The Week in AgriFoodTech: New climate tech deals in Europe, banks urged to stop funding livestock

The latest beef in the livestock sector is around big banks funding it. This week, an open letter went out to JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America saying its lending practices conflicted with its climate commitments.

Europe was full deals for climate tech startups, while over in New Zealand, a company launched the plant sustainability index to cut the environmental impact of growing crops.

Foodtech funding

🇩🇪 Formo raises $61m Series B, launches cheese alternatives featuring koji: ‘We aim to become a real challenger brand’ AgFunderNews

🇪🇸 Novameat raises $19.2m to expand next-gen plant-based meat texturizing tech: ‘We have a clear path to profitability’ AgFunderNews

🇬🇧 Plant-Ex Ingredients secures £9m investment to drive international expansion Vegconomist

Agtech funding

🇬🇧 SOLASTA Bio raises $14m, plans to commercialize peptide-based biopesticides in ‘half the time’ it takes for synthetics AgFunderNews

🇨🇦 Catalera BioSciences makes first close of Series A to speed up development of biopesticide products AgFunderNews

🇦🇺 Biotech startup Number 8 Bio bags $7 million to drive methane-busting mission Smart Company

Climate tech

🇩🇪 Retraced secures €15M for fashion brands’ sustainability management Tech.eu

🇩🇰 Denmark’s REDUCED bags €6M to convert food and agriculture side streams into natural ingredients Silicon Canals

🇳🇱 Amsterdam’s Brineworks gets €2M: CEO and co-founder Gudfinnur Sveinsson on unlocking green fuels from seawater affordably and sustainably Silicon Canals

M&A, IPOs & partnerships

🇺🇸 FarmWise is joining forces with RDO Equipment Farmwise (via LinkedIn)

🇨🇴 Rappi acquires Fountain9 to enhance AI-driven operations Latamlist

Funds, grants & accelerators

🇺🇸 USDA Invests $121M in specialty crops research and organic production Morning Ag Clips

🇮🇪 Earth First Food Ventures launches $10 million Series A round with digital asset tokenization Blockster

🇺🇸 EPA awards $15M to research how PFAS contaminate food and farmland Agriculture Dive

People moves

🇺🇸 Scoular announces new leadership role in Renewables & Oilseeds Division Scoular

🇺🇸 Certis Biologicals Names Eda Reinot President and CEO Crop Life

Other news

🇺🇸 Boston-based foodtech startup Motif FoodWorks is closing down AgFunderNews

🇳🇿 First plant sustainability index launched to cut environmental impact of growing crops AgTechNavigator

🇦🇺 Algenie emerges from stealth with next-gen bioreactor it claims can unlock algae’s potential in feed, bioplastics, and fuel AgFunderNews

🇫🇮 Solar Foods becomes first Finnish firm with Nasdaq Green Equity Designation – Private Company, now listed on Nasdaq Helsinki Arctic Startup

🇺🇸 Sugar replacement: Bonumose secures preliminary victory over ‘arbitrary and capricious’ FDA on tagatose labeling AgFunderNews

🇺🇸 Big banks pressed to stop financing livestock production over climate concerns AgricultureDive

🇬🇧 Fresh calls to clear up confusion between ‘organic’ and ‘regenerative farming’ AgTechNavigator