3-9 December , 2022
Weekly Roundup: Stay up to date with the most recent Agrifood Tech news, investments and partnerships
IPOs, M&As & Investments:
GoodLeaf Farms, Canada's first and largest commercial indoor vertical farm operation, has closed a successful $150 million financing round that will fuel the expansion of its technology-driven, innovative indoor vertical farms into Eastern and Western Canada.
Norwegian online grocery store Oda announced a €150m funding round at a post-money valuation of €350m — less than half of what it was valued at in 2021. The capital raised will be used for its expansion in Finland and Germany.
Sound Agriculture gobbled $75 million Series D equity investment, led by new investors BMO Impact Investment Fund and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. The new funding will be used to expand Sound's Nutrient Efficiency and On-Demand Breeding business lines.
Restaurant tech platform MarginEdge secures $45 million in Series C funding, bringing its funding to date to over $71 million. The new capital will be used to improve and expand the platform, enhance the mobile app and expand its payment network.
Precision pollination startup BeeHero raised $42 million in a Series B funding round to increase its R&D capabilities. The round was led by Convent Capital and included General Mills’ 301 Inc, ADM’s Cibus Capital, Rabobank and others.
Solis Agrosciences, announced that it closed on major growth capital financing that will allow Solis to expand with additional talent and infrastructure to meet the needs of a growing customer base.
Naïo Technologies raises $33 Million to accelerate its international expansion and more than double its fleet in operation over the next two years.
Black Sheep Foods has raised $12.3 Million in Series A funding led by plant-based venture capital veterans. This round will help scale up production and distribution and accelerate their journey to bring consumers flavor freedom in the meat section.
MALK Organics secures $9MM+ Series B investment. MALK will utilize this capital infusion to continue to expand its retail presence, increase marketing efforts, and continue to recruit high caliber team members.
Kapu, a social commerce startup coming out of stealth having raised $8 million seed funding, is hoping to help lessen the burden of buying food for Kenyan consumers, many of whom are grappling with sky-rocketing food prices.
Agronomics has invested $3.5 million in the seed round of Liberation Labs, a company working to commercialize precision fermentation on a large scale.
US-based robotic smoothie machine startup Smoodi has closed on $5 million in series A funding. The technology is available at some convenience stores, and this funding will allow the company to scale nationwide.
Gaia AI closed a $3 million round of pre-seed investment led by E14, with participation from Ubiquity Ventures, Space Capital and SOSV’s HAX. It says it is in discussions with three of the largest timber companies, with plans to deploy its backpack for pilot programs in Q1 of 2023.
Norway-based Avisomo just closed a €2M seed round to help them build a fully automated proof of concept facility to prove these numbers.
Following last month’s capital raise, Vienna-based Orderlion is expanding into France following an acquisition deal to absorb French B2B food marketplace Supli.
Engineered equipment leader Duravant expands food processing solutions portfolio with acquisition of Marelec Food Technologies.
Funds, Grants & Partnerships:
Cultivated meat startup Orbillion Bio is partnering with Solar Biotech, a leader in SynBio bioprocessing, to further develop and scale production of premium cultivated Wagyu beef for US consumers and reach price parity by 2026.
Germany’s Doehler Ventures has invested in palm oil alternative startup Clean Food Group. Doehler Group also plans to support the scale-up of Clean Food’s technology as part of an accompanying technical collaboration agreement between the companies.
Bel Group is partnering with alt-dairy pioneer Perfect Day and continues expanding its alternative cheese brands.
DANA Global the Abu Dhabi-based desert tech venture builder and investment platform, announces a new partnership agreement with Silal - a subsidiary of ADQ focused on diversifying food product sources and stimulating the manufactured and agri-food sectors.
K2 Global, a venture capital firm focused on early-stage technology companies, has raised $300 million in committed capital to invest in promising technology start-ups in the food tech, climate tech and AI sectors.
CEA planning, research, and strategy services firm Agritecture is partnering with Greener Crop,
to make it easier to launch and operate greenhouses in the United States and the six countries that comprise the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
Climate tech VC World Fund announced a €50 million investment from the European Investment Fund (EIF) to support environmental and climate tech-related ventures that contribute to decarbonising the world’s economy and its businesses.
Canada-based plant-based company Wamame Foods has partnered with Teja Foods and Sierra Meat and Seafood as new consortium partners to help the expansion of alternative wagyu beef across North America.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has awarded a $600,000 grant to a West Lafayette-based ag-tech startup co-founded by a Purdue University professor. JUA Technologies International plans to use the funding to further develop its solar-powered crop dehydration technology.
News & Trends:
GOOD Meat announced that Huber’s Butchery, one of Singapore’s premier producers and suppliers of high-quality meat products, will become the first butchery in the world to sell and serve cultivated meat.
Indoor-farming company Square Roots and food distributor Gordon Food Service have opened their latest climate-controlled farm, in Shepherdsville, Ky.
Motif Foodworks announced it has filed four additional challenges to U.S. patents held by Impossible Foods, pointing to a recent preliminary decision by the European Patent Office (EPO) to revoke a key European patent of Impossible’s.
Israel-based food tech startup Meat. The End announced a €1.5 million deal with a European machinery company to enhance R&D operations and ramp up the production capacity of plant-based meat alternatives.
The Zurich Administrative Court has sided with Swiss plant-based protein manufacturer Planted Foods and its use of terminology including “chicken” and “BBQ.