80% of crops require insect pollination, but growers can no longer rely on the biggest pollinators, with the population of wild bees dwindling (because of drought, climate change, mites, excessive use of agricultural chemicals & colony collapse disorder). In comes Israel-based BloomX (formerly Bumbelbee AI), which develops "bio-mimicking" pollination technology. Their platform pinpoints the optimal window for pollination & then sends crop-specific hardware devices to replicate the natural pollination process. Its 1st product “Robee” (focused on blueberries, with 1.8m plants pollinated already) uses mechanical arms mounted on an electric vehicle that vibrate the stems to release pollen grains on the flower’s stigma - said to increase yield by up to 55%: “years of research &...

Sweden-based, Mycorena is a biotech startup that grows fungus-based vegan protein, which can be used to manufacture a range of products, from vegan leather to animal feed & meat substitutes. Founded in 2017 by Ramkumar Nair (CEO) & Rebecca Gmoser (prev. R&D Mgr), the startup launched its “mycoprotein” ingredient Promyc in 2019 (made from an undisclosed fungus strain; leveraging the fungal biomass produced during fermentation in custom-made bioreactors; using side-streams from bakeries, mills & other food production as feedstock). The company claims Promyc is “neutral in taste" with a “meat-like texture", making it an excellent option for hybrid blends (to maintain the taste – you can add any flavor you like – & texture consumers...