🇮🇱 🌽 Equinom, an Israeli startup, raised $35M (it has now raised $71M) for its enhanced crops. It is one of the few startups using non-GMO to create new varieties of crops that could answer the need of plant-based product manufacturers for better-suited crops.
🇨🇱 🥛 NotCo, the Chilean unicorn that develops plant-based products, raised $70M for its B2B platform. Other companies will then be able to use NotCo platform’s ability to discover how different ingredients combine to create new plant-based products. This evolution from B2C (NotCo’s mayo, milk, meat, and ice cream alternatives are widely available across the Americas) to B2B is quite unique in the plant-based ecosystem. It could be the beacon of a broader change as many companies struggle to scale (whereas food giants struggle to create appealing plant-based alternatives).
🇩🇪 🚴♂️ Food Delivery is dead… long live food delivery. Circle, a Germany-based food delivery startup, raised €11M for its reinterpretation of meal delivery. It has created kitchen hubs which can cook up to 100 (fresh?) meals and deliver them directly to consumers. We observe a flurry of new meal delivery platforms with new supposed benefits (often some or all of these four: sustainability, ethics, price or quality). This reminds us of the time when specialized booking platforms were sprouting with the same kind of supposed benefits… only to disappear in a few months.
🇪🇸 💳 CoverManager, a Spanish startup, raised €17M for its restaurant management software platform. It helps owners to manage operations, notably all the streams of online bookings. CoverManager is a part of our Spanish FoodTech TOP 20 (released last month), have a look at the other 19 exciting startups in the ranking.
🇵🇱 🥑 Fresh Inset, a Polish startup, raised $2.1M for its technology to extend fruit & vegetable shelf life. With a simple sticker on the product or its packaging, it slows the ripening process.
🇺🇸 🥤 Poppi, an American prebiotic drink brand, raised $25M for its sodas. These are notably made with apple cider vinegar. This confirms the growing success of this “magical” ingredient used in a growing number of better-for-you food products.
🇺🇸 🐄 ArkeaBio, a US-based startup, raised $12M for its vaccine for cows which is said to reduce the animal’s methane emissions by up to 80%. This is comparable to the rates indicated by startups working on algae supplements (such as Volta Greentech in Sweden). This kind of new short-term solution to the environmental problem caused by animal farming is quite exciting and is definitely a space to follow in the year to come.
