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AgFunder Invests in Trace Genomics $13m Series A for First Scalable Soil Microbiome Test
Trace Genomics, a San Francisco Bay area startup developing revolutionary, AI-enabled diagnostic tools for farmers to increase yields and reduce costs, has closed a $13 million Series A round.
Trace Genomics has built the first scalable soil microbiome test to help farmers predict soil disease, soil health, and crop quality, using high-throughput DNA sequencing and machine learning.
Ag Retailer Taurus Invests in Wastewaster-to-Fertilizer Startup Ostara
Taurus Agricultural Marketing, an ag retailer headquartered in Calgary, has made a substantial financial investment into Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies, a wastewater and crop nutrition technology.
ReFED: US Food Waste Startups Have Raised $125m+ in 2018 as Grant Funding in the Space Grows 70%
A new report from ReFED also revealed that grant funding from foundations reached $134 million in the first three quarters of 2016, increasing 70% over five years.
Sprout Accelerator is Looking for Startups Reimagining the Food System & Avoiding the Hype
“I think the whole business model of just make more, sell more is broken; that’s not going to be a sustainable business model," says Karin Schofield at Sprout Accelerator.
BREAKING: CoverCress Raises $2m to Develop Gene-Edited Cover Cash Crop
CoverCress (formerly Arvegenix) has closed a $2 million bridge investment round co-led by Bayer Growth Ventures and BioSTL’s investment arm BioGenerator.
CoverCress is a plant breeding company using CRISPR gene editing tools to develop and grow a new cover crop based on the native plant pennycress.
Indian Agritech: Accelerate the Adoption of Agritech Innovations By Enabling the Ecosystem
There is a weak link in the current ecosystem for Indian agritech entrepreneurs and businesses, and it's the link with corporates, writes Hemendra Mathur.
Why Wharton Impact Investing Partners is Interested in AgriFood Tech
Curious about the role of AgriFood tech startups in impact investing? Read on as Devika Balachandran, an associate on Wharton Impact Investing Partners’ Food & Nutrition sector team, discusses the importance of AgriFood Tech in impact investing.
Gastrograph AI Closes $4m Series A to Predict Consumer Flavor Preferences of Food & Beverages
Gastrograph AI, a predictive analytics technology for food and beverage companies, closed a $4 million Series A round of funding last week.
Gastrograph collects data about how people perceive flavors and with machine learning algorithms can offer food companies predictions on how they might react to new products.
What is the Role of Gene Editing in Food System Change?
“GMOs are an old, bludgeon tool that feels dated,” said Sam Kass, food entrepreneur, former White House chef and senior policy advisor for nutrition, founder of Trove, and venture partner in Acre Venture Partners.
EXCLUSIVE: HarvestPort Raises Bridge Funding from Penny Newman, Launches N-Reducing Soil Amendment
The round coincides with a new partnership with Penny Newman to launch a new soil amendment product onto the market that has the potential to reduce nitrogen application by 30% over 3 growing seasons.
How One Veteran’s Personal Journey Sparked the Creation of a Multi-Million Dollar Cannabis Startup
“I never consumed cannabis for the first 29 years of my life, Socrates Rosenfeld founder and CEO of Jane Technologies tells AgFunderNews after raising a $6m Series A round of funding.
Why Olam is Deploying Tech First, Then Thinking About CVC
"We have realized that some companies have gone down the wrong path by adopting the approach of inventing the problem. They find a technology that's exciting and try to force-fit that technology for a problem that they don't have, Suresh Sundararajan tells AgFunderNews.
Cargill Aims to Improve Worker Safety with Remote Controlled Herding Robot for Livestock
Cargill is bringing robots to its meat processing facilities in the hope of improving animal welfare, worker safety, and efficiency with a robotic cattle herder.
BREAKING: Taranis Lands $20m Series B to Expand Imagery Analytics Platform for Farmers
Israeli imagery analytics for ag platform Taranis has closed a $20 million Series B round of funding led by Viola Ventures, an Israeli venture firm making its first investment into agtech.
BREAKING EXCLUSIVE: FluroSat Acquires ProductionWise from Australia’s GrainGrowers
FluroSat, an Australian remote sensing, and crop health software startup, has acquired ProductionWise, the digital agriculture platform of GrainGrowers, Australia’s leading grain farmer membership group.
ProductionWise, a subscription precision agriculture software service, was developed by GrainGrowers for over 10 years in consultation with its members.
AgTech Adoption: Engage the Right Talent with the Right Technology on the Right Problems
There’s a digital revolution happening across food & agriculture and it's driven by human talent, writes Janette Barnard.
In Ovo Closes Series A to Combat Male Chick Culling in Egg Industry with VisVires New Protein
Dutch startup In Ovo has completed a Series A raise with Singapore-based disruptive food system venture fund VisVires New Protein and global specialty chemicals company Evonik.
What the Science of Food Manufacturing Reveals About our Food System
Few of us get excited by the operational minutia and complexities involved in the food supply chain, yet those operational details are where the magic, or lack thereof, happens, writes Noemie Delfassy.
UPDATE: AgFunder Opens New Food Tech/AgTech Fund to Investors, Commitments Reach $4m in 1 Week
On our mission to democratize venture capital and increase investment in the food and agriculture industry, our fund is open to accredited investors as well as institutional investors, and we already have commitments from both.