Source: USDA

Every week we track the business, tech and investment trends in CPG, retail, restaurants, agriculture, cooking and health, so you don’t have to. Here are some of this week’s top headlines.

The USDA has released its long-awaited GMO labeling standards. The BE labels help regulate food marketing, not food safety or limiting technology. Coca-Cola’s Venturing and Emerging Brands (VEB) unit has led a $15 million investment in Iris Nova, the parent company of Dirty Lemon. Hippeas has closed an $8 million round as it prepares for nationwide expansion in Whole Foods and later convenient stores. Sir Kensington has ventured into spices, launching its first DTC platform.

After Blue Apron shares dropped below $1, the company’s latest comeback efforts relies on the dieters of WW, formerly Weight Watchers, to help its bottom line. US pharmaceutical company Merck has acquired digital livestock and animal health company Antelliq for $2.37 billion.

And to wrap up the year in innovation news, check out Eater’s compilation of Food Trends for 2019 and Biggest Food Technology Advances of 2018.

Check out our weekly round-up of last week’s top food startup, tech and innovation news below or peruse the full newsletter here.

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1. Coca-Cola Leads $15M Investment in Dirty Lemon Parent Co. Iris Nova – BevNet

Along with its own brands, Iris Nova has allocated $1m to invest in other beverage brands this year. Dirty Lemon plans to open new retail stores in Manhattan, Chicago and Miami.

2. Merck Acquires Digital Livestock Tech Antelliq for $2.4B in Biggest Agtech Acquisition on Record – AgFunder

The move highlights the pharmaceutical company’s commitment to the animal health business.

3. Amsterdam: Takeaway Buys Delivery Hero’s German Division for $1B – Skift Table

Takeaway’s orders will double to 47m, with expected cost synergies to exceed 60m euros by 2020.

4. Blue Apron Links With Dieters in Comeback Effort – Wall Street Journal

After shares fell below $1, the company entered a partnership with WW Inc, formerly known as Weight Watchers, giving it access to millions of customers interested in healthy eating.

5. Hippeas Closes $8M Round, Expects to Hit Profitability in 2019 – Nosh

Venture group CAVU led the round. In January, the line will enter Whole Foods nationwide and later enter the convenience channel with a test in 7-Eleven.

6. Sir Kensington’s Launches Spice Line, Tests D2C Sales – Nosh

The spice kits are sold through a microsite, where the company will release a different set each month.

7. Here’s a First Look at the Label That Must Appear on All GMO Foods by 2022 – New Food Economy

The “bioengineered” label will soon be a familiar sight, but the government’s criteria for foods that can evade the label are already causing confusion and controversy.

8. Merck Acquires Digital Livestock Tech Antelliq for $2.4B in Biggest Agtech Acquisition on Record – AgFunder

The move highlights the pharmaceutical company’s commitment to the animal health business.

9. Was 2018 the Year of the Influential Sustainable Consumer? – Nielsen

Americans spent $128.5m on sustainable fast-moving consumer goods — a 20% growth in product sales.

10. The Biggest Food Technology Advances of 2018 – Eater

Automated delivery vehicles, robot cooks and servers, and new ways to experience flavor and meet daily nutritional standards will soon be the status quo.

11. Literally Every Single Food Trend Predicted to Take Over 2019 – Eater

A compendium of every prediction about food, restaurants and dining culture for 2019.

12. Women, Women of Color & Gender Non-Conforming Innovator Database

We created this open-source list to increase representation, support and investment in women, women of color & gender-nonconforming innovators in food. Join the list & help us spread the word using #womxninfood

Our newsletter is the absolute easiest way to stay on top of the emerging sector, so sign up for it today and never miss the latest food tech and innovation news and trends, Already signed up? Share the love with your friends and colleagues!

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Every week we track the business, tech and investment trends in CPG, retail, restaurants, agriculture, cooking and health, so you don’t have to. Here are some of this week’s top headlines.

The USDA has officially nixed the organic checkoff program due to a lack of consensus within the industry for a national research and promotion program for certified organic products. The agency also announced the requirement for retailers to release the amount of money they get through SNAP.

Good Eggs has bounced back from nearly closing in 2015 with a recent infusion of $50 million to take on the Amazon-Whole Foods behemoth. Kroger has exclusively partnered with Ocado to bring its automated fulfillment capabilities to America. Whole Foods has announced a 10% discount to Prime members.

Check out our weekly round-up of last week’s top food startup, tech and innovation news below or peruse the full newsletter here.

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1. USDA Nixes Organic Checkoff Program – Food Dive

The department said there wasn’t enough support to move forward on a plan that would have larger producers pay about $30m annually to fund a national research and marketing strategy.

2. How Good Eggs Came Back from the Brink – and Plans to Take on Amazon – Fast Company

The online delivery company came close to shutting down in 2015. Now it’s raised $50m and is planning to grow beyond San Francisco by offering an alternative to the Amazon-Whole Foods behemoth.

3. Kroger Partners with Ocado in a Bet on the Future of Online Grocery – Food Dive

The retailer has signed an exclusive agreement with Ocado to bring its automated fulfillment capabilities to America. Ocado’s technology offers online ordering, automated warehouse fulfillment and delivery logistics.

4. Next Up at Amazon-Run Whole Foods: Half-Priced Halibut Steaks – New York Times

Whole Foods will give large discounts for some products, and 10% off hundreds of sale items in stores for Amazon Prime members.

5. USDA Must Release SNAP Payment Data, Court Rules – Food Dive

The amount of money grocery retailers get through SNAP now must be released. Industry groups voiced concerns over unfairly singling out stores serving a poorer customer base.

6. Munchery Is Ending Food Delivery in Three Cities and Cutting Staff – SF Gate

The San Francisco startup is cutting 30% of its staff and ceasing delivery in Los Angeles, New York and Seattle as it focuses on San Francisco.

7. The New Global Plan to Eliminate the Most Harmful Fat in Food, Explained – Vox

For the first time, the World Health Organization wants to ban trans fats from the food supply by 2023. If successful, they say it could save more than 10m lives worldwide by reducing cardiovascular disease.

8. Let Them Eat Trump Steaks – New York Times

Some of the biggest victims of Trump’s obsession with cutting “welfare” will be the very people who put him in office.

9. Spacious Closes $9M Series A to Add 100 Locations + Retail Flagships – Think Outside the Office

The Series A funding was led by August Capital + Baseline, Redpoint, Lerer Hippeau and Box Group. The startup converts empty restaurants into workspaces during the day.

10. Cava Group Is Raising Tens of Millions of Dollars. Again. – Biz Journals

The fast casual restaurant chain raised a $35m equity offering from undisclosed investors. It has already raised $96m in the past few years to fuel its growth.

11. Hospitality Giant Buys Delivery Service Waitr for $308M – Skift Table

The Louisiana-based delivery company will be acquired by Landcadia. It currently has 540k active diners on its platform and partners with over 5k restaurants.

12. Hu Products Closes Round, 43 Investors Strong – Project Nosh

Maker of paleo-friendly, vegan, organic chocolate closed a round just under $10m led by Sonoma Brands. The new investment will allow Hu Kitchen to commercialize six new products already developed in its restaurant.

13. PetPlate Raises $4M in Seed Funding Round – Finsmes

The round was led by Dane Creek Capital with participation from Amity Supply, SWAT Equity, The Yard Ventures, Castor Ventures and BrandProject. PetPlate will use  the funds to scale operations to meet demand of its subscription pet meal service.

14. Belgium: BIGH Raises €4.3M for Largest Urban Rooftop Farm in Europe – AgFunder

The $5.1m investment came from LTFD, Fidentia Green Buildings, Finance.Brussels and ECF. The startup plans to build its first aquaponic farm on a site spanning 4k meters above a food hall in the center of the city.

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Every week we track the business, tech and investment trends in CPG, retail, restaurants, agriculture, cooking and health, so you don’t have to. Here are some of this week’s top headlines.

Bossa Nova Robotics raised $17.5 million to build out its line of inventory-scanning retail robots. The funding round comes fresh off of a deal with Walmart that will roll out its robots across 50 of the retailer’s locations. Good news came for the big-box chain as it posted its strongest quarterly U.S. sales growth in nearly a decade. Ovenly, a New York City retail and wholesale bakery business, is creating a more inclusive economy through an open hiring process for its bakery, working with organizations to hire political refugees and citizens returning from the criminal justice system.

Chobani CEO and founder Hamdi Ulukaya envisions Twin Falls, Idaho as the ‘Silicon Valley’ for food innovation. The city is home to the company’s largest yogurt factory and home base for its global R&D team. The Italian 180-year-old company, Barilla, is embracing the future of food through a new venture fund and innovation hub called Blu1877.

In restaurant news, a new organic fast food restaurant called Grown is cropping up in in sports stadiums, hospitals and even Walmart. DoorDash added former Twitter VP of engineering, Jeremy Rishel, and former VP of product at Groupon, Rajat Shroff, to its team in its efforts to expand into more cities and deliver products other than food. Chef José Andrés explained in a talk for TEDx MidAtlantic how he and his nonprofit World Central Kitchen served more meals than any other organization as well as the struggles he faced with FEMA. The Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC), a progressive labor organization that provides education and support to restaurant workers, has created a “Racial Inequity Toolkit”: a how-to manual for restaurant owners and management who want to begin weeding out potential sources of racial and gender bias in their hiring and operational practices.

Will a meatless food industry featuring lab-grown meat, seafood substitutes, and insect protein be the future of food? CB Insights put together a report on how the $90 billion global meat industry gets disrupted. Investigation into the USDA deregulation team reveals deep ties to the industries being regulated, including those that oppose environmental regulations, corporate lawyers and political dark-money groups.

Check out our weekly round-up of last week’s top food startup, tech and innovation news below or peruse the full newsletter here.

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1. Bossa Nova Raises $17.5M for Retail Robots – TechCrunch

The Series B round was led by Paxion, bringing total funding to $41.7m. The startup plans to use the capital to build out its team, with a focus on autonomy software and artificial intelligence.

2. Barilla Launches Blu1877, A Food Focused Venture Fund & Innovation Hub – The Spoon

Its first focus is making seed investments in food entrepreneurs that are creating new products related to Barilla’s core business and adjacent markets in pasta and meal solutions.

3. Walmart Posts Strongest US Sales in Years, Powered by Groceries, E-Commerce – Wall Street Journal

Shares jumped more than 8% for the world’s largest retailer. Its grocery business delivered the strongest quarterly same-store sales growth in more than five years, including sales from online grocery pickup now.

4. Chobani Wants Twin Falls To Be a ‘Silicon Valley’ for Food Innovation – Magic Valley

Chobani wants to turn Twin Falls, Idaho, the town that is home to his largest yogurt factory, into a center of food innovation. It broke ground on a 70k sf building that will house a startup incubator for Idaho food businesses, as well as office for its global R&D team and other employees.

5. An Open Door for Pesticide Lobbyists at the USDA – New York Times

Investigation into the USDA deregulation team reveals deep ties to the industries being regulated, including those that oppose environmental regulations, corporate lawyers and political dark-money groups.

6. Our Meatless Future: How The $90B Global Meat Market Gets Disrupted – CB Insights

Will a meatless food industry featuring lab-grown meat, seafood substitutes, and insect protein be the future of food? Food giants from Tyson to Cargill are working to navigate a future where protein isn’t dominated by traditional animal sources.

7. Grown Is a 100% Organic Fast Food Restaurant Coming to Your City Soon – Bon Appetit

Thanks to Shannon Allen, Grown restaurants are popping up in sports stadiums, hospitals, and even Walmart. The organic fast food restaurant has expanded to six locations in just 16 months.

8. DoorDash Has Hired Ex-Twitter and Groupon Execs to Spearhead Big Expansion Plans – Business Insider

Rishel and Shroff will help DoorDash fine tune its delivery time predictions and build the company’s ever-growing stable of restaurants and food brands.

9. Restaurants Have a Racial Equity Problem. Here’s How to Fix It. – Eater

The Restaurant Opportunities Center created a “Racial Equity Toolkit” for restaurant owners and management who want to weed out potential sources of racial and gender bias in their hiring and operational practices.

10. A Recipe for a More Inclusive Economy: Sweet Treats + Good Jobs – B the Change

Ovenly has had an open hiring policy since 2012, working with organizations to hire political refugees and citizens returning from the criminal justice system. The company has 56 employees and is quickly expanding to additional locations.

11. From 3D-Printed Meals to Electrocuting Your Food, These Startups Are Shaping the Future Of Cooking – CB Insights

Next-gen ingredients, robotic appliances, novel cooking methods, on-demand and personalized food have the potential to fundamentally change what we eat and how we cook it.

12. José Andrés Says FEMA Kicked Him Out of Its Building – Eater

In a TEDx talk, Andrés spoke about his experience grappling with FEMA as well as his strategy and execution feeding Puerto Rico.

Our newsletter is the absolute easiest way to stay on top of the emerging sector, so sign up for it today and never miss the latest food tech and innovation news and trends, Already signed up? Share the love with your friends and colleagues!

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Every week we track the business, tech and investment trends in CPG, retail, restaurants, agriculture, cooking and health, so you don’t have to.

Last week’s top stories are both in the retail sector. The USDA put out a call for e-grocery companies to join its online food stamp pilot, and Farmigo announced that it is selling its Bay Area operations and is looking for buyers in NYC and Seattle, following the online farmers market’s sudden shut down earlier this summer.

Other headlines include: how the tech boom has nearly eradicated traditional restaurants in Silicon Valley, France passes the most extensive plastic ban globally, and a $10M new agtech accelerator launches in Australia.

Check out our weekly round-up of last week’s top food startup, tech and innovation news below or peruse the full newsletter here.

Our newsletter is the absolute easiest way to stay on top of the emerging sector, so sign up for it today and never miss the latest food tech and innovation news and trends, Already signed up? Share the love with your friends and colleagues!

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1. Is Your Firm Ready for 3 Waves of Disruptive Food Innovation? – Food Navigator

In the next 10 years, the food industry will be profoundly changed by the ‘Uberisation’ of food, smart kitchens and smart food.

2. USDA Takes a Step Toward Letting People Use Food Stamps Online – CNN Money

Following Thrive Market’s petition to bring food stamps online, which received 300k+ signatures, the USDA put out a call for companies to apply for an upcoming online grocery food stamp pilot.

3. Farmigo Sells Its Bay Area Operation After July’s Surprise Shutdown – New Food Economy

Following the shuttering of Farmigo’s online farmers market, it is selling its Bay Area operations to Eating With the Seasons and is shopping its NYC and Seattle operations to other potential buyers.

4. How Tech Companies Disrupted Silicon Valley’s Restaurant Scene – New York Times

Tech behemoths like Apple, Facebook and Google are hiring away Silicon Valley restaurants’ best employees with wages, benefits and perks that operators simply cannot match.

5. Dutch Food Delivery Company Takeaway.com is Going Public at a €1B Valuation – Business Insider

The food delivery giant gave its price range per share between €20.5 to €26.5, with a post-IPO market cap of up to $1.2B. The listing is expected to take place on September 30.

6. Australia: SproutX Launches $10M Agriculture Tech Fund and Start-up Accelerator – Australia Financial Review

A collaboration between The National Farmers’ Federation and Findex, SproutX’d pre-accelerator will accept 100 Australia-based ag tech applicants for an eight-week mentorship program.

7. We’re All Guinea Pigs in a Failed Decades-Long Diet Experiment – Vice

How U.S. government dietary guidelines could have shaped the current state of diet related disease globally.

8. France Becomes the First Country to Ban Plastic Plates and Cutlery – The Washington Post

The most extensive plastic ban globally, the law will go into effect in 2020. Exceptions will be made for compostable, biosourced materials.

The post USDA Pilots Online Food Stamps, Farmigo Sells Bay Area Operations + More appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

Every week we track the business, tech and investment trends in agriculture, CPG, retail, restaurants, cooking and health, so you don’t have to. Last week’s top headlines include Hampton Creek CEO Josh Tetrick calling the Trump campaign “un-American” in a full-page New York Times ad and an inside look at how restaurants are capitalizing on Pokémon Go mania to drive sales.

In funding news, food distribution giant Cisco partnered with Italian Innovation Hub to launch the H-FARM food tech accelerator, and The Yield Lab launched an agtech accelerator in Ireland. Other headlines include the contentious passing of the national GMO labeling bill, the USDA recruiting food e-commerce platforms to test the possibility of accepting food stamps and more. Check out our weekly round-up of last week’s top food startup, tech and innovation news below or peruse the full newsletter here.

Our newsletter is the absolute easiest way to stay on top of the emerging sector, so sign up for it today and never miss the latest food tech and innovation news and trends with our bi-weekly newsletter. Already signed up? Share the love with your friends and colleagues!

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1. Dining On The Future Of Protein

A full recap of the Future of Protein dinner which happened June 28 in Brooklyn, NY. This dinner was the first in a new Future of Food dinner series, produced by the Future Market, that showcases the biggest ideas impacting our food system in an immersive, delicious dining experience.

2. A Vegan Mayo CEO Has Embarked On A One-Man, $200,000 Ad Campaign Against Donald Trump – Quartz

Hampton Creek CEO Josh Tetrick took out a full page add in the New York Times to write a letter to Donald Trump, in which he calls the Trump campaign un-American. Tetrick says he hopes the ad will encourage other business leaders to stand up and say something.

3. Congress Just Passed A GMO Labeling Bill. Nobody’s Super Happy About It – NPR

Public policy groups are asking Obama to veto the bill because it allows food companies to use QR codes rather than transparent on-package labeling. Food companies and farm groups are convinced that pro-labeling groups are trying to use labels to drive consumers away from GMOs.

4. 5 Brilliant Ways Restaurants Are Using Pokémon Go To Level Up Sales – Forbes

How restaurants are capitalizing on the Pokémon Go craze, from hosting Pokémon meetups, to offering free meals for diners who promote the game, to future in-game sponsorship opportunities.

5. Cisco Partners With Italian Innovation Hub To Launch A European Food Tech Accelerator – AgFunderNews

H-FARM will give early stage food and ag startups $22k in seed money, room and board, working facilities and mentorship sessions. The four month program begins in October, and applications close July 31.

6. A Simple Change That Could Help Solve One of the Biggest Problems Facing Poor People – Washington Post

People in food desserts are more likely to have internet access than access to a car, so the USDA is recruiting online grocery delivery services to test the possibility of accepting SNAP.

7. What Would Happen If the Secretary of Agriculture Became Vice President? – Food52

Edible Manhattan’s Brian Halweil, Food Tank’s Danielle Nierenberg, FERN’s Sam Fromartz and more weigh in on the Tom Vilsack’s possible candidacy as Hillary Clinton’s running mate.

8. The Resurgence Of Black Farmers – Civil Eats

After a long decline, the number of Black farmers in the United States is on the rise again.

9. Health Startup Lifesum Raises $10M Round Led by Nokia Growth Partners – TechCrunch

Draper Esprit, Bauer Media Group and SparkLabs Global Ventures also participated. The Swedish startup tracks what you eat and your exercise and says it now has 15M users.

10. The Yield Lab Launches Irish Agtech Accelerator – AgFunderNews

The Yield Lab Galway accelerator and fund will invest €100k into 8 to 12 startups over the next two years, providing them with one-on-one mentorship, free workspace and networking opportunities over a year-long program.

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This is a monthly guest post, by consulting firm Rosenheim Advisors, which highlights the most interesting acquisitions, financings and partnerships within the Food Tech & Media ecosystem – digital content, social, local, mobile, grocery, e-commerce, delivery, ordering, payments, marketing and analytics – to give you insights into the latest funding and growth trends.

July was exceptionally active on the fundraising front compared to last year, with 23 deals totaling $318 million* in 2015 compared to just $75 million over 10 deals last year during the same month. This cash influx continued to fuel the progression towards a maturing industry, with about a third of all the deals (globally), and half of U.S. deals, sized at least $20 million.

On the other end of the spectrum, three of the ten seed stage deals were based in the U.S., averaging $2.1 million per deal, while the remaining international seed deals were primarily based in India, averaging $300k per deal.

M&A activity for the month included four acquisitions of undisclosed value, which is less substantial than last year due to a remarkable month in 2014 (six transaction totaling over $660 million in July 2014). I don’t think this signals any major shift in the strategic market. Quite the contrary in fact, as I have mentioned a number of times, I believe we are in store for some significant consolidation in the coming year.

As has been the case seemingly every month, delivery was dominant, with 61% of deals (and 66% of cash) invested into on-demand or convenience-economy concepts, mainly around the meal and restaurant category. The remaining majority of deals were also focused on the restaurant category, ranging from reviews to loyalty and marketing to payment.

