Image Credit:  Meati Foods

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.

VC funding for the food and beverage industry is facing a steep decline. Over the past year, both the amount of money raised and the number of deals have significantly dropped compared to the previous year, the impact of which is being felt deeply by all startups. According to Fooddive and Pitchbook Data: “In the first quarter of 2023, there were 1,030 transactions that raised roughly $1 billion, compared to 1,349 deals totaling $1.3 billion in the first three months of 2022. The fourth quarter of 2022 saw an especially profound drop, with 785 deals raising $800 million. At the same time in 2021, 2,316 deals raised $2.3 billion.”

In other news, we’ve wrapped the first season of our podcast in partnership with AgFunder: New Food Order, a nuanced investigation into the business of tackling our climate and social crises through food and agriculture. Read all about why we launched the podcast, and be sure to subscribe and share!

Our newsletter takes a lot of time and resources to produce. Make a one time or monthly contribution to help us keep it going. Whether it’s $5 or $500, every bit helps and shows us that you value our work. 

1. VC Funding for Food and Beverage Plunging Amid Challenging Environment – Food Dive

During the last four quarters, the amount of money raised and the number of deals have fallen significantly compared to the same period the year before.

2. Why Great Jones, the Millennial Cool-Kid Cookware Brand, Sold Itself to a Conglomerate – Fast Company

Known for its chic colors, the direct-to-consumer home goods company is getting acquired by the conglomerate Meyer. CEO Sierra Tishgart explains why.

3. HackCapital Launches As a Game-Changing Platform for Climate Finance – Green Queen

HackCapital is positioning itself as a groundbreaking investment platform dedicated to revolutionizing financing for private companies focused on impact planetary solutions.

4. Big Idea Ventures Raises Initial Funds for $75M New Protein Fund II – Vegconomist

Big Idea Ventures claims to be the first global fund dedicated to the development and expansion of alt proteins, as well as the most active investor in the food tech category.

5. Emerging Trends in Plant-Based Market: Alt Seafood & South Korea Poised for Success As Industry Approaches $105B – Vegconomist

A new report regarding global plant-based food and beverages states its market value will hit $104.7b by 2032, citing vegan seafood as an area of increased relevance.

6. The Meat Paradox – The Atlantic

Vegetarianism is more popular than ever—but so is meat consumption. How can this be?

7. Indonesia: Aquatech Startup eFishery Raises $108m Series D to Reach Unicorn Status – AFN

UAE-based G42 Global Expansion Fund (42xFund) led the round with participation from SoftBank Vision Fund II and private equity firm Northstar Group.

8. Selva Ventures to Invest $34M Fund II in Health, Wellness-Focused Brands – TechCrunch

Selva Ventures invests in companies at the seed and Series A stages and assists with resources across finance, operations and retail partnerships.

9. The Truth About ‘Local’ Food in US Supermarkets: ‘It’s a Marketing Gimmick’ – The Guardian

The term doesn’t mean that much any more, and there are other, more important factors to consider when selecting food.

10. Douxmatok Takes Sweet Journey to Become Incredo After Securing $30M – TechCrunch

Incredo’s technology binds real cane or beet sugar with trace amounts of a natural carrier that is able to reduce the amount of sugar in foods by between 30% and 50%.

11. Texas Governor Signs New Labeling Law for Plant-Based and Cultivated Meat – Food Dive

Starting Sept 1, companies making items that do not come from animals will be required to explicitly label them.

The post Plunging Food Startup VC Funding + More Top Food Innovation News appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

Image source: Civil Eats

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. This month’s newsletter is sponsored by Institute of Food Technologists (IFT).

The highest court in one of India’s 28 states ruled last month that “Mother Nature” has the same legal status as a human being, claiming that the natural environment is part of the human right to life, and that humans have an environmental duty to future generations.

Groups like Los Deliveristas Unidos are organizing delivery workers at Doordash, Uber Eats and other apps who are demanding better working conditions, despite a lack of employee protections—and often being undocumented.

Our newsletter takes a lot of time and resources to produce. Make a one time or monthly contribution to help us keep it going. Whether it’s $5 or $500, every bit helps and shows us that you value our work. 

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

1. Indian Court Rules That Nature Has Legal Status on Par with Humans—and That Humans Are Required to Protect It – Inside Climate News

The judge invoked the power of the government to act as a guardian for those who cannot care for themselves.

2. The Next Frontier of Labor Organizing: Food Delivery Workers – Civil Eats

Groups like Los Deliveristas Unidos are organizing delivery workers at Doordash, Uber Eats and other apps who are demanding better working conditions, despite a lack of employee protections—and often being undocumented.

3. Brightseed’s First AI Detected ‘Phytonutrient’ Comes to Market Alongside a $68M B Round – TechCrunch

Brightseed’s machine learning platform Forager identifies and categorizes plant compounds. It has already mapped two million, considerably more than are characterized in scientific literature.

4. Courtney Boyd Myers: A Call to Clean Up the Plant-Based Food Industry – Vegconomist

Methylcellulose, soy lecithin, low erucic acid and tapioca maltodextrin are a handful of the unappetizing ingredients found in plant-based products. Myers calls out brands flooding the market with heavily processed foods and the resulting consumer distrust.

5. Estonia: Gelatex Claims to Have Solved One of Cultivated Meat’s Biggest Scaling Hurdles: Affordable Scaffolding – Green Queen

The company claims that its nanofiber scaffolding system is now able to support the production of 300 tons of cultivated meat per year.

6. Starbucks Plans Wage Increases That Won’t Apply to Unionized Workers. – New York Times

The initiative was announced as labor organizers have won initial votes at more than 50 stores, including several this week.

7. Indian Grocery Startup Zepto Raises New Funds at $900M Valuation – Reuters

The company has raised $200m to further expand, signaling growing investor interest in a sector where companies are luring customers with instant deliveries.

8. White House Will Host First Food Insecurity Conference in 50 Years – CNN

President Biden will convene a conference in September focused on ending hunger and improving nutrition across the nation, as the US sees higher rates of food insecurity amid the pandemic.

9. Diversity and Resilient Food Systems Are Crucial to Avoid Even Worse Global Food Price Crisis – Food Ingredients First

IPES calls for food industry players to build regional grain reserves, diversify food production and restructure trade flows, reduce biofuels, livestock numbers and reliance on fertilizers and fossil energy in food production.

10. Why Have There Been No Great Worker-Owned Restaurants? – MOLD

Few restaurants have turned to worker-ownerships as a means to radically reimagine the industry. Why is it that in conversations about ‘sustainability’ we talk about vegetables but not about people?

11. Sweetgreen to Open First Pickup-Only Location in DC – Restaurant Dive

The dining room-free format features grab-and-go shelves and will only take orders placed on its website, app or third-party marketplaces.

12. Stanford Gets $1.1B for New Climate School From John Doerr – New York Times

The billionaire venture capitalist said the study of climate change and sustainability would be the “new computer science.”

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!

The post Indian Court Declares Nature a Legal Person, Food Delivery Workers Unionizing + More appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

Food+Tech Connect and The Future Market are hosting Biodiversity: The Intersection of Taste & Sustainability, an editorial series featuring interviews with over 45 leading food industry CEOs, executives, farmers, investors and researchers on the role of biodiversity in the food industry. Read all of the interviews here. 

Building a supply chain for under utilized crops is complicated. It takes building trust with farmers, distribution infrastructure and consumer demand, all while navigating crop cycles, consistency, cost and fair trade practices. Below, I speak with Casey Emmett, director of strategic sales at Health Warrior (recently acquire by PepsiCo), about how the chia brand built its initial supply chain for the crop, which at the time was under utilized.

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Danielle Gould: Is biodiversity a priority for Health Warrior? If so, how and why?

Casey Emmett: It is. For starters, a more biodiverse food source is the best shot we have at long, happy lives.

Consider your gut: the diversity and balance of organisms in our microbiomes directly affects just about everything about us, including our sleep, our relationships and the diseases we might suffer over the courses of our lives.

