AgriFood Signals: Farmbot unearths fresh funding, Homestead Capital nabs $150m, Gates backs ‘HeatSmart’ cassava

AgFunderNews rounds up the most important fundings, mergers, acquisitions, closures, and industry buzz in agtech and foodtech. Funding news 🇩🇪 Oceanloop secures up to $44 million to scale land-based giant grouper farming Aquafeed 🇦🇺 Veteran agtech Farmbot digs up $22 million Series B for US push Startup Daily 🇦🇺 Tenacious, AgriZeroNZ and QIC back A$10m raise for cattle-breeding innovator Nbryo Agri Investor 🇩🇪 Germany’s Computomics secures €6.3 million to help crop breeders stay ahead of heat and drought EU Startups 🇺🇸 Mafix raises $5.4m to activate silicate rock into climate-smart fertilizer AgFunderNews 🇬🇧 EcoNomad raises £400K to bring waste-to-energy tech to small livestock farms Tech.eu M&A, IPOs & partnerships 🇺🇸 Ferrero Group acquiring Purely Elizabeth Consumer Goods 🇮🇱 🇧🇪 Ever After Foods acquires Fishway to expand cultivated protein manufacturing platform Protein Production Technology Funds, grants & accelerators 🇺🇸 Homestead Capital raises $150m in first close of agriculture credit fund iGrow News 🇺🇸 Danforth Center launches HeatSmart Cassava for a hotter world Danforth Center 🇫🇮 Finnish govt-backed project creates new way to make large amounts of mycelium leather Green Queen People moves 🇧🇪 Biotalys appoints Carlo Boutton as chief scientific officer Biotalys 🇺🇸 Ohalo appoints Rob Dunlop as VP of global commercial to scale Boosted Breeding seed adoption Dealroom Other news 🇺🇸 Tufts launches innovation hub for new technologies in food and materials Tufts 🇪🇺 🇮🇳 dsm-firmenich takes Protopia yeast protein to industrial scale, targets fishmeal and whey AgFunderNews 🇨🇦 IIF to launch its farm investment platform across Canada following new capital raise from Verdex AgFunderNews 🇺🇸 Physicians committee sues over alleged industry influence on dietary guidelines Vegconomist 🇺🇸 Tyson Foods cuts 2,500 Illinois jobs in multi-state beef restructuring Ag Daily 🇬🇧 Quorn Foods’ UK retail recovery gathers pace, but foodservice ‘likely to get worse before it gets better’ AgFunderNews 🇺🇸 BFG Supply and 16 affiliated companies file for Chapter 11 protection Vertical Farm Daily 🇺🇸 Superbrewed Food expands beyond bulk protein with postbiotic launch AgFunderNews