15 deals you should know that happened in the past 5 weeks
Quite unusually, the summer was active in terms of deals. Here are the 15 most interesting ones:
🇨🇦 🤖 BinSentry, a Canadian startup, raised an impressive $50M (quite remarkable in the current funding context) to expand its livestock feed monitoring platform, which leverages sensors to enable farmers to make better logistics decisions.
🇺🇸 🍄 The Better Meat Co., a US startup, raised $31M the production of its mycoprotein ingredient to be used in meat and plant-based products. Again, quite an impressive amount, even more in the context of rising doubts on the potential for mycoprotein applications after a succession of failures.
🇮🇳 🏍️ Zepto, an Indian quick-commerce (10 minutes or less) grocery delivery startup, ~$46M. The startup is also rumoured to be planning a larger $400-500M fundraising at a $7B valuation, showing that there is still a large appetite for the growing grocery delivery market in India.
🇺🇸 🍱 Hyphen, a US startup, raised $25M to scale its robotised makeline system for restaurants. After Chipotle, it’s now CAVA, the fast-growing restaurant chain that is joining Hyphen’s list of investors. This is the first time a food robotic solution is gaining significant traction from established market leaders.
🇺🇸 🧬 Geltor, a US startup, raised new funds (about $20M) to scale its collagen production (through precision fermentation), targeting the food and cosmetics markets seeking a non-animal high-quality alternative.
🇮🇪 🔐 Keychain, an Irish startup, raised $30M to expand its platform designed to help CPG manufacturers manage their supply chain.
🇦🇹 🐟 Revo Foods, an Austrian startup, secured €1.6M via crowdfunding to scale its 3D-printed alt-seafood products.
🇮🇳 🧾 Fairdeal, an Indian B2B commerce platform, raised $3M to expand in new areas. It serves small retailers by delivering them inventory.
🇬🇧 🍫 Win-Win, a UK startup, raised £3M to scale its cocoa-free chocolate made with sustainable ingredients.
🇳🇴 🤖 Remora Robotics, a Norwegian startup, raised €13.7M to scale its automated fish health monitoring platform. Its robots clean and monitor aquaculture nets.
🇺🇸 🌾 Farmers Business Network raised $50M to expand its ag services and lending solutions.
🇬🇧 🍞 Modern Baker, a British startup, raised €2.8M to scale healthier ultra-processed foods (UPFs). It licenses its technology to food manufacturers to help them create UPF food products with better nutritional profiles.
🇬🇷 🥡 Stiq, a Greek startup, raised €20M to scale its operating system for virtual restaurants, notably including demand forecasting, inventory and operation optimisation.
🇺🇸 🌿 Bioconsortia, a US biofertilizer startup, raised $15M to scale its nitrogen-fixing microbial seed treatment.
Cascading bankruptcies and failures
First, in the summer, there was a series of bankruptcies. Notably, Planetarians (biomass fermentation) and NovoNutrients (CO2 to protein fermentation) shut down. These two startups, operating in the broad alternative protein ecosystem, received funding in the past but were unable to attract new capital, confirming the ongoing decrease in investments in that space.
We observed a very significant uptick in failures in the past months. Upon reviewing our database, we notice that many startups that should have raised money last year have not done so. As funding is contracting again, this creates the conditions for yet another gloomy semester.
Beyond emerging startups, the current difficulties also affect leaders. The quarterly results of players like Oatly or Beyond Meat were again quite disappointing. So much so that there are now rumours of an eventual bankruptcy of the latter. Being in a situation where you must deny an impending failure is not an enviable position.
Big moves among leaders
In an environment which is far from being ideal for innovators, we could have expected large companies to pause their investments in future technologies. Actually, we are observing the opposite, with an acceleration of the number of announcements of meaningful acquisitions, partnerships and other initiatives.
🇺🇸 🧬 Merck unveiled a new edible membrane tech scaffolding with application in cultivated meat whole-cuts. The technology will be spun out in an independent company.
🇩🇪 🧫 GEA, a German equipment manufacturer, opened a $20M new tech centre to support fermentation and cultivated meat development in the US.
🇺🇸 🚁 Chipotle and Zipline launched “Zipotle,” an aerial food delivery service.
🇺🇸 🇳🇱 🧃 Keurig Dr Pepper will acquire JDE Peet’s, the world’s leading coffee and tea company (with an impressive portfolio of brands), in a $18B deal.
🇫🇷 🇳🇿 🧀 Lactalis (France) acquired Fonterra’s (NZ) consumer business for $2.2B, reinforcing its global leadership in dairy.
🇯🇵 🇹🇭 🐟 Mitsubishi to boost stake in Thai Union, strengthening its global seafood portfolio.
🇺🇸 💧 Health-Ade Kombucha was acquired by Generous Brands for $500M.