Our microbiomes are, of course, directly impacted by what we eat, a decision we get to make several times per day. No pressure! Michael Pollan said it best in In Defense of Food: “You are what you eat eats too,” and we should assume this applies all the way down the food chain.

That is, not only does the quality of our lives depend heavily upon our food, and the quality of our food depend heavily upon its source — the more pristine the water, the mightier and more delicious the fish (and kelp!); the healthier the soil, the more robust the carrot. It is also worth remembering that there is more life below ground than above it, and we consumers have an enormous impact on what happens down there, if only based on what foods we plant (and then eat).

It’s a two-way street: the better we eat, the better the soil; the better the soil, the better we eat. There’s a kaleidoscope of bugs, bacteria, fungi, dirt, water, and other organisms below ground and, like our guts, it seems the more diverse and balanced the better. A healthy soil, among a multitude of benefits, stores carbon and prevents erosion. And as very wise chef Dan Barber wrote in The Third Plate, soil minerals happen to be “the building blocks of human nutrition.”

You are what you eat eats, too. The healthier the soil, the happier the gut, the longer the healthspan.

DG: What is Health Warrior doing or planning to do to promote biodiversity?

CE: We work to put the most nutrient-dense, delicious plants as the primary ingredient in truly good food products. As we grow, so does the opportunity to improve existing products, get even more creative and agile with respect to new ones, and amplify that real food message many times over.

DG: What are the greatest challenges and opportunities Health Warrior faces for creating a more biodiverse system? What are you doing to overcome or capture them?

CE: The agronomic work for under utilized crops takes time to scale. If you sell chia seeds nationwide after they were forgotten for 500 years, it’s a delicate dance between distribution and crop cycles.

For each ingredient we need to be confident in the following, at a minimum:

1. Food Safety

2. Consistent Quality (texture, taste, nutrition)

3. Reasonable Cost

4. Fair Trade Practices

More broadly, from a supply chain and brand perspective, is this a truly good-for-you ingredient that we can build on?

In April 2012, we were busy selling to ten stores out of the back of my Jeep (and my brother Shane’s hallway) when Whole Foods Market asked us to launch our new Chia Bar nationally — in every store in every region – by September.

More experienced companies might have wilted. Thankfully, we had no idea what we were doing! We made our best guess as to inventory requirements for the coming year, and then set about building strong partnerships with great suppliers.

The chia plant, though hardy, traditionally grows within 15 degrees of the equator, i.e. Central America and Australia, and it has a long maturation period (the good stuff is 4-5 months from planting to harvest).

If we were to be in-store in September we’d need to deliver in August, and manufacture in July. Which meant three months to secure enough high-quality chia supply to actually make the bars to launch. Remember: good chia seeds need to 4-5 months to mature. So to begin, we needed to get existing supply on a boat ASAP, and then, if Whole Foods shoppers actually bought the bars — an enormous “if” at the time — grow quite a bit more to last the year.

The growers needed two things to dedicate resources to the emerging trend: 1) a market (a promise to tell the story of chia seeds with a real investment of time & money), and 2) financial commitment. We needed to commit to buy a significant amount of chia seeds

The boom in chia’s popularity coincided with (was caused by?) Health Warrior’s national launch, and the following year, every food company wanted to use chia as an ingredient. There simply was not enough chia to go around. Thankfully, we had already established great partners, both supply chain and financial.

This is a common issue in the industry (see: The Great Oat Milk Shortage of 2018). All those avocados and oat milk have to come from somewhere! And a brand riding or driving an ingredient trend (ala chia) can fall victim to its own success.

Yet another reason we consumers should diversify what we eat: it may give the incredible, unknown ingredient’s supply chain the time it needs to mature.

Today, after years of running the gauntlet, with an enormous amount of help, Health Warrior has thrived, and this is our discipline. We apply it to every product we have, and we’re poised to replicate it with other emerging hero ingredients.

DG: How does Health Warrior define and think about biodiversity? What does an ideal biodiverse food system look like? How do you measure biodiversity, and when will we know when we’ve arrived at a “good” level of biodiversity?

CE: There are about 300,000 edible plant species on earth (FAO estimates vary between 30,000 and 300,000). Our modern food system only utilizes about 200, of which 60 percent are corn, soy, wheat and potato. Among those excluded are some of the most delicious, nutritious and downright interesting foods on earth. We should eat them.

Broadly speaking, we will know we’ve arrived at a “good” level of biodiversity when the major disease factors (75 percent of all disease) that we know to be directly impacted by diet are in decline: heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

We’ll be able to see it, too, when our communities look a little wilder and better integrated with a region’s natural systems. The Billion Oyster Project in New York is one of many good starts toward that end.

DG: What is the business case for products that promote a more biodiverse food system?

CE: A more biodiverse food system provides more interesting and delicious foods, and without it, the food system itself is not viable in the long run.

DG: What investments need to be made to create a more biodiverse food system?

CE: So many! I’m a zealot, of course, but I believe the world we should be working toward is one in which all of our plates at every meal are crowded with absolutely delicious, complete foods, and all innovation and investment should be directed toward that goal.

We can make it easier for farmers to transition to organic (better education, financial support, health and crop insurance). As consumers, we can eat regionally and seasonally, where possible, and our schools, grocery stores and restaurants (even national chains) should serve us thus. We can help consumers discern complete food from not (better marketing). And we can account for all those resources we’ve taken for granted, like the air, forest, water and soil.

DG: Does your average customer care about biodiversity today? Why should they care? How do you (or will you) get them to care?

CE: Our core consumer cares, but we have a long way to go. In a bubble, the following is obvious: the best foods are complete foods like the mighty sweet potato. Simple, versatile and knock-your-socks-off delicious, simply prepared.

For the general public this story has not stuck for a variety of reasons, primary among them consumers do not see in their busy lives many truly good food companies, much less food companies sharing the good news: Complete food is not only the more delicious, satisfying, longterm investment, working to prevent all the major disease factors hobbling we humans today. It is also an everyday performance advantage. Good food leaves us cleaner, lighter, stronger today.

DG: What are some of the most important things retailers, food manufacturers and other key parts of the food supply chain can do to support biodiversity?

CE: As an industry we should encourage the consumption of a greater diversity of plant species, plain and simple. If only we merchandise nutrient-dense whole foods — mostly plants — over heavily processed food, the world will change for the better.

DG: Are there certain products you would like to see more of in the food industry that would help promote a more biodiverse agricultural system?

CE: More legumes and fermented veggies, please!

DG: What is your vision for what a more biodiverse food system looks like in 10-15 years?

CE: A truly biodiverse food system requires a more diverse workforce in every region at every level, from farmers to chefs to CEOs, so I would love to see more women and people of color in the industry; many more plants; better access to markets for farmers; safe, beautiful, and fully compostable packaging for all products; restored soil, forests, and waterways in every region of the United States; and generally, a greater variety and availability of complete foods that are good for the entire chain, from the soil (or ocean) to the gut.

DG: Anything else you want to share?

CE: Recommended reading:

• “Lentil Underground,” Liz Carlisle
• “The Third Plate,” Dan Barber
• “American Catch,” Paul Greenberg
• “The Race of our Lives Revisited,” Jeremy Grantham, Aug 2018
• “The Sustainable Economy,” by Yvon Chouinard, Jib Ellison, and Rick Ridgeway, HBR, October 2011
• “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” Michael Pollan

Read all of our biodiversity interviews here and learn more about Biodiversity at The Future Market.

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Casey Emmett, Director of Strategic Sales for Health Warrior

Casey Emmett is Director of Strategic Sales for Health Warrior, helping retailers at all levels invest in truly good packaged food.

Casey has built his career on the notion that we can do better by ourselves and our communities on a lot of fronts. He had the honor to work on Barack Obama’s first presidential campaign, helped to organize a stem cell research conference, and coordinated (among many other good people) relief for the famine in Somalia in 2011. For the past 8 years he’s worked to build Health Warrior from scratch.

Casey holds a BA in Religious Studies from Colgate University.

