AgFunderNews reports on the evolution of the global food and agriculture system. By going beyond the headlines, we analyze the people, companies and technologies aiming to improve human and planetary health. Publishing daily, our team of award-winning journalists delivers deeper insight on the growing foodtech, agtech and climate tech industries. A multimedia publication, AgFunderNews is a division of AgFunder, one of the world’s most active agrifoodtech venture capital firms.
Innovafeed's $59m raise, UPSIDE Foods' $50m Believer assets bid, plant cell culture deep dive, futureproofing beer, natural capital, methane abatement
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This week: UPSIDE Foods has submitted a $50 million stalking horse bid for the US assets of distressed cultivated meat firm Believer Meats. Elsewhere, as weather shocks and geopolitical instability threaten ag supply chains, growing high-value botanicals indoors in bioreactors has obvious appeal. But does plant cell culture—which is used to make some well-known drugs—make commercial sense for food ingredients? Plus:
And finally…It’s the economy, stupid. Plant-based meat’s retail slowdown might not be as mysterious as we think, says guest contributor Paul Shapiro. Have a fantastic week! Louisa, Jenn, and Elaine And a big thanks to this week's sponsor: Other bidders have until July 20 to submit competing offers. Elaine Watson From Taxol to cocoa: Can plant cell culture make the leap from drugs to food? Could plant cell culture unlock a new category of "precision botanicals" or is it a "capital intensive money pit?" Elaine Watson Insect products must deliver nutritional and functional performances on top of sustainability benefits, says the firm Elaine Watson The Future Food & Agriculture Leadership Program, developed by INSEAD in partnership with Agrohub, is offering a limited number of partial scholarships for startup leaders. Eligible founders and senior executives can receive 30% off the course fee to join this advanced leadership development track. Designed for leaders already operating at scale, the program focuses on: The path to CEO: The strategic mindset required for top-level succession and enterprise leadership. Strategic scaling: Navigating global market dynamics, digital transformation and sustainable growth. Peer networking: Connecting and exchanging ideas with a high-level international cohort. Applications are open until July 31. To learn more, contact program manager Bogdan Popovich at bp@agrohub.org Ekonoke harnesses indoor hops farming to safeguard brewers’ supply chains The business model is to build indoor hop farms for clients, ideally near the latter’s brewing facilities. Jennifer Marston UK’s first public-private nature fund raises $86m to restore landscapes at scale Public funding alone can’t fill the massive nature financing gap, says environmental fund manager Finance Earth. Jennifer Marston Sixteen44 prepares farm demo for plasma-based methane abatement tech While its tech can work in settings from coal mines to landfill sites and manure lagoons, Sixteen44 is first testing its tech in dairy barns. Elaine Watson CryoVera's tech is inspired by an "extremophile organism" that can survive in extremely cold environments. Elaine Watson Guest article: What the obituaries for plant-based meat miss It's the economy stupid. Plant-based meat’s retail slowdown began just as inflation made shoppers more price-sensitive. By guest contributor Paul Shapiro AgriFood Signals: EIF commits $29m to Irish agrifoodtech, Aphea.Bio and Bayer team up, GLP-1 pills Plus: Insect ag co Goterra enters administration. Jennifer Marston See which technologies, ingredients, and ideas are gaining traction across the food system At IFT FIRST, scientific discovery meets commercial opportunity. Explore emerging ingredients, breakthrough technologies, and scalable solutions alongside the researchers, founders, and leaders turning ideas into market-ready products. Find out more and register here! Apeel founder on MAHA misinformation, layoffs, and a second act in post-harvest tech In MAHA world, facts that don’t fit pre-conceived narratives are discarded and conspiracy theories abound, says James Rogers. Elaine Watson FlyBox founder: Insect farming can work in Europe, but not as a VC-backed protein play FlyBox's Fortress is designed to tackle two of the biggest headaches that have dogged first-gen insect farms: climate control and capex. Elaine Watson Reservoir’s Danny Bernstein says we’re ‘entering the golden age of robotics’ in agriculture Reservoir's Danny Bernstein discusses the evolution of farm robotics to multi-task, multi-crop machines and the role of VC in this space. Jennifer Marston
Solinftec links Cuba, Brazil, US and China in LatAm farms expansion - Featuring Solinftec! Bnamericas Dubai’s circular GigaFarm vertical facility nears first harvest - Featuring Intelligent Growth Solutions! Eurofruit
Scramble for biofuel as oil prices rise ‘could push world closer to food crisis’ The Guardian What foods do GLP-1 users actually like? FoodNavigator-USA Kennedy: Defining ultra-processed foods is first step toward reshaping Americans' diets Agri-Pulse Nestlé deepens work on climate-resilient coffee with high-yielding Robusta varieties Green Queen Why sustainable finance hasn’t moved the needle on climate change Bloomberg The new billionaire bet isn't AI, it's longevity biotech Forbes What’s driving autonomy adoption in agriculture? CropLife New World Screwworm returns to the US, decades after eradication Civil Eats AgFunder is opening its portfolio to a select group of investors and corporate partners for a morning of fast-paced, back-to-back 1:1 meetings in San Francisco on June 23. Fifteen minutes each. No panels, no pitches to a room, no wasted time. Just direct, substantive conversations with founders who are actively looking for what you can offer. Find out more and sign up here! NEW! 2026 Global AgriFoodTech Investment Report 2025 Developing Markets AgriFoodTech Investment Report 2025 Global AgriFoodTech Investment Report 10 years in agrifoodtech: an 83-page e-zine Climate Capital: Financing Adaptation Pathways for Smallholder Farmers Solinftec (Araçatuba, São Paulo, Brazil) Faeth Therapeutics (San Francisco, California, US/remote) Aerobotics (Cape Town, South Africa) Tepbac (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam) Field investigator, operations Varaha (Bhattiprolu, India) Eratani (Jakarta, Indonesia) Klim (Berlin, Germany) ♥️ our newsletter? Forward to a friend or subscribe here |
AgFunderNews
AgFunderNews reports on the evolution of the global food and agriculture system. By going beyond the headlines, we analyze the people, companies and technologies aiming to improve human and planetary health. Publishing daily, our team of award-winning journalists delivers deeper insight on the growing foodtech, agtech and climate tech industries. A multimedia publication, AgFunderNews is a division of AgFunder, one of the world’s most active agrifoodtech venture capital firms.
Express interest in investing in Fund V. AgFunder is a top 100 VC, according to TIME and Statista. Is your business ready for AI analytics? Find out more here. A high-profile startup making plant-based coatings to extend the shelf-life of fresh produce, Apeel was “an American success story until MAHA influencers sank it,” according to a recent headline in The Free Press. A brief look at the timeline suggests things are a little more complicated. However, three years spent battling social...
Express interest in investing in Fund V. AgFunder is a top 100 VC, according to TIME and Statista. Is your business ready for AI analytics? Find out more here. Two years after emerging from bankruptcy, biomanufacturing specialist Amyris is not yet profitable, but is a “drastically different company," says CEO Kathy Fortmann. Elsewhere, California-based Windfall Bio—a startup with tech to convert waste methane from farms and landfill sites into organic fertilizer—has ceased operations and is...
Express interest in investing in Fund V. AgFunder is a top 100 VC, according to TIME and Statista. Is your business ready for AI analytics? Find out more here. This week: From MAHA’s glyphosate tug-of-war with Trump to patent cliffs to rising fertilizer costs, the cracks in the use of traditional crop inputs are starting to resemble fault lines, says Jenn. And mainstream investors are now paying attention, notably Y Combinator CEO Gary Tan. Elsewhere, could novel lipid-based tech unlock a new...