Check out what some of the FoodTech 500 Alumni have been up to lately:
LIVEKINDLY | Appoints Constantin Fink as Managing Director for the DACH region to lead the Like brand, which claims 57% market share in plant-based minced meat in Germany. He plans to grow the brand through both organic expansion and targeted acquisitions. Read more
LA VIE | Opens a 600m² seasonal pop-up guinguette on the banks of the Seine in Paris for the full summer, serving 100% plant-based charcuterie boards, sandwiches, and signature cocktails in partnership with Quai Sauvage. Read more
OLIO | Partners with Lidl GB as a backup redistribution layer alongside Neighbourly, routing surplus food to its 5 million-strong user network when charity partners cannot collect. The launch was made across 20 stores in London and the North, with an expected 5,000 tonnes of food redistributed annually. Read more
PLANTED | Increases its planted.steak from 120g to 150g at no extra cost ahead of BBQ season, with retail partners across Europe backing the upgrade as part of the company’s push to make plant-based eating more accessible. Read more
It also grew 46% in German retail in Q1 2026, outpacing a category that itself rose 7%, ahead of BBQ season, traditionally the strongest period for meat alternatives. Read more
COSAIC | Appoints Juan Benítez-García as Chief Commercial Officer, as the company enters a new growth phase following a funding round led by dsm-firmenich Ventures and a strategic partnership with Ingredion. Read more
PREFER | Crosses 100,000 cups sold, two years after its first café listing in Singapore, with ready-to-drink sales doubling month-on-month since its February launch. Read more
It also completed an ISO-compliant product carbon footprint assessment with Zevero, confirming PreferRoast™ at 3.3 kg CO₂e per kilogram, up to 8.8x less carbon-intensive than conventional coffee. The verified data has since strengthened credibility with enterprise customers and investors carrying CO₂ mandates. Read more
THE MUSHROOM MEAT CO | Sees its products sell out within two hours at a cruise ship trial with guests specifically citing preference for mushroom over soy, wheat, and pea-based alternatives. The company is now expanding into whole-cut formats with a new cutlet, driven by chef demand for greater versatility. Read more
METAFOODX | Launches Serving Time Alert, a real-time food freshness tracking tool that automatically starts a countdown timer when a pan is scanned for service, shifting colour from green to orange to red as holding time expires, eliminating manual paper logs and staff memory reliance. The feature targets off-peak hours in QSRs, where reduced staffing makes holding-time violations most likely. Read more
C16 BIOSCIENCES | Sees its yeast-derived, precision-fermented Palmless Torula Oil debut in its first colour cosmetic product, a lip jelly launched by California-based Tower 28 Beauty. The ingredient delivers 250 times more efficient land use than conventional palm oil and is already being produced at an industrial scale of several tonnes per week. Read more
ENIFER | Partners with Rovio Pet Foods to launch a semi-moist dog treat using its Pekilo mycoprotein, which contains over 60% protein and an amino acid profile similar to meat. Read more
ONESOIL | Partners with Rainbow Weather to add a Hyperlocal Precipitation Forecast feature to its platform, delivering rainfall predictions down to a four-hour window for exact field coordinates to help farmers avoid costly mistimed applications. The feature has already reached 15,000 monthly users since launch, adding to OneSoil’s base of over 1.16 million users globally with enterprise clients including Corteva and BASF. Read more
INTELLIGENT GROWTH SOLUTIONS | Reaches a construction milestone at the world’s first circular GigaFarm in Dubai’s Food Tech Valley, with the first of 200 vertical farming Growth Towers set to come online this summer and initial harvests available to residents later this year. The 900,000 sq. ft. site is designed to produce over three million kilos of produce annually while diverting 50,000 tonnes of food waste from landfill. Read more
INNOVAFEED | Secures €51M to accelerate deployment of its Hilucia™ insect-based ingredient ranges in aquaculture and pet food, alongside a planned reduction of 60 positions as R&D activities consolidate into its Nesle facility. Read more
SMART FARM ROBOTIX | Develops AI-powered agricultural robots that identify and remove weeds without herbicides, combining computer vision and autonomous robotics to reduce manual labor for organic farmers. The Bulgaria-based startup targets the underserved terrain of Southern Europe, where existing robotic solutions are too costly or ill-suited to hilly, uneven farmland. Read more
LOCAL BOUNTI | Becomes the only Controlled Environment Agriculture company named to TIME’s World’s Growth Leaders 2026, which recognises 1,000 companies globally for exceptional revenue growth, financial stability, and stock performance. The recognition follows 27% revenue growth in 2025 and a newly issued U.S. patent covering its AI-driven Stack & Flow Technology® platform. Read more