The post How Health Warrior Built Its Chia Supply Chain appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

From January 7 – February 8, Food+Tech Connect and The Future Market are hosting Biodiversity: The Intersection of Taste & Sustainability, an editorial series featuring interviews with over 45 leading food industry CEOs, executives, farmers, investors and researchers on the role of biodiversity in the food industry. See the full list of participants and read about why biodiversity in food is important here. 

Biodiversity sits at the intersection of taste and sustainability. Supporting biodiverse agriculture allows companies to wow its customers with new food and flavor experiences. Below, I speak with Nikhil Arora and Alejandro Vélez Ramírez, co-founders and co-CEOs of Back to the Roots, about how they are unlocking curiosity about biodiverse and regenerative agriculture among their customers through their cereals and indoor gardening kits.

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Danielle Gould: Is biodiversity a priority for Back to the Roots? If so, how and why?

Nikhil Arora and Alejandro Vélez Ramírez: Absolutely. Diversity period is a priority of Back to the Roots – in our culture, in our partners, in our thoughts and, of course, in our food. Biodiversity in food is arguably one of the greatest tools we have to combat climate change, over-population and the rapid spread of disease made possible now with technology/transportation. It reduces our risk profile, and moves us away from the monocropping that has done some much damage to ecosystems and soil health.

Ultimately, we all come (and go) from the soil. If soil is the source of all our food, then we must protect it and nurture it. Rotational, regenerative and biodiverse farming practices is one of the best tools we have to protect our soil, and thus our health!

DG: How does Back to the Roots define and think about biodiversity? What does an ideal biodiverse food system look like? How do you measure biodiversity, and when will we know when we’ve arrived at a “good” level of biodiversity?

NA and AVR: It’s hard to say when we’ve “arrived” — as just given urbanization and population growth across the country, we’re already at a totally different paradigm than ever before in terms of the diversity of species on this Earth. As we cut rainforests for cattle farming and wild grasslands for soy and corn, we’ve already lost so much of that. At the very start, the easiest way to measure biodiversity and a first check of “success” is asking ourselves if we’re growing the same thing on the same land over and over again. Just moving away from monocropping, intensive farming that requires a huge amount of fertilizer that often runs off into local water systems, will be a great first step. Just moving to rotational farming will already start putting back nutrients into the soil.

DG: What is Back to the Roots doing or planning to do to promote biodiversity?

NA and AVR: We are committed to biodiversity in a few ways. First, with our indoor gardening kits, we want to reconnect families, and especially kids, back to real food and how it grows. We want kids to get hands on with soil, get their hands dirty and appreciate where food comes from. Until we appreciate our soil and are curious about where it comes from, how we can ask the next generation to make the right choices that protect biodiversity? Second, with our ready-to-eat line, we’ve committed to this by focusing on the farms we work with. We partnered with biodynamic farms for our cinnamon cereal that focus highly on biodiversity on farmlands, we used a unique purple corn for our corn flakes and even our wheat was sources from an organic dry-farmed wheat farm that lets the land lay fallow and native species to repopulate before re-planting.

DG: What is the business case for products that promote a more biodiverse food system?

NA and AVR: Consumers are looking for new products that speak to their values and health. There’s a growing consumer base that appreciates biodiversity for their own health (diverse foods has been shown to support strong gut health); and also cares about the impact their dollar and each bite is making. In many ways, the fast growing natural organic movement – with all the new types of grains, varieties of vegetables, etc, that you see popping up – are all a testament to the business case for a more diverse food system.

DG: What investments need to be made to create a more biodiverse food system?

NA and AVR: Education — not just to consumers, but to farmers. We’ve visited countless farms across the country over the years, and one common theme we hear is that rotational, organic farming is actually more cost-effective than traditional, chemically intensive farming! More supply will help more brands use these types of crops.

DG: What are the greatest challenges and opportunities your organization faces for creating a more biodiverse system? What are you doing to overcome or capture them?

NA and AVR: Supply chain — limited supply makes us have to partner directly with farmers; a riskier proposition than just buying spot from the commodity market.

DG: Does your average customer care about biodiversity today? Why should they care? How do you (or will you) get them to care?

NA and AVR: They care about flavor first, and then how it affects their health. Then it’s the mission and where it’s coming from. But I don’t see that changing — food’s gotta taste first and foremost; if not it belongs at a drug store, not a grocery store.

DG: What are some of the most important things retailers, food manufacturers and other key parts of the food supply chain can do to support biodiversity?

NA and AVR: Prioritize farmers and brands that are sourcing like this and tell those stories in stores and to their shoppers. Retailers have a huge platform to educate shoppers – it just has to be prioritized as much as other labels and trends have been recently.

DG: Are there certain products you would like to see more of in the food industry — either in foodservice or CPG — that would help promote a more biodiverse agricultural system?

NA and AVR: Let’s start with simple, whole ingredients — just get baby bananas in stores, for instance. Let’s start with staples that when you put a new variety out there, consumers will be like “whoa – I didn’t know that existed!” That one moment of inspiration can lead to a lifetime of curiosity of other varieties. We’ve seen that countless times with our Purple Corn Flakes when we showed folks our purple corn cobs – they were blown away!

DG: What is your vision for what a more biodiverse food system looks like in 10-15 years?

NA and AVR: Our vision for that more biodiverse food system actually starts with a vision for a new generation of eaters who are CURIOUS about food and where it comes from — we envision kids across the country asking “where did my food come from?” as they sit down to eat — that’s the change that will catapult everything else!

DG: Anything else you want to share?

NA and AVR: It all starts with education! We have to inspire a new generation to care about food and farming — ultimately if we don’t create that appreciation for diversity from the consumer end, we’ll keep on eating Cavendish bananas for another 100 years

Read all of the interviews here and learn more about Biodiversity at The Future Market.

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Nikhil and Alejandro, co-founders & co-CEOs of Back to the Roots

Nikhil & Alejandro are the two co-founders of Back to the Roots, an organic food & gardening company they founded in 2009 after discovering how to grow gourmet mushrooms on recycled coffee grounds. Since then, Back to the Roots has evolved from an urban mushroom farm to a thriving business on a mission to reconnect families back to food through an award-winning line of Ready-to-Eat breakfast cereals and Ready-to-Grow Indoor Gardening Kits. Back to the Roots currently distributes its products in thousands of stores & schools nationwide, including The Home Depot, Target, Lowe’s, Whole Foods, and the NYC Public School System, where it helps feed 1.1M kids/day as the first organic cereal ever offered in US public schools.

Nikhil and Alejandro, co-founders & co-CEOs of Back to the Roots, have been honored with several awards recognizing their efforts in sustainability and entrepreneurship including BusinessWeek’s “Top 25 Entrepreneurs under 25,” Inc.’s “30 Under 30,” Inc. 500, Forbes’ “30 Under 30,” and CNN’s “10 Next Entrepreneurs to Watch.” In addition, Back to the Roots was recognized by Martha Stewart as a Top Ten American Made honoree, by President Obama as Champions of Change, and recently delivered the commencement address at their Alma-Mater, UC Berkeley Haas School of Business. Back to the Roots is a certified B-Corp based in Oakland, CA. For more info visit www.backtotheroots.com

The post Back to the Roots on Unlocking Curiosity For a Better Food System appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

I Heart Keenwah is a company focused on heirloom quinoa. The company exclusively sources Bolivian Royal Quinoa for all of its products, grown by smallholder farmers that employ sustainable agricultural practices. Its commitment to Fair Trade Certification ensures that its farmers make a living wage. Its co-founder and president Ravi Jolly joined us at our Fail Friday this past June to share his stories of failure and lessons learned.

Ravi established I Heart Keenwah with the idea of using a brand to make quinoa part of people’s everyday. The company soon found itself embarking on an ambitious path. Its first product was a superfood-loaded quinoa cluster, which caught on to the ancient grain craze and gave the company enough momentum to raise money for expansion into conventional retail. Ravi quickly realized that what translated well in the health food space didn’t have the same sort of appeal in conventional. As one of the early players in the health food movement, the company also saw itself facing a new host of competition against other snacks.

