Alternative protein has been one of the fastest growing segments in Foodtech. Between 2016 and 2021, VC investment grew 17x to $5.1 billion. With $2.7 billion, this year's VC investment has slowed down compared to 2021 and 2020. However, there are still many promising and investible startups.
We’ve ranked the top alternative protein startups to watch globally based on Dealroom Signal. In the Top 100 list, 38 of the startups are based in Europe, followed by 33 in the USA and 20 in Asia.
Don't think of this as a ranking the “best startups” in food delivery, but instead as the top startups to watch based on their fundraising timeline, growth indicators, founding team, and a number of other factors.
🇪🇺 Why European Food Startups Are Being Celebrated At COP27. On the face of it, the food sector - particularly in terms of production - seems reassuringly traditional but that’s deceptive. From the invention of the plough in some forgotten past time, through to genetic crops and surveillance drones, technology has always provided a means for farmers to increase their yields. - Forbes
🍔 The future of meat is going to be exceptionally tasty. Amanda Pun caught up with Daan to learn more about the journey of founding Meatable, the company’s future, and, the development of cultured meat. - EU Startups
🚭 Ultra-processed foods as addictive as tobacco, warns study. Heavily marketable processed foods like potato chips, cookies, ice cream and French fries meet the same criteria used for decades to demonstrate the addictive qualities of smoking tobacco. - FoodIngredientsFirst
📉 India's Zomato surges 13% on smaller quarterly loss. Shares of Zomato Ltd jumped as much as 13% on Friday, a day after the Indian food delivery firm reported a smaller quarterly loss helped by a rise in volumes and order value. Net loss narrowed to 2.51 billion rupees ($30.73 million) in the July-September quarter from 4.30 billion rupees a year earlier. - Reuters
Latest foodtech deals
Select deals from last week:
🇫🇷 Agriconomie, France-based agritech marketplace, raised $60M in Series B. This is the second-largest deal this year in the B2B agritech marketplace segment. The funding will go towards expanding geographical expansion and increasing product offering.
Today, the company is present in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Belgium. In both 2021 and 2022, Agriconomie was part of LaFrenchTech's Next40/120 program offers that support French scaleups with the potential to become global technology leaders.
🇺🇸 Athletic Brewing, a Connecticut-based non-alcoholic beer company, secured $50M in late venture funding from Dr Pepper Snapple Group. Launched in 2017, Atheltic Brewing reached 100 000 beer barrels in 2021, a level reached by very few breweries. In 2022, it was ranked the 26th fastest growing private company this year and became the top 20 U.S. craft brewer.
Other notable foodtech deals from around the globe:
🇧🇷 Agrolend, a Brazilian credit company for farm producers, bagged $28 million (BLR 145 million) just 11 months since its last funding round.
🇦🇺 Vow Food, a lab-grown meat company based in Australia, secured $49.2 million in Series A funding.
We've mapped and categorized 600+ alternative protein startups in this interactive landscape, including 40+ in the lab-grown meat category.
Following a record 2021, foodtech startup funding has continued to cool in Q3 2022.
Q3 saw an 18% recovery in value for public foodtech companies, after prolonged rout since the highs of early 2021 which saw combined public market value down over 65%. Want more insights? Access the full report below.
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