Startup news and deals
๐งฌย ๐ฌ๐ง Basecamp Research, a British startup, raised $60M for its protein discovery platform. It gathers information worldwide and builds a large dataset that can be explored for biotech, pharma and agriculture applications.
๐พย ๐ฎ๐น xFarm Technologies, a leading Italian startup, raised โฌ36M for its digital platform, which supports farmers in all their operations, from managing expenses to using sensor data or satellite imagery to better manage their farms.
๐ญ๐จ๐ญ Planetary, a Swiss startup, raised โฌ3.5M from Cosun, an agricultural cooperative focused on plant-based ingredients, to scale its fermentation technology.
2๏ธโฃ๐ทย ๐ซ๐ท Moderato, a French startup, raised over โฌ3M for its no-low alcohol wines. Also, French Bloom, another French startup, raised an undisclosed amount from LVMH for its alcohol-free, sparkling wine offerings.
๐ย ๐บ๐ธ The Jackfruit Company, an American startup, raised $5M in a Series B extension for its jackfruit-based alternative meat alternatives.
๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฑ Blue Radix, a Dutch startup, raised โฌ5M for its AI solutions that optimise greenhouse management for growers.
๐ด๐น๐ท Paket Mutfak, a Turkish startup, raised $2.7M for its cloud kitchen and food delivery operations.
๐ซย ๐บ๐ธ California Cultured, an American startup, raised an undisclosed but โsignificantโ amount from Sparkalis, Belgium bakery giant Puratosโ CVC, for its lab-grown cocoa.
๐ฅย ๐บ๐ธย Tiamat Sciences, a US-based startup using molecular farming to develop ingredients that could be used in other alternative protein processes (such as growth factors), is shutting down as it was unable to attract additional funding.
Regulation & public support
๐ฌ๐งย ๐ฐย UK food regulatory agency, the FSA, has been awarded ยฃ1.6M from the government to introduce a regulatory sandbox to facilitate the approval process for lab-grown and cultivated meat. 5 companies have already applied for regulatory approval in the UK.
๐ซ๐ทย ๐ฅย EUโs top courts have ruled that France cannot ban the use of โmeatyโ words for plant-based foods. Thatโs a strong win for French companies fearing that they would be treated unfairly.
Industry news & trends
๐บ๐ธย ๐ฑNoom, a US-based weight-loss app, with a subscription-based model, is now offering GLP-1 drugs (weight-loss drugs such as Wegovy and Ozempic) to help its users change their diet behaviour.
๐ฌ๐งย ๐พย Taittinger, a famous champagne house, is now actively producing sparking wine in the UK. The first bottles will be sold in the Spring.
