Green Queen Media

🇫🇷💰🧀 EXCLUSIVE: FRANCE'S NUTROPY GETS $8M IN FUNDING FOR ANIMAL-FREE CHEESE The demand for dairy is rising sharply just as the number of farmers is plummeting. Estimates suggest that global milk shortages could reach 30 million tonnes by 2030. At the same time, many plant-based alternatives, like vegan cheese, continue to be a hard sell for consumers. France’s Nutropy is aiming to fill this gap by producing milk proteins via precision fermentation. It makes a plug-and-play powdered solution for companies to develop future-friendly dairy products that meet taste, nutrition and sustainability expectations all at once. The startup has just raised €7M ($8.1M) in an oversubscribed funding round led by Big Pi Ventures and Zero Carbon Capital, with participation from existing backer Big Idea Ventures and new investors Beta Lab, Wyngate, cheese producer Paul Dischamp, Desai Ventures and PVS Investments, and Axel Johnson ’s Novax. Nutropy also attracted public financial support from European and French programmes, notably Bpifrance, the state-owned investment bank. It takes the firm’s total raised past $10M, following its pre-series investment round in 2022. “The funds will be used for our scale-up and providing larger samples to food producers,” says CEO Nathalie Rolland, who founded the startup in 2021 with CSO Maya Bendifallah, PhD. Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/e3NBGGNN #GreenQueen #altdairy #altprotein #foodinnovation #precisionfermentation #futurefood #foodsystems

📉🥩 PATENT FILINGS FOR PLANT-BASED & LAB-GROWN MEAT CONTINUE TO FALL, SHOWS ANALYSIS Patent filings for plant-based and cultivated meat are mirroring the trends seen in the retail and investment sectors, with the number of applications on a downward correction after years of sustained growth. That’s the takeaway from the fifth edition of IP firm Appleyard Lees IP LLP’s Inside Green Innovation: Progress Report, which reviewed global patent filings in the energy, AI, materials and food sectors in 2022. The analysis revealed that patent applications for cultivated meat fell by nearly 10% from 125 in 2022 to 113 in 2023, a far cry from the 9% increase in the former year. Meanwhile, the decline in plant-based meat filings continued for a second consecutive year, falling by 20% from 280 to 223. “In the cultivated meat sector, funding, regulation, and consumer uptake remain key challenges for innovators, alongside upscaling and production efficiency,” said Emily Bevan-Smith, a patent attorney at Appleyard Lees. James Myatt, a partner at the firm, added: “In plant-based meats, sales fell by 12% and some manufacturers have either reduced operations or gone into administration.” Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/eejKEXXd #GreenQueen #altprotein #cultivatedmeat #plantbasedmeat #futurefood #foodsystems #foodinnovation

⚡ FUTURE FOOD QUICK BITES ⚡ This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Eat Just’s vegan chicken, Beyond Meat’s Walmart expansion, and Tesco’s collab with La Vie. 👉 Swipe left for the details. 🛒 New Products and Launches Eat Just, Inc. Beyond Meat Leaft Foods, Meateor Pet Foods Limited Partnership Alpine Bio Tesco, Plant Chef, LA VIE™ DR.VEGAN One Planet Pizza JOKOLADE, Planet A Foods REWE, Best Wahle Shalom Daniel Oatly 💵 Company and Finance Developments Plant Futures Collective wagamama, The Restaurant Group Revo Foods, David Petuzzi, Robin Simsa Flower Burger Sunday Supper / Italian Frozen Food HumaneCheck Laird Superfood 🏆 Research, Policy and Awards APAC Society for Cellular Agriculture, Beyond Impact VC, Beyond Animal Magic Valley, Bezos Centre for Sustainable Protein @NUS Jellatech Better Nature World Economic Forum, Frontiers Find out the latest in the alt protein space here: https://lnkd.in/eShcGwkK #GreenQueen #altprotein #futurefood #funding #investment #foodtech #sustainability -------- Want to see more posts like this? Hit the 🔔 button on our profile so you don't miss any updates. Or subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest in alt protein and sustainability: https://lnkd.in/eqEx5DT

