Venture capital to the eGrocery category may be down 90% since the fundraising heyday of 2021, but the sector’s far from dead. Case in point: Germany-based Flink’s mega-raise this week.
Elsewhere, biotech startup Arzeda raked in funds to design proteins for food and other industries, agricultural machinery company Kubota made a new acquisition, and AgFunder portco Juicy Marbles is plotting expansion across the US.
Foodtech funding
🇩🇪 German speedy grocery company Flink raises $150m Sifted
🇺🇸 Seattle startup Arzeda raises $38M to create proteins for food, pharma, and other industries Geek Wire
🇩🇰 MATR Foods secures €20M from European Investment Bank to construct first full-scale facility Vegconomist
🇬🇧 London-based Ferovinum a funding and supply chain platform for wine and spirits raises over €20.8 million EU Startups
🇬🇧 DELLI, the online marketplace for independent food, secures $6M Tech.eu
🇫🇷 Standing Ovation raises €3.75m, names new CEO FoodBev Media
🇺🇸 ReScale emerges from stealth with $2.3m to address ‘biggest pain point’ for small brands AgFunderNews
🇬🇧 Tuggs secures seven-figure investment to bolster insect dogfood brand The Grocer
🇦🇷 Atomic Kitchens raises $750K from Manutara Ventures LatamList
Agtech & climate tech funding
🇺🇸 Pairwise raises $40m series C, forms JV with Corteva to accelerate gene editing on row crops AgFunderNews
🇳🇿 New Kiwi methane venture receives $13.5M boost AgriZero
🇺🇸 Brightband sees a bright (and open-source) future for AI-powered weather forecasting TechCrunch
🇬🇧 Carbon data platform Zevero raises £5.3m UKTN
M&A, IPOs & partnerships
🇺🇸 🇧🇪 Brightseed and Botalys team up to uncover potent botanical bioactives with AI Nutraceutical Business Review [Disclosure: AgFunderNews’ parent company AgFunder is an investor in Brightseed.]
🇮🇱 🇺🇸 CropX adds nitrogen-optimizing tech to its farm management array with EnGeniousAg acquisition AgFunderNews
🇺🇸 General Mills and Ahold Delhaize team up to transition 70,000 acres to regenerative agriculture AgFunderNews
🇩🇰 🇺🇸 World Bank’s IFC and Agreena join forces to close ‘finance gap’ for sustainable farming Tech.eu
🇺🇸 Kiwibot acquires an ad startup to turn its delivery robots into mobile billboards TechCrunch
🇺🇸 Kubota North America Corporation acquires Bloomfield Robotics, Inc. PRNewswire
People moves
🇺🇸 Kind appoints Mars-insider as new CEO ‘to shape future of snacking’ Food Dive
Other news
🇮🇱 🇺🇸 AI-enhanced robot ready for California citrus harvest trial Fruit Net
🇳🇱 Revyve launches “next-generation” gluten-free egg replacer, kickstarting production with new facility Vegconomist
🇺🇸 Ex-Novozymes exec acquires assets of biomanufacturing specialists Solar Biotech, Noblegen AgFunderNews
🇬🇧 FSA to introduce regulated product reforms for cultivated meat in 2025 The Cell Base
🇺🇸 Plant-based whole cut startup Juicy Marbles plans US retail launch in 2025, aims for profitability by year end AgFunderNews [Disclosure: AgFunderNews parent company AgFunder is an investor in Juicy Marbles.]
🇺🇸 Six Professors Named Schmidt Science Polymaths Schmidt Sciences
🇺🇸 Leaps by Bayer releases new framework for agtech development: ‘This is an industry playbook with the goal of raising all tides’ AgFunderNews
🇺🇸 BrightFarms opens first of three regional greenhouse hubs HortiDaily
🇺🇸 Biochar farm robots win $500K Wilkes Climate Launch Prize The University of Utah