*Excludes CircleUp’s new $22 million growth fund, as those funds did not go towards the company.

M&A

Benseron IT acquires Restajet.com. Benseron IT, a developer of POS systems, will integrate the Naples, Florida-based provider of custom Android and iOS apps for restaurants with its Bevo POS system in order to futher streamline the order process. RestaJet’s apps offer reservation services, customer feedback, and push notification features, as well as online ordering capabilities for franchises.

Announced: 07/23/15 Terms: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2014

Groupon Acquires OrderUp. The Baltimore, MD-based online and mobile food ordering and delivery service will bring expertise in food ordering and delivery to Groupon, and significantly boost its presence in the $70 billion sector by creating “an online and mobile food ordering marketplace of significant size and scale” while also providing opportunities for inventory cross-promotion, according to the Company. As TechCrunch notes, Groupon’s reach and ability to meet demand at large scales will enable OrderUp to grow at an accelerated pace and further expand in targeted markets. OrderUp is currently available in 40 markets throughout the U.S., focusing on those with high student populations.

Announced: 07/16/15 Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $10.0m  Founded: September 2009

Private Investors Acquire Yeti. The Los Angeles-based local discovery app fosters conversation with a local focus. Nicknamed the “Tinder for places,” Yeti presents users with a series of photo cards with topics based on their location, giving users the option to swipe left to pass on a topic or swipe right to join in on a conversation. According to LA Business Journal, Yeti faced the choice to try to raise a large funding round to acquire more users or seek acquisition. The company stated that is decided to sell to a small group of private investors (JA Partners and Edgewater Ventures) so that it can continue to develop and retain the original mission of the app versus likely sunsetting the app if it were acquired by a larger tech company. Yeti will operate under a new CEO following the acquisition, and may develop more curated local recommendations.

Announced: 07/16/15 Terms: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: $875k Founded: June 2014

Meredith Acquires Grocery Server (Qponix). The Bainbridge Island, WA-based search and shopping engine, which targets customers using hyperlocal digital advertising for consumer packaged goods and grocery retail outlets, is part of Meredith’s strategy to drive digital and cross-platform growth, particularly withing the AllRecipes platform. Grocery Server, which has been a client of Meredith’s for some time, developed its technology in response to the shifting behaviors of mobile-equipped, value-minded shoppers and delivers product offers using shoppers’ recent mobile activity. The women’s interest publisher Meredith has used Grocery Server’s services in the past year, and as part of the acquisition, Grocery Server will supply Meredith with grocery data as well as nearly 150,000 monthly localized advertising specials in every residential zip code in the US.

Announced: 07/13/15 Terms: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: August 2010 (as joint venture between Qponix and MyGroceryDeals.com)

FUNDING

Noodle Play raises $160k. The Mumbai-based online ordering startup serves delivery-only Chinese food made in its own kitchens and guarantees delivery within 29 minutes. The brand is owned by Lollypop Foods Pvt Ltd and currently operates in five locations in Mumbai. Noodle Play will use the capital injection to expand its delivery service and has plans to open delivery outposts in over 50 locations in Mumbai by 2016. Eventually, the company plans to expand its services into other metropolitan areas.

Announced: 07/31/2015 Stage: Angel Participating Angel Investors: Gautam Sinha, Elliot Stechman, Ambarish Ray Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2012

GoButler Raises $8m. The New York-based on-demand startup offers a free, SMS-based personal concierge. Users can text the company to request a variety of services including food delivery, travel bookings and restaurant reservations. Customers’ ordering history and preferences are attached to their profile so that GoButler personal assistants, called Heroes, can see their preferences and use existing on-demand apps and e-commerce sites to provide its service. The company, founded by former Rocket Internet executives, believes its free service differentiates it from competitors and plans to make a profit by building an advertising network around customer data. The service is currently available in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The capital injection will be used towards to fund a marketing campaign.

Announced: 07/30/2015 Stage: Series A Participating Institutional Investors: General Catalyst Partners (lead), BoxGroup, Cherry Ventures, Lakestar, Global Founders Capital, Slow Ventures, Sound Ventures Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: February 2015

Thrive Market Raises $30m. The Los Angeles-based wholesale buying club for health-conscious products operates like a hybrid of Whole Foods and Costco. For a $60 annual membership fee, users can access natural or organic products across a variety of verticals, such as food, home goods, and baby supplies at or below the price of the conventional equivalent. In the first eight months from launch, the company gained over 100,000 active members, 1,000,000 registered users, and generated $5mm in monthly sales. The company has also partnered with a number of non-profits to offer free memberships to families in need for every paid membership on the platform. Thrive Market will use the funding to expand its operations, with the opening of a new distribution center on the East Coast and developing its mobile app.

Announced: 07/30/2015 Stage: Series A Participating Institutional Investors: Greycroft (lead), Scripps Network, CAVU, Powerplant Ventures Previous Investment: $9 million Founded: 2013

Delight Foods Raises $156k. The Bangalore-based food startup enables users to purchase famous Indian food brands from across the country. The venture works with over 60 brands sourced from 11 cities, allowing customers have delicacies particular to a city delivered to their homes. The venture is logistics heavy, and has packing centers in all the cities in which it operates. Funding will be used to make new hires, enter into new food categories, expand its location, and launch a marketing campaign in Bangalore.

Announced: 07/27/2015 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: MAPE Advisory Group, Fireside Ventures Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: December 2014

ShopKeep Raises $60m. The New York-based point-of-sale solution builds point-of-sale software for mobile devices and tablets. The company’s platform additionally offers customer marketing, inventory and staff management, back-end reporting and detailed analytics. The Wall Street Journal attributes the traction tablet-based point-of-sales systems are gaining to the proliferation of broadband internet that makes cloud software available at merchant locations. ShopKeep will use the funding towards growing its overall customer base in the US, strengthening industry partnerships, and launch international operations, starting with the UK.

Announced: 07/28/15 Stage: Series D Participating Institutional Investors: Activant Capital Previous Investment: $37.5 million Founded: October 2008

Deliveroo Raises $70m. The London-based restaurant delivery service focuses on marketing, selling and delivering meals from premium restaurants that do not usually offer takeout. Deliveroo targets affluent cities with high population density and an abundance of restaurants, currently serving 18 cities and towns across the UK as well as Paris, Berlin, and Dublin. Funding will be used towards expansion into new cities in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, marketing on the internet, billboard, and TV, in addition to hiring managing and product engineering staff.

Announced: 07/27/15 Stage: Series B Participating Institutional Investors: Greenoaks Capital (Lead), Index Ventures (Lead), Accel Partners, Hoxton Ventures Previous Investment: $29.6 million Founded: February 2013

Homer Logistics Raises $2m. The New York-based food delivery service for restaurants combines orders that originate in the same area and that head in the same direction to eliminate empty-handed return trips and make delivery more efficient. Additionally, Homer Logistics provides software to restaurants to receive and analyze incoming orders from a variety of platforms. The company reports that is has completed over 6,000 orders in Manhattan in June 2015.

Announced: 07/21/15 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: Brooklyn Bridge Ventures, Two Sigma Ventures, Vayner RSE, Rugged VC, Haystack Fund II Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2014

Flypay raises $10.7m. The London-based mobile payment startup allows users to check, split and pay their restaurant bill from their smartphones by scanning an on-table QR code/NFC tag to pull up the bill. Since its launch, Flypay has added other solutions catering to the hospitality industry, including order and collect, order at table, pay at bar, and customer loyalty features. Notably, TimeOut – a media brand – appears to be positioning itself as a strategic investor, calling itself a “global multimedia discovery platform”, with plans to help enable global deployment of Flypay’s solution.

Announced: 07/16/15 Stage: Series A Participating Institutional Investors: TimeOut Previous Investment: $1.9m Founded: February 2013

Plated Raises $35m. The New York-based subscription service for ready-to-cook meal ingredients and recipes markets itself as a premium meal kit delivery service. Plated distinguishes itself by offering sustainably sourced goods, with a slightly higher price-point per meal than competitors. To that end, Plated has invested in farming and transportation to ensure that its products are sustainably produced and shipped in sustainable packaging as well as mobile technology. Funding will be used to develop a low-waste supply chain and new regional fulfillment centers.

Announced: 07/16/15 Stage: Series B Participating Institutional Investors: Greycroft Partners, Formation 8 Previous Investment: $21.4 million Founded: January 2012

Main Street Hub Raises $25. The Austin, TX-based marketing platform for small-businesses uses data and analytics to help merchants acquire and maintain customers. The company’s “do-it-for you” local marketing platform offers an integrated social, web, and email marketing solution designed to help local restaurants and merchants drive more customers. The funding will provide the company with resources to grow, and facilitate the introduction of new products and addition of 300 employees in its Austin, TX, and New York offices by the end of 2015.

Announced: 07/16/15 Valuation: $216 million Stage: Series C Participating Institutional Investors: Vista Equity Partners Previous Investment: $40.9 million Founded: June 2009

Freshly Raises $7m. The New York-based meal delivery service offers meals inspired by the paleo diet. The meals are prepared by chefs employed by Freshly and then packaged and delivered to customers. The company primarily delivers in Arizona and California, and has shipped over 200,000 in its first five months of operation. Funding will be used for expansion to cover 80% of the country with new production and logistics facilities.

Announced: 07/15/15 Stage: Series A Participating Institutional Investors Highland Capital Partners (lead), White Star Capital Previous Investment: $2.0 million Founded: 2012

Spoon University Raises $2m. The New York based food network for millennials offers localized and more general stories about food, wellness, and lifestyle. Content on the website is produced by college students, who volunteer to share recipes, health and lifestyle stories, restaurant reviews, BuzzFeed-esque quizzes, and other food-related content. The website has a national page as well as individualized verticals for participating college campuses. Spoon University is different from similar platforms in that members who want to contribute content receive training in writing headlines, using Facebook to promote their content, and managing analytics tools to see how well their contributions are performing. Funding will be used towards expanding its network of contributors and creating more video content.

Announced: 07/14/15 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: BBG Ventures, BoxGroup Partners, Lerer Hippeau Ventures, Math Venture Partners, SoftTech VC, Vayner/RSE Previous Investment: $500k Founded: September 2013

Satvacart Raises Seed Funding. The Gurgaon-based grocery delivery startup offers over 4,000 curated products across grocery, fruits and vegetables, personal care, household essentials, and baby care through its online platform. Satvacart plans to use the funding to scale up its operations and expand into six new cities by the end of the fiscal year.

