FoodTech Weekly #210 by Daniel S. Ruben

FoodTech Weekly #210

Hi there,

I’m actively trying to write these newsletters more succinctly. It’s hard. Law school corrupted me in that way.

This fall I’ll be moderating events and panels, and giving speeches, in e.g. London, Malmo, Stockholm, and New York. You can book me here.

I’ll also be giving a keynote at Gulfood Green Food For Future Summit (taking place on Sep 24-26 at Dubai World Trade Centre). More info and tickets here.

This week's rundown:

💰 De Novo Foodlabs hauls in $1.5M for its precision fermented lactoferrin
💰 Tidal pulls in funding for AI-powered aquaculture fish health solution
🐴 What horse milk ice-cream really tastes like

Let's go!

💰 Funding

🇩🇪 Root Global of Berlin, which runs a software platform that helps food and drink companies manage and reduce their GHG emissions, has bagged €8M (appr. $8.9M) in Seed funding, led by Point Nine and joined by e.g. Project A, HelloWorld, and Arc Investors.

🇫🇮 Collo of Tampere has banked €5M (appr. $5.5M) from FORWARD.one, Scale Capital, and SEB Greentech VC. The company helps cut emissions from beverage plants including dairy.

🇺🇸 De Novo Foodlabs, which produces a precision fermented version of lactoferrin, has raised $1.5M in Seed funding from Joyful Ventures; this brings the company’s total capital raised to $4M (from investors such as Sustainable Food Ventures, Siddhi Capital, and Cult Food Science).

🇸🇬 DiMuto, which uses blockchain, AI, and IoT to digitize and optimize the global agrifood supply chain, has scored $5.9M in Series A funding led by Yield Lab Asia Pacific.

🇺🇸 Tidal, which does AI for aquaculture fish health, has spun out from host organization X, the moonshot factory (owned by Google parent company Alphabet) and has reeled in an undisclosed investment from Perry Creek Capital, Ichthus Venture Capital, and Futurum Ventures.

🇮🇳 Agrizy of Bangalore has secured $9.8M in Series B funding to help digitalize agricultural processors in India. The company’s marketplace has been used by more than 2M small food processors and smallholder farmers since 2021, helping them e.g. access export markets by complying with global quality standards. The funding round was led by Accion and joined by e.g. Omnivore and Ankur Capital.

🧐 Noteworthy

🇪🇺 The European Commission has approved a €700M sustainability scheme by the government of the Netherlands that aims to compensate farmers who voluntarily close livestock farms, Green Queen reports.

🍟 Newcastle upon Tyne is waging war on junk food, e.g. banning takeaway / fast food restaurants in areas where more than 10% of children aged 10-11 are obese.

🐕 Calysta’s FeedKing Pet, an air-based protein, will soon be available to pet food manufacturers in Europe. Founded 10+ years ago, the company uses a microbe strain (a single-cell protein) that converts carbon and energy into non-GMO protein.

🫒 Olive oil frauds have spiked in Europe in 2024.

🍊 A German researcher has proven that the ‘Confetti Illusion’ actually does make fruit appear riper than it really is; the illusion happens when fruit is wrapped in a net that matches its optimal color.

🌍 News from the FoodTech Weekly community

👨🏻‍💻 Mycolever (Germany) is hiring a Founder Associate - Venture Development - Intern.

💡 BioBoosters announced the 10 startups selected for its accelerator program. This year’s focus was on topics related to smart farming and data management, robotics, soil and water management, as well as sustainability and carbon footprint in the food value chain.

🎤 Hadas Rajchenberg has built a helpful list of global FoodTech conferences in 2025:

Want to share some FoodTech news/project with other FoodTech Weekly subscribers? Hit reply.

🎲 Random Stuff

🐔 Researchers have found out that hens blush, and perhaps also why.

🐐 ‘Greece bans moving goats and sheep as “goat plague” spreads’.

🍦What does horse milk ice-cream taste like?

☁️ (H/t Marie Dollé):

🐟 Ocean fish are shrinking.

❤️ Raygun:

⚡ California has reached a new milestone: 100 days of 100% renewable energy. And Texas plans to build 35 GW of solar, wind, and battery capacity in the next 18 months; that’s 2x that of entire countries like the U.K. and Germany (h/t Azeem Azhar).

🥣 What do they serve at a restaurant in the Arctics?

🧀 Gouda of the Netherlands, home of the cheese with the same name, is sinking.

💸 Ouch:

​I love you.
Daniel

- - -

🎵 This issue was produced while listening to Monument - The Inevitable End Version by Robyn and Röyksopp.
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Disclosures: I'm founder of Solvable Syndicate. I’m an operating advisor to VC/investment firms Nordic FoodTech VC, Mudcake, and Blume Equity. I'm a mentor at accelerators Katapult Ocean, Big Idea Ventures, and Norrsken Accelerator. I'm an advisor to BIOMILQ, HackGroup, Hooked, Ignitia, Improvin, IRRIOT, Juicy Marbles, Lupinta, NitroCapt, Oceanium, petgood, Rootically, Stockeld Dreamery, Transship, VEAT, and Volta Greentech; in some of these startups, I have equity.

Boring disclaimer: The newsletter content is intended only to provide general and preliminary information to folks interested in FoodTech, and shall not be construed as the basis for any investment decision or strategy. I assume no liability in regards to any investment, divestment, or retention decision taken by readers of this newsletter content.