Hi Folks,

Back from a great trip to sunny Northern California, where I attended Synbiobeta 2025, a conference dedicated to (shocker!) synthetic biology. While it is mostly not a food tech event, the 5 panels/talks about food were excellent, and I also managed to have plenty of catch-up time with some of my favourite people in the space, got plenty of industry gossip (sadly mostly about startupo shutdowns) and get some choice quotes from founder, investors and corporates.

A few rapid-fire observations from my 4 days there:

• It’s all about B2B now- CPG feels like it’s no longer part of the deeper foodtech conversation. Companies are focused on securing offtake agreements and working to better understand their corporate customers.

• Fermentation is where the action is, and one of the keys to success is optimizing for inputs.

• Founders are talking about supply chain resiliency rather than climate- they want to solve the business problem, and the environmental narrative is not what’s selling.

• AI is no longer optional- all companies are using it in some way or another and everyone is excited about this, especially in terms of cost savings- AI allows small teams to punch above their weight.

• The hype is well and truly over. Founders are laser-focused on profitability and have no illusions that fundraising will get easier.

• Food tech companies are looking at biopharma applications for their technology as a route to revenues.

Impossible Foods founder Pat Brown joined a main stage panel on the last day, where he referred to the use of animals for food as “humanity’s most destructive tech” and later told me privately that non-plant-based alt protein tech is BS. You gotta love that he is consistent and committed to the vision.

On the same panel, Sofia Elizondo from Brightseed pronounced that the future of food is AI, which everyone on stage agreed with. But it was also a reminder of the importance of timing when it comes to great innovation, as NotCo’s Karim Pichara shared how the company got no traction when it created an AI-powered food tech innovation platform back in 2015, saying: “No one was ready. No one understood.”

Rodrigo Ledesma Amaro, director of Imperial College’s Bezos Centre, noted that while folks talk a lot about unit economics, he worries about the capital economics, saying that “too many projects die because of this fundamental issue” and lamenting that “12 years on, we are still talking about scalability”.

On an Alt Fat panels which includes No Palm Ingredient’s Lars Langhout and VTT’s Kari Koivuranta, Bianca Lê of Mission Barns, concurred: “cultivated meat is going to take a really long time to scale”, while Shara Ticku of C16 Biosciences, describing the current status quo as a “funding desert”, pointed out that of the approx $20 billion investment into alt protein, only 10% of that has gone into alt fats despite oils & fats being responsible for 60% of global deforestation. (Note: I have not checked these numbers.)

Bianca also shared openly about how much time and effort applying for regulatory approval takes, saying that it took 3 years from Mission Barns submitting its dossier to approval, and involved 18 rounds of questions!

Lars shared about his successful working relationship with Colgate and underlined how FMCG players are committed to deforestation-free ingredients for beauty and food due to EU regulation, while Kari

I moderated an Alt Caffeine (Cacao + Coffee) panel with superstars like California Cultured’s Alan Pearlstein, Celleste Bio’s Hanne Volpin, Compound Foods’ Maricel Saenz and Kokomodo’s Dario Breitel, which was super eye-opening. Unlike with alt meat, the demand for alt caffeine is driven by the Big Food companies. They are facing supply shocks, skyrocketing prices and quality issues right now, so they know they need options.

I was most struck by the realistic tone of most speakers. Everyone’s eyes are wide open and everyone’s feet are firmly on the ground. And that makes me cautiously optimistic that the real work is happening, which is when the impact comes.

-Sonalie

💡 Green Queen Exclusives

🤖 Op-Ed: To Win In AI, We Need To Win In Alternative Proteins
Robert Dupree, general partner at VC firm Alwyn Capital, argues that future foods and alternative proteins are key to winning the AI race.

🍔 Plant-Based Restaurants Are Shutting Down - This ‘Vegan McDonald’s’ Wants To Be The Exception
Backed by the likes of Mike Tyson and Future, vegan fast-food chain Mr Charlie’s is opening 18 locations in Arizona, despite widespread restaurant closures in the US. Here’s why.

🥩 Consumer Insights: How Misinformation is Driving Young Men Towards Beef
The social media manosphere is driving young men towards meat, with 40% of 16- to 24-year-olds eating more animal protein than they did last year, according to environmental charity Hubbub.

💰5 Minutes With A Future Food VC: Flora Ventures’ Gil Horsky
In our new interview series, we quiz future food investors about the solutions that excite them the most, their favourite climate-forward restaurant, and what they look for in successful founders. Here, Gil Horsky, Founding Managing Partner at Flora Ventures, shares the future food verticals he’s focused on this year and what keeps him motivated.

