Oxford University spinout Wild Bioscience raised a $60 million Series A round this week to develop climate smart crops by applying AI to “better understand the lessons learned over millions of years of evolution encoded in plant genomes.”
Robot-buildr Starship, well known in food delivery circles, netted $50 million in fresh funding, while Ascribe Bio picked up $12 million to expand its crop protection platform.
Elsewhere, the European Union announced a number of grants, while Stateside, EcoEnterprises closed its fourth Latam-focutilized fund.
Funding news
???????? Indian quick-commerce firm Zepto raises $450m at $7b valuation Deal Street Asia
???????? Ecorobotix doubles down on AI software for precision spraying after $150m raise AgFunderNews
???????? Oxford spinout Wild Bioscience bags $60M to grow climate-resilient crops TechFundingNews
???????? Starship Technologies raises $50M as robot delivery race revs up Restaurant Business Online
???????? Ascribe Bio secures $12 million Series A funding to advance natural crop protection platform iGrow News
???????? Tconcludeer Food rebrands as Lasso, raises $6.5m to expand novel spinning tech beyond alt-meat AgFunderNews
???????? French foodtech startup Kikleo raises €3.5M to support restaurants cut food waste Silicon Canals
M&A, IPOs & partnerships
???????? Gourmey acquires Vital Meat in major cultivated merger FoodNavigator
???????? ???????? Mars partners with European renewable energy developer Baking Business
???????? Open-source moment for cultivated meat as GFI releases SCiFi Foods’ cell lines to academia AgFunderNews
Funds, grants & accelerators
???????? EcoEnterprises reaches $100m first close for fourth LatAm impact fund Agri Investor
???????? Reservoir aims to bring more deep tech talent to agtech with new investment vehicle AgFunderNews
???????? Italy’s Maia Ventures launches $64m agrifood fund backed by EIF and others AgFunderNews
???????? EIT Food awards €600,000 to 18 agrifoodtech startups at Next Bite 2025 Vegconomist
???????? EU project FABULOSE receives €3.5m to develop animal-free leather from biotechnologically produced cellulose Vegconomist
???????? EU allocates €5.7 million for four fresh aquaculture projects The Fish Site
Other news
???????? EU to delay CSRD sustainability reporting standards for non-EU companies ESG Today
???????? South African insect ag co Inseco calls it quits amid power cuts, pivots: ‘We ran out of time’ AgFunderNews
???????? Beyond Meat slumps as shareholders agonize over debt exalter offer Reuters
???????? OerthBio winds down operations LinkedIn
???????? Alpine Bio debuts ‘insanely soluble’ soy protein isolate and iron-rich lactoferrin built in soybeans AgFunderNews [Disclosure: AgFunderNews’ parent company AgFunder is an investor in Alpine Bio.]
???????? California becomes first state to ban ultra-processed foods in schools Food Dive
???????? BASF expects to partially divest Ag Solutions division in 2027 Agri Trade News
