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11 notable deals and things to know this week (2023 – week #16)

Published on April 18, 2023

đŸ‡«đŸ‡·Â đŸœÂ Ynsect, one of France’s world-leading insect startups, raised €160M in a downturn (a decrease in the valuation). With the funds, it will refocus on 3 key markets, with some layoffs, and on profitability.

đŸ‡źđŸ‡łÂ đŸœïžÂ Curefoods, an Indian virtual restaurant and cloud kitchen startup, raised $36M. It operates multiple brands in more than 150 kitchens all over India.

đŸ‡łđŸ‡±đŸ„›The “soda tax” in the Netherlands will increase by 196%, and it will affect much plant-based milk (such as oat milk) due to its nutritional composition. On the one hand, it looks bad in a context where looking for alternatives is more than necessary. However, it also acts as a reminder that much plant-based milk has very poor nutritional values combined with an ingredient list that is far from perfect.

đŸ‡ș🇾 🚜 Carbon Robotics, a US-based startup, raised $30M for its weeding robots using lasers. It comes as a substitution for mechanical (or human) weeding and spraying.

đŸ‡©đŸ‡Ș 🧊 Magnotherm, a German startup, raised €6.3M for its innovative beverage refrigerator. It may look strange, but creating sustainable and scalable new technologies for cooling is a key challenge for the food industry.

🇩đŸ‡șÂ đŸ‡©đŸ‡ȘÂ đŸ’„Â Another week, another couple of delivery crashes:

đŸ‡șđŸ‡žÂ đŸ§«Â Liberation Labs, a US startup, is raising $30M in “equipment financing” to develop shared capabilities for precision fermentation. For more on this topic, look at our note on the future of bioreactors in the cloud.

đŸ‡ș🇾 🧟 Delivery robots are not dead as 2 US startups raised funding:

đŸ‡ș🇾 📩 It is the end for Tupperware. The history of this company is quite fascinating. It invented a new product and, more importantly, a new way to market it. This is a true inspiration for innovators: it is not enough to reinvent the market once.

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