In that moment, Ravi realized the need for a return to the company’s core mission and made the decision to pivot I Heart Keenwah into a platform brand, rather than a snack brand. This allowed the company to simplify its products and produce more mass-friendly formats. His biggest takeaway as an entrepreneur was to be open to the reality that the first path or format that he embarked on wasn’t the end-all, be-all.

Check out more Fail Friday videos here.

Huge thanks to our Fail Friday partners Force Brands and Kickstarter.

The post I Heart Keenwah CEO Ravi Jolly on Why Simpler Is Better For Mass Appeal appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

Inspired by 1960s Los Angeles, west~bourne is an accidentally vegetarian, all-day café with a social mission. A portion of every purchase made at its SoHo location benefits the poverty-fighting Robin Hood Foundation to fund hospitality training for youth in its community through its neighboring nonprofit, The Door, where the restaurant hires from to build its team. Its founder Camilla Marcus joined us at our Fail Friday this past June to share her stories of failure and lessons learned.

Camilla was formerly the Director of Business Development for Union Square Hospitality Group and worked in real estate investing for Colony Capital and CIM Group. With her background in business development, law and investing, Camilla initially felt confident going into her first independent venture as a restauranteur. She scouted her first location right away, and quickly learned of the legal barriers that would carry on with her through her search for a home for west~bourne.

The process ended up taking a year, and with two failed locations and painful legal costs behind her, Camilla learned her biggest lesson as an entrepreneur: Failure is the point when you have to decide — is this really what I want to do? Getting over that hurdle is what continues to push you forward.

Check out more Fail Friday videos here.

Huge thanks to our Fail Friday partners Force Brands and Kickstarter.

The post West~bourne’s Camilla Marcus on Failure to Launch appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

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.

Agfunder has released their AgriFood Tech Investing Report 2017, posting a 29% year-over-year increase to $10.1 billion for early stage investments in agrifood tech startups. The number of deals fell 17% as investors made larger bets on fewer companies.

The retail war continues. Walmart has introduced meal kits to its stores and online grocery service. It is also developing a new technology that has the potential to save it $2 billion in food waste and was just issued a patent for robot shopping carts. Instacart has applied for a patent for a mobile self-checkout system. Meanwhile, Amazon has committed to $22 billion in future food purchases as it bulks up Whole Foods.

In CPG news, bone broth company Ancient Nutrition has closed a minority investment of $103 million led by VMG Partners. Exo has been acquired for an undisclosed sum by insect food company Aspire. Kraft Heinz has launched its own food innovation platform, and Unilever has officially entered the organic market with its own plant-based brand.

Flippy, Miso Robotic’s hamburger flipping robot, is finally joining the human crew at the fast casual restaurant’s Pasadena location. Ordermark has raised $3.1 million to simplify restaurant delivery orders.

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. AgriFood Tech Investment Surges to $10.1B Bringing in a New Normal – AgFunder

Early Stage investment in agrifood tech startups reached $10.1b in 2017,posting a 29% year-over-year increase and reversing the downward trend of 2016. The deal count fell by 17% to 949, with the most dramatic contraction at seed stage.

2. 100+ Investors, $103M in Ancient Nutrition Capital Round – Project Nosh

Bone broth company Ancient Nutrition closed a $103m minority investment led by VMG Partners, along with Hillhouse Capital, ICONIQ Capital and others. The investment will allow the brand to expand into Asia.

3. Meal Kits Come to Walmart Stores and Online Grocery Service – TechCrunch

Walmart’s affordable alternative to meal kit delivery subscriptions is now available at over 250 stores as well as its online grocery pickup service. The meal kits will be available to over 2k locations by the end of the year.

4. Amazon Has Committed to Roughly $22B in Future Food Purchases as It Bulks Up Whole Foods – CNBC

Big multi-year contracts are rare for the e-commerce giant. The disclosure reflects its long-term plan to turn Whole Foods into a major revenue driver.

5. Insect Food Company Aspire Acquires Cricket Protein Bar Maker Exo – Forbes

Aspire’s current line of Aketta cricket food products will be re-branded as Exo products. Exo’s supply chain will only be using Aspire’s cricket protein. Financial terms were undisclosed.

6. Instacart Is Thinking About a Self-Checkout System, Patent Reveals – Fast Company

Instacart has filed a patent for a mobile self-checkout system that would allow shoppers to bypass in-store checkouts, hinting at ways the retailer might speed up its delivery operations.

7. Walmart Issued Patent for Robot Shopping Cart – The Spoon

Walmart was just awarded a patent that it filed two years ago for what looks like a self-driving shopping cart.

8. Kraft Heinz Launches New Platform to ‘Shape the Future of Food’ – Food Business News

The Springboard platform seeks to partner and develop brands within one of four pillars: natural and organic, specialty and craft, health and performance; and experiential brands.

9. Walmart Is Unleashing a Weapon Worth $2B That Could Deal a Blow to Whole Foods – Business Insider

Walmart is developing a technology called Eden that inspects products for defects and can predict the date when it will spoil. The company states it will save $2b in food waste over the next five years.

10. Unilever Enters the Organic Snack Space with Mission-Based Brand – Food Dive

Unilever’s plant-based snacks, Growing Roots, will allocate half of its profits to urban farming initiatives.

11. Flippy, the Robot Hamburger Chef, Goes to Work – TechCrunch

A year after announcing its partnership with Caliburger, Miso Robotics’ AI-enabled line cook is joining the human crew at the fast casual restaurant’s Pasadena location.

12. Ordermark Raises $3.1M to Simplify Restaurant Delivery Orders – The Spoon

The seed round was led by TenOneTen Ventures, with participation from Act One Ventures, Mucker Capital and others. Funding will be used to accelerate growth and integrate with more delivery services.

13. India: Zomato Confirms $150M Fund Raise from Alibaba’s Ant Financial – YourStory

The funds will be used to strengthen the team’s leadership position in its core markets by investing in product and technology. With this deal, Zomato’s valuation has been pegged at $1.1b.

14. Argentina: Syngenta and Bunge Ventures Back South American Agribusiness Marketplace Agrofy – AgFunder

Agrofy has raised a $6m Series A round led by Sao Paulo Ventures to build out the site’s capabilities and broaden the product supply. The marketplace offers farm machinery, financial services and consulting services.

15. Global Agtech Startup Investments Rise 29% in 2017 – Reuters

Global agriculture and food technology startups received a record $10.1b in 2017, up 29% from 2016. The number of deals fell 17% as investors made larger bets on fewer companies.

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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.

Retail news is on fire this week. Amazon launched its delivery service for businesses that will rival FedEx and UPS. To take on increasing competition from the e-commerce giant, Instacart has swallowed $200 million in a Series E round led by Coatue Management and Glade Brook Capital Partners. Israel-based CommonSense Robotics has scored $20 million for online grocery fulfillment. In China, the checkout-free chain He Ma plans to roll out 30 more stores in Beijing.

Hamburger-flipping robot maker Miso Robotics has landed $10 million as it rolls out Flippy to 50 Caliburger locations. In India, Ola is pumping $62.2 million into recently acquired Foodpanda to bolster its logistics and tech capabilities.

And finally, the Trump administration proposed a radical overhaul of the SNAP program with a Blue Apron-type “Harvest Box” that only includes shelf-stable and canned food. Reaction has been largely negative.

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. Amazon to Launch Delivery Service That Would Vie with FedEx, UPS – Wall Street Journal

Dubbed “Shipping with Amazon” (SWA), the new service will pick up packages from businesses and ship them to consumers. It will first roll out in Los Angeles in the coming weeks.

2. Instacart Adds $200M to Defend Against Amazon Delivery – Bloomberg

The Series E financing was led by Coatue Management and Glade Brook Capital Partners, valuing the company at approximately $4.2b.

