Image Credit: Courtest

Every week we track the business, tech and investment trends in CPG, retail, restaurants, agriculture, cooking and health, so you don’t have to. Here are some of this week’s top headlines.

Renowned chef José Andrés delighted diners at China Chilcano by serving cultivated chicken from Good Meat, following Upside Foods’ debut of their own cultivated chicken in San Francisco. With this development, both coasts of the United States have now had the opportunity to savor lab-grown meat. In a separate milestone, the Netherlands celebrated a government approval allowing tastings of cultivated meat and seafood. This decision marks a significant achievement for the country, which pioneered the cultivated meat category over a decade ago.

In other news, we’ve wrapped the first season of our podcast in partnership with AgFunder: New Food Order, a nuanced investigation into the business of tackling our climate and social crises through food and agriculture. Read all about why we launched the podcast, and be sure to subscribe and share!

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1. José Andrés Serves Good Meat’s Cultivated Chicken at China Chilcano – Green Queen

Both coasts have now had a taste of cultivated meat as chef José Andrés served Good Meat’s cultivated chicken last night after Upside Foods debuted its chicken in San Francisco last week.

2. Netherlands: Dutch Food Tech Companies Celebrate Government Approval of Cultivated Meat and Seafood Tastings – Green Queen

Cultivated meat tastings will be given the green light in the Netherlands, marking a significant milestone for the country that launched the category more than a decade ago.

3. Foodtech Unicorns 2023 – DigitalFoodLab

Investments in FoodTech decreased significantly in 2022 and kept declining even more sharply in the first half of 2023. This gloomy funding environment is specifically affecting unicorns.

4. Joyful Ventures Debuts with $23M Focused on Investment in Sustainable Protein Startups – TechCrunch

The LGBTQIA+ and women-led fund aims to propel the transition of the colossal $1.5t global animal protein sector toward sustainable food practices.

5. UK: Award Winning Beef Producer Finnebrogue Will Develop Cultivated Wagyu with Ivy Farm – Green Queen

Food industry giant Finnebrogue and food tech startup Ivy Farm Technologies have just embarked on a world-first mission to offer cultivated Wagyu beef burgers to the British market.

6. Indonesian Agritech Firm Efishery Confirms Raising $200M Series D – Tech in Asia

With the new funding, the company wants to cover more than 1m aquaculture ponds in Indonesia by 2025 and increase the transactions of fish feed and fresh fish on the platform.

7. Gen Restaurant Group Raises Over $43M with IPO – Restaurant Dive

The Korean BBQ restaurant offers guests an interactive experience in which they cook their own meats at the table.

8. Jenny Craig Is Being Saved From Bankruptcy By the Nutrisystem Owners – Fast Company

Jenny Craig’s iconic brand name, which was priced up to $10m, will become a digital-only service.

9. How Second-Generation Owners of 99 Ranch Are Turning the Asian Supermarket Into a National Powerhouse – LA Times

They grew up at the nearly 40-year-old Asian grocery chain in the San Gabriel Valley. Now, siblings Alice and Jonson Chen are overseeing the national expansion of 99 Ranch Market.