SoftBank’s Son agitates for Southeast Asian food delivery mega-merger: report
The SoftBank CEO is “stepping up pressure” on Anthony Tan, co-founder and CEO at Singapore-based Grab, to work out a “ceasefire” with his counterparts at Gojek.
The SoftBank CEO is “stepping up pressure” on Anthony Tan, co-founder and CEO at Singapore-based Grab, to work out a “ceasefire” with his counterparts at Gojek.
India will be home to more than 1.4 billion people by 2030. Unlike consumers in Europe and the US, they’ll be looking to eat more meat – not less.
Downstream investment declined by 67% year-on-year. But upstream funding more than doubled, as startups and investors zeroed in on farm and supply chain solutions.
The bulk of food safety claims, such as “antibiotic-free”, “never-ever-antibiotic” and “hormone-free,” are based on little more than producer affidavits.
Moving towards more climate-resilient agriculture and food production was already imperative for India. The Covid-19 pandemic has made it even more urgent.
Singapore Food Bowl is the new online program from GROW, the Asia-Pacific agrifoodtech accelerator by AgFunder. Applications close in 4 days – so hurry!
“You have 130 million farmers plus their families who are vulnerable… Traditional urban insurance brokers do not understand [their] needs,” founder Jatin Singh told AFN.
SoftBank was among the world’s most active investors in the agrifoodtech space last year, according to AgFunder research.
The Indian startup offers a suite of software and hardware tools for assessing the quality of fresh produce. It will use the funding to expand in Asia and the US.
It “has blown away everyone’s expectations about how fast an agritech startup can grow in India,” hitting $150 million GMV within a year of launch, said investor Mark Kahn.
While Covid-19 has made things worse for SoftBank investees, much of the loss can be ascribed to the already poor performance of companies across the Japanese firm’s portfolio.
The Japanese company was one of the top agrifood investors worldwide last year, and its Vision Fund has backed food and agriculture startups such as Plenty, Zume, and DoorDash.
The Indian ag marketplace is seeing “mixed” demand in the midst of Covid-19, with fruit and veg flying off the shelves but corn proving harder to shift.
As global venture capital is poised for a downturn, agri-foodtech investors observe the sector’s resilience and creativity amid near-term uncertainty.
Arya has a warehousing and fintech platform to solve to help Indian farmers avoid selling their grain at the worst time of year — after harvest.
“Vertical farming is not especially relevant in India,” says Omnivore’s Mark Kahn, but its equivalent is a company that galvanizes and coordinates the tens of thousands of already existing greenhouses dotted on the outskirts of India’s major cities, like Clover.
Kisan Network has closed a $3 million round led by Atsushi Taira at Mistletoe, with participation from Y Combinator, the Thiel Foundation, Venture Highway, FundersClub, Lynett Capital, Gokul Rajaram, and other angels.
TechnifyBiz, a digital B2B marketplace for non-perishable food commodities like nuts, seeds, dry fruits, specialty grains, and honey, has raised $2m in seed funding from Omnivore and the Insitor Impact Asia Fund.
As global aquaculture grows in scale and intensity, and governments wise up to the need to regulate it more closely, there’s plenty of call for technology that can foster supply chain transparency while boosting yields, improving welfare, and cranking down on costs. Step in Wittaya Aqua.
A UN FAO report also showed that global aquaculture production is catching up with catch-based production systems.
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International Fresh Produce Association launches year 3 of its produce accelerator