Welcome to Q4. As usual, I dug through my emails and bookmarked articles from the past three months to summarize what happened in the food and agriculture startup world last quarter.
Gotham Greens has raised $ 310 million to build a greenhouse in the United States. Switzerland’s Planted cashed in his $72 million to launch whole-cut vegan chicken breasts, and refurbishing companies like Yard Stick and ReGrow are partnering for the USDA’s Climate-Smart Commodities initiative. have benefited from
Instead of providing a detailed overview of the biggest deals in these sectors, we pick up two recent developments in subsectors.
mushroom magic
Mushrooms are amazing. I love eating them, watching them sprout in random places after a rain shower, and reading about the magical underground network that sustains a vibrant forest. In our view, mushrooms are already amazing, and an ever-growing number of startups are trying to build on one of nature’s greatest inventions.
A popular startup venture is a pipeline from mushrooms to meat. Innovators use mycelium, the root-like structure in which fungi grow, to develop plant-based proteins with a structure and texture similar to meat. opened a farm. This farm can produce nearly £ 3 million a year with a hyphax -based bacon. Colorado-based Meati Foods, which he closed a $150 million Series C to boost sales, began selling in retail stores this summer. Meati duplicates the whole cut meat such as cutlets and steaks. This is the holy grail necessary for the industry to compete with meat consumption.
Could these mushroom meat newcomers capture healthier, more naturally focused consumer segments for plant-based foods?
In Europe, Meati’s rival Adamo Foods raised $650,000 to refine a unique fermentation process that also aims to produce whole-cut steaks from mycelium. Mushlabs also announced a partnership with Bitburger Brewery Group, one of Germany’s largest beer makers, to upcycle by-products from beer production into protein.
The promise of this fast-growing alternative protein sub-sector is more natural with better taste, texture and cleaner ingredient labels compared to the Impossible and Beyond artificial products that currently dominate the market. It’s about creating products. I haven’t tried enough mycelium-based products to fully appreciate how good or potential they are.But the plant-based market is plateauing. Based on this growing concern, I’m curious to see if these new entrants can capture a healthier, naturally focused consumer segment.
Returning to nature’s original version of perhaps the most hype-worthy product, I was thrilled to see Brussels-based Eclo raise $4.6 million to expand production. and upcycle bread waste into substrates that can grow exotic mushrooms and microgreens on urban farms. I want to put one of them in the neighborhood.
Fresh Fertilizer Formulation
Fertilizers have received more attention this year as Russia’s war in Ukraine disrupted the global supply chain of traditional fertilizers such as potash, urea and ammonia, followed by skyrocketing prices.
Investors and start-ups reacted and supported alternative solutions. Aqua-Yield raised $23 million in Series A for him to expand its ‘nano liquid’ technology. This product helps plants better absorb liquid inputs such as fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides. According to the startup, the innovation will allow farmers to reduce inputs by 25-50% without sacrificing yield.
In San Francisco, Nitricity raised $20.8 million for developing a technology that produces nitrogen fertilizer from only air, water and renewable energy. He promises nitrogen production and diversification and electrification, and operates two pilot facilities in California.
Pivot Bio also brought innovation in the nitrogen field. The company has launched a new kind of nitrogen fertilizer that the farmers add directly to the seeds before purchasing seeds. The innovation will lead to more efficient applications and healthier, more resilient crops, according to the startup. It could help farmers around the world move away from synthetic nitrogen fertilizers that often leak into the surrounding environment.
Finnish cleantech startup Tracegrow is a circular movement that extracts certified organic fertilizer from spent alkaline batteries. This summer, we welcomed a private fund procurement round from Nordic Food Tech VC. Circulation -type innovation is directly reflected in his EU strategy of increasing organic production.
We are excited that these new fertilizers have come from such a different starting point, and we look forward to working with them in the coming years, especially as a more holistic approach to cultivating healthy soil through regenerative agriculture takes hold. I believe that the focus will be gathered in the field. movement.
