Xingsheng raises $700m from JD as group buying faces food industry backlash
The Changsha-based platform allows communities to band together to purchase fresh produce in bulk. But suppliers and supermarkets say the model’s stealing their business.
The Changsha-based platform allows communities to band together to purchase fresh produce in bulk. But suppliers and supermarkets say the model’s stealing their business.
The Shenzhen-based startup – which produces autonomous rice transplanters, among other things – is also backed by drone company DJI and automaker Dongfeng.
The e-grocer – which was China’s top-funded agrifood startup in 2019 – raised $495 million for its Series F round earlier this year.
The duo will commercialize the US startup’s “green chemistry” product that helps plants use fertilizer more efficiently through microbes.
Hong Kong’s Avant will expand its focus beyond traditional Chinese cuisine with new products tailored to Western markets.
It’s the fourth fundraise of 2020 for the Chinese startup, which allows end customers and businesses to team up and purchase produce in bulk from farmers.
As 2020 draws to a close, trends identified by Ai Palette suggest that Covid-19 will have a long-lasting impact on Asia’s food preferences.
The Guangzhou-based startup offers UAVs for fertilizer and pesticide application, remote sensing, and seeding – and has also branched out into ground-based robots, cameras, and sensors.
The Shanghai-based firm has joined the Series A round of Mojia Bio, which synthesizes essential nutrients for human and animal consumption.
Sun Art operates close to 500 stores across China which have been integrated with Alibaba’s food e-commerce platforms Taoxianda and Tmall Supermarket.
The Indian food delivery unicorn is planning to go public in H1 2021.
To mark International Food Loss & Waste Awareness Day, AFN spoke to three startups who are taking three very different approaches to food waste reduction.
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.
Bits x Bites founder Matilda Ho thinks China’s digital revolution is finally reaching the farm gate, in spite of Covid-19, swine fever, and the trade war.
Bunny Maicai is one of several ‘group-buying’ startups in China to have pulled in big bucks lately.
Israel’s SupPlant and US-based ClimaCell have joined forces to make precision ag insights more accessible to low-income farmers in emerging markets.
It’s one of several online group-buying platforms for fresh produce in China that has raised major funding from investors in recent months.
MissFresh was the highest-funded agrifoodtech startup in China last year, raising $700 million in a debt round from a local government-linked fund, according to AgFunder research.
PuduTech and Meituan Dianping will collaborate on robotics and catering digitization, and explore opportunities in “localized lifestyle services.”
For the first time, home cooks in China will be able to purchase Beyond Meat’s plant-based products off the shelf, starting with Alibaba’s ‘new retail’ supermarket chain Freshippo.
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International Fresh Produce Association launches year 3 of its produce accelerator