Foodtech (2025)

Foodtech’s fallen a long way from the highs of 2021: global funding is down 72%, according to data from French tech consultancy DigitalFoodLab. But if the industry’s having a hard time globally, it’s at least doing slightly better in Europe. Compared to 2021 levels, European foodtech investments dropped only 57%.

Probably, by now, some investors have sworn off the sector, realising that ambitious bets on remaking staple ingredients like cocoa from the cellular level up in a lab don’t pay off on VC timeframes. Lawmakers have not exactly made lab-grown or plant-based meat a high priority in Europe either.

But despite the unappealing backdrop, there are clearly bright spots emerging. Consider animal-free “alternative” proteins, which can include anything from new kinds of chocolate to egg whites. Global funding in this category plummeted in 2024. But Europe, which was almost entirely absent from this ecosystem a few years ago, now represents some 50% of the market, per DigitalFoodLab.

There’s no leading hub, but a number of small hubs are seeing investment. Alt-protein startups to watch include: cultured meat startup Mosa Meat (the Netherlands), egg white specialist Onego Bio (Finland), chocolatier Planet A Foods, mycelium startup Infinite Roots, fermented dairy team Formo (Germany) and coffee alternative specialist Food Brewer (Switzerland).

Another category that European founders are taking a bite out of is land-based aquaculture: one recent hefty raiser was Iceland-based First Water, which raised €39m in April to expand its land-based salmon farms. Direct to consumer pet food, meanwhile, continues to attract investor attention. London-based Butternut Box is a big winner in this field, most recently banking €75m round in May.

AI will have a subtle impact on foodtech: expect to see more product development assisted by AI and the technology being used by companies to reduce the number of prototypes to experiment with. Protein discovery and design is another segment to keep an eye on.