This week, Germany’s Green Generation Fund landed more capital to invest in alt-protein startups, while Israeli foodtech firm Phytolon scored funding for its natural food coloring tech.
In the food delivery realm, Amazon bought a stake in Grubhub; while two other players were raided by EU authorities over antitrust concerns.
Foodtech funding
🇮🇱 DSM Venturing leads $14.5 million Series A round for Israeli tech firm Phytolon. Phytolon hopes to have its food coloring alternative in the market by 2023. (Food Navigator)
🇩🇪 Project Eaden lands €8 million ($8.1 million) seed round led by Creandum. Newly emerged from stealth, Project Eaden plans to bring its alt-protein products, starting with animal-free steaks, to retail shelves in 2023. (EU Startups)
🇫🇷 Hors Normes grabs €7 million ($7.1 million) to tackle food waste. The French startup recovers fruits and vegetables discarded by producers and resells them to consumers at a discount. (EU Startups)
🇺🇸 Steeped Coffee reaches $5 million Republic crowdfunding campaign goal in less than 48 hours. Accredited investors can also take part in “a new limited Steeped Coffee Reg D offering” on the same platform. (Republic)
🇮🇳 Fireside Ventures leads $5 million pre-Series A for The Baker’s Dozen. The Mumbai-based direct-to-consumer bakery brand will use the new funds for product development, team building, and marketing, among other things. (VCCircle)
🇮🇱 Investment platform OurCrowd leads $3.2 million seed round for Maolac. The latter employs a “proteomics discovery platform” to create superfoods based on the health benefits found in breast milk. (CTech)
🇳🇱 Recipe personalization platform Verdify snags €800,000 ($815,000) in seed investment. Brave New Food Investments invested alongside existing shareholders Brightlands Venture Partners and Joles. (StartLife)
🇧🇷 Veg Capital invests 1 million reals ($184,000) into plant-based protein startup Conví Foods. The capital injection took place via Vegan Business, an equity crowdfunding platform for plant-based startups in Brazil. (Vegconomist)
Agtech funding
🇬🇧 Crop gene-editing startup Tropic Biosciences grabs $35 million to accelerate its go-to-market plans. Swiss impact investor Blue Horizon led the bridge round. (AFN)
🇬🇧 Agrifintech player Oxbury raises £20 million ($23.8 million). Frontier Agriculture and Hutchinsons Group participated in the round along with existing Oxbury investors Hambro Perks and Grosvenor Food & AgTech. (AltFi)
🇺🇸 Fyto raises $15 million Series A for aquatic “superplants.” GV led the round with participation from existing investors AgFunder, Refactor Capital, First Star Ventures, and Bolt. (AFN) [Disclosure: AgFunder is AFN’s parent company.]
🇺🇸 Virridy lands $5.5 million Series A to address water insecurity in Africa. The new capital will go towards accelerating development of the startup’s satellite-connected sensors for managing water, energy, and other agricultural resources. (AFN)
🇩🇪 Climate tech startup Pina Earth nabs $2.5 million. XAnge led the seed round, which Pina Earth will use to further build out its platform for forestry carbon credits in the EU. (TechCrunch)
M&A, IPOs & partnerships
🇺🇸 Amazon takes a small stake in Grubhub. The latter’s owner Just Eat Takeaway is exploring a partial or full sale of the delivery service. (Nation’s Restaurant News)
🇬🇧 Beverage major Diageo buys flavor-tech company Vivanda. Diageo will implement the latter’s flavor-mapping tech across its business. (Food Dive)
🇺🇸🇲🇽 Hazel Technologies partners with Divine Flavor to preserve table grape shelf life. Divine, the largest importer of Mexican grapes into the US, will use Hazel’s signature shelf-life sachets to extend produce lifespan. (Fresh Plaza)
Funds, grants & accelerators
🇩🇪 Green Generation Fund raises £100 million ($120 million) to support alt-protein startups. The fund has already invested in eight companies, including Biomilq and Change Foods. (Vegconomist)
🇺🇸 Simple Food Ventures marks $6 million first close. The firm is targeting $15 million in total for its fund focused on health-forward food and beverage startups. (Food Business News)
🇺🇸 California allocates $5 million to alt-protein R&D. The funds, part of the California Budget Act of 2022, will be disbursed across University of California Los Angeles, UC Berkeley, and UC Davis schools. (The Spoon)
Other news
🇩🇪🇪🇸 EU antitrust regulators raid Delivery Hero and Glovo. The European Commission said earlier there were concerns the online food delivery companies may form a cartel. (Reuters)
🇫🇷 Ÿnsect to accelerate production of lesser mealworm for human consumption. The French insect farming startup received a positive assessment from the European Food Safety Authority. (Ÿnsect)
🇺🇸 Grain trading platform Bushel launches digital payments service. Bushel hopes to digitalize the process of moving money between farmers and buyers, fostering faster, more reliable transactions. (AFN)
🇬🇧 FlexFarming partners with grocery chain Aldi to supply indoor-grown strawberries. The company’s lofty goal is to eventually supply all UK shoppers with the bulk of their berries. (Vertical Farm Daily)
