TLDR:
- Aqua Capital announced the close of its $450 million Fund III to invest in sustainable agrifood solutions
- Other notable raises include Onego Bio, BurnBot, and Seso
Agrifood private equity firm Aqua Capital recently closed its $450 million Fund III, focusing on sustainable agrifood solutions. Noteworthy raises this week include Onego Bio, BurnBot, and Seso. Onego Bio secured $40 million in series A funding to launch precision-fermented egg protein in North America. BurnBot raised $20 million to develop wildfire-preventing technology. Seso received $26 million to address US farm labor shortages through software solutions.
In the agtech sector, Seso and BioConsortia secured significant investments to tackle farm labor shortages and innovate in agriculture. Other notable funding rounds include InfraCo Africa committing $12 million to scale SunCulture’s solar irrigation in sub-Saharan Africa, Agteria Biotech securing €1.4 million from Norrsken Launcher to combat methane emissions, and Fishlog closing pre-Series A extension round successfully.
Climate tech and bioenergy funding highlights include BurnBot raising $20 million, L’Oreal backing sustainable pigment maker Sparxell, and WasteX securing funding to expand biochar solutions across Indonesia. In the food tech sector, Profluent raised $35 million in additional funding, Full Glass Wine secured $14 million, and Ironic Biotech raised €1 million pre-seed funding.
Other significant news includes Daring Foods CEO stepping down, Bumble Bee Seafoods appointing a new CEO, and Sustainable packaging startup Bpacks unveiling bioplastics from bark. Additionally, Whirlpool laid off its team for the cooking app Yummly, and Vow became the third company to launch cultivated meat. Grab and Delivery Hero’s talks came under the Singapore competition watchdog’s radar, while Dutch brands agreed to make half of the recipes on food packaging meatless.
