Hi there,

Over the last week I’ve attended EAT Stockholm Food Forum (for the launch of the 2025 EAT-Lancet Commission) as well as Anuga (the world’s largest food trade show, in Cologne, Germany). It’s frankly been a bit overwhelming and I need more time to digest before I can share some reflections.

So let’s just dive in.

This week's rundown:

🦠 Phagos raises €25M for bacteriophage tech replacing livestock antibiotics
🌾 Arevo secures $8.4M for arginine-based fertilizer alternative
🐟 ImpacFat lands Seed round for cultivated omega-3 fish fat

Let's go!

🇫🇷 Phagos has closed a €25M ($29M) Series A round, led by CapAgro, Hoxton Ventures, CapHorn and Demeter. The company develops bacteriophage treatments (an alternative to antibiotics) to prevent and treat bacterial infections in livestock without contributing to antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

🇺🇸 Climax Foods, which makes plant-based cheese, has rebranded as Bettani Farms, switched CEO, and secured a $6.5M Series A round led by S2G Investments. The company has also paused production of its signature plant-based blue cheese, to instead focus on larger segments like mozzarella.

🇮🇱 Asterix Foods has emerged from stealth with $4.2M in funding from CPT Capital, Grok Ventures, ReGen Ventures and SOSV. The startup aims to produce animal proteins through a low-cost plant cell culture platform, in bioreactors.

🇸🇪 Arevo has raised SEK 80.2M ($8.4M); the company uses a natural substance called arginine (a very positively charged amino acid) to help plants absorb nutrients more slowly and efficiently. This can help cut the use of fossil fertilizer, and contribute to healthier soils. Arevo sells its product B2B to global seed treatment companies.

🇨🇦 Maia Farms has bagged $1.75M in funding from Genome British Columbia’s Industry Innovation Fund. The company upcycles agricultural byproducts to produce fermentation-based mushroom mycelium, which can then be used by food manufacturers to add protein and fiber to a number of products.

🇫🇷 Kapsera has expanded it’s €4.2M ($4.85M) Series A round from Nov 2024 with a fresh €0.86M ($1M) from Seventure Partners. The Bordeaux startup has developed a plastic-free microfluidic encapsulation technology which creates biosourced, biodegradable microcapsules. These capsules protect natural active substances such as biofertilizers, biopesticides, probiotics, flavors, and pheromones so that they remain stable and effective in challenging environments.

🇸🇬 ImpacFat has banked an undisclosed sum in Seed funding from Toyo Seikan Group, 144 Ventures, and Lin Xiangliang. The company plans to commercialize cultivated omega-3 fish fat, initially launching the ingredient into cosmetics formulations, but later on for food applications.

❌ The EU parliament has voted to ban the use of traditional meat-related terms like burger, bacon, sausage, and steak when used to label vegetarian and vegan foods. The proposal still has to be adopted by the European Council and the European Commission to become law.

🍪 Alt chocolate startup Foreverland has inaugurated a production facility in Puglia, Italy, capable of producing 500 tons of cocoa-free chocolate annually, made from carob (for further reading, I interviewed Foreverland’s Co-Founder/CTO Riccardo Bottiroli for FTW last year).

📉 A recent survey found that GLP-1 medication users in the U.S. are cutting their monthly food spending by an average of $218; the biggest declines were seen in spending for fast food, snacks, groceries, and restaurants (h/t FoodHack).

🍅 UK researchers have launched the ViTaL-D Study, one of the first human trials testing whether gene-edited, vitamin D–enriched tomatoes can raise vitamin D levels in people who eat them. The biofortified tomatoes naturally produce high levels of pro-vitamin D3, which converts to vitamin D3 when exposed to light, providing as much of the nutrient as two eggs or a small portion of tuna per tomato.

🥒 Swedish startup Saveggy has launched an edible, plant-based coating made from rapeseed and oat oil to replace plastic packaging for cucumbers, keeping them fresh for up to two weeks. In a pilot with ICA and Odlarna.se, 250,000 cucumbers will be sold across 700 stores in Sweden using the new coating, aiming to cut both plastic waste and food waste. The innovation, developed with support from Lund University, aligns with the EU’s 2030 single-use plastics ban and could extend to other fruits and vegetables across Europe.

🧑‍💼 Prachi Jha is an experienced Food Product Developer with 5 years of experience in the plant-based meat and dairy industries. Skilled in end-to-end new product development and industrialization, driving efficient, high-quality innovations from kitchen to market. Direct experience on the manufacturing floor scaling up new products, as well as with Food Quality and Safety topics such as nutrition labeling, claims, batch release, and shelf life testing. Looking for an impactful role in food product development in Sweden. Get in touch via email or LinkedIn.

💸 Beans, an e-commerce platform dedicated to giving unsold inventory from brands and manufacturers a second life, is raising a €3M round from VC funds -- and also via equity crowdfunding. Since launching just 18 months ago, Beans have partnered with 350+ brands, have delivered 10K orders and saved 300K products from going to waste.

🚀 Applications for the 2025 FoodTech500 are open. Don't miss your chance to be featured on the world's top global FoodTech companies list powered by Forward Fooding. Learn more, and apply today. 

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

🦾 China installed almost 300,000 new robots last year, more than the rest of the world combined.

🍜 Kids are coming into ER with burns from hot instant noodles after imitating a scene from the hit movie KPop Demon Hunters.

📊 19 ways to help the climate, ranked (by World Resources Institute)

🍒 Move over seedless grapes, the next big thing is the pitless cherry, which AgTech startup Pairwise is working on creating, by using gene editing technology.

🍋 Why did it take so long to find a cure for scurvy? Great read by Rhishi Pethe.

🇩🇪 Since you’re asking, of course I prepared for my trip to Germany (to attend Anuga) by watching relevant YouTube shorts:

​I love you.
Daniel

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🎵 This issue was produced while listening to England Skies - Acoustic Session by Shake Shake Go.
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