ALEPH FARMS | Cuts 10 roles in Israel as it extends its asset-light, outsourcing-led production model globally, citing disciplined capital allocation as the driving rationale. Operations continue across all regions as the company targets restaurant launches in Israel and Singapore by 2027, with profitability and broader expansion to follow. Read more
HOWGOOD | Partners with Sweep to integrate detailed food and agriculture emissions data into corporate sustainability reporting workflows. Read more
REVO FOODS | Launches EL POLLO, a mycoprotein-based chicken alternative, across Austria, Germany, and Italy as part of its expanding fungal protein portfolio. Read more
SWITCH BIOWORKS | Secures funding to advance its microbial platform that enables crops to access nitrogen through engineered biological solutions. Read more
UPP | Passes the BRCGS Global Food Safety Standard audit with an AA rating on its first attempt, strengthening its position as a supplier of upcycled broccoli-based ingredients. Read more
SOLAR FOODS | Partners with Ambrosia Collective to introduce consumer products featuring Solein, its protein made from carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and renewable electricity through gas fermentation. Read more
BIOCONSORTIA | Appoints Dr. Damian Curtis as Senior Vice President of Research & Development to lead the advancement and commercialization of its microbial crop solutions. Read more
FORMO | Achieves self-affirmed GRAS status for its precision-fermented casein protein, allowing it to begin commercial sales to food manufacturers in the US. Read more
TRACEGAINS | Launches Formula AI, an AI-powered workspace designed to help food scientists accelerate product development, reduce formulation costs, and improve compliance. Read more
PICNIC | Shuts down and sells its assets despite securing partnerships with restaurant chains and deploying its modular pizza-making technology. Read more
STANDING OVATION | Has its Chief Regulatory Officer, Sébastien Louvion, reappointed as president of Food Fermentation Europe for a second one-year term. Read more
INFINITE ROOTS | Acquires Bosque Foods to combine complementary mycelium fermentation technologies and expand its product development capabilities. Read more
PHYTOLON | Raises $23.6M to commercialize its fermentation-derived natural food colors in the US. This follows FDA approval of its Beetroot Red colorant, produced through baker’s yeast fermentation rather than conventional crop cultivation. Read more
CURVE | Partners with Swedish software company Digital Tvilling AB to build an AI-powered biomanufacturing platform to reduce production costs and improve the economics of alternative proteins and ingredients. Read more
NOTPLA | Has its Chief Innovation Officer, Karlijn Sibbel, join a global scientific expedition studying how plastic pollution moves through and impacts ocean ecosystems to generate data that can support solutions to plastic waste and the need for sustainable packaging alternatives. Read more
BETTER JUICE | Has been acquired by Prodalim to strengthen the latter’s portfolio of healthier ingredient solutions, and could support sugar reduction across juice, dairy, confectionery, and other food categories. Read more
STEAKHOLDER FOODS | Launches its plant-based meat products in the US market to address ongoing consumer concerns around taste, texture, and affordability. Read more
The company also raised $1.1M in gross proceeds through the exercise of existing warrants at a reduced price of $1.25 per ADS, with up to $2.2M in additional proceeds possible if newly issued Series C and Series D warrants are fully exercised. Funds are earmarked for working capital and business growth. Read more
AGRIWEBB | Has been acquired by URUS Group to expand the latter’s reach beyond dairy, while enabling the combined business to support millions of animals through data-driven farm management tools. Read more
PLANET A FOODS | Expands its partnership with Barry Callebaut to exclusively distribute its cocoa-free chocolate alternative, ChoViva, to food manufacturers across the US. Read more
AMAI PROTEINS | Secures approval from the Singapore Food Agency for its precision-fermented sweet protein, sweelin®, after obtaining GRAS status in the US. Read more
It also appointed Rena Cohen-First as Director of Sales and Business Development for North America to accelerate the commercial rollout of sweelin®, bringing nearly 30 years of branded ingredient experience across DSM, Glanbia, and DuPont. Read more
RENAISSANCE BIOSCIENCE | Files a patent application for its proprietary yeast-derived virus-like particle technology designed for RNA production and delivery to enhance the efficiency of eco-friendly biopesticides. Read more
BOND PET FOODS | Receives FDA clearance, together with Hill’s Pet Nutrition, for a precision fermentation lamb protein for dog food, marking an industry first. The ingredient is a nutritionally equivalent, sustainable alternative to traditional lamb. Read more
OISHII | Secures $150M in Series C funding, led by SPARX Asset Management, to expand its automated vertical farming operations. This capital injection highlights the company’s strong position despite challenges in the broader vertical farming sector. Read more
BRIGHTSEED | Introduces Hummingbird, an agentic AI tool designed to accelerate the discovery of bioactives for functional foods. The platform enables natural language processing to rapidly analyze compounds. Read more
