Startup news and deals
๐บ๐ธย ๐ฅย Unicorn, an American startup, raised $5.8M for its wine and spirits (mostly whisky, from what we saw) collectors platform. Users can buy and sell bottles through auctions.
๐บ๐ธย ๐ Oishii, an American vertical farming startup, secured $15M In loans from the USDA to convert an old building into an energy-efficient vertical farm to produce its high-quality strawberries. This is part of the much larger trend in the US of public loans and grants to fund the energy transition.
๐ณ๐ฟ๐ฑ Jooules, a New Zealand startup, raised NZ$1M for its biomass fermentation process that โtransformsโ CO2 into proteins.
๐ซ๐ทย ๐ฝย KaryonFood, a French startup, raised โฌ1.3M to grow its tool that helps food companies and retailers to manage data better.
๐บ๐ธย ๐ย Shinkei, a US-based startup, raised $6M for its more humane and quality-preserving fish harvesting technology.
๐บ๐ธย ๐งช Caladan Bio, a US-based startup, raised $5M for its improved bioreactors that could increase the speed the speed of research and development. Bioreactors are one of the key bottlenecks of the alternative protein and, more broadly, synbio food ecosystems
๐บ๐ธย ๐งฌย Shiru, a US-based startup, unveiled its marketplace for proteins. Shiru โdiscoversโ proteins in plants and fungi. These proteins have functionalities close to animal proteins, such as casein, and can act as substitutes. On the marketplace, companies can buy samples or licence the use of the proteins. Just screening the marketplace is quite exciting. They are presented just like a list of products on Amazon, giving a glimpse of the โfuture of foodโ where all types of proteins (either natural or custom-made) will be available at the tap of a fingertip.
๐ฎ๐ณย ๐ฐSwiggy, one of Indiaโs leading food delivery startups, is planning a $1.25B IPO.
๐บ๐ธย ๐ Invent Analytics, an American startup, raised $17M for its AI-based inventory management solutions.
๐ณ๐ฌ๐ Chowdeck, a Nigerian startup, raised $2.5M to create a local food delivery leader.
๐ฌ๐ง๐พ Crobio, a British startup, raised โฌ1.45M for its soil microbes that increase the drought resilience of crops
Regulation & public support
๐บ๐ธย ๐งย Climax Foods, a US-based plant-based cheese startup, has won a food competition, only to be ultimately disqualified. Beyond, it shows the uneasiness around this topic of plant-based foods being judged as good as the โreal stuffโ.
๐ฐ๐ทย โ๏ธย South Korea is establishing a regulation-free special zone for cultivated meat production, aiming to create a regional hub.
