Startup news and deals
๐บ๐ธ๐ Oishii, a US-based vertical farming startup focused on high-end fruits and vegetables, raised $134M. This startup, known for its qualitative (and expensive) strawberries, is interesting as it bet on a very different strategy from other vertical farming startups: it focused on complicated and seasonal produce such as strawberries and tomatoes, and also on quality. Other players are mainly competing on low-value produce such as leafy greens and never succeeding in creating a brand as strong as Oishii. With the funding, it will expand its production and its portfolio of products. It is definitely a startup to keep on your radar.
๐ฌ๐งย ๐ป Mondra, a British startup, raised ยฃ3.6M for its food supply chain decarbonisation platform.
๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฑ Day 8, an Israeli startup, raised $750K for its technology to extract rubisco, an enzyme that is present in all green plants, and sell it as a source of protein.
๐ซ๐ท ๐ฑ La Fourche, a French startup, raised โฌ24M for its subscription-based organic online grocery business.
๐จ๐ฟย ๐ฝ ย Choice, a Czech startup, raised โฌ2.3M for its platform aimed at helping restaurants digitise their customer base and increase retention.
๐บ๐ธย ๐ย Smallhold, a US-based vertical farming mushroom cultivation startup, filed for bankruptcy. This comes after financial difficulties due to increasing operational costs and the departure of one of its co-founders. It has raised almost $54M since being founded in 2017. This doesnโt come as a surprise, as the startup was at the intersection of two categories that have been doing extremely poorly in the past year: vertical farming and alternative proteins with mycelium/mushroom.
Regulation & public support
๐ช๐ธย ๐ย Cataloniaโs regional government is investing โฌ12M in a pre-industrial facility dedicated to extracting, producing, and developing alternative protein ingredients and foods. We often get asked how Spain has succeeded in developing such an attractive alternative protein ecosystem: we think the implication of different regions competing to attract talent through this kind of smart scheme combined with a strong food B2B ecosystem is a part of the answer.
๐ซ๐ทย โ๏ธย France has banned (again) the use of certain names such as steak, sausage or bacon for plant-based meat alternatives. As the previous attempt, it only targets products made in France and not those imported. It will be contested, but if the ban succeeds, it will limit the (already limited) growth of the local plant-based industry.
Industry news ย & trends
๐ช๐บย ๐ฆย VFC Vegan Food Group (VFG), a British group of plant-based companies, announced the acquisition of Germany-based Tofutown. This will create a new European leader with revenues beyond โฌ100M. This follows similar concentration deals that have either been revealed recently or which are in the making. The plant-based space will eventually concentrate around a handful of companies owning both strong brands and the production facilities required to make profits with these products.
๐บ๐ธย โ๏ธย JBS, the world’s largest meat processor, is being sued by the U.S. state of New York over its net-zero claims. The state demands that JBS stop making misleading environmental claims.
๐บ๐ธย ๐ย Users of the weight-loss shot Ozempic are cutting their grocery spending by up to 9%, causing concern for snack food makers.
๐ย ๐ย There are now more than 1 billion obese and almost 2 million overweight people globally, according to a WHO study. The whole study is quite interesting; you can access it here.