3. Israel: CommonSense Robotics Raises $20M for Robotics Tech for Online Grocery Fulfillment – TechCrunch

The round was led by Playground Global, with participation from previous investors Aleph VC and Innovation Endeavors. Funds will be used to scale up its facility deployment rate, develop robotics and AI as well as expand global operations and sales.

4. This Week in China Tech: Alibaba Brings AI to Pig Farming and Retail Tech on the Rise – Forbes

Ali Cloud, Alibaba’s answer to Amazon Web Services, has partnered with Te Qu and Kang De groups to raise pigs using AI. The Amazon Go concept has been in China since 2016 through the company He Ma. It is expanding with 30 more stores opening in Beijing this year.

5. Miso Scores $10M to Bring Its Hamburger-Flipping Robot to More Restaurants – TechCrunch

The latest windfall was led by Acacia Research Corporation, bringing total disclosed funding to $14m. The company is ramping up production and getting ready to deliver its hamburger-cooking robot Flippy to 50 CaliBurger locations.

6. India-Focused Agtech VC Omnivore Partners Holds First Close on $46M for Second Fund – AgFunder

Investors included KfW, the Small Industries Development Bank of India, the Dutch Good Growth Fund, the Rockefeller Foundation, Ceniarth, RBL Bank and Sorenson Impact Foundation. The fund is focused on increasing profitability for smallholder farmers.

7. India: Ola Parent to Pump $62.2M in Newly Acquired Food Delivery Platform Foodpanda India – Inc42

The capital infusion will be geared towards bolstering Foodpanda’s logistics and tech capabilities. Foodpanda aims to make onboarding of new restaurants more seamless.

8. Safe Catch Snags $5M to Extend Line of Mercury-Tested Fish – Food Dive

Funding came from Echo Capital, Essential Investments and unnamed angel investors. The company plans to expand and promote its products.

9. Yakult Declines After Danone’s $1.8 Billion Share Sale Plan – Bloomberg

Yakult shares tumbled the most in 19 months after Danone announced plans to sell $1.8b of the Japanese company’s stocks amid pressures from an activist investor to boost returns.

10. Nestle Buys Majority Stake in Organic Food Company Terrafertil – Reuters

The move is the latest step by Nestle to expand its profile in healthy foods as it seeks to offset weakness in the packaged foods sector. Financial terms were not disclosed.

11. Agrylist Raises Another $1.5M for Its Intelligent Indoor Farming Platform – TechCrunch

The round came from iSelect Fund, Argonautic Ventures, Horizons Lab and Onlan Capital Fund along with existing investors Compound and the New York State Innovation Capital Fund. It plans to use new funding to support its growth of product lines and expand into new markets.

12. TechAccel Backs Chloroplast Engineering Startup Plastomics – AgFunder

Plasmotics is increasing the speed and lowering the cost of designing new seeds. TechAccel’s investment will fund a science advancement initiative designed to accelerate the startup’s technology and insect control trait currently in development.

13. What’s in a Name (for Lab-Grown Meat)? – The Spoon

The United States Cattlemen’s Association filed a petition with the USDA asking for new beef labeling requirements to make sure anything labeled “beef” or “meat” comes straight from a cow.

14. Trump Administration Wants to Decide What Food SNAP Recipients Will Get – NPR

Under the proposal, low-income Americans who make up 80% of all SNAP recipients would get about half of their benefits in the form of a USDA foods package, which would not include any fresh fruits or vegetables.

15. Vegan Burger Brand Impossible Foods Launches Food Bank Program – Live Kindly

The company has partnered with Alameda County Community Food Bank and Second Harvest Food Bank to provide regular donations of its plant-based burger patties to residents in food assistance programs.

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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.

Wayne Pacelle, one of the most well-known animal rights advocates in the country, has stepped down as the CEO of Humane Society after facing a staff revolt and fleeing donors amid sexual harassment allegations.

Blue Apron shares rallied 7% when a Gabelli & Co analyst labeled Walmart as a logical buyer. Kroger has sold its convenient stores to British gas station operator EG group for $2.5 billion as it sharpens focus on its grocery business. Whole Foods has been making waves in retail news with the launch of its two-day Amazon Prime delivery and newly implemented rates for suppliers.

Tyson’s VC venture has backed the countertop smart oven startup, Tovola, for an undisclosed sum. Swiggy has garnered $100 million from Meituan-Dianping and Naspers. Yum Brands has purchased a 3% stake in GrubHub for $200 million.

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. Humane Society CEO Resigns Amid Sexual Harassment Allegations – Politico

Wayne Pacelle resigned Friday amid a staff revolt and feeing donors over sexual harassment allegations against him and a former top executive. News broke last week of an internal investigation dating back to 2005.

2. Blue Apron Shares Rally After Walmart Named ‘Logical Buyer’ of Meal Kit Brand – CNBC

A Gabelli & Co analyst labeled Walmart a logical buyer for Blue Apron, stating the deal would add another valuable e-commerce company to the retailer’s stable. Speculation helped stock raise shares of the meal kit company almost 7%.

3. Kroger to Sell Its Convenience Stores to UK’s EG Group for $2.15B – CNBC

The chain will sell nearly 800 convenience stores to the British gas station operator as it sharpens focus on its mainstay grocery business. It plans to use proceeds from the sale to buy back shares and lower debt.

4. Here’s How Amazon Prime’s New Whole Foods Delivery Will Work – Fortune

Amazon will be offering free two-hour delivery of Whole Foods products to Amazon Prime customers in select cities starting today. It plans to expand the service across the country over the year.

5. Getting Your Product on Shelves at Whole Foods Just Got Harder – Wall Street Journal

Whole Foods is asking suppliers of all sizes to pay new rates for prime shelf space as it tries to boost profits and better organize the exploding number of natural and organic products hitting the market.

6. Move Over, Chicken: Tyson’s Newest Venture Is Steamed Dinners – Bloomberg

Tovala, a company making countertop smart ovens that heat ready-to-cook meals, is the latest startup to receive backing from Tyson’s VC arm. No terms were announced.

7. India: Swiggy Garners $100M Series F Funding Led by Meituan-Dianping and Naspers – YourStory

The funding will primarily be used to strengthen their market position, new service and product offerings as well as increase investments in the ‘New Supply’ business line. The company has raised $255m so far.

8. Yum Brands Buys 3% Stake in Food Delivery Service GrubHub for $200M – Wall Street Journal

Yum will partner with GrubHub to add online ordering for pickup and delivery to its restaurants, increasing customers’ access to its KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hutt brands.

9. Soylent Looks to Shed Techie Image with 7-Eleven Store Expansion – Bloomberg

The company is trying to fuel growth by pulling in mainstream customers at 7-Eleven on the East Coast.

10. Singapore’s Sirius Venture Backs $3M Round in Israeli FoodTech Startup SuperMeat – Deal Street Asia

Sirius joined in the seed funding round led by New Crop Capital and Stray Dog Capital. The round also saw SuperMeat striking partnership with PHW, one of Europe’s top poultry producers. Funding will be used to further scientific research and work towards scalability.

11. Danone Manifesto Ventures Leads $30M Investment in Harmless Harvest – BevNET

Danone Manifesto Ventures joined Mousse Partners and AccelFoods in the round. The company will use the investment to enhance sustainable production capacity in Thailand, increase brand awareness and widen distribution.

12. Germany: Balderton Capital Leads $25M Series A in ‘Urban Farming’ Platform Infarm – TechCrunch

The round is led by Balderton Capital, bringing total raised to $35m. New capital will be used for international expansion and to further develop its 5k square meter R&D center in Berlin. The startup is targeting 1k farms to be operational across Europe by the end of 2019.

13. Wandering Bear Coffee Raises $8M – BevNET

Investors of the series A equity round were undisclosed. New capital will be aimed at scaling the company.

14. Agrilyst Adds Horizons Ventures to New Round with Eyes on China – AgFunder

Indoor farming software startup Agrilyst has raised an undisclosed strategic round, bringing in new investors iSelect Fund, Argonautic Ventures, Horizons Lab and Onlan Capital Ventures. It aims to expand its product offering and enter the Chinese market.

