BREAKING EXCLUSIVE: Improved Nature Raises $5m to Launch Plant-Based Protein Company
The company's products include the Improved Meat portfolio, that "mimics meat in all cooking methods and forms of distribution," according to the website.
RootWave Takes Judges’ Choice Award at FoodBytes! London, the People Vote for Food Freshness Tech Mimica
Herbicide alternative technology RootWave won the Judges’ Choice Award at FoodBytes! in London last week.
FoodBytes! is the global pitch competition organized by food and agriculture bank Rabobank with the aim of harnessing new innovation to create a better world through food.
Cargill Invests in Brazilian Swine Farm Management Software Agriness
Cargill has invested in Agriness, a Brazilian farm management software program focused on pig farms with more than 2 million sows in Latin America managed using its platform.
FoodShot Launches Multi-Stakeholder Platform to Invest in ‘MoonShots for Better Food’
A non-profit consortium of venture funds, banks, corporations, universities, and foundations has launched a platform to invest in startups and projects addressing some of the food system's major challenges.
Growers Raises $5m Series A for Farm Data Analytics with ‘Software Plus Services’ Business Model
Growers Holdings, a digital agriculture software and services startup, has raised $5 million in Series A funding in a round led by US heartland-focused investor Lewis & Clark Ventures.
Maersk Leads Blockchain of Food Startup Ripe.io $2.4m Seed Round
Ripe.io creates what it calls a "digital bridge" between farmers, distributors, processors, traders, restaurants, grocers, and consumers to record and share data on aspects of food's journey from farm to fork.
UPDATE: Umitron Increases Seed Funding Round for Aquaculture Automation Tech to $11m
Umitron, an Asian startup using satellite imagery, IoT, and automation to increase the efficiency of offshore aquaculture, raised the funding from the Japanese government and a Japanese venture capital firm.
Animal Health and Antibiotic-Use Reduction Dominate Among Startups Selected to Pitch at FoodBytes! NYC
Twenty food and agriculture startups have been selected to pitch at the third FoodBytes! New York event in October.
GV Leads $60m Series C for Benson Hill Biosystems to Focus on Health and Nutrition
Benson Hill Biosystems, the data-led crop genetics discovery and gene editing platform, has raised $60 million in Series C funding in a round led by GV (formerly Google Ventures).
Conservation Agriculture Creates a “Cascade of Cost Savings” for Farmers – EDF Report
Implementing conservation practices like nutrient optimization, crop rotation, conservation tillage, and cover crops can put money back in farmers’ pockets, according to a new report.
Agrograph Raises $500k in Seed Funding to Accurately Predict Crop Yields
The Madison-based company’s software combines satellite imagery and field data with machine learning algorithms to predict crop yields at the field level.
Sentera Raises $14m Series A from Syndicate of Leading Agtech Investors
“Obviously everybody likes their funders, but we are particularly happy to have this group behind us,” Sentera CEO Eric Taipale told AgFunderNews.
Tractor Zoom Raises $1m Seed Round For Farm Equipment Auction Marketplace
Some $4 billion worth of farm equipment is sold at auction in the US every year.
Inscripta Acquires Former Illumina Team via Solana Biosciences to Commercialize Gene Editing Tools
Solana was founded in 2017 by a team of former employees of Illumina, the leading genetic tools provider, which guided the launch and production of hundreds of products – including market-leading DNA sequencing solutions.
Bear Flag Robotics Raises $3.5m Seed Round to Automate Common Tasks on the Farm
The round takes Bear Flag’s total funding efforts to $4.5 million after it took part in the Y Combinator accelerator and raised a pre-seed round in the fall of 2017.
What’s Next for Agtech?
In the second in a two-part series, Barclay Rogers illustrates the core themes in farm tech adoption to-date and predicts the next phase in farm tech development.
Key Takeaways from FoodTrack by Maersk as 2nd Edition Opens for Applications
Building on the positive learnings of the 1st edition, the 2nd edition of FoodTrack by Maersk will commence in November 2018 and Maersk is currently accepting applications from agrifood tech startups to take part.
Scholarship Fund at Rodale Institute to Train Young Farmers to Grow Organic
The Next Generation Scholarship Fund will provide interns with housing, food, education, and a weekly stipend.
Deveron Acquires Veritas to Add Agronomic Expertise and Data Analytics to Drone Service
Deveron, which sends pilots to fly drones over farmland on request, will gain precision agriculture capabilities by bringing Veritas’s team of agronomists, plant scientists, and data scientists onto its staff.
Report: Going Dutch Could Drive the Future of Australia’s AgriFood Sector
The culture of collaboration that has propelled the Netherlands to become the global champion of food exports should serve as inspiration for Australia’s agrifood sector, according to a new report from KPMG and AgFunder.