Startup news and deals
🇮🇩🐟 eFishery, an Indonesia-based startup providing tech-driven aquaculture solutions to improve fish farming efficiency, has difficulty raising additional funding. Once, one of the leading unicorns of the region, the startup is suspected to have committed fraud, notably by inflating revenues significantly. Now, investors are considering options as drastic as a liquidation.
🇺🇸 🏭 Liberation Labs, a US-based startup, raised an additional $50.5M to move forward on constructing what it says will be the world’s largest precision fermentation facility. Also, it already plans to expand in Saudi Arabia. This is not an isolated move: the Gulf countries, through their sovereign funds, are investing heavily in synthetic biology, positioning themselves to become a production hub in the coming decades.
🇩🇰 🧬 Enduro Genetics, a Danish startup, raised €12M for its technology that can potentially increase the scalability of biomanufacturing while reducing costs.
🇺🇸🌾 Edacious, a US-based startup, raised $8.1M to develop technology that measures and maps nutrient density in whole foods.
🇺🇸🥛 PlantBaby, the US-based startup behind the brand Kiki Milk, raised $4.4M to expand its plant-based, dairy-free milk explicitly designed for children.
🇪🇸🐟 KOA Biotech, a Spanish startup, raised €2M for its autonomous device to detect aquaculture infections.
🇺🇸🍼 Biomilq, a US-based startup known to be one of the first to venture into the space of cellular agriculture applied to human milk to develop improved infant formula, filed for bankruptcy. This follows an intellectual property dispute, and more broadly, it is happening in a context where doubts are rising on the scalability of cellular agriculture, notably compared to other technologies.
🇺🇸 ♻️ Macrocycle, a US startup, raised $6.5M for their chemical recycling process to transform plastic waste into virgin-grade plastic without emissions.
🇧🇪🌾 BiocSol, a Belgian startup, raised €4.4M for its sustainable crop production solutions.
Regulation & public support
🇨🇳 China has launched a national centre, backed by $11M of government funding, to accelerate innovation in cellular agriculture for meat production.
🇪🇺 Europe’s food safety body has approved Duckweed as a novel food ingredient, opening the door to alternative protein and functional food applications in the region.
🍬 Yuka, the popular food-scanning app, is now highlighting products containing aspartame, citing its potential cancer risks, putting pressure on food brands to reformulate products, and notably exploring alternative sweeteners. This should add to the existing hype in this category.
🇬🇧 A new Oxford University study supports a meat tax in Europe, citing health benefits and reduced environmental impact. Although the meat industry is expected to lobby heavily against such a tax, it could accelerate demand for plant-based and cultivated meat alternatives while reducing agriculture’s environmental impact.
