Check out what some of the FoodTech 500 Alumni have been up to lately:
CLIMATEAI | Ceases operations after eight years, with co-founder and CEO Himanshu Gupta announcing the wind-down on LinkedIn and citing unspecified “geopolitical and climate headwinds” as factors that made it difficult to continue the company’s mission, with remaining capital being returned to investors. Read more
BIOSCOUT | Raises $4.8M in a seed round to expand from 250 to 1,000 sensor units globally by 2029 and push into European markets. The company’s AI-powered early warning system continuously draws in air, captures airborne fungal spores on adhesive tape, and analyzes hundreds of microscope images using trained AI models, correlating spore concentrations with environmental data to estimate crop infection risk days before visible symptoms appear. Read more
PLANTIBLE FOODS | Secures $35M in combined debt and equity funding, including a $25M USDA-backed loan from X-Caliber Rural Capital and $10M from RA Capital and existing investors. The capital will enable a fivefold expansion of its duckweed-derived Rubisco protein production capacity to over 100,000 tonnes annually. Read more
STEAKHOLDER FOODS | Raises $3.5M through private placements to expand US distribution of its Perfecta consumer brand of 3D-printed whole-cut plant-based meat and seafood, just weeks after the brand’s US launch. Read more
ALEPH FARMS | Secures regulatory approval from the Singapore Food Agency for its Thin-Cut Steak, a hybrid cultivated beef product combining non-modified Black Angus cells with a soy and wheat plant protein matrix, with a restaurant launch targeted for the first half of 2027. Read more
RENAISSANCE BIOSCIENCE | Secures Genome BC funding to extend its yeast-based RNA interference biopesticide platform from above-ground insect pests to soil-dwelling crop pests, beginning with wireworms, one of agriculture’s most persistent and economically damaging pest groups affecting potatoes, root vegetables, corn, and cereals across Europe and North America. Read more
DESERT CONTROL | Reports significant yield gains from two commercial field trials of its Liquid Natural Clay (LNC) soil treatment on romaine lettuce in California’s Salinas Valley, with a 29.8% yield increase in a one-acre trial and a 34% increase in a larger 5.5-acre follow-up trial. The results were achieved without additional water use or changes to standard farming practices, with LNC applied through existing drip tape and filtration systems. Read more
JUICY MARBLES | Launches Butcher-Minced Bangers, a new plant-based sausage available exclusively in the UK through Ocado, extending its Meat-o-matic technology beyond whole cuts into a coarse-ground sausage format for the first time. Read more
NOSH.BIO | Publishes an updated Life Cycle Assessment of its Koji Protein, conducted with ClimatePoint, revealing striking environmental advantages compared to a French raw-beef benchmark of comparable scope. The results show approximately 93% lower greenhouse gas emissions, 99% lower water use, and 97% lower land use than conventional beef. Read more
UVERA | Closes an undisclosed seed funding round backed by Morgan Stanley, Lab7 by Aramco, Core Vision, and other strategic investors. The new funding will support wider deployment of its shelf life extension solutions, as well as further develop its IoT- and blockchain-powered platform for product tracking and data analytics. Read more
C16 BIOSCIENCES | Releases new performance data highlighting the multifunctional benefits of its fermentation-derived skincare ingredient. Its ingredient brand, Palmless, reported that torula oil outperformed several well-known antioxidants, including vitamin C, in laboratory testing. The ingredient also has a fatty acid profile similar to human sebum, supporting moisturization and skin barrier health. Read more
The company also launched its first food ingredient: a fermentation-derived Cocoa Butter Equivalent under its Palmless brand, alongside three new beauty and personal care additions, bringing its commercial ingredient portfolio to five products produced in 50,000-litre fermentation tanks. Read more
Courtesy: C16 Biosciences
NUTRITION FROM WATER | Appoints former FrieslandCampina and Thai Union executive Leon Coolen as Commercial Director for the EMEA region. Read more
LA VIE | Sees a leadership transition as co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer Romain Jolivet steps down from his role in September, while remaining closely involved with the team and the brand. Read more
TURTLETREE | Powers WAYWYLD’s new Lactoferrin+ supplement with its precision-fermented lactoferrin, offering a convenient daily formula to support immune health, gut health, and overall resilience. Read more
