Watch #2 for Symrise - Q2

2025 doesn’t start with good news for the AgriFoodTech innovation ecosystem. Funding declined again in Q1 and Q2. However, all categories and geographies don’t follow the same pattern. North America seems to be less affected by this new decline in funding.

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Investors are especially reducing their exposure to new early-stage ventures.

If geopolitical and economic tensions ease in the second half of the year, we could expect a noticeable bounce back in funding.

As for the topics covered in this second watch, among all the elements spotted, here are the top insights that caught our attention:

Multiple cellular agriculture announced significant cost reductions, notably Meatly (UK, pet food), Gourmey (France, poultry), California Cultured (USA, coffee/cocoa), often showing a path to commercial viability which doesn’t require scaling through large bioreactors but instead focusing on customised smaller tanks.
Even if the uncertainties in the regulatory environments are still present, the US confirmed its ambition to remain a biotechnology leader (MABA - Make American Biotech Accelerate). In the meantime, the EU and the UK launched ambitious biotech investment plans.
Meati, a US-based biomass fermentation meat alternative startup once valued just short of a billion dollar, was sold for a meagre $4M. Even with the $100M raised last year, the company wasn’t able to ramp up its sales sufficiently showing how much things are complicated for the plant-based industry.
New data show that in the US, snack sales are declining due to GLP-1 drugs, notably sweet snacks (6.1% decline), forcing food giants to adapt.
Lembas, an Israeli startup, raised $3.6M for its GLP-1 boosting peptide. It caught a lot of attention (notably for such a small seed round) showing the great expectations of the industry for ingredients that could act as booster or alternatives to GLP-1 drugs.