I hope you had the opportunity to enjoy summer! I surely did with a good break to Japan (as it was mostly a food tour with me spending my time testing out all the items available in convenience stores; does it count as a professional trip?). Anyway, that didn’t stop us from following FoodTech news, so here are our takeaways from what happened during the summer.
Here is the espresso version of the three main things you need to know (more below):
- Many sizeable deals happened during summer. Beyond sustainability (in agriculture notably), which was already a hot topic, we observe a surge in appetite for glucose management and sugar alternatives.
While this is not surprising in the wake of the success of GLP-1 drugs, It’s funny how many startups are rebranding themselves as “natural GLP-1 alternatives” and how much it works. The best example may be the sugar alternative ecosystem: two years ago, most investors thought it was impossible to reach scale and profitability. Now, everybody has such a startup in their portfolio.
Automation and robotics also seem to be back on track in their three components: agriculture (see the $130M+ deal below), notably with an angle on retrofitting, delivery (again, see the news below) and also on foodservice with the hype around Kernel (founded by Chipotle’s founder) and Sweetgreen robotic restaurants. - Things are moving forward in Europe regarding regulation for alternative proteins: after the UK authorised a startup using cellular agriculture for pet food in July, Impossible Foods is moving (and its precision fermentation-made ingredient) one step closer to being authorised.
- Shakeup in the food industry: Mars is taking over snack giant Kellanova, while Nestlé’s CEO is stepping down. While there is an appetite for healthier foods right now (as discussed above), it’s snacking products (mostly the unhealthy type) that are driving growth. Can large food companies play on both sides?
TOP 5 startup news and deals
🇺🇸💪 David, an American startup created by the founder of RxBAR (one of the most well-known food startup brand success stories with a $600M exit in 2018), raised $10M to develop a range of foods to “increase muscle and decrease fat”. It will soon launch a bar and then ice creams and salty snacks. It should definitely be added to the list of “startups to watch”.
🇺🇸🚜 Monarch Tractor, an American startup, raised $133M for its autonomous electric tractors. Automation, notably in farming, is one of the key topics to follow in the year ahead as it seems to be moving out of disillusion with meaningful applications and companies ready to scale.
🇬🇧 🥗 Zoe, a British startup, raised $15M to expand its personalised nutrition platform in the US. Zoé has developed a set of at-home blood, glucose and microbiome tests, which enables it to assess each ingredient and create recommendations for what to eat.
🇺🇸 🤖 Nuro, a US-based startup developing autonomous delivery cars, is planning a third generation of its vehicle. That’s good news for the unicorn, which had stopped manufacturing and seemed in bad shape.
🇫🇷🦠 Micropep, a French startup, raised $29M for its pesticides using micropeptides to target pests and pathogens precisely while reducing the need for chemical products.
Other startup news and deals
🇺🇸 🍽️ RxDiet, an American startup, raised $3M for its nutrition platform that creates personalised nutrition programs for users, covered by their health insurance, based on their health concerns and food preferences.
🇫🇷 🌱 Chiche, a French startup, raised €2M for its range of snacks made of roasted chickpeas and other legumes.
🇳🇱🌴 NoPalm Ingredients, a Dutch startup, raised €5M for its palm oil alternative made from yeast oils through fermentation.
🇺🇸 🌱 InnerPlant, an American startup, raised $30M for its crop genetic engineering technology, which improves distress signalling and allows early detection of stressors like pests, nutrient deficiencies, and fungal pressure.
🇸🇪💪 Maurten, a Swedish startup, raised €20M for its innovative hydrogel technology in sports nutrition and exploring new research applications.
🇺🇸 🌿 Applied Carbon, a US startup, raised $21.5M for its technology to improve soil health and enhance carbon sequestration.
🇩🇪🥛 Veganz Group, a German startup, raised €10M for its “ready to mix” oat milk.
🇸🇬 🥛 Oatside, a Singapore-based startup, raised $35M for its oat milk.
🇺🇸🌾 Leaf Agriculture, an American startup, raised $11.3M for developing a universal API to standardise agricultural data and improve interoperability.
🇮🇱🧃 Blue Tree Technologies, an Israeli startup, raised $2.26M for its sugar reduction technology for beverages. Sugar reduction technologies and alternatives to sugar are some of the brightest spots in the otherwise gloomy alternative protein ecosystem, with many investors taking an interest in these startups, which are at the intersection of food and health.
🇫🇮💧 Collo, a Finnish startup, raised €5M for its liquid analysis technology to optimise industrial liquid processes in the food and beverage industry.
🇺🇸🥛 De Novo Foodlabs, an American startup, raised $1.5M for its precision-fermented lactoferrin protein.
🇺🇸 🍳 HexClad, an American startup, raised $100M for its premium cookware brand. The deal combines cash and media for equity.
Regulation & public support
🇪🇺 🍔 Impossible Foods, the weel-known US-based plant-based meat startup, has received good news from the EU’s food safety regulatory body: it’s application for its precision fermentation-made ingredient (which gives the famous “bleeding” effect) is moving closer to be accepted in the old continent. Beyond Impossible’s case, it is also a major step forward for the whole precision fermentation ecosystem after a series of application rejections in the EU.
🇫🇷 🦆 Gourmey, the French cultivated foie gras (and meat) startup becomes the first to apply for regulatory approval in Europe for cellular agriculture.
Industry news & trends
🇺🇸 🍫 Mars, the snack giant, announced that it will acquire Kellanova (the owner of breakfast cereals and snacking brands such as Kellogg’s and Pringles). It shows the appetite of leading food companies for snacking, one of the food segment with the biggest potential for growth.
🇨🇭👤 Nestlé has a new CEO.
🇺🇸 🍔 Things are not going well for Beyond Meat. It appears that it has a hard time to pay its bills with 36% of its 2024 payments overdue.
