Latin America agrifintech startup Agrotoken made news this week with a Series A that included participation from Bunge Ventures. A number of new collaborations also emerged, including a strategic partnership between John Deere and SpaceX, a merger between midstream tech company Wasoko and Egypt’s MaxAB, and a tie up between AgFunder portco Propagate and Rodale Institute.
Additionally, we have a bunch of news this week on new fundraising for ag robots, fermentation startups and more, along with a look into the world’s first regulatory greenlight for cultivated beef. Sign up for our newsletter to get the full scoop.
The Runnr.ai team.
Foodtech funding
🇮🇱 Mediterranean Food Lab raises $17m series A to scale up AI-powered solid state fermentation tech AgFunderNews
🇮🇱 Juice… with up to 80% less sugar? Ingredion Ventures leads series A at Israeli foodtech co Better Juice AgFunderNews
🇳🇱 Dutch startup Runnr.ai bags €1M to expand its GenAI hospitality communication platform Silicon Canals
Agtech funding
🇺🇸 With a fresh $24m, Burro grows from ‘people to pallet scale’ with autonomous harvest-assist robots AgFunderNews
🇮🇱 Israel’s SeeTree banks $17.5m to expand its ‘tree intelligence’ platform for orchards and forests AgFunderNews
🇦🇷 Fintech Agrotoken closes $12.5M in pre Series A Latamlist
🇺🇸 California-based farm-ng bags $10m to bring autonomy and robotics to smaller-scale growers AgFunderNews
M&A, IPOs & partnerships
🇪🇬 🇰🇪 Egypt’s MaxAB merges with Africa’s largest B2B e-commerce player Wasoko Wamda
🇺🇸 Propagate and Rodale Institute partner to grow adoption of agroforestry Rodale [Disclosure: AgFunderNews’ parent company, AgFunder, is an investor in Propagate.]
🇮🇱 Imagindairy acquires industrial-scale precision fermentation lines for animal-free whey: ‘This will allow us to support mass-market adoption’ AgFunderNews
🇦🇺 Aussie vegan meat maker v2food acquires ready meal brands as plant based sector undergoes consolidation Green Queen
🇺🇸 🇨🇭 Syngenta and Enko accelerate the discovery of innovative crop protection solutions Syngenta
🇩🇪 🇩🇰 AMSilk and 21st.BIO Forge Alliance to Scale Bioproduced Spider Silk Proteins “From Kilos to Tons” Vegconomist
Funds, grants & accelerators
🇺🇸 🇳🇱 Serra Ventures and Grondex International partner up for next ag & food tech fund Serra Ventures
People moves
🇺🇸 Flashfood names new CEO, revamps brand identity Grocery Dive Grocery Dive
🇺🇸 Solis Agrosciences announces expansion of leadership team 39NorthSTL
Other news
🇺🇸 John Deere, Meet Elon Musk: SpaceX Satellites to Link Farm Giant’s Equipment WSJ
🇮🇱 Aleph Farms nabs ‘world’s first’ pre-market approval for cultivated beef AgFunderNews
🇺🇸 Giant Eagle to open first automated micro-fulfillment center Grocery Dive
🇬🇧 HelloFresh fined £140,000 for ‘barrage’ of spam messages UKTN
🇨🇦 Future Fields Launches First-Ever Fruit Fly-Derived Recombinant Human Prolactin to Accelerate Lactation-Based Research and New Product Development Future Fields
🇺🇸 Uber shutting down alcohol delivery service Drizly Axios
🇨🇱 “NotCo is Officially NotGuilty” – Chilean Unicorn Defeats Dairy Union as Court Allows ‘Milk’ on NotMilk Labels Vegconomist
🇮🇱 🇺🇸 Edete precision pollination drives double-digit increases in pistachio yields in California trial AgFunderNews
Sponsored
International Fresh Produce Association launches year 3 of its produce accelerator