๐บ๐ธ๐ฑ AgroSpheres, a US startup, raised $25M to build a pilot facility for its biopesticides which are delivered encapsulated to plants, reducing the quantity required.
๐จ๐ฆย ๐ฅกย Fantuan, a Canadian startup, raised $40M for its Chinese food delivery service. Ethic delivery marketplaces (delivery apps targeting minority populations with a dedicated offering of groceries and/or cooked meals) is one of the rare food delivery categories doing particularly well (due to higher margins and less competition). There are still many underserved communities, notably in Europe which could benefit from such dedicated apps.
๐ณ๐ฑ ๐งช Farmless, a Dutch startup, raised โฌ4.8M to build a pilot plant for its biomass fermentation process. It creates a new source of proteins by feeding microorganisms with a mixture of CO2, hydrogen, nitrogen, and renewable energy.
๐ฉ๐ช๐ Milano Vice, a German startup, raised โฌ9M for its virtual restaurant brand centred on pizzas. With this funding, it wants to expand across Germany and beyond.
๐บ๐ธย ๐ย McDonaldโs is piloting a new beverage-focused type of location named CosMc’s. It is interesting to observe that the competition in this space (coffee joints / third place between home and office) is so hot that it drives a giant such as McDonaldโs to create a new dedicated brand.
๐ฌ๐งย ๐ฐย The UK government announced a ยฃ2B plan dedicated to new biology-related technologies, among which cellular agriculture and different types of fermentation are mentioned as key components.
๐ธ๐ฌ๐ฅฉ Meatiply, a Singaporean startup, raised $3.75M for its cultivated meat products with health benefits.
๐บ๐ธ ๐ Clever Carnivore, a US-based startup, raised $7M to commercialise their pork meat made through cellular agriculture
๐ฆ๐ชย ๐ฌ๐งย ๐ฟย IGS, a British startup developing tech solutions for vertical farms, will power ReFarm, a GigaFarm that will be built in the UAE to replace 1% of the countryโs fresh produce imports.
๐ซ๐ทย ๐ฝ๏ธ Carbon Maps, a French startup developing carbon accounting tools for food CPG companies, raised an additional โฌ2M to expand its seed round to โฌ7M.
๐ซ๐ทย โ๏ธย Tasty Cloud, a French startup developing digital menus for restaurants, is being acquired by Lundi Matin, a French ePOS provider.
๐ฌ๐งย ๐ฑ Agricarbon, a UK-based startup, raised ยฃ9M for its soil carbon measurement services. Measuring carbon in the soil is a key component of regenerative agriculture. Indeed, if we donโt measure the impact of the new practices put in place by farmers, we canโt value them correctly (through carbon credits and other incentives)
๐บ๐ธย ๐คย Travis Kalanick, Uber founder and former CEO, is developing a restaurant automation and robotics business named Lab37.