🇦🇺 📷 Clove, an Australian startup, raised $4.15M for its AI-powered recipe platform. Users will have free access to recipes and an option to buy the products. While many (many) startups have tried to develop innovative recipe websites and apps over the years and have mostly failed to create any sustainable business model around it, I am impressed by the ability of this team to raise such a high level of funding on an idea (the app doesn’t exist yet).
🇩🇪 📉 Infarm, Europe’s only vertical farming unicorn, is facing difficulties despite having raised $500M. This fascinating article gives some insights into what has gone wrong. One indication is the almost absence of revenue: in 2021, Infarm generated €8M for 127.8M of losses. It says it wants to pivot to a B2B model (like many other vertical farming startups), but it seems complicated to imagine how it will be possible as most of the employees have been let go, and the farms have been shut down.
🇮🇳 🍎 Vegrow, an Indian startup, raised $46M for its fresh produce B2B marketplace. This is again a show of strength of the Indian ecosystem, notably for its numerous fresh food marketplaces. It is one of the world’s most innovative places for this platform, which connects growers and sellers.
🇪🇺 💸 The European Union has committed €50M to aid startups and small businesses scale alternative protein production, focusing on precision fermentation.
🇫🇷 🧪 Spore.Bio, a French startup, raised €8M to enable quicker detection of bacteria in food and pharmaceutical products.
🇩🇰 🤖 Seasony, a Danish startup, raised €1.5M for its robotic solutions for vertical farming.
🇺🇸 🔗 Keychain, an American startup, raised $18M for its platform that helps CPG brands find manufacturing partners.
🇫🇷 🔬 Inalve, a French startup, raised €2M for its microalgae production on biofilm.
🇫🇷 💰Fraîche Cancan, a French virtual canteen startup, was acquired by Neocorner, a provider of coffee and vending machines. This comes after the startup was put into administration.
🇫🇷 ♻️ Dionymer, a French startup, raised €1.5M to upcycle organic waste into biodegradable polymers.
