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16 FoodTech news to know this week (2025 – week #39)

Published on September 22, 2025

💸 Startup Funding News

🇫🇷 🌱 NXTFood, a French startup, raised €49M to scale its plant-based alternatives. It’s nice to see a sizeable deal in an otherwise depressed plant-based ecosystem.

🇷🇴 🧫 TerraWave, a Romanian startup, raised €1.2M to scale its production of fermentation-based protein for plant-based alternatives.

🇫🇷 🛒 La Fourche, a French online organic retailer, raised €31.5M to consolidate its leadership and move toward profitability.

🇬🇧 🤖 Nory, a UK hospitality AI startup, raised €31M Series B to automate restaurant operations.

🇩🇪 🌱 Bioweg, a German biotech, raised €16M to scale biodegradable alternatives to microplastics in food and cosmetics.

🇳🇴 🐄 Nofence, a Norwegian startup, raised £26M to scale the commercialisation of its virtual fencing system for livestock.

🇩🇰 🍄 Summ, a Danish startup, raised $2M to scale its fermented protein, which provided umami properties to plant-based alternatives.

🇺🇸 🍫 Alice Mushrooms, a US startup, raised $8M (notably from Unilever and celebrities) for its functional vegan chocolate (full of nootropics and adaptogens).

🇳🇱 🌻 Time Travelling Milkman, a Dutch startup, raised €2M to launch its dairy fat alternative. Using sunflower, it aims to make plant-based dairy products creamier and tastier.

🇸🇬 🌴 Terra Oleo, a Singapore-based startup, raised $3.1M for its palm oil and cocoa butter alternatives.

🇹🇿 🌾 Mazaohub, a Tanzanian startup, raised $2M to bring intelligence tools and data solutions to farmers.

 

🤝 Acquisitions, Partnerships & IP

🇺🇸 🍫 California Cultured secured a patent for its cocoa butter made via plant cell culture.

🇫🇷 🐛 Agronutris, a French startup working on insect farming, was acquired by La Compagnie des Insectes. Combined with a new funding of €10M from Agronutris’ investors, this will save the startup and keep its existing facility running.

 

📊 Leading Companies & Macro Trends

💉 Higher doses of Wegovy boost weight loss but also increase side effects.

🌍 🍫 Cocoa prices remain volatile, with climate change driving supply instability. This should sustain the wave of innovation that we have observed in the space for the past couple of years.

🇨🇭 👨‍💼 Nestlé’s new CEO, Philipp Navratil, signalled change, emphasising faster innovation and agility.

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What we did:

  • Mapping of the AgTech ecosystem: startups, research regulators, and other leading companies.
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