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19 FoodTech insights and deals to know this week (2026 – week #26)

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Published on June 22, 2026

💸 Funding News

 

🦠🇫🇮 Solar Foods, a Finnish startup, obtained a €77.8M grant and loan package from Business Finland to build its second factory and scale production of Solein, its protein grown from captured CO₂.

 

🥛🇳🇱 Vivici, a Dutch startup, raised €12.5M from the European Innovation Council (EIC) to scale its production of dairy proteins through precision fermentation.

 

🌱🇩🇪 Seqana, a German startup, raised €3.2M (including a grant from ESA, the European Space Agency) for its satellite-based carbon and soil health platform. This confirms the trend we highlighted in a recent insight on the convergence of space-tech and AgriFoodTech.

 

🌽🇧🇪 Rainbow Crops, a Belgian startup, raised €9.7M for its gene-editing platform that improves yield and climate resilience in corn and other key crops.

 

🦐🇮🇳 Aquapulse, an Indian startup, raised ~$476K for its platform supporting shrimp farming with the goal to increase market access.

 

🧬🇺🇸 Neion Bio, a US startup, raised $23M for its genetic engineering platform to turn chicken eggs into production systems for complex glycosylated proteins (biologics). It targets applications in innovative medicines and animal health.

 

🌾🇨🇦 Picketa, a Canadian startup, raised $1.5M for its portable spectroscopy device that measures crop nutrients in minutes directly in the field.

 

🌿🇨🇭 OneSoil, a Swiss startup, raised €1M for its precision farming platform and AI assistant for farmers, which enables field monitoring, productivity analysis…

 

💪 🇮🇪 Hexis, an Irish startup, raised $2.1M for its personalised nutrition app for athletes. The platform integrates with wearables and fitness trackers to generate customised plans based on training data.

 

💊🇮🇳 TruNativ, an Indian startup, raised $30M for its D2C nutrition brand focused on everyday protein and fibre supplements that can be mixed into cooking.

 

🪸🇺🇸 Algae Cooking Club, a US startup, raised $11.6M for its cooking oils made from algae, featuring a high smoke point of 535°F and an omega-9 fat profile.

 

🍽️🇮🇹 Bestie Bite, an Italian startup, raised €1.5M for its video reviews app, which helps users discover restaurants.

 

🚚🇸🇦 Pickappo, a Saudi startup, raised $530K for its logistics technology platform, which provides digital infrastructure connecting delivery providers, merchants, and restaurants.

 

⭐ Acquisitions, Regulation, Bankruptcies & Partnerships

 

🥬🇺🇸 AeroFarms, a US vertical farming startup, was acquired by Palm Ventures for undisclosed terms. AeroFarms had previously filed for bankruptcy in 2023 and was part of the wave of vertical/indoor farming players going bust as they were unable to reach profitability.

 

🥩🇪🇺 The EU Parliament passed a ban on meat-related terms for plant-based and cultivated products by a large majority. The regulation reserves terms like “beef,” “steak,” “chicken,” or “breast” exclusively for animal-derived products, though “burger,”

“nuggets,” and “sausage” remain available to plant-based producers. The text still needs EU Council approval before entering into force.

 

🍫🇬🇧 Nukoko, a British cocoa-free chocolate startup, was acquired by Döhler, the German ingredients group.

 

🥇 Leading Companies

 

🍴🇫🇷 TripAdvisor agreed to sell TheFork to American Express for $700M. TheFork is Europe’s leading restaurant reservation platform, operating across 12 countries. This follows multiple deals in previous years where Amex acquired similar platforms in the US to pursue its strategy of offering exclusive deals and experiences to its cardholders.

 

🍕🇺🇸 Yum Brands sold Pizza Hut for $2.7bn to refocus on its key brands KFC and Taco Bell. Private equity firm LongRange Capital will acquire the global operations (ex-China) for $1.5bn, while Yum China buys the Chinese arm for $1.2bn, a market where Pizza Hut has been growing steadily, while the US business is declining.

 

🥛🇸🇪 Oatly, the Swedish oat milk brand, shifted its marketing strategy away from its signature wordy billboards toward a digital-first approach centred on live cultural events and beverage experiences targeting Gen Z and Gen Alpha. First, this has helped the company to reduce advertising. Also, it shows a bigger shift: Oatly doesn’t want to be the sole driver of change and the category educator.

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