VOYAGE FOODS | Partners with Cargill to launch NextCoa in North America, a cocoa-free, plant-based chocolate alternative to address supply pressures. The product uses upcycled ingredients to offer a lower carbon footprint. Read more
HAZEL TECHNOLOGIES | Gets acquired by TransFresh Corporation, a Chiquita Holdings subsidiary, bringing its Breatheway® modified atmosphere packaging technology into the latter’s post-harvest freshness portfolio with an initial focus on berries. The integration is expected to extend further into Chiquita’s banana and tropical fruit supply chain. Read more
LEAFT FOODS | Secures an undisclosed strategic investment from Tokyo-based food ingredients trader Lacto Japan, formalizing a partnership aimed at establishing production and distribution channels for Rubisco protein in the Japanese market. Read more
AYANA BIO & BREVEL | Partner to commercially scale illuminated fermentation, a method of cultivating plant cells indoors to produce high-value bioactive ingredients. The project is backed by a grant from the Israel-US BIRD Foundation as part of a combined $20M total investment across seven binational projects. Read more
HELAINA | Enters a multi-year collaboration with Nestlé to develop infant formula using effera, its precision-fermented human identical lactoferrin found in high concentrations in breast milk but largely absent from conventional formula products. Read more
MEATLY | Breaks ground on a new 20,000-liter production facility in London, set to become Europe’s largest cultivated meat facility. Read more
LIVOO | Launches Eco-Oatup, a protein- and fibre-rich ingredient upcycled from the wet pulp left over after oat milk production. Read more
80 ACRES FARMS | Closes its Virginia facility by July 21, laying off 80 employees, as part of post-merger operational consolidation with Soli Organic. Read more
SUN BEAR BIOFUTURE | Completes its first successful production run at a £25,000 automated pilot facility by repurposing lower-cost brewery and dairy equipment. Read more
PARIMA | Completes the core safety risk assessment stage of Food Standards Australia New Zealand’s novel food approval process for its cultivated duck. Read more
SWEGREEN | Expands its in-store growing installations across Swedish retail while securing key intellectual property protections in the United States. Read more
BENE MEAT | Publishes results from a peer-reviewed feeding trial conducted with Ghent University, showing that cats leave fewer scraps of its cultivated hamster meat compared to conventional chicken. Read more
The company’s cultivated meat was also featured in FORZA10’s new Coolty Meat dog food product. Read more
NOPALM INGREDIENTS | Takes home the Feike Sijbesma Sustainable Innovation Award 2026 in the late-stage category at F&A Next. Read more
TERRA BIOINDUSTRIES | Partners with Great Western Brewing Co. on a $1.1M initiative, funded in part by Protein Industries Canada, to produce low-carbon, versatile base ingredients. Read more
EDIBLE GARDEN | Begins shipping fresh-cut herbs to Target stores in the US. Read more
The company also reported a 22.9% increase in first-quarter revenue to $3.3M, driven by growth in herbs, supplements, condiments, and international sales. Read more
It also completed a logistics overhaul in the Metro New York market, shifting from Direct Store Delivery to a direct-to-distribution-center model that eliminates thousands of individual store-level delivery miles annually. The transition is expected to cut transportation costs across fuel, labor, and fleet expenses while reducing carbon emissions in line with the company’s Zero-Waste Inspired® mission. Read more
AGTIRA | Reports a strong opening quarter for 2026, swinging to a positive EBITDA of SEK 3.3 million (an 11.6% margin) after net sales grew 61% year-on-year, with 38% of that growth coming organically. Read more
V2FOOD | Brings its acquired US brand Daring Foods into Australian supermarkets for the first time. Read more
CLEAN FOOD GROUP | Secures £4.5M in funding, alongside a £700,000 non-dilutive Innovate UK grant, to accelerate the scale-up of its fermentation facility in Liverpool. Read more
MYRIAMEAT | Expands its species platform beyond pork and Wagyu beef toward a cultivated venison fillet. Read more
OSHI | Raises $3M to scale its whole-cut plant-based seafood platform. Read more
VIVENT BIOSIGNALS | Drives measurable yield improvements in professional greenhouse trials in the Netherlands. Read more
MOSA MEAT | Joins the Asia-Pacific Society for Cellular Agriculture, strengthening its presence in one of the most active regions for cellular agriculture innovation and regulation. Read more
ENDLESS FOOD CO | Secures a distribution partnership with Dagrofa Foodservice for its THIC product. Read more
ÄIO | Achieves COSMOS certification for all three of its fermentation-derived cosmetic ingredients: RedOil, ZymaLipid Complex, and Encapsulated Oil. Read more
HEURA | Achieves positive EBITDA for the first time in Q1 2026, as it plans to offer its formulation and manufacturing expertise to retailers and brands through a white-label strategy. Read more
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