Foods from the lab, such as cultivated meat, drove a greater amount of early-stage investment in upstream technologies and business models in the first half of 2021.
The Food Waste Landscape Market Map, compiled by nonprofit ReFED, spans the entire value chain to help guide the food system with solution implementation.
Chew’s Plant-Based Burger Report Card found the Beyond Burger to smell like “pet food,” while Impossible’s effort is “more reminiscent of liver.”
Indonesia’s TaniHub was the top-funded startup in the category according to AgFunder data, raising $66 million in May.
Tilapia farming can help feed sub-Saharan Africa’s booming population. But investment in everything from basic infrastructure to technology is needed first.
While investment in eGrocery services increased substantially, especially in China, the return of foot traffic to brick and mortar retailers and restaurants saw investment double in technologies servicing them.
The category includes cell-cultured meat, plant-based analogs, fermented and fungi-based proteins, functional foods, and other novel ingredients.
Carbon credits generated by ag-related projects make up less than 1% of all issued credits, according to data from the University of Berkeley, California.
Startups focused on food and water received more climate-conscious capital than those in any other sector over the past 12 months, according to Climate Tech VC.
Since the start of the year six agtech SPAC deals have been announced – most involving indoor farming or biotech, and all valued at over $1 billion.
The Soil Health Tech Stack illustrates the interdependence of technology, science, and economics in connecting suppliers and buyers of carbon credits and other soil health outcomes.
M&A activity was concentrated in the US, which hosted over half of all deals – with Europe and Asia Pacific accounting for 19% and 11% respectively.
Meat for human and animal consumption is responsible for 57% of food production’s emissions – with beef alone making up 25%.
While mega-deals involving seven Chinese e-Grocery startups accounted for $3.8 billion of H1’s figure, funding to other countries is still on track to outpace 2020 levels, according to the latest data from AgFunder.
The State of the Agrifoodtech Union.
Novel Farming Systems – which includes CEA, aquaculture, and insect production – was the second best-funded agtech category last year, according to AgFunder.
However, the survey’s choice of terminology may be problematic.
AgFunder’s 2021 Farm Tech Investment Report, released earlier this month, showed that Ag Biotechnology deals increased 58% year-on-year.
Investor backing for technologies focusing on or close to the farm soared to $7.9 billion in 2020, or 41%, representing a bigger year-over-year jump than both agrifoodtech and global VC investing.
Upstream categories – that is, technologies and business models nearer the farm or lab – outstripped downstream funding in 2020 for the first time in seven years.
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