Hi there,

Alex here. A big thank you to the four co-hosts who brought the IC Dinner at IFT to life: Sebastian Zaera (CEO & Co-founder, BioBlends), Bryant C. Williams (CEO, Nurtured Nuts), Tristan Jensen (Co-founder, Tomorrow Taste), and Kat Tarasova (Mycsology Foods Inc.).

If you are attending an event this year and want to host an IC dinner (no investors allowed — just founders, great food, and honest conversation), reach out to our team, and we can make it happen together.

This week's rundown:

🌿 Hippo Harvest bagged a $30 million Series C
🌍 Norrsken Evolve closed a €62M oversubscribed pre-seed fund
🫐 The year of the berry

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ᴜs USA — Hippo Harvest raises $30M [Indoor Farming]
Hippo Harvest grows USDA-certified organic leafy greens in robotics- and ML-powered greenhouses using autonomous mobile robots and a closed-loop watering system. The round funds a 30-acre Hollister, CA facility, a next-generation robotic growing system, and the launch of indoor-grown spinach. Lead: Cox Farms. Follows: Congruent Ventures, Collaborative Fund, Hawthorne Food Ventures, The Fresh Investment Club.

sɢ Singapore — Rize raises $31M [AgTech]
Rize is a Singapore-based agritech decarbonizing rice cultivation. The round (total funding now ~$47M) funds export market expansion, AI tools for farmers and field teams, carbon and innovation initiatives, and organizational growth. Lead: BNP Paribas Asset Management (equity). Follows: The Rockefeller Foundation, Temasek and Breakthrough Energy Ventures (equity); BIDV, Temasek Foundation and UOB (debt).

ᴜs USA — Sabanto raises an oversubscribed Series B [AgTech]
Sabanto's Retrofit Autonomy Kit turns off-the-shelf tractors into fully autonomous machines. The oversubscribed round (amount undisclosed) accelerates adoption, expands its customer base, and further develops retrofit kits across North America and international markets. Lead: Leaps by Bayer. Follows: Sustainable Forward Capital, InnoVenture Iowa, Fulcrum Global Capital, DCVC, and Yara.

ᴇs Spain — InsectBiotech raises €7.2M (~$8.2M) [Insect Protein]
InsectBiotech uses black soldier fly larvae to bioconvert Andalusian agricultural waste into sustainable proteins and oils for animal feed and regenerative soil products. The round funds its first commercial plant in Andalusia. Lead: Arcano Partners. Follows: US investor consortium.

ɪɴ India — Wheelocity raises ₹82.36 Cr (~$9.5M) [Digital Supply Chain] Wheelocity runs a tech-led "phygital" supply chain delivering fresh produce and groceries across India's semi-urban and rural markets. The round scales its rural commerce network; total funding to date now exceeds $35M. Lead: Elevar Equity. Follows: Lightspeed, Grand Anicut Fund, Magnum LLC, Unimix LLC, and angels.

ɪᴛ Italy — Nous raises €2.315M [Novel Ingredients]
Nous, a Cantù-based ingredient startup, develops science-backed botanical functional ingredients using proprietary extraction tech. This seed round funds clinical studies, supply chain expansion across Europe and Asia, and a US launch planned for November 2026. Lead: dsm-firmenich Ventures. Follows: FoodSeed (CDP Venture Capital / Eatable Adventures).

ᴜs USA — Fave raises $1M [CPG]
Fave is a Certified Organic, Non-GMO Project Verified entrant into the ~$1B powdered drink-mix category. The round closed alongside a national launch into ~500 Sprouts Farmers Market stores. Lead: Supernatural Ventures Follows: The Angel Group, Great Circle Ventures.

ᴜᴋ UK — TOSS raises an undisclosed Seed round [CPG]
Launched just six months ago, TOSS’s unique spin on salad dressing is already attracting investors through an undisclosed seed round. Lead: SFC Capital. Follows: GOTA Ventures, FIGR Ventures, plus angels

ʙᴇ Belgium — Optiflux raises €2.5M [AgTech]
Optiflux makes AI-powered hardware-plus-software modules that dynamically monitor and adjust fruit storage conditions to cut waste, save energy, and preserve quality after harvest. The funding will fuel its international expansion and ongoing product development. Lead: N/A. Follows: Agri Investment Fund (AIF), LAVA, LRM, Gemma Frisius Fund

sᴀ Saudi Arabia — Uvera raises an undisclosed Seed round [Food Preservation]
Uvera extends the shelf life of fresh produce and pairs it with blockchain-backed traceability and IoT-powered analytics to cut food waste across the supply chain. The seed round funds scaling commercial deployments and platform development. Investors: Morgan Stanley Inclusive & Sustainable Ventures, LAB7, Core Vision.

ᴘᴛ Portugal — BRAINR raises €1.5M (~$1.7M) [Food Manufacturing]
BRAINR’s AI-powered Meat Factory Operating System is now used by manufacturers behind 65%+ of Portugal's poultry output. This extension to its €11M seed funds international expansion across Europe. Investor: Portugal Ventures (VC).

ɪʟ Israel — Nanovel secures €2.5M non-dilutive EIC grant [AgTech]
Nanovel builds tractor-drawn, AI- and computer-vision-powered robots that autonomously harvest citrus and other tree fruit. The European Innovation Council awarded a €2.5M non-dilutive grant and selected Nanovel as a candidate for up to €4.3M in EIC equity — intended to anchor a planned €8M round. Investor: European Innovation Council (EIC Accelerator — non-dilutive grant + equity candidacy).

ʜᴋ Hong Kong — IM8 raises $1B in revenue-based growth financing [CPG]
DTC supplement brand co-founded by David Beckham scaled to ~$200M annualized run-rate revenue within 19 months across 43 markets on just two flagship products. Investor: General Catalyst — Customer Value Fund (capped, cohort-matched, non-dilutive growth financing).

🌍 Norrsken Evolve closed its pre-seed fund at €62M, more than 50% above target, with backing from the European Investment Fund and Wise/Skype founders' investment vehicle. Food and agriculture sit alongside energy, industrial decarbonization, and cybersecurity in the fund's resilience-focused mandate.

📊 Commercial roles overtook technical hiring at alt protein companies in the first half of 2026, signaling the sector's shift from R&D-heavy build phases toward revenue generation.

🍄 Syngenta will commercialize Groundwork BioAg's mycorrhizal fungi tech under its own brand in a deal worth an estimated $30-50M, giving the Israeli biotech global distribution while Syngenta adds a carbon-credit revenue line for farmers.

🐷 Putting pictures of live animals on the menu made diners about 22% more likely to pick the vegetarian dish, a new UK cafeteria study finds. It’s helped NYC’s public hospitals cut meat servings by ~50%.

🍫 The UK’s Centre for Process Innovation has joined the €6.3M COCO-AI consortium to scale lab-grown cocoa from 50-litre bioreactors to 10,000-litre demonstration systems, using AI to speed process development as cocoa supply chains grow more climate-exposed.

🌾 The Micronutrient Forum's Standing Together for Nutrition Consortium is seeking a consultant to help build scientific consensus on the nutritional impact of regenerative agriculture. Eight-month remote engagement, applications close July 31.

🍓 Forget seasonal delicacy: you can now buy berries pretty much anywhere, at any time. Berries are officially big business.

👶Indeed, berry consumption is up across every income bracket, especially among those who don't earn a paycheck.

🫐 The berry boom may have met its match, however.

We love you.
Steve, Ilkka, and Alex

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🎵 This issue was produced while listening to Gliss Riffer by Dan Deacon

By Steve Edgerton, Ilkka Taponen, and Alex Shandrovsky.
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