Hi there,

Ilkka here: Each week, we get to cover plenty of interesting news and insights. The pace is fast, so I thought it would be nice to take a moment to follow up on a few stories we shared and see how things are developing. In newsletter #286, we talked about Wolt, DoorDash, and the issues in the delivery app world. In the past month, Wolt announced that it is deploying new measures to combat platform misuse. Meanwhile, the Supreme Administrative Court in Finland upheld its decision last year that food delivery workers are employees, not independent entrepreneurs. More follow-ups in the Random section.

Daniel here: Don’t forget to get your tickets for HackSummit Lausanne 🇨🇭 (April 22-23), which brings together Europe’s leading founders, investors, operators, and policymakers shaping the future of industrial capacity and food system resilience. Day 2 topics span e.g. crop stability, regenerative systems, ingredient security, metabolic health, food-system risk, and the intersection of longevity and nutrition. Use code FTW20 for 20% off a 1 Day or 2 Day pass.

This week's rundown:

💰Halter secures $220M for livestock virtual fencing platform
💶 Foreverland bags €6M for cocoa-free chocolate alternative
🥞 How many times can you fold a crêpe? Scientists now have the answer

Today’s newsletter was sent to {{active_subscriber_count}} subscribers. Welcome to FoodTech Weekly.

🇳🇿 Halter, NZD $377M (US$220M), virtual fencing platform for livestock management. Investors: Founder's Fund (lead).

🇮🇳 WayCool, $23M, agri-tech and food supply chain solutions platform. Investors: Lightrock India.

🇬🇷 Wikifarmer, €7.1M ($8M) Series A, digital platform for agri-food supply chains. Investors: Brighteye Ventures, Piraeus Bank, Metavallon VC, and Point Nine Capital.

🇮🇹 Foreverland, €6M ($7M), cocoa-free chocolate alternative developer expanding across Europe. Investors: Kost Capital, Maia Ventures, CDP Venture Capital (via its Accelerator Fund), Italia Venture II Fund; Linfa agrifoodtech fund, managed by Riello Investimenti SGR; and Newtree Impact.

🇳🇱 BB Leap, €5M ($5.8M), high-precision spraying platform. Investors: Yield Lab Europe.

🇩🇰 Tempty Foods, DKK 5.2M ($800K) Seed, mycelium-based alt protein products. Investors: EIFO, Danish Business Angels - DanBAN and Angella Invest.

🇫🇮 Elea & Lili, €2.5M ($2.9M) Seed, cellulose-based alternative to fossil-derived superabsorbent polymers for hygiene and agriculture industries. Investors: Lifeline Ventures, Ikorni Invest Oy Ab, and Baltiska Handels Sverige AB..

🇫🇷 Jay & Joy, €2M ($2.3M), plant-based cheese brand scaling across France and Europe. Investors: Demeter, Beyond Impact, Mindstone, Vivegan and Makesense.

🇸🇪 Volta Greentech, €1.7M ($2M), methane-reducing feed additive for cattle. Investors: Axel Johnson Group.

🇺🇸 ALTR, undisclosed, beverage technology company specialising in molecular-level ethanol reduction across wines, spirits, and alcoholic beverages. Investors: Branca International.

This week, Alex Shandrovsky had conversations with:

🇩🇰 Jens Eklöf (CEO/CTO) and Ida Krogh Sjöholm (Commercial Officer), the co-founders of Ora Biotics. Raised a ~€300k pre-seed round from Rockstart and Delphinus Venture Capital. Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

🇸🇪 Gilai Nachmann, Senior Project Manager of Open Innovation & Partnerships at Arla Foods. In 2025, Arla Group's total revenue reached a record EUR 15.1B. Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

🇫🇷 Hélène Briand, Co-founder and Chief Innovation & Commercial Officer at Verley Food. Raised a $38M Series A from Alven, Blast, Sofinnova, Captech Santé, Sparkfood, Founders Future (including significant non-dilutive backing from Bpifrance). Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

📉 Results of a new clinical pilot study reveal that chewing Sweet Victory gum could help patients with type 1 diabetes (T1DM) reduce sweet snacking by more than 50%. The functional chewing gum, formulated with powdered leaves of the Gymnema sylvestre plant was designed by Sweet Victory, Ltd. to help consumers strengthen their resistance to sugary temptations.

🤝 Swedish food waste startup Generation Waste is acquiring energy firm Awareify to integrate energy data into its platform, and provide broader sustainability tools for professional kitchens.

🤝 Danone has acquired British meal-replacement brand Huel for about €1B ($1.1B).

🇩🇰 Unibio is partnering with Saudi Industrial Investment Group to build the world's largest single-cell protein plant in Saudi Arabia using gas fermentation technology for alternative animal feed protein. It will eventually produce 300,000 tons per year, reducing the Kingdom’s dependency on animal feed imports.

🧂Landa Labs is partnering with Sugat Group (the largest salt producer in Israel) to scale the breakthrough LOT sodium-reduction technology. The agreement covers an industrial production system for unique salt flakes that reduce sodium without compromising taste. The production will ensure commercial salt supply for products using LOT salt.

🐛 How and why the insect-as-feed industry is collapsing.

📲 The Yuka app is reshaping America’s food supply by adding pressure on consumer packaged goods manufacturers to change their products.

⚖️ When weight-loss drugs don’t work; about 1 in 10 people taking GLP-1 drugs are non-responders, meaning they don’t lose the typical average of 15-21% of body weight.

🧑🏽‍🍳 Sweden FoodTech and Stockholm Business Region are launching the Impact Kitchen Accelerator, and are seeking 15 chefs & foodservice pros to pilot new solutions in real-world kitchens, as well as innovators developing scalable, research-backed products solving systemic food problems. Bridge the gap between lab and plate. Apply today!

🏍️ In FTW #284 we wrote about the Finnish startup Donut Labs, which claimed it has developed a solid-state battery. To respond to all the 'too good to be true' comments, the company launched the 'I Donut Believe' website and promises to bring evidence of its innovation on February 20th. Well, now, after four sets of videos and reports, most remain unconvinced. For anyone interested in diving into another rabbit hole of the internet, check out Reddit’s discussion on the topic.

📦 A painfully relatable mashup of packaging fails, where great design meets real-world chaos.

🧀 How fermented foods shaped human biology.

😮 How gin, wax, and heat guns make onscreen meals look delicious (New York Times).

📉💩 A Day in the Life of an Ensh*ttificator:

☣️ Stinknet, an invasive weed that smells like paint thinner, is taking over Arizona.

🌡️ How a Dutch farm is using heat from Bitcoin mining to keep greenhouse temperatures stable.

💔 Can any relationship survive food incompatability?

🥃 Here’s to low-carbon spirits: U.K. hydrogen company Supercritical has completed the WhiskHy project, which demonstrated the first-ever direct-fired hydrogen distilled spirit for whisky production.

🥞 U.S. physicists have created a formula for how many times you can fold a crêpe. On a related note, France Switzerland truly builds what matters - the crêpebot 3000:

We love you.
Daniel, Ilkka, and Alex

- - -

🎵 This issue was produced while Ilkka listened to Blackbird by Hokka, and Daniel listened to What You Want by Angèle and Justice.

By Daniel Skavén Ruben, Ilkka Taponen, and Alex Shandrovsky.
Did someone forward this email to you? Subscribe here.

Disclosures | Boring disclaimer

Become a Book Club subscriber of FoodTech Weekly for just $5/mo. This helps us cover the time and money we spend on paid newsletters and databases to stay updated on the FoodTech ecosystem. And you’ll get rid of ads. Plus, we’ll send you a food-themed book that we love, once a year. That’s why we call it a Book Club 😀