Despite losing its unicorn status, Norwegian online grocer Oda bagged a sizable round this week. Restaurant tech company MarginEdge and AgFunder portfolio company Black Sheep Foods also raised money, as did forest tech platform Gaia AI and ag robotics startup Naïo Technologies.
Foodtech funding
🇳🇴 Online grocery store Oda (née Kolonial) raises €150 million ($158 million) from Summa Equity, Verdane & others. However, Oda has lost unicorn status, partly due to market forces currently leveling the online grocery sector. (Sifted)
🇺🇸 MarginEdge will more than doubles its funding with $45 million Series C. Ten Coves Capital led the round for the restaurant management platform. (PYMNTS)
🇺🇸 Black Sheep Foods raises $12.3 million for plant-based lamb. Unovis, AgFunder and others participated in the Series A round. (TechCrunch) [Disclosure: AFN’s parent company is AgFunder.]
🇺🇸 Alternative milk brand Malk Organics secures $9 million Series B. Benvolio Group and Rotor Capital led the round, which will enable Malk to continue its retail expansion. (PR Newswire)
🇩🇪 🇬🇧 Germany’s Doehler Ventures invests in UK Clean Food Group to support the scale up of the latter’s “bioequivalent alternative” to palm oil. Financial terms of the deal are undisclosed. (FoodBev Media)
Agtech funding
🇫🇷 Ag robotics startup Naïo Technologies raises $33 million. Mirova, affiliate of Natixis Investment Managers dedicated to sustainable investment, led the round. (Naïo Technologies)
🇳🇴 Vertical farming startup Avisomo bags €2 million ($2.1 million) seed round. Fundraising enables the startup to finalize its fully automated proof-of-concept facility as well as conduct hiring. (Vertical Farm Daily)
🇺🇸 Sound Agriculture grabs $75 million to expand its crop nutrient and plant breeding businesses. New investors BMO Impact Investment Fund and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative led the round. (AFN)
🇨🇦 Vertical farming company GoodLeaf Farms raises $150 million to expand. Canadian frozen food giant McCain Foods led the round, joined by agrifood private-equity investor Power Sustainable Lios. (AFN)
🇺🇸 Forest tech platform Gaia AI raises $3 million to help foresters manage their operations. E14 led the round with participation from Ubiquity Ventures, Space Capital and SOSV’s HAX. (TechCrunch)
🇺🇸 “Plant Pipeline as a Service” startup Solis Agrosciences raises new growth capital. Hermann Companies, Jim McKelvey, and BioGenerator Ventures led the undisclosed financing round. (PR Newswire)
M&A, IPOs & partnerships
🇦🇹 🇫🇷 Supply chain SaaS platform Orderlion acquires French competitor Supli to further digitize the B2B food supply chain. Financial terms of the deal are undisclosed. (EU Startups)
🇺🇸 🇦🇪 Agritecture and Greener Crop partner to expand controlled environment agriculture. The companies’ combined efforts aim to give both a stronger foothold in the US and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. (Agritecture)
🇺🇸 Keurig Dr Pepper buys $863 million stake in energy drink brand Nutrabolt. As part of the deal, Keurig Dr Pepper and Nutrabolt entered into a long-term sales and distribution agreement. (Food Dive)
Other news
🇪🇺 🇺🇸 European Patent Office revokes an Impossible Foods EU patent. Impossible claims the move has nothing to do with the company’s patent infringement lawsuit against Motif FoodWorks. (Food Navigator)
🇺🇸 Uber Eats will pay millions for listing restaurants without their consent. Uber has agreed to a $10 million settlement with the City of Chicago, as well as for charging excess commission fees. (TechCrunch)
🇺🇸 Community Groceries is the first non-Amazon store to use the latter’s Just Walk Out palm-scanning tech. The store is set to reopen in Kansas City, Missouri on Dec. 16 with the new tech. (Grocery Dive)
🇺🇸 PepsiCo to lay off “hundreds” of workers in the US to “simplify the organization.” PepsiCo’s news follows restructuring moves from other major CPGs including General Mills and Coca Cola. (Food Navigator)
🇺🇸 Square Roots opens a new farm in Kentucky. The container vertical farming company’s latest facility is another one done in partnership with food distributor Gordon Food Service. (Progressive Grocer)