15. American Robotics Raises $2M to Bring Fully Autonomous Drones to Market – AgFunder

Investors included Brain Robotics Capital and unnamed angel investors. The new funding will allow the startup to add engineering and sales staff to its team.

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The post Walmart Named Logical Blue Apron Buyer, Humane Society CEO Resigns Amid Sexual Harassment Allegations + More appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

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 maker of Keurig’s coffee maker machines has purchased Dr Pepper for $19 billion in cash, making it one of the largest nonalcoholic drink deal on record. Tyson’s VC arm is now taking bets with lab-grown meat with an investment in Memphis Meats. Ripple Foods received a $65 million investment led by Euclidean Capital.

In retail news, meal kit service Sun Basket has secured a $42.8 million investment from August Capital. Uber drivers can now begin selling products through Cargo, which raised $5.5 million from CRCM Ventures and eighteen94 capital, Kellogg’s VC fund. Alibaba has made two major investments in India’s delivery space: $200 million in BigBasket and $150 million in Zomato. Irish food group Total Produce has purchased a 45% stake in Dole for $300 million with plans for a complete acquisition within five years.

Two major publications have brought attention to two major issues occurring on America’s farms: a sexual harassment epidemic and children’s safety at risk operating farm machinery.

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. Keurig to Acquire Dr Pepper Snapple – Wall Street Journal

The deal will give shareholders of the soda maker nearly $19b in cash and go down as one of the largest beverage deal in years. Keurig’s owner, JAB Holding, is expanding its coffee business into sodas and ready-to-drink beverages.

2. Tyson Joins Bill Gates, Cargill to Invest in Lab Meat Producer – Bloomberg

The company’s VC arm has invested an undisclosed sum in Memphis Meats, adding to the string of high-profile backers including Cargill, Bill Gates and Richard Branson. The company will use the Tyson funds for product development.

3. Goldman Sachs Invests in Pea Milk Startup – Bloomberg

The $65m investment in Ripple Foods was led by Euclidean Capital with participation from Khosla Ventures, Fall Line Capital, S2G Ventures and Goldman Sachs.

4. Sun Basket Secures $42.8M in Funding – Meat + Poultry

The Series D round was led by August Capital and included Unilever Ventures. New funding will be used to build out its personalization tech, expand its menu offerings.

5. Cargo Raises $5.5M to Let Uber Drivers Sell Snacks and Essentials Nationwide – TechCrunch

The funding comes from CRCM Ventures and eighteen94 capital, Kellogg’s VC fund. The startup plans to deploy its hardware and software solution in about 20k cars and open in one new city each month for the next six months before its Series A.

6. Nuro’s Self-Driving Vehicle Is a Grocery-Getter and Errand-Runner – TechCrunch

After raising a $92m Series A round, the startup has revealed its autonomous vehicle platform designed to transport goods from a local business to a customer or from one person to another.

7. ‘Super’ Crops and Cows – Bill Gates, UK Inject Cash into Farm Science – Reuters

Research for growing “super crops” and breeding higher-yielding dairy cows received a funding injection of about $174m from Britain’s Department for International Development and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

8. Total Produce to Buy Stake in Dole Food Company for $300M – The Irish Times

The Irish food group will purchase all shares in Dole within five years, having acquired an initial 45% stake for $300m in cash. Total Produce has the right to acquire an extra 6% of Dole at any time.

9. India: Alibaba’s Twin Investments: BigBasket Gets $200M and $150M for Zomato – Business Standard 

With the capital, BigBasket will take on giants Amazon and Flipkart, which are vying to grow their presence in the online grocery space. Zomato will utilize the funds to combat its two largest rivals Swiggy and Foodpanda.

10. There’s a Sexual Harassment Epidemic on America’s Farms – The Atlantic

Many of the women who work in agriculture often have few options but to put up with abuse on the job. Undocumented workers without papers and workers on temporary visas are extremely vulnerable to exploitation in the workplace.

11. 5-Year-Olds Work Farm Machinery, and Injuries Follow – New York Times

Children are growing up driving large farm machines to help their families. Thousands are injured every year, and many are killed.

12. Kroger Strikes Back at Amazon Go with Expansion of Shopper Tech – Bloomberg

Kroger is expanding its “Scan, Bag, Go” technology to 400 stores. The system allows customers to use a handheld scanner to log grocery items in their cart as they shop, while also viewing coupons and a running total of their order.

13. Why Online Grocery Could Be a $100B Opportunity in the Next Four Years – Food Dive

Online grocery adoption is accelerating thanks to changes in consumer behavior and a few key acquisitions. Seventy percent of shoppers will be buying groceries online by 2022.

14. CaliBurger to Launch Payments Using Facial Recognition – The Spoon

After a successful pilot, the quick service restaurant is expanding the use of facial recognition at its Pasadena location from just unlocking loyalty accounts to paying for meals.

15. Walmart to Launch Online Grocery Delivery in Japan, E-Book Sales in US – NPR

Walmart is joining with Japan’s largest e-commerce retailer Rakuten to launch an online grocery delivery service in Japan. The deal includes opening a combined e-commerce fulfillment center in Tokyo to deliver groceries to a wider region.

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.

First, if you’re headed to The Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco, be sure to come visit us at The Future Market booth to explore themes on cannabis cuisine, blockchain chicken, and more.

In other news, Nestle has finally closed its deal to sell its US candy business to Ferrero for $2.8 billion as it moves into healthier, faster-growing categories. French microorganism developer Novolyze has raised a €2.2 million ($2.69m) second seed round for its foodborne illness mitigation technology.

Food waste-to-fertilizer tech startup WISErg has raised $19 million to build a second facility in California.

Instacart has acquired voice-shopping Canadian startup Unata for $65 million, signaling where its headed in its battle with Amazon. Ready-made meal startup Urban Remedy has raised $17 million led by General Mill’s venture arm, 301 Inc. Delivery logistics platform Briggs swallowed $12 million, bringing total funding to $22 million. Kroger announced plans to roll out a new digital display technology that may change grocery shopping as we know it.

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. Nutella Maker to Pay $2.8B for Nestle US Candy Unit – Bloomberg

Nestle agreed to sell to Ferrero in its first step away from the candy business. It plans to focus on healthier, faster-growing categories like coffee, pet food and water.

2. Introducing Six New Concept Products From The Future Market

The Future Market is launching six new concept products at the Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco on Sunday, January 21. Visit us to explore themes on cannabis cuisine, blockchain chicken, and more.

3. Instacart Acquires Coupon and Voice-Shopping Startup Unata – Bloomberg

The deal totals to $65m and gives the retailer new kinds of e-commerce tools and a path to expand in Canada. Unata specializes in digital coupons and is developing a voice-activated tool to allow customers to purchase goods online using devices.

4. Advice on Launching a Food Startup – Part 1 – NXFOOD

Over the next couple of months, Danielle Gould will be sharing a series of blog posts with advice on how to create the next big  idea, find product market fit and launch a food startup.

5. Urban Remedy Raises $17M for Fresh-Focused Platform – Project Nosh

Investment was led by General Mill’s venture arm, 301 Inc and will go towards expanding staff, increasing production capacity and expanding into a new market. The startup delivers ready-to-eat meals, juices and snacks.

5. Delivery Logistics Platform Bringg Raises $12M from Strategic Investors, Including Salesforce Ventures – TechCrunch

The startup offers retailers and companies like Coca-Cola and Panera visibility into delivery operations with features like driver tracking, notifications and driver-to-customer communications. Its Series B funding brings the total round to $22m.

6. Kroger Is Rolling Out a New Technology to Nearly 200 Stores That Could Change Grocery Shopping As We Know It – Business Insider

The Kroger Edge digitally displays pricing and nutritional information as well as video ads and coupons for various products. It will eventually communicate with customers’ smartphones and highlight products as they walk down store aisles.

7. India: Morgan Stanley Marks Up Valuation of FoodTech Unicorn Zomato to $2.5B – Inc42

Zomato is expected to clock up to $1.3b in revenue, including delivery fees in FY2018. Its valuation could reach $6.7b in the next 10 years.