PLANTED | Grows its footprint in Italy with the retail launch of its nuggets, crispy burger, and steak bites, alongside a nationwide aperitivo campaign showcasing its plant-based products in bars and restaurants. Read more
PARIMA | Reaches a key regulatory milestone, with its application to Food Standards Australia New Zealand entering the public consultation phase after a delay from the regulator’s original March timeline. Read more
BENE MEAT | Hosts representatives of the Czech Meat Processors Association at its pilot production facility, offering a first-hand tour of its cultivated cell manufacturing technology. Discussions covered the production process, regulatory frameworks, and product labelling, with BeneMeat advocating for transparent consumer communication using the term “cultivated cells” alongside cell origin, in line with current EU legislation. Read more
CE-LINE | Receives UL certification for its CE-Line Analyzer, which provides real-time, laboratory-quality nutrient measurements directly in greenhouses, helping growers make faster fertilization decisions. This allows the automated nutrient monitoring system to be sold in the US and Canada. Read more
ONESOIL | Secures €1M to expand and further develop its AI Agronomist to improve farm management and reduce resource use. Read more
BIOCRAFT | Submits a comprehensive safety dossier for its cultivated mouse ingredient, marking a key step toward regulatory approval for use in pet food. The submission includes data on the ingredient’s composition, manufacturing process, and safety, supporting the company’s goal of commercializing cultivated meat for cats and dogs. Read more
ORGANIFARMS | Significantly advances its software platform for indoor berry production, giving growers improved tools to monitor crop performance, optimize workflows, and increase operational efficiency. The company says continuous software improvements are helping producers make better decisions using real-time cultivation data. Read more
PLENTY | Scales back plans for its Chesterfield, Virginia campus following its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, narrowing the site’s scope as it restructures its business. The company says the revised strategy focuses on completing and operating its strawberry production facility while reducing capital requirements. Read more
Courtesy: Plenty
CROPIN | Launches OrbitAI, an agentic AI platform for agriculture, while reporting continued progress toward profitability through disciplined growth and expanding enterprise adoption. The platform combines autonomous AI agents with Cropin’s agricultural intelligence to help food and agriculture businesses make faster, data-driven decisions across sourcing, production, and supply chains. Read more
THE EVERY COMPANY | Partners with ADM to produce its animal-free egg white protein OvoPro at commercial scale at the latter’s Iowa facility, marking the first US site with precision fermentation capacity at this scale. Backed by $288M in total funding, the company is also exploring a four-million-litre precision fermentation facility in Abu Dhabi in partnership with Vivici and the Abu Dhabi Investment Office. Read more
GREEN SPOT TECHNOLOGIES | Reaches 89% of its community crowdfunding round on Keenest, sponsored by Team for the Planet. After seven years of R&D, the French company has developed a proven industrial-scale fermentation technology that transforms agricultural byproducts into gourmet, sustainable ingredients, which generate 16 to 80 times less CO₂ per kilogram compared to traditional cocoa, offer a competitive and stable price, and deliver a distinctive dried fruit and hazelnut flavor profile already adopted by dozens of artisan and industrial customers. Read more
80 ACRES FARMS | Winds down its indoor growing operations after a decade of building automated indoor agriculture at scale. Despite the scale it achieved, high energy and infrastructure costs ultimately compressed margins beyond what additional capital could sustain. Read more
BIONEMA | Announces a significant advancement in the development of a patent-pending fungal bioherbicide, which has demonstrated up to 85% weed mortality, 80% reduction in weed emergence in UK greenhouse trials, no visible crop injury in cereal and oilseed rape evaluations, and maintained 92% formulation viability after 12 months of ambient storage. Read more
DRY4GOOD | Secures €5M to scale its natural ingredient production tenfold through two new production lines at its France facility. The company’s proprietary ambient-temperature drying technology preserves the flavor, color, and nutritional profile of fresh fruits, vegetables, and botanical plants without the degradation caused by conventional high-heat drying methods, producing additive-free powders in bakery, confectionery, chocolate, beverages, and prepared meals. Read more
