Startup news and deals
๐บ๐ธ๐Meati, a US-based startup, raised $100M (the largest round in alternative proteins since 2022) to sustain its growth in retail. Meati uses biomass fermentation to produce meat alternatives that are now distributed in thousands of stores in the US.
๐บ๐ธ๐ซ Voyage Foods, a US-based startup, raised $52M for its plant-based, allergen-free and climate-friendly (its milk chocolate alternative produces 84% less emissions than the โreal thingโ) ingredients for snacks. It creates alternatives to chocolate, peanut butter, etc., through its own brand but also for B2B applications. With $94 raised in total, it leads the ever-growing category of startups applying alternative protein technologies to plants.
๐บ๐ธ๐ฑ ArkeaBio, a U.S.-based startup, raised $26.5M for its methane-reducing livestock vaccine. This opens a new area of exploration for methane reduction beyond supplements.
๐ฌ๐ง๐ง Hexis, a British startup, raised ยฃ1,6M for its service for athletes that translates the data gathered from wearables into personalised nutrition advice.
๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฅฉ Profuse, an Israeli startup, received โฌ2.4M in grants for the development of a supplement to be used in culture medium for cellular agriculture, which speeds the growth of cultivated meat.
๐ฉ๐ชย ๐ฟ Insempra, a German startup, raised โฌ20M for its technology that turns oil yeast into lipids through fermentation. These lipids target applications in cosmetics and food, notably in antioxydants, preservatives, and flavours.
๐ซ๐ทย ๐ณย An older news that we missed from last month: Anycommerce, a French PoS solution provider, formerly known as Wynd, was acquired from ChapsVision for a rumoured โฌ12.5M. Thatโs quite a low figure for a startup that raised above โฌ100M and was once seen as among the most promising French startups. It may be one of the most interesting and less documented stories of startup deception and over-valuation in the European ecosystem.
Industry news & trends
๐บ๐ธย ๐ย Interesting read about the opportunities created by Ozempic and other GLP-1 drugs in terms of food innovation. As we said in last weekโs newsletter, this has the potential to disrupt many categories, and it definitely should be at the top of your watchlist.
๐ธ๐ชย ๐ฅย Oatly has cut losses in Q1 2024, while sales (slightly) improved.
๐บ๐ธย ๐ย Beyond Meat announced its 8th consecutive quarter of sales decline. However, losses were also reduced, and it hopes that 2024 will be โpivotalโ (letโs hope it will be, otherwise, the future looks bleak as the company has accumulated a large $1B+ debt).
๐บ๐ธย ๐ย Publicly traded delivery startups had a good quarter:
