Hi there,

Daniel here. Writing these lines from Lausanne (🇨🇭) where we just wrapped up the 5th HackSummit, which convened around 800 food and climate ecosystem people (founders, investors, some corporates etc) from all over the world. I had the great privilege of MC’ing and moderating part of the event.

It’s impossible to summarize the week in a few words. HackSummit is a chance to listen to, be inspired by, and engage with role models (innovators, entrepreneurs and investors) who are hard at work trying to build a better future for all of us. Then you add in exciting opportunities to try new foods, countless fun side events, the beautiful setting by Lake Geneva, and a fantastic ambience, and it makes for a one-of-a-kind event. You come back energized and hopeful.

Ilkka here: I recently joined a group of Lean coaches at Lean Habit. I am providing experience from startups to the already impressive group of excellent coaches. If you are looking for help with process development and Lean management, feel free to reach out!

This week's rundown:

💰 Planetary has secured $27.5M in new financing to expand its fermentation infrastructure
💶 Agriodor has harvested €15M for its scent-based crop protection platform
👏 86-year old female Swedish business angel acquires FoodTech startup; will run it as a way of avoiding life ‘from getting boring’.

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🇨🇭 Planetary SA, $27.5M Series A, full-stack fermentation company building industrial bioeconomy infrastructure. Investors: Radikal Capital and Oetker Ventures (co-leads), with Royal Cosun, Arc Investors, GGF, AgriFoodTech Venture Alliance, Astanor, and XAnge.

🇫🇷 Agriodor, €15M, scent-based crop protection platform expanding globally. Investors: Environmental and Solidarity Revolution Fund (lead), Région Sud Investissement, CAAP Creation, Capagro, CapHorn, and SWEN Capital Partners.

🇩🇪 VisioLab, $11M Series A, AI-powered visual self-checkout for food service using edge AI and computer vision. Investors: Ecapital Entrepreneurial Partners and Simon Capital (co-leads), with High-Tech Gründerfonds, Zwei.7, and Heartfelt.

🇨🇭 Cosaic, $6M seed extension, next-generation food ingredients. Investors: DSM-Firmenich Ventures, a large Swiss family office, Kickfund, Navus Ventures, and Zürcher Kantonalbank.

🇺🇸 AuX Labs, $4M, precision fermentation cheese platform. Investors: NYA Ventures and Nàdarra Ventures (co-leads), with Verdex Capital and Builders VC

This week, Alex Shandrovsky had conversations with:

🇩🇪 Maximilian Marquart (CEO and Co-founder of Planet A Foods) and Jürgen Keil (former Cargill executive and current supply chain advisor). Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

🇩🇪 Fabio Ziemssen, Founding Partner at Zintinus. Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

🇳🇿 Mick Riley, Co-founder and CEO of Forever Harvest. Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

🚜 The autonomous electric tractor startup Monarch Tractor's collapse ends in acquisition by Caterpillar.

🥛 Belgian at-home plant-based milk machine startup Mylky is being acquired by Tooru for $16.2M, following what the founders describe as “phenomenal growth” since launching in early 2024. The machine empowers consumers to make their own oat, nut, or seed milks at home, cutting down on packaging waste, additives, and cost.

💷 Supermarkets are adding digital labels. Will surge pricing follow the dynamic pricing model?

🌾 The Professor making plant-based food taste better. Professor Kati Katina and her research team at the University of Helsinki have developed OatGuard, a clean-label flavor masking solution made from oats and natural ingredients, designed to neutralize bitterness in plant-based protein sources like faba beans, without relying on chemical additives, high salt, or sugar.

📃Two key reports to check out: The Food Waste Report by ReFed and the Good Food Institute's Year 2025 in Review.

👨🏻‍💻 If you have an innovative technology and you are seeking substantial funding, Cecilia Trägårdh can provide strategic advice for applying to the EIC Accelerator (EU grant for deeptech startups and SMEs). Reach out via LinkedIn or email.

☕️ Andon Labs has tasked AI tasked AI to establish and run a café in Stockholm, Andon Café (interesting review here). It follows a vending machine project (more here) and similar initiatives.

🦀 Red Circle Ice Cream in Texas serves crawfish ice cream since 2019.g crawfish

🤳 South Korea’s air force has apologized after finding that a 2021 collision of two of its F-15K fighter jets occurred when one of the pilots was busy taking selfies. He’s now been ordered to repay some of the $600K damage caused by collision.

🥃 Mississippi is running out of liquor.

📖 Ilkka here: We cover a lot of AI content here in our newsletter. The news are mostly positive and the narrative is guided carefully by the private sector. I just finished reading the book Empire of AI that critically reviews the industry as a whole and covers the short history of the industry in a well-written package. Highly recommended!

🥤 Recyclable coffee cups are not being recycled.

👵 Who wants to eat like their grandparents?

💪 Swedish FoodTech startup Tractechnology built a platform that helps local growers of food gain visibility, but went into liquidation earlier this spring. Now 86-year old business angel Britmari Brax has acquired the assets to restart the company, stating to local media that “You’ve got to have something to get involved in. Otherwise, life becomes pretty boring.”

We love you.
Daniel, Ilkka, and Alex

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🎵 This issue was produced while Ilkka listened to Insectia by Medeia. Daniel was listening to Breathe by Blu Cantrell and Sean Paul.

By Daniel Skavén Ruben, Ilkka Taponen, and Alex Shandrovsky.
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Disclosures | Boring disclaimer

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