Hi there,

If you’re going to The Drop, don’t forget to sign up for the Ripple I’m hosting with Sarah Jones of Zero Carbon Capital, “Decarbonising agriculture: how do we solve nitrous oxide emissions from fertilisers?” — sign up here.

This week's rundown:

🐟 SuperGround banks funding to turn fish and chicken sidestreams into protein
💡Orchard Robotics nabs $22M for AI system that helps farmers make crop decisions
🤝 Trading trash for food in India

Let's go!

Frustrated by the food market concentration reducing consumer choice, blocking out smaller food producers, and forcing farms and food companies to shut down due to lack of distribution, Swedish farmer Jens Thulin decided to do something about it. Mylla was born — a SaaS platform and marketplace enabling producers to sell directly to consumers, businesses and the public sector. To learn more, I recently spoke to Jens — read the full convo here.

🇫🇮 SuperGround has extended its round with an extra €1.15M ($1.34M), bringing the total to €3.65M ($4.25M). The extension round was led by CHECK25 Impact and Propeller Ventures. The company transforms undervalued fish and poultry sidestreams into high-protein products such as nuggets, patties, and burgers. (I interviewed the CEO of SuperGround, Jaakko Kaminen, for FTW last year).

🇺🇸 Orchard Robotics has harvested $22M in Series A, led by Quiet Capital and Shine Capital, and joined by e.g. General Catalyst. The company has developed e.g. a vehicle-mounted, AI-powered vision system that gathers data about plant health, helping farmers make critical crop management decisions. The company says it works with e.g. U.S. apple, grape, and strawberry farmers.

🇮🇳 WasteLink has closed a $3M Series A round, backed by Avaana Capital. The company upcycles surplus food into standardized feed ingredients for the animal feed industry. WasteLink says it has processed 35K tons of surplus food since inception.

🇸🇬 Singrow has raised a $4.5M Series A to scale its seed breeding and vertical farming business beyond Singapore and China. Investors included e.g. AgFunder, Cyanhill Capital and Pasudeco.

🇨🇭FOOD Founders Studio, which aims to commercialize ‘breakthrough food technologies trapped in R&D labs, starting with those of European universities’, has secured CHF 1.2M ($1.5M) from undisclosed private investors including a Swiss family office, and launched its first venture — a startup that tackles off-flavors in plant-based foods.

🥇 Global Call for Startups, a competition for early-stage ventures dedicated to transforming the food systems, has announced 5 winners: Bioprime Agri Solutions, DE3PBIO, Farm to Feed, Instacrops, and Remy. More info here.

😵 U.K. cell ag startup CellRev has ceased trading and appointed administrators, as it ‘couldn’t deliver commercial milestones fast enough to secure Series A investment.’ In similar news, Dutch startup Vegan Finest Foods (which makes Vegan Zeastar) has declared bankruptcy following financial struggles.

🌲 CEForestry, a project led by SLU (the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) has found that compounds extracted from spruce needles can preserve food such as plant-based meat without artificial chemicals, and even improve the taste.

📈 Stockholm-based startup Karma, which initially became known for its food rescue app, has launched full stack restaurant platform KarmaOS and says it has crossed into profitability (after having raised around $20M over the years).

💡 Marion Nestle, professor emerita in food studies at NYU, shared the below image and noted that ‘if we want people to eat more healthfully, we need policies to make vegetables more widely available at lower cost. Farmers have to make a living. That’s why we need to rethink which foods get subsidized, and our entire agricultural system for that matter. How about redesigning the agricultural system to prioritize food for people, instead of feed for animals and fuel for automobiles?’

🏆 The VEGPRENEUR Awards highlights game-changing, plant-based CPG and consumer products from around the world while giving brands the opportunity to hear first-hand (and honest) feedback from industry decision-makers and tastemakers. All submitted products are tasted at exclusive tasting events held in New York City and Los Angeles. And all products submitted receive individualized feedback. Judges include investors, buyers, celebrities, influencers, and restaurant owners. Submissions are open now.

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

🇺🇸🇪🇺 U.S. vs Europe on work/life balance (fun short clip!)

💸 Buy Now, Pay Later giant Klarna is IPOing, which makes me think of this old gem:

🤑 Speaking about money, you have a 1 in 578,508 chance of becoming a billionaire, and a 1 in 15 chance in becoming a millionaire.

🗑️ The Indian ‘garbage cafes’ where you can pay in trash (trading plastic waste for food).

🙀 Alt milk has gone too far this time, notes FTW reader Steve S:

​I love you.
Daniel

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🎵 This issue was produced while listening to QUE CE SOIT CLAIR by Paul Kalkbrenner & Stromae.
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