[Disclosure: AgFunderNews’ parent company, AgFunder, is an investor in Rarebird] A metabolite of caffeine that is now being deployed in everything from coffee to pre-workout supplements, paraxanthine (Px) delivers what most people want from energizing beverages, says Rarebird founder Dr. Jeffrey Dietrich: stimulation without the associated jitters, sleeplessness and anxiety. Just like caffeine, Px wakes you up and reduces fatigue, claims Dietrich, a bioengineer who started exploring an enzymatic process to convert caffeine to Px using the same enzymes produced by the liver a fe ..read more

Funding rounds were abundant this week, including a raise by chocolate-free cocoa maker Voyage Foods, ag biotech startup ArkeaBio, and several players in southern Asia. Speaking of Asia, South Korea has designated a “regulation-free” zone for biotech — including cultivated meat — in an effort to foster more innovation. Back in the US, alt-protein investor Big Idea Ventures entered a new agrifoodtech sector. Image credit: Voyage FoodsFoodtech funding Cocoa-free chocolate maker Voyage Foods raises $52 million Bloomberg Meati Foods raises $100m, rolls out at Kroger nationwide AgFunderNews Nigeri ..read more

Beyond Meat has posted another lackluster set of quarterly results, blaming weak demand in US and international markets as it unveiled a net loss of $54.4 million on revenues down 18% to $75.6 million in Q1 2024. However, gross margins moved back into positive territory following aggressive cost-cutting. “Together with measures we are exploring to bolster our balance sheet, we continue to work to position 2024 as a pivotal year as we strive to achieve sustainable and profitable operations,” said CEO Ethan Brown on the earnings call. Q4 2023 by the numbers: Net revenue: -18% year over ye ..read more

Ethanol producer Green Plains is gearing up to open a first-of-its-kind facility at a dry corn milling plant in Shenandoah, Iowa, that it claims will be able to produce dextrose at a commercial scale with significantly lower capital intensity and a 40% reduction in carbon footprint vs the standard wet milling process. The facility is mechanically complete and in the commissioning phase, with shipments to customers beginning in the second quarter of 2024. “We haven’t seen a new wet corn mill in the US for years,” Green Plains SVP Anand Sundaresan told AgFunderNews. “It’s just so capital intens ..read more

Fungi-fueled startup Meati Foods has raised more than $100 million in a C-1 round led by Grosvenor Food & AgTech, and has also rolled out its mycelium-based steaks and cutlets into 2,000 Kroger outlets across the US, taking its store count up to 6,000. The C-1 round, which takes Meati’s total funding to $365 million, was supported by returning investors including Prelude Ventures, BOND, Revolution Growth and Congruent, said cofounder and chief innovation officer Dr. Tyler Huggins, who is transitioning to an advisory role as new CEO Phil Graves takes over the day-to-day running of the ..read more

NVIDIA‘s venture capital arm, NVentures, has invested in US-based Carbon Robotics, best known for its autonomous laser-weeding platform for specialty crops. A specific dollar amount was not disclosed; Carbon Robotics says this investment topped off its Series C. The company will use the investment to accelerate product development and international expansion. The LaserWeeder in action. Image credit: Carbon RoboticsWhy it matters: Powered by 24 NVIDIA GPUs, Carbon Robotics’ vehicles use deep-learning-based computer vision models to autonomously identify and eliminate weeds via CO2 lasers. La ..read more

Massachusetts-based Clean Crop Technologies has launched a commercial cold plasma seed treatment facility, signed $3.4 million in purchase orders, and has a sales and pilot pipeline worth $47 million in annual recurring revenue from companies that represent 39% of the global vegetable seed market, claims the startup. While hot water and chemical seed treatments are effective at tackling pathogens, they can also reduce germination rates, says the firm, which uses ionized gases to disinfect seeds instead. “You can choose between killing the contaminant, and in so doing harm the germination ..read more

The court handling a high-profile lawsuit* filed by bioreactor supplier ABEC vs foodtech co Eat Just and its GOOD Meat cultivated meat subsidiary has issued a ruling on a flurry of counterclaims from the defendants, siding with Eat Just/GOOD Meat on some matters and with ABEC on others. ABEC, which has been working with GOOD Meat on pilot cultivated chicken facilities in California and Singapore, signed an agreement with the startup in August 2021. Under the seven-year deal, ABEC would design, manufacture, install and commission 10x 250,000-liter vessels— “the largest known bioreactors for av ..read more

We know that people taking the new wave of appetite suppressing GLP-1 drugs are eating less. But are they also making different food and lifestyle choices? A February 2024 study of 100+ current and past AOM (anti-obesity medicine) users from product innovation specialist Mattson found that while on the AOM meds… 59% said they were drinking more tap or still water, 66% were drinking less soda and less alcohol, and 38% were drinking more protein beverages. Some said they were avoiding soda because the carbonation made them feel full or uncomfortable. Generally, users said they were eating more ..read more

It’s no secret that not all the chemicals directed at crops hit their target, leading to runoff in waterways and buildup in soil, which is bad for the environment and even worse for farmers’ bottom line given the rising cost of crop inputs, says AgZen cofounder and CEO Dr. Vishnu Jayaprakash. Multiple techniques have been deployed to tackle this ‘spray and pray’ approach, from spot spraying systems with sensors that turn selected nozzles on or off so herbicides are applied less indiscriminately, to high-tech smart-spraying systems attached to self-driving tractors that can precisely target we ..read more