Morning Folks,

I was in the middle of writing this letter when I heard the very sad news that the legendary Jane Goodall has passed away, and I want to take a moment to acknowledge her work and impact. Primatologist, conservationist, activist, educator, leader… It’s hard to do her 70+ year career justice. One thing’s for sure: she is evidence that one person CAN change the world and make a difference, as trite as that feels to say, and we must remind ourselves of this in an age where despair is leading too many (mostly young people) to feel hopeless and powerless. I truly believe that devoting your life to a worthy cause is the only antidote to all the ills in the world. Jane was the embodiment of this, and her legacy will continue to inspire generations to come. Goodbye, Chimpanzee Queen 🙏🏽

—-

I missed Climate Week NYC this week because I am in the middle of a 3-month fellowship (I will share more about the program next week—it’s brilliant), but I managed to catch up with several people who were there to get the lowdown. Here’s what they told me:

“It was packed and busy, but overall, the food content was pretty blah.” "

“It was shockingly un-global and making the trip from abroad felt like a waste of resources.”

“Loved the energy and the buzz.”

“People in climate have become more realistic, less idealistic.”

“Sustainable food seems to have become synonymous with regen ag.”

Want more? I enjoyed the recaps by Consumed (“there are too many participation trophies being given out”)and Sightline/CTVC (“It didn’t feel so much like ‘climate week’ this year. It felt like Energy & AI Week”).

One thing I do wonder: given that Climate Week started as a side-event to the UN General Assembly, will it stick around in NYC if the UN doesn’t?

Another read that I found myself nodding vigorously at is Jenn Marston at AgFunder’s piece on how agrifoodtech investing needs a rethink. TL;DR > exits are scarce, returns will never match SaaS, timelines are long, and founders need to focus on delivering ROI.

September was one of our busiest ever at Green Queen in terms of reporting. We were overrun with stories and breaking news, which meant that most days, we had to make some tough choices on what to report on. While the space is troubled, there’s plenty of activity; founders are not giving up.

Two observations from our coverage this week: 1) Asia’s Big Food players are increasingly active in the foodtech space, signing strategic partnerships with startups and launching products (Ajinomoto, CJ CheilJedang and Mitsui) and I’m told that this is the kind of signal VCs are excited by; 2) In an age of uncertainty and pervasive inflation, consumers are more price sensitive than ever. With meat (especially beef) getting pricier, alternatives are finding their groove on supermarket shelves in the UK and US.

-Sonalie

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✅ Must-Read Headlines

🇮🇩 Indonesian plant-based startup Arummi raised $2 million seed funding to expand the distribution of its cashew milk line nationally and across Southeast Asia.
💡Arummi works with co-manufacturers in Indonesia to keep its costs low, and its products are already available in more than 650 retail stores and 3,000 coffee shops and restaurants. 

🧀 Turkish food tech startup Itz Nutz, known for its cashew yoghurts and cheeses, secured $535,000 to develop new products and expand distribution.
💡The company combines traditional fermentation with modern food tech, and has found listings in retailers like Migros, Eataly, Macrocenter, and Boldy.

🍰 US firm Oobli secured its third FDA approval letter to sell one of its novel sweet protein ingredients as a sweetener for food and drink products.
💡Oobli is preparing to launch into new categories through partnerships with ingredient giant Ingredion and Grupo Bimbo, the world’s largest producer of baked goods.

📉 US plant-based giant Beyond Meat has proposed an exchange offer for convertible bonds to eliminate over $800 million of debt, sending its stock to a record low.
💡The move is Beyond Meat’s latest attempt to turn its fortunes around. The company recorded its lowest quarterly revenue in Q1 2025, at $69 million.

💰 Infrastructure Investment

🇬🇧 UK-based Clean Food Group acquired the assets of Algal Omega 3, giving it access to a million litres of fermentation capacity to produce its yeast-derived oils.
💡The acquisition, it claims, makes it the world’s largest manufacturer of yeast-derived fats and oils, and significantly slashes its capital expenditure.

🇦🇺 Aussie startup Nourish Ingredients has established a global commercial hub in Leiden, Netherlands to scale its precision-fermented fats, amid an ongoing $15 million fundraise.
💡Positioning itself in the EU will allow Nourish Ingredients to tap into the region’s robust food manufacturing ecosystem, forge deeper partnerships with global companies, access public funding for sustainable foods, and accelerate its regulatory efforts in the bloc.

🧈 Carbon-derived butter producer Savor is pursuing a 100-fold expansion in capacity of its 25,000 sq ft pilot facility in Batavia, Illinois, as well as strengthening foodservice and CPG collaborations.
💡Having raised $33 million to date, with Bill Gates’s Breakthrough Energy Ventures one of its lead backers, Savor is now launching a Series B round.

🤝🏼 Industry Partnerships

🎨 Californian natural colourant startup Michroma has signed a strategic partnership with South Korean food giant CJ CheilJedang to scale up its fermentation-derived red dye for food and cosmetics.
💡The agreement includes tech validation and other steps necessary for seamless production and distribution, opening up opportunities for Michroma to expand its portfolio and give its regulatory effort a boost.

🇸🇬 Singapore startup Fattastic Technologies has begun an exploratory R&D partnership with Ajinomoto Thailand to explore applications for its healthy plant-based alternative to animal and saturated fats.
💡The startup’s proprietary oil structuring tech transforms the physical structure of plant oils, turning them into solid formats to resemble animal fats and conventional plant-based lipids like palm or coconut oil.

🚀 Everything Else In Future Food

🐟 Japan’s Mitsui DM Sugar is launching a new brand of vegan tuna next year, which replicates maguro, or bluefin tuna, the most prized form of the fish.

📈 Plant-based dairy leader Alpro has seen sales of both its milk and yoghurt alternatives grow this year; here’s why.

👎🏼 Food-based dietary guidelines set by governments don’t emphasise the need to cut back on animal proteins and increase plant-based food intake, shows a new study published in the Proceedings of the Nutrition Society journal.

🇬🇧 The continued price hikes for meat in the UK have created a retail environment where vegan alternatives are at parity or cheaper, according to a new report by think tank Green Alliance.

🇺🇸 A majority of Americans are buying less beef or giving it up altogether in response to record-breaking prices, according to a 2,200-person survey by Morning Consult and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.

🌱🍔  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 Gregorys Coffee’s plant protein coffee, Wasted’s upcycled pasta, and a new plant-based meat brand in Thailand.

📆 Scene & Heard

Head To Barcelona For Food Tech Congress 2025!

🇪🇸 Europe's leading food technology conference, Food Tech Congress, will gather industry leaders, investors, policy makers and startups to connect, learn and shape the future of food innovation together. It’s happening 4th-5th November in Barcelona; get your ticket here.

🌱 Plant Based World Expo will bring together more than 3,000 stakeholders on 2nd-3rd December to spark new opportunities in a rapidly evolving $11.3 billion market that’s projected to triple in the next ten years. Find out more and register here.

🇺🇸 The Bridge2Food North America 2025 Summit, taking place 21st-23rd October, will address the most critical challenges facing the alternative proteins and plant-based sectors. Learn more and sign up here.