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15 FoodTech news to know this week (2025 – week #17)

Published on April 22, 2025

Startup Funding News

🇺🇸 🌿 IUNU, a US-based startup, raised $20M to scale its AI-driven automation tools for greenhouses, helping growers optimize lighting, irrigation, and forecasting. While most vertical farming startups have now disappeared, there is still a strong appetite for support tech for “non-vertical” indoor farming, which is still a big, and growing, market.

🇺🇸 🧊 RYL Tea, a US startup, raised $15M to expand its functional iced tea globally.

🇮🇳 🍪 Let’s Try, an Indian startup, raised $2.5M to expand its “guilt-free” snacks. Healthy snacks (and beverages) are definitely one of the hottest trends in terms of new brands, with a wave of exciting players emerging all over the world.

🇸🇬 🌸 Moom Health, a Singapore-based startup, raised $2.6M to expand its female-focused supplements and personalized wellness platform across Southeast Asia.

🇸🇪🌾 OlsAro, a Swedish startup, raised €2.5M to scale its crop breeding platform, enabling faster development of varieties resilient to climate shocks.

🇺🇸 📉 ClearCOGS, a US startup, raised $3.8M for its AI-powered forecasting software that helps restaurants cut food waste and improve margins.

🇨🇭 🐟 CatchFree, a Swiss startup, raised CHF 1.2M to scale its plant-based seafood, especially vegan smoked salmon made from local Swiss crops.

🇬🇧 🌾 Fotenix, a British startup, raised £2.1M to scale its on-farm plant health imaging system, giving real-time crop insights to growers.

🇺🇸 🍶 Hello Soju, a US startup, raised $6.8M to fuel its modern twist on Korean soju aimed at Gen Z and Millennial drinkers in the US and abroad.

Acquisitions, bankruptcies and partnerships

🇫🇷 🧬 Bel, the French cheesemaker, expands its partnership with Standing Ovation. The French startup, using precision fermentation to create caseins, will use Bel’s whey (a by-product of cheesemaking) as a feedstock.

🇬🇧 🥬 Jones Food, a British vertical farming startup, is placed into administration, following financial difficulties despite backing from Ocado and claims of being the “largest vertical farm in Europe.”

🇺🇸 📊 Crisp, a leading US player, acquired Atheon and ClearBox Analytics, two British companies, to boost its real-time data platform for CPG and foodservice supply chains.

🇬🇧 🥚 Just Egg, the well-known US startup, partners with Britain-based Vegan Food Group to launch Just’s plant-based egg products in Europe.

Leading Companies & Trends

🇨🇭 🧃 Nestlé launched a protein drink targeting users of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy.

🇺🇸 🛒 Premium food brands are reshaping shopping habits, with new data showing consumers shifting toward quality-over-quantity even amid inflation.

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