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16 FoodTech news to know this week (2024 – week #50)

Published on December 11, 2024

Startup news and deals

🇫🇷🌱 Lactips, a French startup, raised €16M to expand the production and commercialisation of its biodegradable, water-soluble plastic alternatives made from dairy proteins.

🇩🇪🍫 Planet A Foods, a German startup, raised €30M to scale its cocoa-free chocolate alternative made of sustainable and plant-based ingredients.

🇺🇸🧪 Celleste Bio, a US-based startup, raised $4.5M, notably from Mondelez, to scale its plant-cell technology to create alternatives to cocoa. As mentioned in one of our recent insights, chocolate alternatives are among the hottest spaces in FoodTech right now, with a growing number of startups. What is really different from other alternative protein spaces is the very high interest large corporations have taken to the space with partnerships and investments.

🇬🇧📦 Cerve, a UK-based startup, raised €4.2M to digitise and streamline the global food supply chain.

🇫🇷🌾 Kapsera, a French startup, raised €5M to scale its microcapsule technology for sustainable agriculture. Its microcapsules are used to deliver active substances like biopesticides or fertilisers more efficiently.

🇬🇧 🌍 Everest Carbon, a UK-based carbon tech startup, raised $3M to scale its enhanced rock weathering (ERW) sensors for measuring carbon removal.

🇪🇸🌱 HEMAV, a Spanish startup, raised €8M for its platform for sustainable agriculture, enabling data-driven decisions for farmers to optimise yields and reduce environmental impact.

🇫🇷📱 Tabesto, a French startup specialising in self-service ordering kiosks, was acquired by Deliverect, a Belgium unicorn developing digital ordering solutions for restaurants.

🇨🇱🧪 Luyef, a Chilean startup, raised $1.25M to create nutrients for cultivated meat using fermentation and agricultural by-products.

Regulation & public support

🇮🇱 🥛 Imagindairy, an Israeli startup, received regulatory approval to sell its precision fermentation whey protein in Israel.

🇩🇰 🐄 Denmark’s parliament passed a carbon tax on meat.

🇨🇳 🍼 All G, an Australian startup has received Chinese regulatory approval for its precision fermentation-derived lactoferrin.

Industry new & trends

🇳🇱🥦 Unilever announced it will be selling The Vegetarian Butcher, one of Europe’s leading plant-based brands, signaling a strategic shift away from plant-based meat alternatives.

🇺🇸 📉 Cargill, the commodity giant, is laying off 5% of its workforce as part of a larger restructuring plan following profit declines linked to volatile commodity markets and inflation pressures.

🌍 💉 The global diabetes epidemic continues to grow, with over 800 million adults affected in 2022, many without access to treatment.

🌍 ⚖️ New research on intermittent fasting shows some results for weight loss, but no other convincing benefits for the general health.

 

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