All Access

Pro Deals

Pro Deals Weekly Digest

Standard

Pro Deals Alerts

Alert

Axios Pro Deals Thought Bubble

Thought Bubble

A chart that shows annual food tech venture capital deals and investment from 2020 to mid-2025. Deal counts peaked at 3,046 in 2021, then declined to 490 by 2025. Total capital invested reached $51.5 billion in 2021, dropping to $4.3 billion in 2025.

Food tech VC deal activity

Lasso, a Boston-based food tech company, raised $6.5 million in seed funding, CEO Mike Messersmith tells Axios Pro.

Why it matters: The food tech sector continues grappling with record-low venture activity.

How it works: Originating at Harvard's Wyss Institute, Lasso employs proprietary centrifugal force technology to manufacture packaged foods.

"The next phase of food investment is looking for solutions on how we address concerns and frustrations that people have with the food system," Messersmith says.

Messersmith, an early employee at Chobani and the first U.S. hire at Oatly, sees the intersection of GLP-1 therapies, ingredient scrutiny and food costs as a catalyst for rethinking how food is made and marketed.

Context: The latest funding round was led by Rhapsody Venture Partners, with participation from Lowercarbon Capital, Safar Partners, Claridge Partners and Nor'easter Ventures.

The big picture: Lasso is the parent company of Tender Food, a startup founded in 2020 that has already raised $20 million in funding.

"Tender Food was commercialized in the plant-based meat space, but the potential applications have always existed," Messersmith says. "We're looking at these growing categories like snacking, bakery and consumer pet."

Messersmith, who is also CEO of Tender Food, says Lasso plans to use the funding to introduce other branded products in the coming months.

By the numbers: Only 334 food tech deals closed in the first half of 2025, with seed and early-stage rounds making up their smallest share of total deal flow in five years, per PitchBook.

"A new seed or early-stage food tech round is relatively uncommon in today's VC environment," PitchBook senior food tech analyst Alex Frederick says. "Any such new round stands out, given the sector's shift toward backing companies with clear traction, tested models and operational discipline."

Investors are putting food tech dollars toward restaurant software, food prep technology and delivery robotics — and away from alt protein.

Driving the news: Japanese snack food company Calbee earlier this month extended its partnership with Pegasus Tech Ventures, allocating $100 million for a newly formed fund focused on food tech.

What we're watching: Asked what nostalgic food he'd reimagine at Lasso, Messersmith went back to the start of his career at Frito-Lay.

"A bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos is the only correct answer," he says. "I would love to be able to reinvent a product like that."

Lasso stirs up a $6.5M seed round

Lasso raises $6.5M as food tech faces record-low investment

Lasso, a Boston-based food tech company, raised $6.5 million in seed funding, CEO Mike Messersmith tells Axios Pro.Why it matters: The food tech sector continues grappling with record-low venture activity.

topics

politics-policy

epstein-files

donald-trump

2026-midterm-elections

immigration

behind-the-curtain

race-and-equity

technology

privacy-tech-regulation

automation-and-ai

tiktok-news

big-tech

social-media

cybersecurity

economy

social-security

inflation

tariffs

federal-reserve

jobs

transportation

business

stock-market-news

retail-news

crypto

media

elon-musk

dealmaking

health

rfk-jr

drug-prices

axios-explains-abortion

public-health

world

israel

axios-explains-ukraine

iran

russia

china

energy-climate

nuclear-energy

climate-energy-policy

climate-change

extreme-weather

alternative-energy

electric-vehicles

science

emerging-tech

biomedicine

newsletters

charlotte

boulder

detroit

kansas-city

columbus

austin

dallas

atlanta

washington-dc

nw-arkansas

chicago

indianapolis

nashville

richmond

colorado-springs

houston

san-francisco

seattle

boston

des-moines

salt-lake-city

philadelphia

denver

phoenix

new-orleans

miami

twin-cities

raleigh

san-antonio

portland

san-diego

tampa-bay

cleveland

huntsville

pittsburgh

axios-local

axios-pro

axios-live

the-axios-show

Lasso stirs up a $6.5M seed round

What to read next