COVID19 may have slowed down the activities of a handful of businesses, but Venture Capitals are still raking up the deals around the world in foodtech. With disruptive startups offering solutions to help solve new challenges in the food chain, we have seen a spike in investments despite the current crisis.
There has been a whopping $699.58 million raised over the past month, with the biggest deals going to grocery service Instacart and food-waste startup Apeel Sciences for $225M and $250M respectively. There has also been a growth in a number of startups including those that offer plant-based and e-commerce solutions.
So which foodtech trends are gaining the interest of investors? We´ve broken them down into 4 main categories, including:
Cellbased
Three lab/cultured cell companies have raised capital in the past month, including BIOMILQ the all women-led startup that produces breast milk by culturing human mammary cells. Their team managed to raise $3.5m this week in funding as it continues to revolutionize the multibillion infant nutrition market.
Other cell-based investments included:
- Integriculture – $7.4M
- Cubiq Foods – $5.4M
Plant-based
Three plant-based startups led the funding rounds last month including;
- MycoTechnology – $39M
- DIAZ – $6M
- GOOD PLANet – $12M
It’s easy to see why the alternative food space is still trending. Its may be due to COVID-driven disruptions to the traditional meat market with meat factorys closing over health and safety concerns, as well as consumers driving a new demand for more sustainable-led solutions. Shoppers now have their eye on healthier products that offer the added benefit of being kinder to our planet.
Our partners at Eatable Adventures looked into this further in their webinar on the boom of alternative protein. You can check out the full video here.
Food waste
Food waste has been a popular space for years now, as consumers look for solutions to help the environment. In the past month three startups with three very different approaches to the problem secured investment. CleanCrop ionizes gasses around food post-harvest to reduce waste. Apeel sciences has developed a plant-based coating to extend foods shelf life, and last but not least Imperfect Foods sells boxes of produce that was too “ugly” for supermarket shelves.
- CleanCrop – $2.75M
- Apeel Sciences – $250M
- Imperfect Foods – $72M
Home-cooking
Three home cooking companies managed to raise funding in the past month;
- Drop – $13.3
- Tovala – $20M
- Spark Grill – $3.5M
With people confined to their homes, many consumers are looking for ways to making cooking that bit easier. Tovala markets itself as the meal service for “insanely busy people” but its also perfect for amateur cooks who need some help in the home-cooking department.