✅ Must-Read Headlines - Funding + M&A

🇪🇸 Spanish startup Heura Foods received a €20 million loan from the European Investment Bank to move beyond plant-based meat, and expects to become profitable by the end of this year.
💡Heura is now diversifying into “nutrient-dense” plant-based cold cuts, non-dairy cheese, and protein-rich pasta, a move which could see it have a first full year of profitability in 2026.

🫛 Swedish agrifood company Lantmännen has become a part-owner of Malmö-based pea milk maker Sproud, as part of its larger pea protein push.
💡Lantmännen’s new bioprocessing facility will be able to process up to 40,000 tonnes of peas grown by the group’s members every year, though it is unclear if the factory could be a future ingredient source for Sproud too.

📉 Beyond Meat saw year-on-year revenue drop by 9% in what it termed “clearly a disappointing” Q1 2025, and announced a $100 million debt financing deal to shore up its liquidity.
💡Beyond Meat CEO Ethan Brown highlighted two overarching factors behind Beyond Meat’s disappointing Q1 performance: distribution and misinformation.

🍼 French dairy giant Danone is expanding its infant formula empire after agreeing to buy a majority stake in US plant-based company Kate Farms.
💡With the plant-based baby formula market set to expand by 7.8% annually until 2029, Danone is hoping to seize the opportunity.

🆕 New Innovation

🥛 Auckland-based food tech startup Daisy Lab has achieved a high-yielding recombinant bovine lactoferrin that surpasses the protein’s concentration in cow’s milk.
💡It will allow dairy producers to use lactoferrin at low inclusion rates in a cost-efficient manner, presenting an alternative for what is traditionally a highly expensive protein.

🚀 Scientists at the University of Edinburgh have developed a pig fat cell line that promises efficient, scalable and consistent cultivated meat production, which could potentially feed astronauts in space.
💡The institute is also readying its cell line for commercial applications, and already has “considerable interest from companies”.

📚 Key Research

📈 More than two in five consumers in Europe’s two largest plant-based markets want to eat less meat or are already doing so, finds a new poll conducted by the Good Food Institute Europe, Plant Futures Collective, and HarrisX.

🌱 Researchers at Harvard University and the University of Sydney studied large-scale consumption patterns to determine the most health-promoting diet and found that whole-food plant-based eating is the key to lowering mortality rates.

🥗 Plant-based meals in restaurants, cafeterias and schools can deliver a triple win for human, planetary and financial health, according to a new comparison study published in the Nutrients journal

🇺🇸 While a majority of Americans say they are happy to eat more plant-based food and know it’s good for them, a lack of guidance from healthcare professionals keeps them at bay, according to a new survey by Morning Consult and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.

🇧🇷 A new study has found that the current practices of Brazil’s beef industry far exceed the greenhouse gas limits set by the Paris Agreement and its original NDC, putting the industry into sharp focus ahead of COP30 in Belém, when all national climate goals will be reviewed.

🚀 Everything Else In Future Food

🇬🇧 The UK’s largest retailer, Tesco, is not on track to meet its goal of increasing plant-based meat sales by 300% by this year, but the reason why might surprise you.

🤝🏼 Dutch startup Vivici has struck a co-manufacturing deal to produce its precision-fermented whey proteins at Liberation Labs’ upcoming facility in Indiana, looking to sidestep any potential issues from the ongoing tariff war.

🌱🍔  Future Food Quick Bites 

In our weekly column, Future Food Quick Bites, we round up the latest news and developments in the alternative protein and sustainable food industry. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Massive Attack’s vegan concert, Beleaf’s plant-based meat price freeze, and the FDA’s labelling guidelines.

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📆 Scene & Heard

Don’t Miss the HackSummit NEXT WEEK in Lausanne!

🇸🇬 The Agritech ClimAccelerator Singapore is launching its first agritech programme in Asia-Pacific, powered by Better Earth Ventures. The initiative aims to empower climate-focused startups and drive bold agritech solutions in one of the most climate-vulnerable and agriculturally critical regions. Applications close 30th May; learn more and apply here.

🌏 The 9th edition of the Future Food Asia Awards has officially launched. This year, ten exceptional finalists will be selected to pitch their innovations at the Future Food Asia Conference, held on 21st-22nd May 2025 in Singapore. Apply here.

🇳🇱 F&A Next, taking place 21st-22nd May, is about thought leadership and connecting promising startups and scale-ups to dedicated Food and Agtech investors and leading corporates. It includes two days of networking, pitching, and debating the dynamics of food and agriculture; get your ticket here.