Announced: 07/14/15 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors Palaash Ventures Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2014

Zesty Raises $17m. The San Francisco-based office catering service differentiates itself by delivering meals from local restaurants cooked in a more health conscious way or created off-menu. Meals come with ingredients and nutrition facts, and Zesty works with restaurants to ensure that meals do not contain added sugar or MSG. In return for handling all the logistics of delivery and scheduling for the restaurants, and Zesty receives a fraction of the catering revenue. Zesty will use the investment to fund expansion into new markets.

Announced: 07/14/15 Stage: Series A Participating Institutional Investors: Index Ventures (lead), Founders Fund, Forerunner Ventures Previous Investment: $3.7 million Founded: November 2013

CircleUp Raises $22m Growth Fund. The San Francisco-based equity-based crowdfunding platform helps accredited investors find free access to private consumer-focused (mainly within consumer products and retail) investments, making it easier for investors to identify, diligence, and back companies they understand. Funding will be used to launch its Consumer Growth Fund, which will be used to match investments in consumer brands made through its crowdfunding platform. Whereas CircleUp’s traditional business model charges 5 percent commission tied to funds raised, the new Consumer Growth Fund will charge investors and also take both performance and management fees between 2 and 20 percent. According to TechCrunch, the average company funded through CircleUp has witnessed 90 percent growth per year after raising funds, but so far there have been no exits through sales or other liquidity events.

Announced: 07/13/15 CircleUp’s Investment To-Date (excluding this investment fund): $23.0m Founded: October 2011

Grofers Raises $36m. The Gurgaon, India-based online mobile delivery app delivers produce and other goods from local stores on-demand. Customers can choose from a selection of over 20,000 items, including essentials like diapers and personal grooming items and have purchases delivered within 90 minutes. The Economic Times notes that the deal increased the company’s valuation threefold. Funding will be used towards marketing and expanding its offerings in more categories and geographies.

Announced: 07/11/15 Valuation: $115 million Stage: Series C Participating Institutional Investors: Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global Previous Investment: $45.5 million Founded: December 2013

Eatlo Raises Angel Funding (“under $1m”). The Bangalore-based mobile platform allows users to order food and have it delivered within 20 minutes. The company currently delivers food from across seven locations in the city and operates with a network of seven chefs and 10 fulfillment centers, claiming to serve 1,200 orders daily. Funding will be used to scale up the business by increasing its delivery locations to 20, hiring 100 employees, and improving its back-end technology.

Announced: 07/07/2015 Stage: Angel Participating Institutional Investors: Globevestor, Powai Lake Ventures Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2014

Foody Raises Undisclosed Series B and Series C. The Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam-based startup initially launched as a gourmet search and user review media platform has since diversified its services to include table booking and food delivery. TechinAsia reports that Foody aims to become to top platform in Vietnam and is interested in expanding into other countries in Southeast Asia using a hyperlocal strategy.  Stunningly, the company announced both a Series B and Series C in the same month! Foody will use to funding to accelerate growth in user number, content, and expand its booking and delivery services as well as into new markets in Southeast Asia, beginning with Indonesia.

Announced: 07/07/15 and 7/28/15  Stage: Series B Participating Institutional Investors: Garena (Series B), Tiger Global (Series C)  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: June 2012

Quinto Raises Seed Funding. The Pune, India-based personalized recommendation app lets users discover dishes using crowdsourced ratings. Quinto differentiates itself from similar services by emphasizing ratings of particular dishes instead of the restaurant as a whole. Funding will be used to build up Quinto’ engineering and marketing teams, in addition to improving and expanding the recommendation engine.

Announced: 07/05/15 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2012

Berry Kitchen Raises $1.25m. The Jakarta, Indonesia-based meal delivery service employs a ‘bento model,’ allowing users to create their own lunch or dinner menus by combining different food options. Berry Kitchen claims that since its launch, it has served more than 245,000 boxes to 7,000 customers, who purchase credits in advance which can be redeemed for meals. The new capital will be used towards marketing, expanding its operational and technology team, improving its tech platform, and building two kitchens to serve orders in the Jakarta area.

Announced: 07/05/15 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: Sovereign’s Capital (lead), East Ventures Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2012

1to1Fitness Raises Seed Funding. The Noida, India-based lifestyle startup aims to optimize healthy nutrition and lifestyle needs of the modern day professional. The company’s online platform features diet plans, work outs, health assessment, online lifestyle coaching, and live yoga classes. As part of the investment 1to1Fitness will receive consulting from investor SeedSphere.

Announced: 07/09/15 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: SeedSphere Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: Not Disclosed

Adored Raises $2.3m. The Manchester, New Hampshire-based loyalty experience platform beams personalized offers to customers in restaurants, cafes, and resorts by employing iBeacon transmitter technologies. Adored’s app is available on iOS and Android platforms and tracks customer preferences from phones behavior, without requiring information such as names and emails that may provoke privacy concerns. For merchants, Adore’s customer analytics could provide insight for increasing sales and promoting engagement. The company intends to use the funds to double its team, in particular the engineering and sales teams.

Announced: 07/08/15 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: Borealis Ventures, Boston Seed Capital, Kepha Partners, Matrix Partners Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: September 2014

Chope Raises $8m. The Singapore-based restaurant reservation platform sends users instant reservation confirmation emails after users log on to the service to place a reservation at their desired restaurant. The company recently expanded to become a restaurant management and marketing platform and derives its revenues equally between a monthly fee for its operations management features and booking fees from its reservation service. Funding will enable Chope to add new features, including the development of an app for the Apple Watch and “What’s Happening,” a feature to enable diners to track the restaurants at which their friends have dined.

Announced: 06/30/15 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: F&H Fund Management (Lead), NSI Ventures (Lead), DSG Consumer Partners, Frontier Ventures, Singapore Press Holdings Previous Investment: $3.4 million Founded: June 2011

AAGAAR Raises Angel Funding. The New Delhi-based hyperlocal delivery service provides fresh and daily essentials, including groceries and personal care products, to customers’ doorsteps. The company noted that the current round helped the company set up as well as validated the process and infrastructure for the company’s services. The funding will be used to re-structure AAGARR’s portal, augment warehouse infrastructure, and improve delivery setup.

Announced: 06/29/15 Stage: Angel Participating Investors: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: November 2014

PARTNERSHIPS

Drizly Partners with BlueConic to create a more individualized experience across commerce and content when shopping for beer, wine, and liquor.

Revel Systems Partners with Zapper to integrate payment solutions so that restaurants using Revel Systems have an additional payment option for customers.

7-Eleven Partners with Postmates to launch one-hour delivery service.

TripHobo Partners with Zomato to provide users with destination based restaurant suggestions.

Foursquare Partners with Uber to introduce ride ordering services within Foursquare’s app.

USDA Partners with Microsoft to create $60,000 innovation challenge to spur the creation of tech tools for analyzing food supply data.

Crisp Media Partners with Reader’s Digest to connect consumer packaged goods marketers and retailers with consumers.

INDUSTRY LANDSCAPE

As The Food Tech & Media ecosystem continues to see rapid change, Rosenheim Advisors created The Food Tech & Media Industry Map to help entrepreneurs, participants and investors understand this quickly evolving landscape. Let us know about your recent or upcoming funding, partnerships or acquisitions here.

Check out the 2014 Annual Report and last month’s round-up. 

The post Food Tech Media Startup Funding, M&A and Partnerships: July 2015 appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

FTC has been producing events left and right this summer. Last Tuesday, 100+ members of the food tech community joined us for our “How Nutrition Tech Personalizes Eating” Food+Tech Meetup. Five innovators who are leveraging technology to make food healthier, more transparent and personalized discussed their missions, business models and technologies, as well as their lessons learned.

Check out our recap of the evening below. We will also be publishing videos of the presentations in the coming weeks, so stay tuned. You can learn more about our Food+Tech Meetup and get notified about future events (don’t miss our Fail Friday Meetup this Thursday, June 25) here.

We’d like to thank our killer food sponsors Ox Verte, Meal Maison, Krunch Kitchen and Brewla and our host R/GA Accelerator. Learn more about R/GA’s new hospitality tech accelerator project Techstars METRO Accelerator here. 

Data-as-a-service startup Edamam sells access to real-time food and nutrition data to food, health and wellness companies including The New York Times, Nestle, Samsung and Epicurious. After launching as a B2C business, Edamam listened to its customers and pivoted to B2B. Founder Victor Penev told the group that his team built its product for consumers because it’s the easiest way to sell a product to other businesses. For other data-driven food startups, Penev says data is an asset and he advises owning it rather than selling it outright. Edamam has raised $1.9M in funding to date.

Ingredient1 helps shoppers discover healthy foods and empowers them to inform the market and make positive food change. Since launching in beta in April 2014, the startup has amassed a database of food product information that’s three times as large as the USDA’s; it contains 30k products and 20k ingredients. For brands and retailers, Ingredient1 offers data and analytics on new and relevant foods, as well as what shoppers care about and what products they are most likely to buy. “Ingredient1 focuses on ingredients now. Later iterations may focus on personalized wellness,” founder Taryn Fixel told the Meetup group.

Power Supply offers tasty and healthy meals made by networks of independent local chefs and delivers them via custom refrigerators at partner activated fitness and wellness communities (i.e CrossFit boxes, yoga studios, etc) in Washington DC and Los Angeles, CA. Its meals cater to people with specialty diets, chronic diseases and those who want to focus on clean eating. Co-founder and CEO Patrick Smith advised the group to have negative operating capital, because it allows your startup to fund itself until it finds product market fit. He also highly recommends focusing on a specific niche like Power Supply does because it limits the competitive field and makes customer acquisition easier. Smith encouraged the group to read Getting to Plan B by Randy Komisar, Zero to One by Peter Thiel, Effectuation.org by Saras Sarasvathy and Drive by Dan Pink. Power Supply raised $515K of debt financing in December 2013.

HowGood researches and rates the environmental and social impact of food products and partners with grocery stores to display its ratings in 26 states. Its app helps customers identify products that fit their values and its rating labels enable stores to showcase their commitment to transparency and sustainability. The startup spent 5 years researching and building its database of sustainable food using data from sources including the USDA, Animal Welfare Approved and Seafood Watch, co-founder and CEO Alexander Gillett told the group. Products that have a high HowGood rating have seen in-store sales increase by an average of 31%, according to Gillett. Customers upgraded an average of 3 products to more sustainable alternatives in stores that use HowGood’s ratings, which translates to a $2.31 sales bump per transaction, Gillet noted. HowGood raised $2 million in seed funding in September, 2014.