♻️🥛 BEL, STANDING OVATION TURN WHEY WASTE INTO RECOMBINANT CASEIN AT INDUSTRIAL SCALE In a global first, two French companies have developed casein – the main protein found in dairy – from the industry’s biggest waste product: whey. Bel Group, the dairy behemoth behind Babybel, The Laughing Cow, and Boursin, has teamed up with fellow French firm Standing Ovation to produce recombinant casein from whey waste at an industrial scale. The achievement follows years of collaboration between the two companies, with Bel having invested in Standing Ovation in 2022. They announced the project to utilise Bel’s whey, a byproduct of cheesemaking, in April. “By transforming our cheese whey into high-value proteins, we give a second life to our by-products while significantly reducing our carbon footprint,” said Caroline Sorlin, director of investments and startup collaborations at Bel Group. “This innovation shows that technological collaboration and environmental excellence can go hand in hand.” Standing Ovation notes that the industrial production demonstrates the viability of a closed-loop valorisation model, reduces waste, and bolsters food sovereignty by leveraging available national resources. “This industrial validation confirms the robustness of our technology and its ability to sustainably transform practices in the dairy industry. We now have a proven and replicable solution,” said Olivier Ladet, industrial director at Standing Ovation. Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/ekni8H5E #GreenQueen #altprotein #altdairy #fermentation #foodtech #futurefood #circulareconomy

✅🇦🇺🇳🇿 PARIMA SET TO RECEIVE FSANZ APPROVAL FOR GOURMEY CULTURED DUCK BY 2026 PARIMA (creators of Gourmey), a cultivated meat company formed last week, could be selling cultured foie gras and pâté to consumers in Australia and New Zealand by August 2026. The startup’s regulatory dossier for cultivated duck, made under its GOURMEY brand, has been officially accepted by Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ). Now, the application will enter the scientific risk assessment process. Parima emerged as a new entity after Gourmey acquired French cultivated chicken firm VitalMeat, marrying their tech, regulatory and manufacturing prowess, with a combined 15 patent families and more than 70 applications. The company is seeking regulatory clearance for its cultivated meat products in seven markets. Its FSANZ filing comes months after the regulator gave the green light to Sydney-based cultivated quail maker Vow, which has been selling its protein in the form of parfait and foie gras in restaurants across Australia since July. Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/ebDCzsa9 #GreenQueen #altprotein #futurefood #cultivatedmeat #foodtech #foodsystems #sustainability

🥩💰 MATR FOODS BAGS $23M TO SCALE UP CLEAN-LABEL MYCELIUM MEAT Copenhagen-based Matr Foods has secured fresh funding to build a large-scale factory that can churn out thousands of tonnes of mycelium protein. The company has received €20M ($23.2M) in Series A financing co-led by Novo Holdings (the owner of Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk) and the Export and Investment Fund of Denmark (EIFO). This comes on top of a €20M ($22.2M at the time) debt investment from the European Investment Bank (EIB) last year. The fundraising total of €40M is the largest secured by a Danish food tech startup to date, and will be used to construct a commercial plant in Ansager. Set to be operational in 2027, it will enable Matr to expand its production capacity from 30 to 4,000 tonnes a year, and create around 60 jobs. “Our current pilot site is in Nordhavn, Copenhagen. It will only remain functional until the new site is up and running. But we will keep R&D facilities and office in Copenhagen,” Matr CEO Randi Wahlsten tells Green Queen. “We are building up [our] team in Germany and Switzerland, building out our commercial capabilities, and getting the organisation in gear to move from a startup to a scaling-production tech company,” she says. “The next 12 months are all about scaling and preparing our internationalisation both in terms of brand, organisation, customers and production,” Wahlsten adds. “We have some very interesting pipeline projects that we are also kicking off in the coming months. So, a busy and exciting year ahead.” Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/egYD2B2A #GreenQueen #altprotein #mycelium #futurefood #foodtech #foodsystems #sustainability

