AgFunder Network Partners

Category: Investment News

Pontifax AgTech closes latest fund at $302m

October 9, 2020

Fund II is timely given “scarcity of sector-focused growth capital and challenges and opportunities created by Covid-19,” managing partner Phil Erlanger told AFN.

Soil testing startup Krishitantra secures $1m seed capital from Omnivore, NABVentures

October 8, 2020

The funding will enable the Indian startup to take its rapid soil testing kit and analytics services to the country’s 130 million smallholder farmers.

With $68m in fresh funding, Revol Greens plans to build the world’s largest indoor farm

October 7, 2020

Minnesota’s Revol Greens has plans to build new greenhouse facilities in California and Texas – the latter of which could be the world’s largest to date.

UK government earmarks $13m for industrial insect farm

October 7, 2020

London insect farming startup Entocycle will lead the project, which will aim to build a facility that rears black soldier flies by the millions.

Ÿnsect extends Series C to $372m, targets pet food & aims for carbon-negative status

October 6, 2020

The French startup – which farms mealworms to produce ingredients for fish feed, pet food, and crop fertilizers – claims it’s the biggest insect protein round ever.

Syngenta acquires biologicals company Valagro

October 6, 2020

Italy’s Valagro produces biostimulants and specialty nutrients for farming, as well as specialty ingredients for use in food, cosmetics, and animal feed.

The rise of the reused machines: Germany’s E-Farm raises $5.3m Series A

October 1, 2020

The Hamburg-based startup has built an online marketplace for secondhand agricultural machinery, using AI-powered valuation and offering EU-wide warranties.

CEA startup AppHarvest to go public, expects $475m funding at $1bn valuation

October 1, 2020

Kentucky’s AppHarvest will join the NASDAQ through a merger with special-purpose vehicle Novus Capital, while its new 60-acre facility prepares for launch.

Step aside, alt-protein: Bioplastics are the real agrifoodtech opportunity

September 30, 2020

Despite ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ drives, single use of petroleum-based plastic has grown 5x since 1980 – with a mere 5% recycled. Plastic pollution remains a problem in need of a solution.

Aqua-Spark leads $12.6m Series A round for Singapore alt-seafood startup Shiok Meats

September 30, 2020

Shiok Meats is the first ‘lab-grown seafood’ venture in the aquaculture-focused VC’s portfolio, Aqua-Spark co-founder Amy Novogratz told AFN.

Turkish delight as Tarfin raises $5m Series A for its smallholder lending app

September 25, 2020

Istanbul-based Tarfin offers access to extended payments for smallholder farmers, and creates pools of receivables for institutional investors as asset-backed securities.

Aquatic biopesticide startup Sundew closes $1.7m seed round

September 24, 2020

The Dutch-Danish startup thinks that toxicity and growing pathogen resistance to chemical aqua-pesticides means that now’s the time to shine for biological alternatives.

Hong Kong ‘plant-based platform’ Green Monday raises $70m

September 22, 2020

The round was led by The Rise Fund – a unit of US private equity giant TPG Capital – and Swire Pacific, an arm of Hong Kong trading house Swire.

Cargill wants to help farmers turn over 10 million acres to regenerative ag by 2030

September 18, 2020

The agribusiness major claims it already has 750 farmers participating in 12 soil health and water quality programs on roughly 300,000 acres across North America.

True Gum raises $1.2m to produce ‘plastic-free,’ plant-based chewing gum

September 18, 2020

The Danish startup runs what it calls “the smallest chewing gum factory in the world” – but with the new funding, that factory is set to get a little bigger.

Infarm raises $170m in first close of Series C

September 17, 2020

Infarm says that by 2025 its operations will reach more than 5 million square feet to become the largest distributed vertical farming network in the world.