Israel’s Douxmatok Raises $8.1m Series A for Sugar Reduction Technology
According to the company, Douxmatok allows food companies to use 40% less sugar in their products while achieving the same level of sweetness, with no aftertaste.
The 5 Food Production Risks Digital Ag Can Solve
People fundamentally misdiagnose the opportunity in digital agriculture when they sum it up as “grow more with less" write Jess Bollinger and Adam Wolf of Arable.
Ag Industry Brief: Israel, China in $300m Agtech Deal, Mistletoe CEO Launches Indian Agtech Accelerator, Protix Acquires Insect Breeder, more
High-profile startup hires, a startup IPO, and new startup resources also make up part of this week's brief.
BREAKING: Bayer Joins Forces with Ginkgo to Launch $100m Microbial Startup
Bayer CropScience and Ginkgo Bioworks, a startup genetically engineering microbes for the flavor, fragrance, and food industries, have partnered with hedge fund Viking Global Investors to invest $100 million in a new, as yet unnamed agtech startup.
BREAKING: Farm Technology Startups Raise $1.13bn in H1-2017, a 56% YoY Increase
Farm technology startups raised $1.13 billion in early stage funding in the first half of 2017, representing a 56% increase year-over-year, according to the upcoming AgFunder AgriFood Tech report.
UPDATE: Sugar Reduction Technology MycoTech Raises $35m Series B Co-Led by Bunge Ventures
MycoTech uses mushrooms and fungi to remove bitter tastes from food and drinks.
Greenlight Biosciences Raises $18m Series D for RNAi Biopesticide
Biological pesticide firm Greenlight Biosciences has raised an $18 million Series D round led by led by farmland and agtech fund investor Fall Line Capital.
Putting a Price on Farm Data
How do we value the data that come from the farm? The question has no simple answer, writes Joseph Byrum.
Blue River Was ‘Clear Leader’ in John Deere’s Search for a Robotics & AI Acquisition
Deere & Company announced plans to acquire Blue River Tech for $305 million last week as the next step in its quest to build autonomous equipment for agriculture.
BREAKING: Benson Hill Launches CRISPR 3.0 to Increase Innovators’ Access to Gene Editing
Computational biology startup Benson Hill Biosystems (BHB) has launched a new gene editing tool to provide an alternative to existing tools, including the high-profile CRISPR Cas9.
FarmerTrials.com is Offering Startups a New Way to Conduct Field Trials
There’s one thing that every new agtech startup needs when they want to sell their solution to farmers: proof that it works. And to get that, you need field trials.
The Commodity Business in Food and Agriculture is Over
Data analytics are bringing about the end of commodity business in food and agriculture, writes Mike Neal.
Ag Industry Brief: AeroFarms Gets $1m FFAR Grant, Nestle Acquires Plant Burger Company, Impossible Opens Facility, more
Impossible Foods estimates that the new Oakland plant will be able to produce one million pounds of burgers per month, farms prepare for Hurrican Irma, and more.
EXCLUSIVE: Israeli No-Waste Plant-based Yogurt Yofix Raises $2m Series A
The company uses a blend of oats, lentils, sunflower seeds, coconut, sesame seeds and has created three flavors of yogurt with no added sugars, while eliminating the waste common in plant-based dairy alternatives such as soy milk.
What is Agriculture Biotechnology?
Agriculture biotechnology (ag biotech) applies to all technologies used on the farm involving biological or chemical processes.
UPDATE: NewLeaf Closes $30m Series C, Doubling Funding for Next Gen Biologicals
Distribution of the product will focus on the US, Canada, and Argentina, where NewLeaf has been successfully piloting the product for three years.
EXCLUSIVE: Agrible Raises $9.7m of $15.7m Series B Led by The Andersons’ Maumee Ventures
Agrible’s suite of products for farmers largely center around the Morning Farm Report, a central dashboard which incorporates a range of data to give farmers field-level information about their farms.
BREAKING: John Deere Acquires ‘See & Spray’ Robotics Startup Blue River Technology for $305m
"This is the start of the next chapter in agriculture," says Kiersten Stead from MGV, an investor in Blue River.
Beehive Management Tech Raises Series A To Avoid Hive Loss
The Bee Corp develops decision support software that monitors conditions inside a commercial beehive, focusing on utilizing commoditized IoT sensors and data science.
BREAKING: Ireland Strategic Investment Fund Invests €40m in Agtech with Finistere
The Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) is launching a €20 million Ireland-focused agtech fund, managed by Finistere Ventures.