🌿🥩 BEYOND MEAT LAUNCHES TEST KITCHEN FOR LIMITED DROPS OF NEW PRODUCTS As it works to turn around its sales and eliminate its debt, US plant-based pioneer Beyond Meat has debuted a new strategy to launch its innovations. The company has unveiled Beyond Test Kitchen, a customer-led approach to product development, giving them an exclusive first taste of its new proteins before wider rollout. Each product is produced in limited quantities and sold in fashion-industry-style drops exclusively on Beyond Test Kitchen’s direct-to-consumer website. Its first products are the much-anticipated Beyond Ground and the mycelium-based steak that has only been available in restaurants, and they’ve been selling fast. The move comes amid a media storm for the company. Its stock fell to an all-time low of 85 cents last week, after announcing the early settlement of an exchange offer for convertible bonds to eliminate over $800M of debt. Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/eXK8q_FX #GreenQueen #altprotein #plantbasedmeat #futurefood #foodsystems #sustainability

🧶🧣 HOW KNITUP IS SHEDDING FASHION INDUSTRY WASTE WITH A CUSTOM KNITWEAR PLATFORM The future of fashion is less. Or at least that’s the promise of Knitup, a customised clothing platform born out of a collaboration between supply chain manager Fung Group and its subsidiary, knitwear producer Cobalt Fashion. It says the most responsible production practices are those that eliminate waste before it begins. Knitup is shaking things up by combining small-batch manufacturing with real-time data insights to eliminate guesswork and waste. It reduces lead times from months to just three weeks, allowing brands to capitalise on social trends that are still fresh. Essentially, clients can use the made-to-order model to design knitwear on Knitup’s online studio, and get it delivered to them fast. It enables them to drop new pieces and restock quickly, or even launch limited capsule collections without delays or inventory risks. Knitup offers five materials: Better Cotton Initiative-certified cotton, recycled viscose nylon, biodegradable Australian Merino wool, and cashmere accredited by the Good Cashmere Standard. In an interview with Green Queen, Knitup founder Dorothy Pun discusses the sustainability and ethics related to the materials, how it accelerates production timelines, and the difference between its two services. Read the full interview here: https://lnkd.in/e5SSsAem #GreenQueen #fashion #sustainability #innovation #ecofriendly

🎙️👸🏻 THIS EX-USDA OFFICIAL & WHITE HOUSE ADVISOR IS LEADING THE PLANT-BASED FIGHT Few people know about agricultural policy in the US as well as Sanah Baig. She spent years working for the government, beginning with a stint at President Barack Obama’s US Department of Agriculture (USDA) between 2011 and 2016, before returning to the agency under Joe Biden’s administration in 2022. During this time, Baig also served as a senior policy advisor for agriculture and nutrition to the White House. She left the government this January at the end of the Democrats’ term, and five months later, joined the Plant Based Foods Institute (PBFI) as its new executive director. Her tenure has dovetailed with the chaos that has come with Donald Trump’s second presidency. The administration has erased any mentions of climate change from the USDA website, reduced funding for the food stamps programme by around 20% (the largest reduction in its history), and scrapped the annual food security survey to stave off criticism of the budget cuts. With a few months under her belt at PBFI, Baig speaks to Green Queen in an extensive interview about her role, the government’s view on plant-based eating, the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, the influence of meat lobby groups, and the proposed changes to the national dietary guidelines. Read the full interview here: https://lnkd.in/e49p2mgm #GreenQueen #altprotein #plantbased #vegan #foodsystems #climatechange #sustainability

🇪🇸💰 SPANISH SUSTAINABLE PROTEIN STARTUPS SEE 550% JUMP IN FUNDING: REPORT Plant-based, microbial, and cell-cultured protein startups are the main focus of Spain’s agtech sector, with 42% of startups working on these innovations. Research by The Good Food Institute Europe (GFI) shows that Spain is the second most attractive country for alternative protein investors in Europe (behind Denmark), as the sector’s fundraising efforts became wildly successful last year. Funding for alternative proteins reached €64.7M in 2024, a 547% jump from the year before (albeit from a small base), led by Heura Foods’s €40M Series B round. This came as sales of plant-based food hit €491M in supermarkets, representing a 10% increase in volume. Additionally, one in five Spanish households bought a plant-based meat product at least once last year. The data shows that the country has all the ingredients to become a regional future food leader, though it will need strong financial and policy support from the government to get there. Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/eefWsXVZ #GreenQueen #altprotein #funding #futurefood #foodsystems #sustainability