurement inefficiencies Arctic Startup
🇬🇷 Greece’s Plan(e)t Foods raises $1.2m to scale its functional plant-based ice cream Vegconomist
M&A, IPOs & partnerships
🇩🇰🇩🇪 Boards of representatives in Arla and DMK Group approve merger plan Arla
🇬🇧🇯🇵 Hoxton Farms teams up with Mitsui Chemicals to lower cultivated fat COGS AgFunderNews
🇬🇧🇺🇸 Phytoform and Corteva partner on AI to boost disease resistance in corn AgFunderNews
🇺🇸 Micropep and Corteva partner to accelerate growth of peptide-based biocontrol solutions AgFunderNews
🇺🇸 Infomercial exec Yasir Abdul emerges as prospective buyer for Meati as firm navigates ABC process AgFunderNews
🇸🇮🇦🇹 Plant-based brands collaborate in ‘mature era’ of alt meat, says Revo Foods of ‘Juicy Marbles & Friends’ launch AgFunderNews
Funds, grants & accelerators
🇸🇪 Tetra Pak opens new food technology centre to fast-track fermentation-derived foods Protein Production Technology
🇧🇪 Biotope Ventures reaches $5.8m first close for Fund II The Next Leap
🇭🇷 BOSQAR INVEST raises record €143.2M in Sustainability-Linked Bond issuance in Croatia Tech.eu
People moves
🇸🇪 Sweden Foodtech founder Johan Jörgensen hands over company leadership LinkedIn
Other News
🇺🇸 FDA says GM pigs safe to eat Nature.com
🇨🇭🇩🇪 Planted opens cutting-edge production facility for plant-based meat in southern Germany Swiss Food and Nutrition Valley
🇺🇸 Kraft Heinz to remove all artificial dyes by end of 2027 Bloomberg
🇦🇺 Australia approves cell-based meat for sale in regulatory milestone for start-up Vow FoodBev Media
🇺🇸 Kipster adopts in-ovo sexing to maintain no-cull commitment amid infrastructure challenges AgTechNavigator
🇩🇪 Over 100 stakeholders endorse plant-based diets for climate action at pre-COP30 conference Vegconomist
🇨🇳 JD.com eyes expansion into food delivery, global markets Tech In Asia
🇮🇳 Zepto ‘not delaying’ IPO plans; finding opportune moment to raise $800m Fortune India
🇰🇷🇺🇸 UNLIMEAT Launches “bbang,” a Korean-inspired plan-based dessert brand, in the U.S. Newsfile
🇨🇦 New School Foods expands plant-based manufacturing technology to red meat Ingredients Insight
🇺🇸 Von Holzhausen launches “Ripple Shoe” made from biodegradable Liquidplant material Vegconomist
The post The Week in AgriFoodTech: Fungu’it bags $4.6m, indoor saffron farming blooms, GM pigs deemed ‘safe’ appeared first on AgFunderNews.
