๐ฌ๐งย ๐ผย Huel, the UK-based meal replacement startup, raised $24M. This new round, at a $560M valuation, is quite impressive. It is also a rebuttal to those who thought that meal replacement was dead as a business. For the year ending in July 2022, the company sold for $170M! It should become a case study for all wannabe food entrepreneurs. These figures show that, as for many other businesses, the โwinnerโ maybe not be the startup which was there first or which raised the biggest amount of money (in both cases, the US-based Soylent).
๐บ๐ธย ๐ฅย ย Full Harvest, a B2B marketplace to connect farmers and produce buyers for imperfect produce, acquired FarmersWeb, a platform used by farmers to manage their sales and inventory.
๐ซ๐ทย ๐บย Yeasty, a French startup, raised โฌ1.4M for its solution to upcycle beer yeast into an edible protein. It aims at producing up to 5,000 tons/year by 2025.
๐ฉ๐ชย ๐ฅฌย Infarm, the German indoor farming startup, is announcing a new round of layoffs. It is closing or downsizing half its hubs worldwide. Faced with rising energy costs and a more difficult funding environment, the startup is now focused on finding a path toward profitability. Interestingly, this is presented as a strategy shift (hence finding a path to profitability was not at the heart of the startupโs strategy previously?)
๐บ๐ธย ๐ย Verdant, a US agriculture analytics and plant treatment startup, raised $46.5M. Attached to the back of a tractor, the hardware can detect and eliminate weeds while reducing the amount of chemicals by up to 95%.
๐ฎ๐ณย ๐งโ๐พย DeHaat, an Indian startup, raised $60M for its platforms of services addressed to farmers. It is already helping 1,5 million of them to find raw materials, advice, and sell crops.
๐ฎ๐ฑย ๐ย BeeHero, an Israeli startup, raised $42M for its solution of precision pollination.
๐ฌ๐งย ๐ฆ ย Zoe, a UK-based startup, raised ยฃ25M for its precision nutrition platform.
๐ณ๐ฌย ๐ฝ๏ธย Orda, a Nigerian startup, raised $3.4M for its solution to help African restaurants to digitize from the point of sale the inventory.
๐ซ๐ทย ๐งย Microphyt, the French startup using algae to create new ingredients, raised โฌ15M, notably from LโOrรฉal. ย As for other startups, it shows how ingredient startups have a stronger path for their growth in beauty products rather than food, at least in the first stages.
