The Future of Food Technology Delivered Weekly
A New York federal judge has dismissed with prejudice the antitrust case brought by OWN Your Hunger and Defiant Foods over David Protein’s 2025 acquisition of Epogee, sole maker of the low-calorie fat replacer EPG. The ruling turned on market definition and has implications for sole-source ingredient M&A.
DoorDash has agreed to buy Instacart for about $17 billion, or $65 a share, in a mostly cash deal expected to close in late 2027 or H1 2028. The tie-up joins DoorDash’s delivery network with Instacart’s grocery software and ads business, and faces antitrust scrutiny.
The Japanese cell agriculture platform has added Niigata Venture Capital to a planned ¥700 million Series A extension. It will fund cosmetics launches, B2B sales and regional production that uses brewing water and sake lees as cell-culture inputs.
Icelandic start-up PROCEON has closed a first round of about US$528,000, led by Kría Venture Fund, to finish PROJET, a computer-vision-guided waterjet that trims salmon and whitefish fillets in real time, with Icelandic trials planned and a first customer delivery targeted for Q2 2027.
Tokyo-based Kinish has raised ¥490 million (about US$3.1 million) in the first close of its Series A, backed by Shimadzu’s CVC fund and Obayashi. The startup has expressed milk casein in rice and is developing dwarf rice for plant factories while selling rice-based ice cream in Japan and the US.
London- and Chicago-based Opply has raised $7.5 million, led by Chalfen Ventures with Index Ventures and Anthemis participating, after growing gross revenue 15-fold in 12 months. Its Opply Brain AI agents source suppliers, place orders, check compliance documents and finance purchases for CPG food and drink brands.
Silgan Holdings and private equity firm American Industrial Partners will combine Silgan’s metal containers and food and beverage closures businesses with Trivium Packaging in a $3.4 billion all-cash deal, forming Silgan MCC, a metal packaging group with about $7.3 billion in annual net sales and $225 million in targeted synergies.
Israeli agtech company BloomX has closed a $13 million Series A led by Elah Fund to expand its AI-guided robotic pollination systems in Peru, Mexico, South Africa and Israel and to enter the U.S. with almond and blueberry growers.
UK fermentation group Mycofeast has bought Auckland’s Daisy Lab, folding its animal-free whey protein team and near-commercial bovine lactoferrin programme into a group with strain-engineering R&D and a 16-million-litre fermentation plant.
A US federal judge has thrown out Onego Bio’s case against The EVERY Company over a recombinant ovalbumin patent, ending the litigation without ruling on validity or infringement and leaving an IP question hanging over precision-fermented egg protein investment.