8. Harvesting Robotics Market to Reach $5.5B from Early Adopters Alone – AgFunder

Despite this, only a few products have reached the commercial market and only 3% of growers are currently using harvesting robots on their farms. Financial concerns are both the strongest deterrent and motivator for adoption.

9. France: Novolyze Raises €2.2M Seed Round to Prevent Foodborne Illness with Microbes – AgFunder

Its funding came from private investors, family offices, public research programs and grants. Money will go towards expanding its marketshare in Europe, the US and Asia as well as developing a digital product that will allow food processors to verify their food safety process.

10. Kimbal Musk Is Leading a $25M Mission to Fix Food in Schools across the US – Business Insider

In 2011, Musk launched his nonprofit Learning Gardens in 300 public schools in US cities. He is now renaming it Big Green and expanding it nationally. The $25m effort could see 100 more gardens built in each of the four new cities by the end of 2020.

11. Amazon Led the US in Online Grocery in 2017 – Business Insider

Amazon sold $2b in grocery products, up 59% year-over-year. The retailer is estimated to have 18% of the US online grocery market, with packaged food products leading sales.

12. WISErg Brings Funding Total to $57M for Food Waste Tech with Series C – AgFunder

The food waste-to-fertilizer tech startup has raised $19.2m led by Laird Norton Company, Second Avenue Partners and other existing investors. WISErg will use the new funds to build a second facility in California.

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The post Nestle Sells its Candy Unit, Advice on Launching a Food Startup, Zomato Valued at $2.5B + More appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

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.

Siggi’s was acquired by French dairy company Lactalis for an undisclosed sum. Sonoma Brands closed $60 million for its second fund. Weed startups are disrupting the alcohol industry by offering consumers with new products like cannabis wine and pot-infused seltzer. Hershey and Cargill are the latest food giants to leave the GMA.

Investors have lost their appetites for meal kits as they look towards perishable grocery services like FoodMaven, a new food waste retailer that just raised $8.6m from Walmart’s billionaire heirs the Waltons, among others.

Toyota and Ford announced new pilot programs testing self-driving delivery vehicles at CES this week. Toyota revealed a Pizza Hut “e-Palette” that would cook and deliver pizzas, while Ford has partnered with Postmates to develop driverless on-demand distribution.

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

_______________

1. Lactalis Buys Yogurt Brand Siggi’s, as Emmi’s Sells Its Stake – FoodBev

The acquisition was made for an undisclosed sum. Siggi’s will remain a standalone company. Emmi will sell its 22% stake in the brand and focus its US business on milk and cheese products.

2. Jon Sebastiani’s Sonoma Brands Raises $60M – Forbes

The VC fund announced the closing of its second fund, aimed at continuing investment in emerging consumer brands and taking minority positions in startups. It also announced it’s spinout of Smashmallow.

3. Why the Most Hated-On New Ice Cream Brand in America Is a Booming $100M Business – Inc.

Halo Top has found itself at the center of a deep philosophical divide: the ice cream purists versus those hungry for a cheap calorie thrill.

4. Weed Startups Want Social Drinkers to Change the Way They Get Buzzed – Bloomberg

Startups are competing with alcohol companies by offering consumers alternative ways to catch a buzz. The industry is expected to balloon to $50b by 2026 from $6b in 2016.

5. Food Lobby Group’s Rolls Further Contract as Hershey and Cargill Depart – Politico

The companies are the latest food giants to part with the GMA as it struggles to navigate deep divisions within its membership on how to respond to rapidly changing consumer preferences.

6. Once-Hungry Investors Pass on Meal Kit Startups – Wall Street Journal

While the sector is expected to grow to $6b+ in 2021, supermarket chains have an advantage over startups by selling in-store and at cheaper prices. Investors are looking towards perishable grocery delivery services, meat replacement companies and startups combating food waste.

7. Robomart Is the Latest Startup to Try and Unseat the Local Convenience Store – TechCrunch

The startup aims to license its white-labeled service to wholesalers and big box retailers. It would include the vehicle, a wireless charging device as well as a fleet management and on-demand ordering system.

8. Inocucor Brings in Pontifax to Close $38.5M Series B – AgFunder

Inocucor manufactures biological stimulants for soil and plant optimizers. Strategic acquisitions will be a significant part of its growth strategies, along with expanded distribution across Canada and crop development in the Latin America and Western Europe.

9. Ford Prepares for Food Delivery in Era When Diners Talk to Cars – Bloomberg

Ford will team up with Postmates on a pilot program that explores how self-driving tech could change the delivery experience. It plans to eventually remove the driver from on-demand distribution.

10. Here’s an Autonomous Pizza-Oven-on-Wheels No One Asked For – Eater

Pizza Hut is partnering with Toyota on a driverless concept vehicle that could one day cook and deliver pizza. Test models of the “e-Palette” vehicle could hit the streets by 2020.

11. What to Know About FoodMaven, a New Food Waste Startup Backed by the Grocery Industry’s Top Players – GrubStreet

The Colorado-based startup anounced its $8.6m Series A funding from a handful of backers, most notably Walmart’s billionaire heirs the Waltons. It has brought aboard 700 Colorado business in just 18 months and expects to do $10m in sales this year.

12. Drop Kitchen Nabs $8M in Funding as Kitchen Tech Investment Heats Up – The Spoon

The Series A round was led by Alsop Louie Partners, bringing total investment to $12m. Funds will be used to continue developing its KitchenOS platform and support its partnerships with appliance manufacturers.

13. Noma Has Lost Everything. Can It Come Back Even Stronger? – Bloomberg

Rene Redzepi gave up Noma’s many achievements, including its title of World’s Best Restaurant and two Michelin stars, in search of new ideas and new approach to food at its new location, which will open February 15th.

14. Whole Foods Places New Limits on Suppliers Upsetting Some Small Vendors – The Washington Post

Whole Foods is now requiring suppliers pay for a program that manages demos and shelf management, changes that are intended to save on costs and centralize operations as Amazon pushes to reduce prices at the chain’s 473 stores.

15. Sprouts Signs on with Instacart as US Grocers Experiment with Delivery – CNBC

The retailer will expand its delivery service through Instacart, beginning in select areas in Arizona.

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The post Siggi’s Acquisition, Sonoma Brand’s Raises $60M, Weed Startups Look to Disrupt Booze Industry + More appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

This is a sponsored post by FoodBytes! by Rabobank.

Give Your Startup the Gift of Growth this Holiday Season: Apply to pitch at FoodBytes!

Next-generation food and ag pitch competition FoodBytes! by Rabobank is heading home to San Francisco on February 28 and March 1. Get the connections, mentorship and capital you need to grow your business – learn more and apply to pitch by January 7.

Food+Tech Connect has been a proud partner of FoodBytes! since 2015, and many of our past Meetup presenters and food partners have pitched on the FoodBytes! stage, including Back to the Roots, Imperfect, Vega Coffee, Beyond the Shoreline, Burlap & Barrel and more.

What Will You Get Out of Pitching?

• Get one-on-one access to industry experts on funding, PR, branding, consumer trends, legal, distribution and more during the Mentor and Rehearsal day on February 28
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• Pitch to an audience of investors, industry leaders, media and entrepreneurs
• Have dedicated display space to showcase your product or service
• Be in the running to win the People’s Choice, Judges’ Choice or Highly Commended Award
• Join an alumni network of 170+ cutting edge startups
• Get to know the 2017 FoodBytes! winners in this video or check out the pitches from past FoodBytes! here

Hear from FoodBytes! Alumni

• “A collaborative competition with a lasting network” – Abi Ramanan, Co-Founder, ImpactVision
• “The most innovative food tech event I’ve ever participated in” – Bruce Rasa, Co-Founder & CEO, AgVoice
• “The longer we’ve been involved with FoodBytes!, the more opportunities emerge. FoodBytes! has been a continual resource since we pitched, and an awesome community to be part of.” – Will DeLuca, Co-Founder, Vega Coffee

Not able to make it to SF? FoodBytes! 2018 rolling applications are also open for Montreal (May 16) and New York City (Fall 2018).

The post Apply to Pitch at FoodBytes! San Francisco by January 7 appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

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.

Innovation continues to drive the CPG space forward with the help of funding from Big Food acquisitions. Last Week, Kellogg announced its acquisition of “clean label” protein bar RXBAR for $600 million. And now it appears that Siggi’s is looking for a buyer. Dealogic also reports that there were 1,065global food and beverage mergers and acquisitions this year, totaling $78.4 billion.

In retail news, Berlin-based HelloFresh revealed plans to IPO on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, valuing the company at up to $1.8b in the public markets.

The first “distributed farming” startup, Smallhold, launched the first of its many Minifarms that it plans to install in restaurants across New York City. Agriculture Capital raised $548 million, which it plans to pour into sophisticated, sustainably operated farms growing perennial crops.

And finally, biotech firms have discovered a way to turn methane into protein. The product is already being used in animal feed, the first step toward readying it for human consumption.

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. Here’s What a Chinese Takeout Menu Would Look Like If the Meat Was Grown in Labs – Quartz

Alpha Food Labs explores what a cultured meat future would look like through the lens of a Chinese Restaurant take-out menu.

2. Kellogg Broadens Snack Reach with $600M Purchase of RXBAR – Food Dive

Last week, Kellogg’s announced it was acquiring RxBar, the four year old maker of “clean label” protein bars. RXBAR will continue to operate independently, while leveraging Kellogg’s scale and resources to drive growth.

3. Cultured Meat Will Cost Startups $150M-$370M (and Take At Least 4 More Years) to Bring to Market – Agfunder

We may not see cultured meat on the market until 2021. The technology itself would cost $200m to scale and an additional $85-170m for packaging, marketing and regulatory work.

4. Instead Of Throwing Out This Plastic Wrapper, You Eat It – Fast Company

Indonesia-based startup Evoware converts sustainably farmed seaweed into food-safe, edible packaging. The company plans to use its seaweed packages for instant noodles and coffee, as well as edible wraps for burgers and sandwiches.

5. Startups Raise $206M to Meet Consumer Demand for Protein & Novel Ingredients – Food Navigator

Funding to innovative food startups is increasing with 17 deals raising $206 million in the first half of 2017, representing a 60 percent year-over-year increase. The whole sector raised $4.4 billion across 369 deals in the first half of 2017 with the most active investor being SOSV.

6. The Company Bringing the Farm Right to the Table – Bloomberg

This Wednesday, Brooklyn-based startup Smallhold launched its first Minifarm in Mission Chinese. The company is the first “distributed farming” network and has plans to install its growing units in restaurants across NYC.

7. Sustainable Ag Fund that Likes Oregon Blueberries, Hazelnuts Raises $548M – Washington Business Journal 

Agriculture Capital will pour capital into sophisticated, sustainably operated farms growing crops – trees and bushes – that don’t have to be replanted every year as well as “midstream processing assets.”

8. Landfill Gas for Dinner? Scientists to Cook Food From Waste – Bloomberg

California-based Calysta and India-based String Bio are among biotech firms that have discovered ways to turn methane into protein. The product is already being used in animal feed, the first step toward readying it for human consumption.

9. Germany: Blue Apron Competitor HelloFresh Planning to Raise Up to $353M in IPO – TechCrunch

The company is planning to IPO on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, valuing the company at up to $1.8 billion in the public markets.

10. Owner of Siggi’s Icelandic Yogurt Taps Bank for Sale – CNBC

The Icelandic Milk and Skyr Corporation is in talks with JPMorgan on a possible sale of the company. While Siggi’s value is unclear, the corporation expects to generate sales of $200 million next year and is growing at the rate of 50 percent per year.

11. Slim Jim Goes Upscale with 100% Grass Fed Beef – Food Dive

Slim Jim is launching an upgraded line of meat products that will feature 100% grass-fed beef or 100% premium pork with contemporary flavors and 10 grams of protein per stick.

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!

The post Kellogg Acquires RXBAR for $600M, Bringing Cultured Meat to Market Will Cost $150-$370M + More appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

Over the last year, I’ve spoken with legions of aspiring food and beverage entrepreneurs and noticed a painful pattern: many projects stall before ever hitting the shelves. I’d like to see that happen less often, which is why I’m sharing some of the lessons I’ve learned.

Here’s how the trajectory typically goes. The startup hires an independent food scientist or a product development firm to formulate their recipe. After thousands of dollars and months of iterations, they pick a winner. Then they begin the search for a co-packer. After Googling around, they fire off a barrage of emails and expect the plants to respond enthusiastically at the “great opportunity” they’ve been handed. Except, this isn’t what happens. Instead, the founder sends e-mail after e-mail, then voicemail after voicemail, and finally, desperately, InMail after InMail to co-packers nationwide before finally losing hope.

There are relatively few food contract manufacturers in the U.S., and each has its own unique setup. Co-packers trade flexibility for output capacity, earning the vast majority of their profits from large clients for whom they produce hundreds of thousands or even millions of units per year. An offer to make 500 gluten free granola bars is the least productive use of their time. While startups such as Foodworks are working to lower the barriers to entry, challenges towards commercial manufacturing will remain for many products, especially beverages.

Gaining some insight regarding co-packer minimum order quantities (MOQs), availability, tolling fees, equipment specs and production capabilities before investing in product development is a wise move. While co-packers are indeed busy, a few straightforward questions delivered with a note of appreciation can help you establish a positive rapport and set you on a positive path to a potential working relationship.

Of course, you can’t know exactly what specs your product will have or what types of machinery you’ll need to manufacture it on a commercial scale. You can, however, do some upfront thinking to at least arrive at broad parameters. In beverage, for example, you might consider:

• Cans or glass or plastic
• Dairy or non-dairy
• Carbonated or non-carbonated
• Perishable or shelf-stable via pasteurization, retort, aseptic, etc.

After outlining the technical requirements of a new product, you can more efficiently determine a list of manufacturing candidates. You can assess if they have availability, pricing and minimums that fall within your budget and workable economics. Another common problem: developing a product without understanding its short and long-term unit economics — you should know from day one if it can survive at its target MSRP given your ingredient, packaging and freight costs with the margin needed for both your distributor and retailer. I could go on, but I’ll save this topic for a future post.

Instead of spending thousands on prototypes, first define exactly what product you want to make. Limiting the permutations will help reduce costs and transform your vision to reality down a straighter, smoother road. Once you’ve decided what you want to make, you can then engage a food scientist or product developer to offer high level advice as to what’s needed to produce it at a commercial scale. It is far cheaper to pay for a few hours on the phone than a few trips to a lab or pilot plant!

Have the food development expert help you draft a detailed product memo that can be shared with the co-packer. Include as much product and business information as you can. While some may disagree, forcing NDAs at the earliest stages seems to have a low payoff — the truth is, like VCs, co-packers have little interest in stealing your idea and may find it a turnoff. Sign something once you’ve got a foot in the door, not still begging to be let inside.

Next, share the project overview with an accompanying brief email to a targeted list of co-packers. Learn what you can from their websites  — many of which admittedly look very 1993 —  to avoid asking questions you can answer yourself. LinkedIn is a great way to find the appropriate contact, and tools like Rapportive and SellHack make it easy to figure out anyone’s email. Tracking software such as Mixmax can help you remember to follow up as needed.

Only after gaining a sense of its viability should you begin to source ingredients and start making samples for tasting. Instead of relying on your own palette or those of your conciliatory colleagues, solicit the feedback of unbiased, candid third parties. Using surveys and a combination of qualitative and quantitative measurements can guide your decision making process. Note: value any certified sommelier’s opinion 10x.

With a vision in mind, prototype in hand and manufacturer in line, you will be well positioned to overcome the odds and launch a successful brand.

The post Start With Where: Steps to Food & Beverage Product Development appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.