Meals to Heal offers personalized nutrition solutions for people suffering from chronic medical conditions. Its three tier approach includes personalized healthy food delivery, educational resources and nutrition counseling. Founder Susan Bratton had a lot of advice and lessons learned to share with the group. Regarding product development, she said “listen to what your customers want and build for them.” Bratton recommended following the Lean Startup Method; “Nothing is sacred, fail fast,” she said. When it comes to marketing, Bratton recommended testing in small dollar amounts to see what’s working and what’s not. Meals to Heal participated in Startup Health.

The post Nutrition Tech Innovators Share Business Insights & Lessons Learned appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

Every week we curate and deliver the latest food tech news, trends and startup resources to our readers’ inboxes. Tracking the top technology and innovation happenings across agriculture, CPG, retail, restaurants, cooking and health, our newsletter is the absolute easiest way to stay on top of the emerging sector.

From 22 perspectives on the future of food tech in our Internet of Food series recap to an inside look at how Foodscovery aims to be the Goldbely of Europe, these are last week’s top food tech news and innovation stories. Like what you read? Feast your eyes on the full roundup here. Or better yet, sign up for Food+Tech Bytes and get the latest and greatest in food tech delivered to your inbox every week.

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1. Announcing The Business of On-demand Food Startups Meetup

Join us on May 27th for an inside look Munchery, Instacart, DoorDash and GoodMeal work, plus snacks, drinks and networking

2. Foodscovery Aims to be The Goldbely of Europe

Foodscovery is a food e-commerce platform that allows Europeans to order iconic foods from top local Italian food makers.

3. Announcing The #InternetOfFood Tweetup

Join us, Seeds&Chips, The USA Pavilion and the James Beard Foundation for our future of food tech Twitter party on May 21 at 11 AM EST. Share your ideas using #InternetOfFood.

4. Internet of Food Editorial Series Recap

Dig Inn on democratizing farm-to-table, Food Tank on how tech helps farmers prosper, Yummly on using data to incentivize healthy eating and much more.

5. Seeds&Chips Propels International Food Tech Ecosystem

A recap of our magical experience at the 1st food tech conference & exhibition.

6. Announcing Food Crowdfunding Webinar with Nomiku – May 23

Learn everything everything you need to know to launch a kick-ass crowdfunding campaign in 4 hours. Snag your spot to our webinar with Lisa Q. Fetterman now.

7. Recipe and Food Delivery Company Blue Apron Could Soon Be Valued At $2B

– The Street
It’s on the brink of raising over $100M in capital from mutual fund giant Fidelity.

8. Sage Is On A Mission To Make Food Labels Smarter – TechCrunch

The app analyzes nutrition and ingredient data from thousands of products to give consumers a better picture of what’s in their food.

9. How Four Leading Restaurant Brands Are Tackling Tech – NRN

How Chili’s, Domino’s, Starbucks and Taco Bell leverage cutting-edge tools for business growth.

10. One of the Best Fields for New College Graduates? Agriculture – USDA

Nearly 60,000 high-skilled agriculture job openings expected annually in U.S., yet only 35,000 graduates available to fill them.

The post Last Week’s Top Food Tech News & Innovation Stories appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

Guest post by Bob Benenson, communications specialist for FamilyFarmed.

There are many reasons for food industry professionals and consumers alike to attend the 11^th Annual Good Food Festival & Conference, presented by FamilyFarmed March 19-21 at Chicago’s UIC Forum. For food tech entrepreneurs seeking to network with investors who have proven interest in the good food movement, and for investors in search of promising food tech companies, the three-day event is the place to be.

The first day (March 19) features the Good Food Financing & Innovation Conference. This conference is already well known in the local and sustainable food community for its Financing Fair — at which selected entrepreneurs pitch their business plans to an audience of investors, financiers and lenders, and others exhibit their products and services. Businesses have received $11 million in capital over the past three years through their participation in the event.

The Financing & Innovation Conference will add a new facet to the extensive program. The schedule includes a roundtable about FamilyFarmed’s new Good Food Business Accelerator, which is providing mentoring, technical assistance, and networking opportunities to nine competitively selected entrepreneur fellows. This is followed by business-plan pitches by several of the fellows, as well as other businesses participating in the Financing Fair.

The Fair will feature 30 exhibitors. One exhibitor with an especially strong tech orientation is Chicago-based Zero Percent, which uses an online platform to connect restaurants and food retailers who have surplus food with nonprofit groups that provide food assistance to the needy.

Another food tech exhibitor is Chicago-based FoodTrace, which has created an innovative platform that facilitates business relationships, expands the supply chain for local and sustainable food and provides a means to share more traceable information with consumers. Company founder Riana Lynn is a Fellow in the Good Food Business Accelerator.

The welcome panel that will open the conference on March 19 features Marc Schulman of Eli’s Cheesecake, Howard Tullman of 1871, Cook County (Chicago) Board President Toni Preckwinkle, Jeff Malehorn, the CEO of World Business Chicago, Anne Alonzo of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service, Renee Michaels of Food, Land, Opportunity, Localizing the Chicago Foodshed, FamilyFarmed Board Chair Charlotte Flinn and FamilyFarmed Board member Jennifer Worstell. Panelists will discuss funding and investing in the good food economy with moderator Jim Slama, president of Family Farmed.

Slama also moderates the ensuing Opening Symposium, with an all-star lineup including Michael Bashaw, president of Whole Foods Market’s Midwest division, Melody Meyer of UNFI (the nation’s largest independent distributor of sustainably produced food and a partner in the Good Food Business Accelerator), Jim Murphy of Chicago’s Local Foods, Galen Miller of Indiana’s Miller Poultry and Marianne Markowitz of the U.S. Small Business Administration.

After the fair, there will be panels including; “Building a Good Food Brand” (Rick Bayless of the Frontera Mexican restaurant group and Manny Valdes of Frontera packaged foods are panelists), “Good Food Business Success Stories” (learn about Koval Distillery, FarmedHere, Argo Tea, and Lifeway Kefir) and “Good Food is a Good Investment.”

The event continues on Friday, March 20 with Trade Day, which includes the nation’s oldest and biggest trade show focused on local and sustainable food. Trade Day also includes tracks on the food trade, school food, food policy and producers. Localicious, one of Chicago’s best annual food and drink tasting event, takes place on Friday night. And the entire event concludes with the Good Food Festival, the big public celebration of the fast-growing good food movement on Saturday, March 21.

Bob Benenson is communications specialist for FamilyFarmed and managing editor of its Good Food on Every Table website. A longtime participant in the Good Food movement in particular, he moved into advocacy after relocating to Chicago in 2011 from Washington, D.C., where he had spent 30 years as a political journalist.

The post FamilyFarmed’s GFFC Propels the Good Food Movement appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

Last year, a staggering 26 new food and agriculture funding sources launched across the globe. This year, that number has almost doubled.

To help you navigate the sea of new food and agriculture funding options, we’re publishing lists of the new food and agriculture focused funds, accelerators, crowdfunding sites and corporate incubators. Today, we’re thrilled to lead in with the heftiest category: food, agriculture, food tech and agtech investment funds.

Check them out below, and stay tuned for our accelerator, corporate incubator and crowdfunding roundups in the coming days. You can also sign up to have them delivered to your inbox here.

Did we miss anything? Let us know in the comments below, and we’ll add it to the list.

Getting ready to fundraise? Sign up for our Food Startup Venture Fundraising Bootcamp to learn everything you need to know to raise venture capital from one of Silicon Valley’s top VCs. Register today using code “FTCif” to get 25% off the in-person or e-course.

Food-Focused Angel Funds

Food Angels

This group of accredited angel investors invests in early-stage food, beverage and food tech companies based in the US. Investments rage from $25,000-300,000 in the form of equity or debt and royalties in C-Corps or LLCs. Its investments include Wine by Design and iJukebox.

Foodshed Investors NY

SlowMoney NYC’s network of angel investors funds local food businesses that are aligned with its principles. The network offers entrepreneurs the opportunity to borrow money from their neighbors, customers, and others interested in helping them succeed. Its investments include Blue Marble Ice Cream.  

US Food & Agriculture Investment Funds

AgTech Innovation Fund

This $50 million venture capital fund wants to transform our food system by supporting technology innovation from field to plate. It invests in early-stage, North American agriculture and life science startups that increase productivity and sustainability, as well as modernize distribution chains. It plans to invest $250,000 to $500,000 in initial seed rounds, with the possibility of follow-on investments in successful companies.

Boulder Food Group LP

Formed by venture capitalist and natural food executive Tom Spier, the group has raised $32.8 million for a new pooled investment fund. Spier’s Bolder-based company Spier Capital Management has already invested in ibotta and Evol Foods.

The Cascadia Foodshed Funding Project

The Project makes investments of $25,000 to $250,000 in Pacific Northwest social enterprises focused on improving health, social equity, family wage employment and rural community resilience. Slow Money North West’s project is a collaboration of foundations and individual impact investors who want to invest capital  in regional food and farm businesses, including Empire Health Foundation, JP Morgan Chase Foundation and Ecotrust Natural Capital Fund. The project combines a variety of capital sources, like grants, equity, loans and credit enhancements.

Farmland LP REIT

Farmland LP, an investment fund that acquires conventional farmland and converts it into certified Organic, sustainable farmland, announced an open call for investment in its $250 million real estate investment trust (REIT). The REIT will allow accredited investors to own part of the funds’s portfolio of farmland.

Made In Rural America

As part of the Obama Administration’s “Made in Rural America” initiative, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack created this $150 million fund to propel small businesses in rural America. The Rural Business Investment Company (RBIC) enables the USDA to facilitate private equity investments in cutting-edge agriculture businesses. Advantage Capital Partners manages the fund, along with partners from eight Farm Credit institutions.

RSF PRI Fund

With support from the Surdna Foundation, RSF Social Finance (RSF) announced a new $750,000 investment in its Program Related Investing Fund (PRI). The fund provides support for foundations who want to participate in program related investing, but lack the in-house capacity to do so. Foundations invest a minimum of $100,000 with a five-year term and receive a 1 percent annual return. These investments provide loans of $50,000+ to companies that tackle food production, food access, value-added processing, distribution, retail and waste management.

