Canadian Ag Big Data Co Farmers Edge Raises $41m Series C
Farmers Edge, a Canadian agriculture big data company, raised $41 million from existing investors Mitsui & Co, the Japanese trading house, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, the venture capital firm, and Osmington Inc, the Canadian real estate house. The company’s CEO, Wade Barnes, said the recent round brings Farmers Edge’s total funding to $60 million. Head over to AgFunderNews to read more about Farmers Edge’s quest to collect the best ag data possible.
Microbiome Company CosmosID Raises $6m Series B for Food Safety Technology
CosmosID, a bioinformatics and microbiome research company, has raised $6 million in a Series B funding. The round was led by boutique management consultant firm Applied Value Group. The company is focused on the rapid identification of microorganisms for infectious disease diagnostics, public health surveillance, food safety inspections, pharmaceutical discovery, and microbiome analysis for health and wellness. The funding will be used to expand the company’s engineering capabilities, enhance clinical applications, foster R&D in DNA genetic coding, and to develop new products for predicting, monitoring, and preventing disease outbreaks. It counts food safety companies among its clients.
Australia’s YourGrocer Raises $600k Seed Round
Melbourne-based grocery delivery startup YourGrocer raised $600k in seed funding from private investors in the industry. The funding will be used to aide the company’s expansion throughout its headquarter city and facilitate the establishment of a new market in Sydney. The company also added former Masterchef finalist Emelia Jackson to its marketing team.
India’s Online Grocer Connectivity Platform Provider SnapBizz Closes $7.2m
Android-based, cloud-connected solution provider SnapBizz Cloudtech closed a $7.2 million round with Asia Pacific-focused venture capitalists Jungle Ventures, angel investors Taurus Value Creation, and some other venture capital investors. Early stage investors Blume Ventures and Konly Venture also participated in the round. Founded in 2013, the Indian company, which targets offline grocers to bring them online, will use the funds to expand into new markets. It currently works with mom-and-pop retailers located in Hyderabad, Bangalore, New Delhi, Pune, and Mumbai. SnapBizz’s solution includes a tablet, barcode scanner, printer, and an intelligent consumer-facing LED display for consumer engagement.
HHF Raises $110m for Largest Refrigerated Warehouse in US
Commercial real estate and capital markets service provider Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, (HFF) has arranged $110 million in acquisition financing for the construction of a 450,000-square-foot, Class A, cold-storage warehouse, and distribution facility in Richland, Washington. The warehouse is triple net leased to a wholly-owned subsidiary of Preferred Freezer Services. Completed in 2015, the facility is the largest refrigerated warehouse in North America and largest automated freezer in the world. The 116-foot-tall facility has roughly 36.3 million cubic feet of temperature-controlled area, which consists of 312,755 square feet of freezer capacity that stores product at -10° F.
M&A
Israel’s Frutarom Acquires for $20m
Ingredients and flavors manufacturer Frutarom purchased New Jersey-based biotech company Grow Company, which provides natural specialty ingredients for food and health products. Founded in 1977, Grow maintains a research and development and market center, including a production site in New Jersey. The purchase constitutes Frutarom’s 29th acquisition during the last five years and is part of the company’s move to implement a rapid growth strategy.
Sun Capital Partners Acquires UK-Based Finlays Horticulture
Global private equity firm Sun Capital Partners has acquired Finlays Horticulture, a UK-based outfit specializing in fresh produce and flowers. Following the deal, the vertically integrated horticulture business company changed its name to Flamingo Horticulture. The company grows, processes, packages, markets, and distributes cut flowers and premium prepared fresh vegetables and constitutes the largest vertically integrated, value-added producer and exporter of fresh produce and flowers in the EU.
ChemChina Continues Push for Syngenta Takeover
In Fall 2015, Syngenta, the world’s largest agrichemical company, rejected a $42 billion purchase offer from state-owned China National Chemical Corp. According to the Financial Times, ChemChina is continuing its bid to purchase Swiss-based Syngenta. If the deal closes, it will constitute the largest overseas acquisition by a Chinese company. Syngenta has recently made moves to boost shareholder profits after it rejected a $47 billion acquisition offer from Monsanto, culminating in its CEO stepping down just two months later.
And elsewhere…
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Image credit: UMASS Medical School
