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- FoodTech Weekly #247 by Daniel S. Ruben
FoodTech Weekly #247 by Daniel S. Ruben
News on FoodTech, food, and society
Daniel S. Ruben
May 23, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 13 minutes
In partnership with
#247
Hi there,
This week's rundown:
💸 Millions invested in two startups fighting food waste
💧 Verdi scores $4.7M to help farmers remotely monitor and manage water
🐄 Flying Swiss cows (not a Toblerone stunt)
Let's go!
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💰 Funding
🇩🇪 Freshflow has closed a €6.5M ($7.3M) Seed round, co-led by World Fund, Capnamic, and Venture Stars, and joined by Caesar Ventures. The company’s AI powered platform automates daily ordering decisions for fresh produce, leading to average waste reductions of around 20%, and revenue increases of 2-5%.
🇺🇸 TerraBlaster has raised $3M led by Khosla Ventures. The company can ‘blast’ the soil with lasers, breaking molecules into ions, allowing the company to read soil nutrients instantly.
🇨🇦 Verdi has banked $4.7M in fresh funding led by SVG Ventures, and joined by a number of other funds. The company builds devices that integrate with existing irrigation systems, allowing farmers to remotely monitor watering and turn water valves on and off.
🇨🇴 Enthos Circular Feed Technologies, which grows Black Soldier Flies as alternative aquafeed, has scored an undisclosed amount of investment from Ocean 14 Capital Fund and S2G Investments.
🇺🇸 Metafoodx has bagged $9.4M in funding, led by Trustbridge Partners and joined by BlueRun Ventures and ScalableVision Capital. The company provides a 3D scanner and analytic platform that helps commercial kitchens to reduce food waste.
Metafoodx
🎙️ Investment Climate: Adam Greenberg of Iunu on how to get funded in 2025
This week, Alex Shandrovsky met with Adam Greenberg, CEO of Iunu. The company just raised $20M with S2G Investments as lead investor. Iunu’s goal is to drive efficiencies and optimization, allowing everybody access to fresh local produce year-round, using tools like AI and machine vision.
Top three findings from this conversation:
Frugality and Integrity as Leadership Cornerstones. ‘ We're pretty frugal as a company. We're the best in the world of service. But when it comes to what we do internally, we try to be as frugal as possible, 'cause we have to make the money go as far as possible. In leadership, it's all about being able to show with actions. So every single day when you work with your team, you gotta put them first. For example, when I'm in town, at the headquarters in Seattle, I'll clean the toilets and wash the dishes. Why? Because if they see me doing that and know that I'm willing to do that, we're all willing to do whatever it takes to win.’
Investor Trust is Built on Logic, Not Hype. ‘ I'm not very good at communicating with investors. I am good at always doing the right thing… and having a why for every decision. Too many people are so grounded that they don’t have big ideas. Too many people are so aspirational that they aren’t grounded. You have to do both.’
Proving Market-Making Potential in a “Small” Sector. Adam addressed investor objections that indoor agriculture is a small market by showing how his tech can unlock growth and transform the economics. ‘I think most investors don't understand that or truly understand how to make a market. So we fundamentally shift the economics of greenhouse growing, and it's more profitable to be a greenhouse grower.’
🧐 Noteworthy
🤝 Vevolution, a platform connecting startups and investors in FoodTech/bioeconomy, has been acquired by VC firm Big Idea Ventures.
🤑 Redstick Ventures has closed a CAD$ 6.5M ($5M) first fund to invest in early-stage FoodTech startups.
💉 The food industry is being squeezed by GLP-1 drugs, as the weight loss drug users are cutting consumption of e.g. snack foods by 40% to 60%, making fewer restaurant visits, and reducing spending on alcohol.
🔗 U.S. dairy giant Chobani has acquired plant-based brand Daily Harvest for an undisclosed sum. The latter had raised north of $130M to date.
🏛 Mosa Meat has filed for regulatory approval in the U.K. for its cultivated beef fat ingredient. The filing comes 12 years after the company founder, Dr. Mark Post, unveiled the world’s first cultivated beef burger in London (which then cost $300K per burger patty).
Dr. Mark Post with ‘that’ burger in 2013. Image: Mosa Meat, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
🌍 News from the FoodTech Weekly community
👨🏻💻 GFI Europe (🇪🇺/ remote ) is hiring a Research Analyst.
🇸🇪 If you’re a Swedish food industry entrepreneur (SME or large company) wanting to signal to policymakers and authorities what type of testing and demo equipment you need to develop and scale up new products, please respond to this survey by May 30.
📄 Rebread has launched a new report, Crumbling the Barriers Vol. II, where they analyze Europe’s top 50 retailers companies and examine how they deal with food waste, with a particular focus on bread (the most commonly wasted food in Europe). The report also presents upcycled food solutions as a viable method of reducing waste in retail.
Want to share some FoodTech news/project with other FoodTech Weekly subscribers? Hit reply.
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🎲 Random Stuff
🇸🇮 Slovenian police announced that a statue of the country’s most famous export ever (no, not the Juicy Marbles plant-based steak), Melania Trump, has been stolen from her hometown of Sevnica.
🌶 U.S. researchers have discovered an anti-spice compound in chilli peppers that they hope could eventually lead to the development of an anti-spice condiment.
🚁 Swiss authorities evacuated the village of Blatten in Löchschental valley after a mountain peak was at the risk of collapsing, which could cause a landslide to hit the village. At least one cow, Loni, got a casual helicopter ride out:
🐙 Scientists have developed an octopus-inspired soft robot that works with just suction and fluid flow.
🕺 The Optimus robot can really dance:
🤢 KFC has teamed up with London-based restaurant Hackney Gelato to produce a Gravy Gelato.
🤩 A dude built a working Wallace & Gromit breakfast contraption in real life, and it’s glorious:
I love you.
Daniel
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🎵 This issue was produced while listening to Everloving by Moby.
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