Keith Loria, Author at AFN

Keith Loria

Fashion tech startup Stony Creek Colors secures $9m Series B for plant-based dye

March 3, 2021

The Tennessee startup is the first company in the US to grow the indigo plant at a scale usable by the commercial denim industry.

Superfood Product Startup Kuli Kuli Closes $5m Series B to Sell Moringa as an Ingredient

February 28, 2019

Kuli Kuli is a manufacturer and distributor of moringa, a superfood that’s become the fastest growing green supplement in the category, surpassing matcha and catching up to spirulina and wheatgrass.

Postmates Raises $100m in Pre-IPO Funding For Expansion of Online Food Delivery Service

January 17, 2019

Postmates, a San Francisco-based logistics company that operates a network of couriers who deliver goods – mostly food — locally, has closed a pre-IPO $100

Coca-Cola Leads $10m Series A for Restaurant Data Tech Startup

December 19, 2018

Omnivore offers a universal point-of-sale connectivity platform that allows hundreds of third-party technologies to integrate seamlessly. It calls itself the “industry standard for POS integration.”

Ag Products Marketer Taurus Invests in Wastewater-to-Fertilizer Startup Ostara

November 15, 2018

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%

November 15, 2018

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.

EXCLUSIVE: Milk & Eggs Raises $6m Seed Funding for ‘Made-to-Order’ Online Farmers Market

September 19, 2018

Milk & Eggs is different to other online grocers because what’s purchased is made-to-order; it’s like it’s providing people with their own personal farmer, according to the CEO.

EXCLUSIVE: Improved Nature Raises $3m to Launch Plant-Based Protein Company

September 18, 2018

The company’s products include the Improved Meat portfolio, that “mimics meat in all cooking methods and forms of distribution,” according to the website.

Tractor Zoom Raises $1m Seed Round For Farm Equipment Auction Marketplace

September 6, 2018

Some $4 billion worth of farm equipment is sold at auction in the US every year.

Bear Flag Robotics Raises $3.5m Seed Round to Automate Common Tasks on the Farm

September 5, 2018

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.

Apeel Sciences Closes $70M Series C, Former Whole Foods Exec Joins Board

August 2, 2018

The investment round was led by Viking Global Investors, an American-based hedge fund based in Greenwich, Conn., with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Upfront Ventures and S2G Ventures.

Precision Seeding Company Clean Seed Acquires Harvest International for $13m

July 17, 2018

“The deal had several appeals for us. The driving corporate appeal is it puts Clean Seed into the planter market in the US,” Graeme Lempriere, Clean Seed’s president & CEO, told AgFunderNews.

Seventure Partners and Adisseo Launch €24m Livestock Tech Fund

March 21, 2018

Seventure Partners and Adisseo’s fund will focus on two segments—animal health, feed and nutrition and digital technologies serving the livestock industry, investing at every stage, regardless of geography.

Why Kirchner’s Impact-focused Food Fellowship is Expanding to Mexico to ‘Harness the Power of Millennials’

March 13, 2017

The Kirchner Impact Foundation, the non-profit investment arm of Canadian merchant bank Kirchner Group, is taking its Food Fellowship to Mexico this year.

John Deere and DuPont to Mentor and Invest in New Iowa AgriTech Accelerator

March 8, 2017

The Greater Des Moines Partnership and the Cultivation Corridor have launched the Iowa AgriTech Accelerator to promote agriculture innovation in the state.

Hazel Technologies Raises $800k for Food Waste Reduction and Shelf Life Enhancement Products

March 7, 2017

Hazel Technologies is developing technology to increase the shelf life of fruit with packaging inserts.

Andreessen Horowitz Leads $4m Seed Round for Livestock Genetics Startup TL Biolabs

March 2, 2017

TL Biolabs, a startup offering $15 genomic tests for beef and dairy cattle, and the software needed to analyze the results, has raised $4 million in seed funding.

Arc-net Raises £2m for Food Supply Chain Traceability Using Blockchain Tech

February 7, 2017

The Northern Irish startup raised the funding from former UK Entrepreneur of the Year.

Gates Foundation Awards $6.1m Grant to Danforth Center for Sorghum Research

January 25, 2017

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded a three-year, $6.1 million grant to the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center to expand and accelerate the development and deployment of improved varieties of sorghum for smallholder farmers.