Regrow was formed in February following the merger of Australian crop science company FluroSat and US soil health startup Dagan.
The startup aims to grow its footprint across Saudi Arabia and the UAE, as well as US regions “where growing conditions are harsh.”
The early Twitter and Uber investor’s climate-focused VC firm has invested in several alt-protein and sustainable ag startups.
Biteback is creating edible oils from mealworms, while Cellular Agriculture has designed a new type of bioreactor to bring down cultivated meat’s costs.
AgFunder’s 2021 Farm Tech Investment Report, released earlier this month, showed that Ag Biotechnology deals increased 58% year-on-year.
Kalera will instantly expand its global presence by acquiring &ever, which operates vertical farms across Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East.
The Australian startup is producing whole-food meat analogs out of shiitake, with celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal creating a signature burger using the product.
The Polish startup is using bacteriophages – viruses that infect bacteria – as an alternative to antibiotics for aquaculture and land-based livestock ag.
The ag biotech company, which uses the RNA tech made famous by Covid-19 vaccines, will list on the Nasdaq – eventually providing an exit for investors including AgFunder, S2G Ventures, and Continental Grain Company.
This marks the third acquisition for CropX since the start of 2020 as it aims to offer the most comprehensive suite of tech services to farmers.
CropWalk CEO Charlie McKenzie said that his company’s clients “want us around more often; with iUNU, we can be there all the time.”
The deal “sets an example for a novel way of building and growing a company as part of the accelerating [alt-protein] industry,” said Shiok Meats CEO Sandhya Sriram.
The Australian plant-based protein startup may have secured funding from Chinese food and grocery delivery ‘super app’ Meituan.
“When we invested, what I loved about Bear Flag was that they were solving the right problem,” writes AgFunder partner Rob Leclerc about his firm’s exit from the ag automation startup.
This is Deere’s second major automation acquisition in the past four years.
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.
The AgFunder-backed program will showcase 10 game-changing startups offering sustainable solutions in alt-protein, smallholding, food waste reduction, and more.
Rise Gardens founder Hank Adams launched the in-home farming startup after finding the economics of large-scale indoor farming too daunting.
Japfa and GROW have unveiled the 5 winners of Japfa Feeds the Future – a startup challenge aimed at advancing protein production and food resilience in Asia.
