Another week, another funding round for Chilean foodtech startup NotCo. But it wasn’t the only company to land funding during this downturn. Nutrition platform HealthKart secured a mega-round, while indoor farming and restaurant tech both saw multiple companies announce funding.
Foodtech funding
🇨🇱 NotCo bags another $70 million led by Princeville Capital. NotCo will use the fresh funds to make its AI ingredient platform available to other CPGs. (Forbes)
🇮🇳 Temasek, A91 Partners lead $135 million round for HealthKart. The consumer-facing nutrition platform will expand D2C channels, increase offline distribution and make acquisitions. (Business Standard)
🇧🇭 Meal subscription service Calo lands $13 million pre-Series round co-led by STV and Nuwa Capital. New capital will go towards regional and international expansion. (Your Story)
🇪🇸 CoverManager cooks up €17 million ($18 million) to expand its restaurant management software. GP Bullhound and existing shareholders led the Series A extension round. (EU Startups)
🇩🇪 Food delivery startup Circus secures €11 million ($11.7 million) to expand across Germany. Investors to the seed round include BlackMars Capital and 2bx. (EU Startups)
🇪🇬 B2B platform Suplyd bags $1.6 million to help food industry businesses procure products online. The pre-seed round included Endure Capital, Camel Ventures and others. (Techpoint Africa)
Agtech funding
🇮🇱 Equinom raises $35 million to scale plant protein ingredients. It will also invest in seed development and grain production of its ultra-high protein varieties of non-GMO soy and pea. (Food Business News)
🇺🇸 Breakthrough Energy Ventures leads $12 million seed round for ArkeaBio. The latter is developing technology to reduce on-farm methane emissions. (PR Newswire)
🇨🇦 Winter Farm secures $46 million from the Quebec Government, Investissement Québec & others. Winter Farm will build a vertical farm dedicated to strawberry production. (Vertical Farm Daily)
🇺🇸 MeliBio raises $2.2 million for honey without bees. Backers included Collaborative Fund, Siddhi Capital and new investor The Greenbaum Foundation. (FinSMEs)
🇮🇩 Farm management solutions provider Eratani closes $3.8 million seed round. TNB Aura led the round with participation from AgFunder, Trihill Capital and B.I.G. Ventures. (AFN) [Disclosure: AFN’s parent company is AgFunder.]
🇺🇸 Levi Strauss leads $4.8 million Series B2 round for Stony Creek Colors. A maker of plant-based indigo, Stony Creek Colors will use the new funding to scale its natural dye operation. (texfash)
🇺🇸 Mad Capital nabs $4 million seed round for its ag financing platform. Trailhead Capital led the round with participation from Bonaventure Capital, Homecoming Capital & others. (AFN)
M&A, IPOs and partnerships
🇲🇾 Nutrition food and supplement company Wellous to go public via special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). The merger with Kairous Acquisition Corp is worth $270 million. (Tech in Asia)
🇹🇷 🇩🇪 Instant grocery delivery service Getir has acquired German rival Gorillas. The deal merges two of Europe’s biggest instant grocery players and values the combined group at $10 billion. (AFN)
🇹🇭 Food delivery unicorn Line Man Wongnai “in talks” to buy Foodpanda‘s Thailand unit. Foodpanda laid off some employees in Thailand and other countries in September. (Deal Street Asia)
🇬🇧 Vertical Future announces Singapore expansion via new partnership. The indoor farming tech startup is partnering with Vertical Farm Systems (VFS) for the Singapore Advanced Vertical Farming (SAVE) project. (Kron4)
Other news
🇺🇸 Presto releases custom voice tech for drive-thrus. A Presto survey found that consumers will more likely use a drive-thru if a celebrity voice takes their order. (TechCrunch)
🇺🇸 Doritos opens a ghost kitchen for late-night snackers. Doritos After Dark will is available in New York City, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Las Vegas until Dec. 21. (Restaurant Dive)
