A major insect farm purchases a CPG startup, Kraft Heinz gets in the startup incubation game and more in this week’s brief.
2017 was a year of extremes in agrifood tech investing. Large deals pushed the total investment volume up to post an encouraging 29% growth, but deal count fell by 17% to 949, with the most dramatic contraction at the crucial seed stage.
North Carolina-based satellite data analytics startup FarmShots has been acquired by Syngenta for an undisclosed amount plus more in our weekly brief.
We caught up with Neal Gutterson ahead of the World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit, where he is a keynote speaker, to discuss the strategy behind Dow DuPont’s first GE product and the company’s digital strategy going forward.
Indoor farm Plenty makes plans in China while startups merge and launch new products in this week’s brief.
President Trump and the Supreme Court weigh in on agriculture issues while startups launch new products in this week’s brief.
Plant-based protein startups using technology to create and mass produce their products have traditionally received support from a small but dedicated group of investors, which is increasingly being joined by major food and agriculture players as this trend solidifies.
Twenty Seventeen has been quite the year for the agrifood technology startup scene, with some of the largest-ever funding announcements on record. And we’ve been pretty busy at AgFunderNews too, nearly doubling our member and subscriber base to 55,000 and posting over 450 original articles.
J.D. Vance, author of “Hillbilly Elegy” and former Peter Thiel employee, will lead the $150 million Rise of the Rest fund aimed at startups in cities outside California, Massachusetts, and New York, plus more in our weekly brief.
Multinational chemical company Yara International has acquired Agronomic Technology Corp, an agricultural field modeling company for soil, water, crops, and fertilizer, for an undisclosed sum.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency claims that the Soylent meal replacement drink does not fulfill the nutritional requirements of a meal.
Cargill has released the first of a suite of digital tools across its animal nutrition business — Dairy Enteligen — and is set to announce at least four more before the second half of next year.
Acquisitions in restaurant tech keep coming, HelloFresh is undeterred by Blue Apron’s disastrous IPO, new hires, new grants for Danforth, and more in this week’s brief.
Monsanto Growth Ventures portfolio company Agsolver has sold to a Texas-based agricultural software provider, new hires, and more Aussie IPOs in this week’s brief.
In this episode, I speak to Jorge Heraud, the cofounder and CEO of Blue River Technology, a Silicon Valley startup bringing robotics to the farm. Blue River was recently acquired by John Deere, the world’s largest tractor company, for $305 million.
Global animal nutrition player Alltech is a senior figure in Ireland’s agricultural industry and in its 37 years, has made just five acquisitions, all in the last two years.
Early stage investment in agrifood tech startups reached $4.4 billion in the first half of 2017, posting a 6% year-over-year increase reversing the downward trend of 2016 when agrifood tech investing dropped 17% to $6.9 billion from $8.3 billion in 2015.
Deere & Company announced plans to acquire Blue River Tech for $305 million last week as the next step in its quest to build autonomous equipment for agriculture.
Impossible Foods estimates that the new Oakland plant will be able to produce one million pounds of burgers per month, farms prepare for Hurrican Irma, and more.
“This is the start of the next chapter in agriculture,” says Kiersten Stead from MGV, an investor in Blue River.
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