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18 FoodTech news to know this week (2025 – week #44)

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Published on October 27, 2025

💸 Startup Funding News: robots are (finally) getting deployed

 

🇺🇸 🤖 Carbon Robotics, a US startup, raised $20M for its weeding robots. Agricultural automation (from robots to retrofitting technologies for existing tractors) is doing exceptionally well this year, notably amid otherwise declining agrifoodtech funding. Increasing workforce constraints (related to tighter immigration policies) are making these technologies economically viable. Interestingly, we haven’t yet observed any spillovers in foodservice automation. But as the same causes often yield similar results, we wouldn’t be surprised to see more investment and partnership announcements in this space.

 

🇨🇳 🚚 Neolix, a Chinese startup, raised $600M+ to scale autonomous street-level delivery in China. This could finally be “the autonomous” delivery moment.

 

🇩🇰 🍄 MATR Foods, a Danish startup, raised €40M (€20M in equity, €20M in debt) to expand the production of its plant-based meat alternatives made through solid-state fermentation (the new “hyped” sub-category of biomass fermentation).

 

🇫🇷 🧀 Nutropy, a French startup, raised €7M for its caseins (key cheesemaking proteins) made through precision fermentation.

 

🇬🇧 🥦 UPP (Upcycled Plant Power), a British startup, raised £1.5M to commercialise broccoli protein extracted from crop waste.

 

🇺🇸 🌽 Plastomics, a US-based startup, raised $5.8M for its crop editing technology that adds yields and resistance traits.

 

🇺🇸 🌱 TRACT, a US startup, raised $18.6M to grow its platform that connects global agrifood companies to help them monitor risks along their supply chains.

 

🇬🇧 🌍 Mondra, a British startup, raised €11.8M to scale its intelligence platform used by both retailers and suppliers to monitor their supply chain.

 

🇯🇵 🥬 Secai Marche, a Japanese startup, raised $6M to scale its farm-to-retail B2B platform across Southeast Asia, improving fresh supply chains and traceability.

 

🇴🇲 🍽️ KitchenomiKs, an Oman-based startup, raised $3.2M to expand its cloud-kitchen network across the Gulf region.

 

🇮🇩 🍔 Hangry, an Indonesian startup, raised $10.5M to grow its multi-brand virtual restaurant and delivery platform.

 

🤝 Acquisitions, Regulation, Bankruptcies & Partnerships

🇪🇺 🌾 PepsiCo × Soil Capital (Belgium-based startup) partner to scale regenerative agriculture in Europe via agronomy support and farmer incentives.

 

🇫🇷 🧀 Bel Group × Standing Ovation announced that they are now moving to industrialise their collaboration. They leverage BEL’s whey waste as feedstock for the startup’s precision fermentation process, which produces caseins, which are then used again in cheesemaking.

 

🇩🇪🧪 Symrise invested in Cellibre, a US-based startup focused on precision fermentation. Symrise will support the startup’s commercialisation efforts in natural flavour and cosmetic bioactives.

 

🇸🇪 🧀 Stockeld Dreamery, a Dutch plant-based cheese startup, shut down despite having raised $20M.

 

🇦🇪 🧫 Vivici (Dutch company with large dairy/ingredient company shareholders) and The EVERY Co (US-startup), two precision fermentation players, explore a 4M-liter precision-fermentation facility in the UAE.

 

📊 Leading Companies & Macro Trends

🇺🇸 🥛 Chobani, the US Greek yoghurt giant, raised $650M to fuel innovation and capacity (RTD coffee, creamers, adjacencies).

 

👶 📉 For Danone’s CEO, the food industry is at a “tipping point” driven by demographic changes, health concerns, and advances in nutrition science. It is renewing its focus on science-based, health-oriented food innovations.

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