BMC INGREDIENTS (fka. The Better Meat Co.) | Receives a letter of no objection from Health Canada for its Rhiza mycoprotein, clearing the way for commercial sales in Canada. Rhiza is produced via submerged fermentation of Neurospora crassa, which delivers ~45% protein and 30% fibre per serving, with more protein than eggs, more fibre than oats, and a protein digestibility score comparable to casein and beef. Read more
TERRAFLOS & NUTRI CO | Strengthen their presence in Latin America with the former acquiring the latter, combining Terraflos’ biotechnology capabilities with +NUTRI Co.’s AI-powered product development platform to launch a new functional food line and accelerate expansion into Argentina, Colombia, and Uruguay. Read more
OSHI | Launches a billboard in New York’s Times Square, encouraging consumers to choose seafood alternatives to help address overfishing and marine habitat loss. Read more
IUNU | Strengthens its long-term collaboration with Enza Zaden, which made a minority investment in the former, to help accelerate the development of new vegetable varieties using AI-powered crop intelligence. Read more
MICROHARVEST | Builds Europe’s first industrial-scale microbial protein facility at the Leuna Chemical Park in Germany, with a mid-double-digit million euro investment and production expected to begin in the first half of 2028, targeting 15,000 metric tonnes of protein annually from a 5,800-square-metre site. Read more
Courtesy: MicroHarvest
BUGBIOME | Secures a £500,000 Innovate UK grant to develop a biological insecticide targeting cabbage stem flea beetles in oilseed rape, a significant crop protection challenge in the UK since the ban on neonicotinoids nearly a decade ago. Read more
THOSE VEGAN COWBOYS | Launches Margaret’s Finest, a collaborative protein discovery programme inviting food manufacturers, ingredient companies, nutrition specialists, and research organizations to explore the potential of animal-free casein proteins produced through precision fermentation. Read more
FOREVERLAND FOOD | Launches its Functional Line, introducing two new cocoa-free compound solutions: No Added Sugar Milk and No Added Sugar Vegan Milk. The new line addresses multiple industry pressures simultaneously: the high-fibre trend for gut health, clean-label demands requiring artificial sweetener-free formulations, and the ongoing cocoa supply crisis. Read more
The company has also entered the Greek market through a partnership with Cereal Food. Read more
GROUNDWORK BIOAG | Partners with Syngenta to commercialize its mycorrhizal fungi technology and soil carbon solutions across corn, soybean, cereal, and sunflower growers in Latin America and Europe. Read more
PHYTOFORM | Selected by Beck’s and RAGT to develop next-generation corn trait products using its AI-powered CRE.AI.TIVE™ platform. Read more
GARDIN | Launches the ALPHA Index, a new analytics feature that isolates the effect of climate and irrigation on plant performance from the influence of light. Read more
MELT&MARBLE | Launches Marble7, its precision-fermented “designer fat” for the beauty and personal care sector, partnering with Covalo to accelerate adoption worldwide. Read more
WINNOW | Acquires Lumitics, combining its global AI platform with the latter’s eight years of regional deployment experience, deep hospitality relationships, and technical expertise across diverse cuisines and kitchen formats. Read more
SAVOR | Partners with AAK to develop and commercialize carbon-crafted specialty fats for dairy alternative and bakery applications in the EU and US markets. The resulting fats are designed to match the performance of virtually any conventional fat type, while requiring up to 1,000 times less land use and generating up to 98% lower carbon emissions than animal or agricultural fat equivalents. Read more
It also deepened its partnership with San Francisco’s Jane the Bakery, with its EcoButter™ now featured in an apple coffee cake muffin and two scone varieties. Read more
PERFAT TECHNOLOGIES | Signs a distribution agreement with Eigenmann & Veronelli, bringing its oleogel-based fat ingredient Perfat Soft to food manufacturers in Italy and Turkey. Read more
MYCOTECHNOLOGY | Partners with Adorvia Biotechnology to combine its Zukora Honey Truffle Sweet Protein with the latter’s Reb M stevia. Joint go-to-market activities will be conducted in North America, while Adorvia has been appointed as MycoTechnology’s exclusive distributor in China for ClearIQ Natural Flavor, its mushroom mycelial fermentation-derived flavour modifier that reduces bitterness, mitigates protein off-notes, and improves mouthfeel. Read more
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