Rural Infrastructure Opportunity Fund

This $10 billion investment fund will give pension funds and large investors the opportunity to invest in agricultural projects, including wastewater systems, energy projects and infrastructure development in rural America. The fund is a public-private partnership between CoBank, Capitol Peak Asset Management (CPAM) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It aims to work in tandem with existing government loan and grant programs by making debt investments in a wide range of projects. 

International Food & Agriculture Investment Funds

Agriculture Productivity Fund

Singapore’s Ministry of National Development, Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority and National Parks Board announced a $63 million fund to help boost the country’s farming productivity. The fund is broken into two sections: $53 million for farm development to support productivity improvements in the farming sector and $10 million to support R&D in agriculture productivity tech.

“AgriHub”

New Zealand’s University of Waikato launched this agtech seed fund with a conglomeration of nine-institutions. Investments will range in size from NZ$5,000 to NZ$30,000 and will focus on projects that are tackling everything from sensing and automation to alternative energy and bio-materials.

Agri-Innovation Venture Capital Fund

Japanese venture capital firm Tsukuba Technology Seed (TTS) teamed up with the UK’s Adapt Low Carbon Group to launch this $13.6 million agricultural innovation venture capital fund. The fund focuses on investments in small- t0 medium-sized agtech businesses that focus on water and energy efficiency, precision farming, disease and pest control for crop production and irrigation.

Beijing Australia Agricultural Resource Cooperative Development Fund

This $3 billion fund invests in Australian agriculture. A joint partnership between state-owned Beijing Agricultural Investment Fund and the Shenzen-based Yuhu Group, the fund invests in Australian dairy, beef, lamb and aquaculture assets.

Dansk Farmland

AP Pension’s €11.9 billion commercial pension fund is focused on supporting Danish agriculture. The fund buys farms in Denmark and leases them back on long-term contracts to the individual farmers. It made its first investment in early 2014 with the completion of the purchase of a 190-hectare cattle farm.

India Agri Business Fund II

The $100 million fund is Rabo Equity Advisors‘ second fund. It will make $15 and $17 million investments in 10-12 companies beginning in January 2015. Through its first fund India Agri Business Fund I, it invested $120 million in 10 companies, including LT Foods Limited, Daawat Foods Limited and GeePee Agri Private Limited. India Agri Business Fund II will close in October 2015.

Investco Sustainable Food Fund

Canada-based Investeco, an environmental investment company,  launched the Investco Sustainable Fund to invest primarily in Canadian expansion-stage companies that focus on sustainable food and agriculture. The fund is led by Canadian investors, including The J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, The Harbinger Foundation, the Inspirit Foundation, The Metcalf Foundation and Tides Canada Foundation.  Sun Select, a British Columbia-based sustainable greenhouse company, was its first investment.

Paine & Partners Fund IV

Paine & Partners closed $893 million in capital commitments for its fourth fund. The fund will focus on investing in the global food and agribusiness industry, into which the private equity firm has already deployed more than $1 billion over the last decade.

Rabo Farm Europe Fund II

Launched by Rabo Farm in January 2014, this 10-14 year closed-end fund is targeting €300 million of commitments to invest in agricultural assets in Central and Eastern Europe. The fund aims to increase agricultural efficiency by using less farm inputs per hectare of agricultural land, while producing more. Consolidation, water management, soil efficiency and infrastructure are its main focuses.

Romanian JV Fund

Agriinvestor announced the launch of the Cibus Farmland Club, a fund aimed at small- to medium-sized investors to complete a €50 to €100 over the next two years. The club was formed through a partnership between DLV Plant, Farmfield, Interfarms, Van Campen Liem and Ernst & Young.

Sustainable Food Fund

Pulsar Network Capital launched this €75 investment fund to invest in healthy and sustainable food. The Netherlands-based fund plans to invest in 15-25 innovative companies that have the potential to contribute to a healthier, more transparent and more sustainable food system.

The Small and Medium Agribusiness Fund

Managed by the EU and Uganda’s International Fund for Agriculture Development, the 10 to 15 year fund and makes €200,000 to €2m investments in agribusinesses. The €25 fund allows 35 private small- and medium-sized Ugandan agribusiness enterprises to take advantage of interest-free grants.

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The post 21 Food & Ag Investment Funds Launch in 2014 appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

We are excited to announce that we’re partnering with AgFunder to launch a monthly AgTech Funding Roundup. Similar to our monthly Food Tech & Media roundup, we’ll be covering companies that are using technology to disrupt our agriculture and food system.

July brought some big bucks to the ag and agtech sector, as investor dollars poured into initiatives developing drones, fake meat, better crops and alternative fuels. It closed with roughly $2.4 billion in funding across ten deals, four new agribusiness funds with an aggregate value of up to $198 million, several government grants worth a total of $10.2 billion and a handful of newly launched crowdfunding campaigns.

Chinese pork producer WH Group rounded out July as one of the largest private deals, with $2.1 billion raised through its IPO. This was big news after its flopped IPO attempt in April. The UK also made a dent in ag financing, establishing a £8m fund, in partnership with Japanese company Tsukuba Technology Seed Co Ltd (TTS).

The month’s greenest news came from an unexpected place when the White House announced $12.6 million in grants to ten research teams looking for fuel alternatives, and $10 billion in grants for agricultural ventures in rural America. The government said the funds will go to companies addressing wastewater, energy use or current infrastructure issues in ag.

Yet the $10.13 billion in grants from the White House didn’t overshadow a handful of ag and agtech funding rounds from celeb-status ag disruptors. Airware, a drone company providing hardware, software and cloud services for commercial use, closed a $25 million Series B from Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, Andreessen Horowitz, and First Round Ventures. Beyond Meat, the Bill Gates-backed CA-based company that’s trying to trick your taste buds into thinking you’re eating meat, closed its largest round yet (the exact amount is undisclosed). Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers joined the Series D, along with DNS Capital, WTT Investments, S2G Ventures, The Obvious Corp., Bill Gates and Morgan Creek Capital. 

AGTECH FUNDING

WH Group Limited Raised $2.1 Billion in HK IPO. After enlisting twenty-eight banks, WH Group’s flopped its April attempt to raise a $5.3 billion IPO. The Chinese pork producer tried again in July and successfully raised $2.1 billion, enlisting just two–BOC International and Morgan Stanley. WH is reportedly looking to raise funds to pay back debts from its 2013 acquisition of Smithfield Foods, the largest pork producer and processor in the US.

Announced: 7/30/14 Stage: IPO. 

Beyond Meat Closes its Series D. The CA-based celebrity-status company keeps raking it in to continue R&D for alternative meats. The company uses plant proteins to make chicken strips, “beefy crumbles” and other fake meat products. The funding size of the Series D was not made public, but was announced as the largest raise the company has seen yet. Beyond Meat says it plans to use the funds to spread consumer awareness and continue increasing its manufacturing facility’s capacity, as products fly off the shelves.

Announced: 7/29/14 Stage: Series D. Participating Institutional Investors: DNS Capital, WTT Investments, S2G Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, The Obvious Corp., Bill Gates and Morgan Creek Capital.  Founded: 2013

IFC Invests $18 Million into DRC Maize Production. The $18 million loan went to the Terra and African Milling Company Congo, a maize meal production company in Southern DRC. Maize meal is a staple food in the region, with the population demanding at least one million tons per year. The Katanga region imports nearly all of its current food. The funding will allow the company to expand its farm size from 1,500 hectares to 5,000 hectares by 2017, and continue to operate its mill which is capable of producing up to 100,000 tons of maize meal per year. The funding isn’t the only agribusiness investment IFC has made; it has invested $1 billion in the agribusiness value chain in Africa, and plans to double the investment by 2018.

Announced: 7/25/14 Terms: 8-year loan.

Airware Closes $25 Million Series B. Drones are causing some of the biggest buzz in the ag space, as Airware Founder and MIT-grad Jonathan Dewey has caught the eye of some big-name investors like tech-investor, Andreessen Horowitz. Airware offers hardware, software and cloud services for commercial drones, and features a “plug-and-play” framework for consumers to use the sensors, airframes, payloads and software they want.

Announced: 7/24/14 Stage: Series B. Participating Institutional Investors: Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, Andreessen Horowitz and First Round Ventures.  Previously Funded: $3M Seed, $12.2 Series A. Founded: 2011

PE Firm Zoyi Capital Invests in Taiwan Farm Industry. Zoyi Capital, a Greater China private equity fund, announced an undisclosed amount of investment into Taiwan Farm Industry (TFI), a meat producer known in both the retail and wholesale space. TFI says it will use the funds to expand its capacity to meet demand.

Announced: 7/16/14 Amount: Undisclosed. Founded: 1967

BioAmber Receives $7 Million from Sustainable Development Technology Canada. The MN-based biotech company’s Canadian subsidiary, BioAmber Sarnia Inc., received the grant to support the on-going construction of what will be the world’s largest bio-succinic acid plant in Sarnia Ontario. Succinic acid is used in many everyday products, such as car interiors, plastics, resins, food additives and personal care products. (In case you were wondering, succinic acid also occurs naturally in broccoli, beets, rhubarb, asparagus, cheese and more.) The company says the plant will be complete in 2015.

Announced: 7/14/14 Founded: 1997.

Fertilizer Company, VitAg, Raises $110 Million in Private Equity. The private funds will in part be used for the SC-based company’s biosolid-to-fertilizer plant in Zellwood, Florida. The fertilizer plant is designed to produce slow-release organically enhanced premium fertilizer, and will combine biosolids, sulfuric acid and ammonia to produce an enhanced efficiency fertilizer, which VitAg says will meet the EPA’s highest standards. The financings included an equity investment led by TPG Alternative and Renewable Technologies (ART), a $64 million offering of 22-year tax-exempt bonds through the Orange County Industrial Finance Authority, led by Citigroup Global Markets, and a credit facility from an affiliate of Tennenbaum Capital Partners.

Announced: 7/14/14 Investors: TPG ART, Agro-Iron, Shrieve Chemical,Tennenbaum Capital Partners, Citigroup Global Markets, and other investors include Florida-based agricultural companies and individual investors. Terms: No other terms disclosed.

Australia’s Richest Woman Pays $40 Million for Half of Two Cattle Companies. Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Processing Pty Ltd. paid a whopping $40 million for half of two cattle stations in Liveringa, Western Australia, and Nerrima, New South Wales. The other half of both cattle ranches is owned by Dowford Investments, which is headed by the Milne AgriGroup under Graham Laitt.

