UPDATE: AI-Powered Online Farmers Market Farmstead Raises $4.8m in Seed Funding
March 19, 2018
The San Mateo, CA-based operation says it has delivered 15,000 orders in the Bay Area in their first year of operation.
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Category: AgTech
Ag Industry Brief: More Exec Churn at Chipotle, EU Changes Protocol on GMOs, TechAccel Funds New Grants, more
March 16, 2018
Chipotle loses a controversial executive, cultured leather comes to New York, TechAccel commits to innovation at UC Davis, and more in this week’s brief.
Why Syngenta Acquired FarmShots: “It’s Definitely a Race”
March 16, 2018
We caught up with Dan Burdett, global head of digital agriculture at Syngenta, to find out why the company decided to acquire FarmShots rather than partnering with the four-year-old startup and what other technologies Syngenta is eyeing in 2018.Â
BioLumic Raises $5m Series A to Commercialize UV-based Crop Enhancement Tech
March 14, 2018
Biolumic has created a seedling treatment using UV light that it says boosts the yield of specialty crops by up to 22% while also making plants heartier and more pest resistant.
Wefarm Raises $5m from Skype, WordPress Founders for Smallholder Farmer Network
March 13, 2018
Wefarm uses AI technology to connect small-scale farmers to crowdsourced information by enabling them to share techniques and advice on anything from how to battle a disease to how to increase their income, through SMS or online in their own languages.Â
Agtech Startups Aim to Help the CA Cannabis Market Stay in the Green
March 13, 2018
Some of the best-funded cannabis startups are in ecommerce, supply chain management, and retail operations, but if keeping a steady supply is indeed a primary concern for this young industry, investors will need to turn their attention toward the more agriculture-focused end of the cannabis startup spectrum.
Q&A: SP Ventures On Becoming the Leading Farm Tech Investor In South America
March 12, 2018
We caught up with managing director Francisco Jardim to find out how SP Ventures evolved into a leading agrifood tech investor and how the VC is supporting early-stage startups in South America.
UPDATE: Aquaculture Startup Ecosystem Takes a Step Forward with New Accelerator
March 9, 2018
The Hatch accelerator will start its first cohort this spring and CEO Carsten Krome says the effort is a response to the holes he has seen in the current ecosystem for aquaculture technology startups.
Ag Industry Brief: Insect M&A, Kraft Heinz Launches Incubator, Startup Makes Egg Protein from Fungi, more
March 9, 2018
A major insect farm purchases a CPG startup, Kraft Heinz gets in the startup incubation game and more in this week’s brief.
AgriFood Tech Investment Surges to $10.1bn Bringing in a New Normal
March 8, 2018
2017 was a year of extremes in agrifood tech investing. Large deals pushed the total investment volume up to post an encouraging 29% growth, but deal count fell by 17% to 949, with the most dramatic contraction at the crucial seed stage.
International Women’s Day: Wisdom from Women in Agtech
March 8, 2018
Female CEOs receive 2.7% of all venture funding and women of color receive just 0.2%. The women quoted below are helping to move those statistics and today, on International Women’s Day, we are sharing some of their advice and experience
Dyson Founder Backs Remote Sensing Agronomy Platform Hummingbird in £3m Series A Round
March 7, 2018
Though Hummingbird began as a drone-focused precision agriculture company two years ago, it evolved beyond just drones as the team realized that the method of data collection is secondary to the data itself.Â
Syngenta and Bunge Ventures Back South American Agribusiness Marketplace Agrofy
March 6, 2018
Since launching in 2015, Agrofy has signed up 5000 companies, including multinational ag players, that have listed more than 65,000 products.
Micropep Raises €4m Series A for miRNA-based Crop Enhancement
March 6, 2018
Micropep Technologies, a French ag biotechnology company has raised a €4 million ($4.94 million) Series A round of funding. Micropep is developing crop enhancement products using micro-RNA or miRNA.
Cargill Launches Second Tool in New Digital Suite, Targeting Aquaculture
March 5, 2018
Cargill has launched a new digital platform for aquaculture, the second platform in a suite of digital tools announced in October.
Ag Industry Brief: Bowery Opening Second Farm, JUST Eyes Africa, Dan Barber Starts Selling Seeds, more
March 2, 2018
Indoor farming startup Bowery is opening a second farm while chef Dan Barber starts selling seeds and JUST creates a product just for Africa, plus more in our weekly brief.
John Deere Obtains Ag Data Transparent Certification Adding New Fuel to the Slow Burning Cert
March 1, 2018
John Deere is the first major ag player to achieve the certification and though several companies are maintaining their certifications over the years, the program hasn’t grown out of the single digits in terms of membership, meaning this move by Deere could have a big impact.Â
CRISPR Startup Inscripta Raises $55.5m Series C to Democratize Gene-Editing
February 28, 2018
Inscripta is building a business based on selling gene-editing tools, such as instruments, reagents, and software, and in order to create a market for these tools, the company is giving away CRISPR enzymes for free.
Indian Milk Delivery Disrupter Raises $2.2m Seed Round from Omnivore
February 27, 2018
Doodhwala is building its own logistics service, overriding India’s established and complex network of middlemen and dealing directly with farmers.
Boost Biomes Launches Microbe Discovery Platform with $2m Seed Round
February 27, 2018
Boost Biomes uses DNA-sequencing to study microbiomes and identify interactions that have desired outcomes — in this case, combatting common crop threats.
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International Fresh Produce Association launches year 3 of its produce accelerator