The first half of 2018 is over and it’s been an incredible six months for the agrifood tech industry, finishing up with over $200 million raised by farm tech startups in the final week alone!
Highlights from the year so far include Syngenta acquiring FarmShots as well as Brazil’s Strider, Cargill making a rare investment in Cainthus, the closure of a new dedicated fund for the sector and Omnivore Partners’ $46 million second fund.
Bayer’s acquisition of Monsanto finally closed with some question marks around the future of venture capital for the merged business, and Rethink’s Ag and Food Innovation Week attracted its largest audience to-date with over 1,400 delegates descending on San Francisco.
AgFunder also quietly announced its first investments and launched and closed its coinvestment fund (more on that later)!
Here are the 10 best read agrifood tech articles published on AgFunderNews during the first half of 2018.
1. African Agtech Market Map: 99 Technologies Changing the Future of Agriculture in Africa
2. Why Syngenta Acquired FarmShots: “It’s Definitely a Race”
3. Blockchain is Coming for Agriculture and You Might Not Even Notice
4. Cargill Backs Livestock Vision Tech Cainthus
5. Why Maersk is Investing in AgriFood Tech Startups
6. Wilbur-Ellis Backed Insect Startup Beta Hatch Closes $2.1m Seed Round
7. 2018 AgFunder Innovation Awards Winners Announced
8. Agtech Exits: 2017 Activity Generates Cautious Optimism for 2018
9. The Growing Impact of Hyperspectral Imagery on AgriFood Tech
10. AgFunder Invests in ImpactVision, Solinftec, The Yield
