It is possible for as many as one out of 15 containers to get rejected when they arrive at their destination, an expensive outcome when containers carrying high-value food can be worth as much as $500,000.
Kansas City-based angel investment firm iiM (Innovation in Motion) has invested in a variety of early-stage agrifood tech startup companies covering everything from a bio-based plastic alternative to oral vaccines for livestock and companion animals.
The Colorado-based startup is targeting big players in the food system to recapture lost food at scale while offering end-to-end logistics. It closed this top-up ahead of a larger Series B in the near future.
TechAccel, the venture development organization, and Donald Danforth Center for Life Sciences, the leading plant science research institute, have created a new startup called RNAissance.
The new facility will be automated from seeding to growing to harvesting featuring handling robotics, artificial intelligence, data analytics, and around-the-clock monitoring sensors and control systems to optimize every aspect of growing produce indoors.
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 million funding round led by BlackRock, Glynn Capital and Tiger Global, upping the company’s valuation to approximately $1.85 billion.
Virginia-based sustainable packaging company TemperPack, which counts HelloFresh among its clients, raised $22.5m in a Series B round bringing the growing Packaging 2.0 sector into the spotlight.
Until now, the Tel Aviv-based startup has been operating in stealth mode, honing its technology and accelerating adoption of its service with a clandestine list of growers including large-scale citrus growers.
Ostara, a nutrient management solutions company, has closed a new round of equity financing co-led by existing investors VantagePoint Capital Partners and the food-focused European family office Wheatsheaf Group.
The funds will be primarily used to advance Food-X Urban Delivery, SPUD’s shared e-commerce grocery delivery platform that allows multiple third-party retailer partners to provide grocery delivery to customers.
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."
US pharmaceutical company Merck has acquired digital livestock and animal health tech company Antelliq Group for €2.1 billion ($2.37 billion).
Antelliq manufactures sensors for animals, including ear tags for dairy cows through a product called Allflex that can monitor cows’ activity and provide traceability.