Announced: 07/2/14 Terms: Undisclosed.

Chinese Dairy Producer, Huaxia Dairy, Raises $106 Million. The high-quality dairy producer raised the funds from an investor group led by Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC, which provided $70 million. Private equity firm Olympus Capital Asia funded $30 million. Thanks to previous funding, Olympus has a total of $108 million invested in the company, and is Huaxia’s largest shareholder. The funds will be used to ramp up production, and retail the company’s products.

Announced:7/2/14. Founded: 2004.

IFC and GAFSP Invest $10 Million in Malawi Mangoes. TheInternational Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Private Sector Window of the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) each agreed to invest $5 million in Malawi Mangoes, the first banana plantation in Africa to receive the Rainforest Alliance accreditation, and the first mango plantation in the World to receive the accreditation.  The organization plans to use the funds to increase exports, and bring more rural jobs to the region.

Announced:7/2/14 Founded: 2009. Investors: Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP), IFC, a member of the World Bank Group.

AGRICULTURE FUNDS LAUNCHED

Eastern African PE Firm, Ascent, Reaches $50 Million for Rift Valley Fund. Kenya-based private equity firm, Ascent Capital, announced that for the first time, local pension funds were committed to its $50 million fund. Both regional institutions and private international investors contributed to the fund, which will invest in 8 to 12 companies in the region, with investment sizes ranging between $1 million and $9 million. One of the fund’s partners, David Owino, told Agriinvestor they were keen on investing in the agri-processing sector more than primary agriculture.

Announced: 7/22/14

English and Japanese Investment Firms Establish $13.67 Million Agri-Innovation Fund. England-based investment and consulting firm, Adapt Low Carbon Group, established the fund with Japan-based investment firm, Tsukuba Technology Seed, to provide small to medium sized agtech businesses funding after their earlier rounds. The fund will look at investment opportunities that provide solutions in water use, energy, precision ag, management, sustainable production, irrigation and lighting sensors, and disease and pest control.

Announced: 7/17/14 Partnership Founded: 2012

Agcapita Launches Farmland Fund V. The Canadian fund will hold farmland in Western Canada, and is open to investors in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Accredited investors in Quebec. The firm launched its first fund in Q1 2008, and this fund is its fifth.

Announced: 7/16/14 Size: Undisclosed.

Dutch Ag Consortium Launches €50-€100 Romanian JV Fund. Agriinvestor announced the launch of the Cibus Farmland Club, a fund aimed at small to medium sized investors to complete a €50 to €100 over the next two years. The club was formed through a partnership between the Dutch ag consultancy firm, DLV Plant, farmland investment firms Farmfield and Interfarms, international tax, fund, and corporate specialist Van Campen Liem, and accountants from Ernst & Young.

Announced: 7/10/14

GRANTS

U.S. Government Announces a $10 Billion Fund for Rural Ag. Tom Vilsack, ag secretary for the USDA, compared his department to eHarmony.com, explaining that it will serve as a liaison between government funds and ag projects in rural America. The fund’s first $10 billion is from CoBank, a national cooperative with a focus on rural America. Projects eligible for funding are those with a wastewater, energy or infrastructure development focus.

Announced: 7/24/14

U.S. Government Announces $12.6 Million Grant to Biofuel Research.  The U.S. Department of Ag and Department of Energy partnered up to award ten projects improving plant feedstocks for bioenergy up to $12.6 million. The funding was a result of Obama’s effort to diversify the nation’s energy resources, and the projects funded are those which use genetic breeding to improve how biomass may be used to provide fuel, without disrupting food production.

Announced: 7/17/14 Terms: Theinitial funding will fund each project by up to three years. The DOE provided $10.6 million, and the USDA provided $2 million.

AGRA Alliance Announced a $4.25 Million Grant for Tanzanian Ag. The organization, focused on improving food and agricultural sustainability in Africa, announced the $4.25 million will go towards improving seed productivity and market-accessibility for farmers and ag-workers in Tanzania. The alliance was founded through a partnership between the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Announced: 7/14/14 Founded: 2006.

AGTECH M&A

AGDATA Acquired by Vista Equity Partners. NC-based private equity firm, Vista Equity Partners, acquired AGDATA, a SaaS-platform company that provides data and analytics to agricultural, crop protection and animal health manufacturers. The purchase amount was undisclosed.. The company was acquired from PE investment firm, SFW Capital Partners.

Announced:7/22/14  Terms: Undisclosed. Founded: AGDATA, 1985.

Archer Daniels Midland Acquires WILD Flavors for 2.2€. ADM, the country’s largest food processor, made its biggest deal by buying WILD Flavors, a company manufacturing “flavor systems”. (They’re the same guys that own Capri Sun.) ADM says that the acquisition helps them diversify their portfolio, especially after acquiring a soy protein plant in Brazil, and building a sweetener and soluble-fiber manufacturing facility in China.

Announced:7/7/14  Terms: Cash.

PARTNERSHIPS

Evogene and Marrone Bio Innovations Sign Partnership to Fight Bugs. Israel-based genomics company, Evogene, signed with CA-based Marrone Bio, a bio-based pesticides producer, to fight some of agriculture’s most common pests. The duo plans to develop bug-resistant crops and develop effective bio-pesticides to fight the Western tarnished plant bug and the beet armyworm, which plague seed crops, foliage, fruit and strawberry and tomato fields across the U.S.

Announced: 7/22/14 Founded: Evogene, 2002. Marrone Bio, 2006.  IPO Listings: Marrone Bio, Public Aug. 2013. Evogene, Nov. 2013. Previous Funding: Marrone Bio, $20M Debt Financing, $25.4M Series C

LAUNCHED CAMPAIGNS

BrightFarms Launched a $50K IndieGogo Campaign, Later Canceling. The well-known hydroponic greenhouse company launched the campaign, using its next greenhouse in Washington DC as the campaign’s goal. But for many, the campaign struck confusion as just six months prior, BrightFarms closed its $4.9 million Series B. One week after the launch, CEO Paul Lightfoot said the IndieGogo campaign was intended “to generate excitement for the construction of our new greenhouse” but instead, caused confusion for those who thought the construction hinged on the campaigns success. The IndieGogo campaign has since closed.

Announced: 7/22/14 Founded: January 2011. Previous Funding: $4.3M Series A, $4.9 Series B, $2.4M Series B.

Hopper Foods Launched $30K Kickstarter. TX-based cricket flour super–snack startup, Hopper Foods, launched the kickstarter to keep its manufacturing in house.

Announced: 7/22/14 Founded: November 2013.

The post AgTech Funding, M&A & Partnerships: July 2014 appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

Photo via: Agriculture Corner

Guest post by Cori Capik of AgFunderNews.

If you’re into AgTech as much as we are, keep reading. We’ve has compiled a list of the top AgTech funding rounds so far (through mid-July) in 2014. After some number crunching, we estimate there’s been about $401 million invested in 35 companies; and it’s only August. Check it out:

This post originally appeared on AgFunderNews on July 16, 2014.

 ________________

Cori Capik is a multimedia journalist and digital producer for AgFunderNews. With a background in environmental engineering and sociocultural anthropology, her work focuses on the intersection of environmental science, finance and social interest. Cori holds her M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University. You can follower her on twitter @coricapik.

The post Mid-Year AgTech Funding Roundup appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

Interoperability of data and systems are virtually non-existent when it comes to agriculture. But one company hopes to change that.

On Wednesday, AgSquared, providers of cloud-based farm management software for small farms, announced that it has acquired OATV-backed Local Dirt, an online local food marketplace and sales management tool that connects consumers and wholesalers directly with farmers.

AgSquared has spent the last four years working closely with small farmers – typically mixed vegetable farmers with farms that range from 1/2 an acre to 600 acres of land – to develop planning, management and record keeping software. Today, nearly 6,000 farmers in the US, Canada and 88 other countries are using its platform.

In the beginning, it was difficult to sell farmers on the idea of AgSquared because most were used to keeping records with pen and paper and didn’t really have any interest in digitizing their operations. In fact, co-founders Jeff Froikin-Gordon and Giulia M. Stellari tell me that even when farmers were using the platform, they would still request the ability to print out their schedule so they could bring it out into the field. Now, they say, things have changed dramatically. More farmers are using technology than even two years ago, and all of their farmers and the farmers they meet at conferences have smart phones. And now they are receiving requests for mobile apps that farmers can use in the field.

Now that AgSquared has established credibility with its farmers, it wants to make it easier for farmers to integrate their data with other online services, starting with Local Dirt. While there have been a wave of startups that have developed marketplaces to help farmers sell and market their goods, adoption has been slow because they become yet another place where farmers have to do data entry. As a management tool that already captures harvest data, however, AgSquared could help these startups streamline their data collection and reduce the barriers to entry for farmers.

“With this acquisition, we’re taking a first step in the direction of making the data that our users are collecting about their farms and their harvests, and especially on the production side harvest and sales, and helping them integrate that information into a lot of the online services that now exist,” says Stellari.

For the next year, AgSquared and Local Dirt will operate as separate tools, but AgSquared will focus on building a basic integration so its users can get their harvest into Local Dirt’s product inventory and get their sales data from Local Dirt into AgSquared. Over time, however, AgSquared will integrate those sales management features into one platform. It has no plans to launch a marketplace.

“It’s definitely something we were planning on building ourselves, in fact one of our grants covers the development of some of these features,” says Froikin-Gordon. “The main reason why [we decided to] acquire instead of building [a sales management tool] ourselves right now is that we could do it immediately. It might be another year before we can get those sales management features out the door if we were building them ourselves, but this way we can put those features into our users hands right now. And there is a lot of value in that. Every year makes a big difference to small farms. An unprofitable year for a beginning farmer means they’re going out of business. And so, the more we can help them better understand the drivers of profitability on their farm this year, the better we can support those farms right now.”

In 2015, AgSquared plans to release an API to allow for further integration. They are in talks with potential partners, but are not able to comment on who those companies are at the moment.

Founded in 2005 by Heather Hilleren, Local Dirt is one of the first food tech startups to create an online marketplace for local food and sales management tools for farmers, distributors and retailers. Hillern raised approximately $1 million in angel funding from O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures and Peak Ridge Capital’s AgTech Fund, and secured a $600,000 grant from the National Science Foundation and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). The startup also developed Locavore, a mobile application that helps consumers find local food. Hillern has joined AgSquared as an advisor.

AgSquared has secured $750,000 in grants from USDA and the National Science Foundation, as well as an undisclosed amount of angel funding.

The post AgSquared Acquires Local Dirt To Bring Interoperability To Agriculture appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

To honor the work they’re doing to improve our food system, we’ve decided to highlight 10 technologies that are helping people make more conscious food choices – from home-cooking education to GMO product scanning.

Fooducate

Voted best of the iPhone Health & Fitness Category and winner of the US Surgeon General Healthy App Challenge, the Fooducate app help users track their diets and navigate food labels to better understand what’s really in their food. Using a grading system developed by scientists, dietitians and parents, as well as its database of 200,000 UPC products,  the app evaluates the food you eat and offers concise explanations of the ingredients they contain, as well as makes recommendations for healthier alternatives. The app ranks your foods from A to D –  minimally processed, nutrient dense foods receive higher grades. Additionally, Fooducate offers an allergy and gluten-free diet tracker and a diabetes nutrition and diet tracker.

Eat Local

Created by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the Eat Local app that lets you learn about what produce is in season, locate farmers markets anywhere in the US, and access seasonal recipes to make from local ingredients. It offers a quick way to put the freshest food on your table.

Zisbamboom

A platform dedicated to empowering families with fun online tools that promote healthy eating in kids ages 5-13, Zisbamboom collaborates with parents, children and experts to create useful, exciting food education tools. The site’s free tool Pick Chow! empowers kids to create their own healthy meals and learn about the nutritional value of their choices. It won “First Place – Tool” in the Let’s Move Campaign and the USDA’s Apps For Healthy Kids competition.

Feast

Offering interactive, skill-focused online classes, Feast, makes it easy for people to learn fundamental cooking techniques at home. Students follow an interactive lesson in real time and are able to interact with both their teacher and other students for support and feedback. The classes guide users through the core techniques, concepts, and tricks they need to become confident in the kitchen, helping them get over intimidation factors and feel comfortable experimenting, becoming more confident and capable home cooks.

INRFOOD

INRFOOD wants to revolutionize the way we look at ingredients and empower everyone to make more informed food decisions. Similar to Fooducate, the app allows you to scan items at the grocery store and links to a database of over 250,000 products. The app then assigns ingredients by color depending on their nutritional value – red means avoid, yellow means moderation and green means safe. The app allows you review and track everything you eat and discuss and share your ingredients and food choices with others and understand more about your diet.

Zipongo

Zipongo helps you find savings and healthy food and let’s you build custom grocery lists from your favorite retailers. The app allows you easily search and organize in-store sale items, digital coupons and discounted pre-purchased offers. Zipongo delineates “GO foods,” which are Zippongo-certified healthy, based on nutrient analysis and provides information, advice and recipes based on its “zRank methodology,” based on nutritional guidelines from doctors, foodies dietitians and more.

True Food

A tool to help consumers steer clear of genetically-modified organisms (GMOs), the True Food app gives consumers valuable information on common genetically engineered (GE) ingredients, brands to look for, and tips for shopping GMO-free. The app also provides contact information for companies and corporations that use GM ingredients, allowing users to reach out directly to voice their opinions. The app is equal parts shopping guide, teaching tool and advocacy campaign.

Windowfarms

The Brooklyn-based social enterprise, Windowfarms, helps city dwellers world-wide grow fresh food. The company manufactures vertical gardens that optimize window-conditions for year-round indoor growing of herbs, greens and small vegetables. Windowfarms has a 40,000 member online community of growers, and strives to connect eaters with sustainable food production to help create a healthier future for our food system and the planet.

Siansplan

Siansplan is a meal planning tool designed to help families make cooking and shopping easy, fun and more efficient. Started by Sian Breslin, the owner of an Ireland-based cooking school and guest house, siansplan.com aims to tackle four core issues facing home cooks: “Control food shopping, optimise health, reduce food waste and eliminate meal time stress.” The plan utilizes a color coded system that help busy parents simplify family meal planning.

Panna

Panna is a recipe-focused digital magazine subscription for home cooks. Each issue contains seasonal step-by-step, high-definition video recipes from chefs like Rick Bayless, Nancy Silverton, and Jonathan Waxman. The video recipes can be downloaded and streamed for online or offline use, and are also accompanied by written recipes. Additionally, the subscription offers a shopping list feature that lets you check off ingredients while grocery shopping for a streamlined meal preparation process from cart to fork.

The post 10 Technologies Cultivating Educated Eaters appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

Commodities markets and anyone in the food supply chain rely on USDA data to operate. This includes critical data that farmers depend on to price crops and livestock, as well as determine which commodities to grow and when to sell them. But since the government shutdown began on October 1, the USDA has ceased publishing all data, and its shuttered its website making all historical reports inaccessible.

There are some private data providers, like Informa Economics and Pro Exporter, that provide market quotes, but they are expensive – average of $8,000 per subscription – and its not nearly as comprehensive as the USDA data,Thomas Sleight, president of The U.S. Grains Council, tells Reuters.

Now, there’s a new solution that’s more affordable, and, unlike others, is designed for the organic and non-GMO supply chain. Last week, Mercaris, a market data service and online trading platform for organic, non-GMO and certified agricultural commodities, launched its first Data Service Report and announced Whole Foods as its first customer.

The platform offers monthly or yearly subscription to a variety of reports designed to help producers, elevators, mills, manufacturers and retailers know how much they should be charge or pay for products. The report tracks and compares spot and forward prices of organic corn, organic soybean and organic wheat markets – from the point of first delivery – across the US and Canada. It also tracks monthly US export statistics. The trading platform, launching in November, will allow buyers and sellers to trade commodities online.

As a result of the shutdown, the bi-weekly price report on organic grain & feedstuffs is not unavailable. So this past Monday, Mercaris launched a weekly price report from its proprietary, ongoing market price survey.

In addition to the reports, subscribers can also use the platform to access information, like average prices, food prices vs. feed prices and historical pricing data. Subscribers can buy data for a single crop, like corn, for $80 per month, or you an buy data for all three crops for $230/month. In the near future, it will be roll out other crops like non-GMO soybeans, non-GMO corn and coffee. For the trading platform, it will initially charge a transaction fee that’s 2% of the value of the trade. Eventually it may also charge a membership fee.

Founded by Kellee James, formerly an economist at Chicago Climate Exchange and a White House fellow, Mercaris is an ambitious and important undertaking. In 2011, the organics sector grew to a $29.2 billion industry, but it’s plagued with insufficient data for decision making. Armed with an $800,000 seed round from investors like Ulupono Initiative of the Omidyar Group, Kapor Capital and Joanne Wilson, James and her team of two are on their way to changing that.

I spoke with James to learn more about Mercaris, its data collection and business model. Read our edited interview below.

Danielle Gould: Who is your typical customer?

Kellee James: It looks like a snapshot of the organic sector itself. Organics has evolved. Maybe if we had been talking about this ten years ago maybe it would have been mostly small or family-owned mom and pop type of outfits. Now there are still those folks in the sector, but [you] also have General Mills, Coca-Cola, Hershey’s, and things like that. Our customers will come from each of those segments, but the one thing I think our customers have in common regardless of size is that their balance sheets are exposed to fluctuating commodity prices. And the price of the raw material matters to them.

DG: What’s the size of this market?

KJ: We don’t know the total number yet. That’s more of the science of the data is not where it should be for the sector, but we could look at some big numbers. USDA has certified for the US last year 17,750 organizations that have organic jurisdiction(?). Now that’s everything from farms to food processors to manufacturers – anyone who can get an organic certification. Some subset of those handle specific crops – grains, vegetables, fruit. Now keep in mind you don’t have to be a certified organization, for example there are brokers that never take possession or delivery of organic grains. They can still deal in organic grains and not necessarily be certified by the USDA. So the universe of businesses involved in organics is much bigger than 17k.

DG: How are people currently determining market prices and trading organic, non-GMO and certified agricultural commodities?

KJ: Transaction costs are very high in the sector. A producer, for example, might not be able to get good crop insurance to be fairly compensated in the event of crop loss, so there is a transaction cost there that they are just simply absorbing. For a food manufacturer, they may not have good data on supply and demand, a proxy for the supply and demand curve, so they may have to keep more inventory on demand to try and protect against that. These are all costs that are built into the system and that’s what we’re trying to solve for. To find out prices they call around – get on the phone to literally call as many people as they can to find out what’s going on in the market.

DG: Who participants in your surveys?

KJ: Our survey participants are all first handlers of grain, so they’re mills and elevators for the most part. There are a few brokers in there, but they are all working directly with growers. There are about 40 of them across the US and 2 provinces in Canada. In 3 months, we’ve collected 2 million bushels worth of grain trades across the 3 different grains. What that means percentage wise – we know from USDA stats how much acreage and grains are produced across the US – [is that] we’re collecting between 2-4 percent of the total volume grown in the US. Now, the market is bigger than that because we import a lot of grains, but for domestic production we’re collecting quite a bit.

DG: What’s the incentive for them to share their data?

KJ: A lot of them are doing it because they understand that this is good for the industry – they see this as beneficial and worth participating in. The commercial logic is they get data for free. If they’re part of the survey, then we don’t charge them for the data reports. If they’re reporting on organic corn then they get organic corn prices free of charge.

DG: How do you ensure data integrity?

KJ: One is the software itself. We have algorithms that look for strange prices – things that fall outside the norms for price or volume – and we can flag those to do research to check if they’re good. We also have the ability to match opposite sides of trades. If you’re reporting in as a buyer we can find the seller to make sure the prices match. We have the ability to do this, but we’re not necessarily always doing it right now. The other thing is we are asking people to report actual trades [rather than what you would pay for something].

DG: How does the technology work?

KJ: The technology for the data service side is nothing new. For a variety of industries, lots of people follow prices of raw materials. The old fashioned way of doing it [would be] an analyst that covered a sector getting on the phone, calling around and then publishing their observation. We use technology to cut down on the cost and hopefully maintain accuracy. Instead of calling around, our survey participants log in to their own homepage on our website, and they upload their data directly into our website. It also cuts down on human error. We’ve had that up and running for about three months now. On the trading platform side we’re still building. It’s a matching engine and user interface to handle order entry and order matching.

DG: Will this data shift the market and increase production of organic and non-GMO foods?

KJ: The sort of economic underpinning of this is that by providing the prices and showing that there’s a premium out there that it will encourage the market to produce more of it.

The post Mercaris Launches Organic & Non-GMO Commodities Market Data Service appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.