Recent Developments in Agriculture Technology and Funding
Farmers Business Network, commonly referred to as FBN, has recently secured a significant investment of $50 million from GV, Temasek, and other notable investors. This funding will primarily be utilized to enhance its AI platform for agricultural intelligence. In another exciting development, Calo, a food delivery service based in Saudi Arabia, raised an impressive $39 million in its Series B round.
In other news, vertical strawberry farming company Oishii has announced plans to open a new research and development facility in Japan. Additionally, Pina Earth and Tree.ly have merged, establishing Europe’s largest forest carbon market. In an intriguing branding shift, Beyond Meat has decided to omit “meat” from its brand name moving forward.
Funding Highlights
Here’s a summary of recent funding activities in the agricultural technology sector:
- 🇺🇸 Farmers Business Network secures $50 million to develop products and AI tools (Precision Risk Management)
- 🇸🇦 Calo raises $39 million Series B extension to boost global growth (Wamda)
- 🇨🇦 4AG Robotics raises $29 million Series B to expand autonomous mushroom harvesting technology (AgFunderNews)
- 🇬🇷 Greek FoodTech innovator StiQ secures €20 million for its “Virtual Kitchen” platform (EU Startups)
- 🇮🇪 Irish-founded FloVision raises $8.7 million to bring AI to global food production (Business Post)
- 🇨🇿 Mewery secures $3.3 million in government grants to scale up cultivated pork (Green Queen)
- 🇳🇱 MUCHgroup raises €375,000 to scale shiitake-based meat alternatives in foodservice (Vegconomist)
- 🇺🇸 TRIC Robotics plans aggressive fleet expansion across California’s strawberry fields, fueled by fresh funding (AgFunderNews)
Mergers, Acquisitions & Partnerships
Notable mergers and acquisitions in the agri-tech sector include:
- 🇩🇪 🇦🇹 Pina Earth and Tree.ly merge to create Europe’s largest forest carbon platform (Tech.eu)
- 🇺🇸 WisdomTree to acquire Ceres Partners, a premier U.S. farmland investment manager (Wisdom Tree)
- 🇯🇵 🇳🇱 DENSO acquires Axia Vegetable Seeds for sustainable agriculture initiatives (Denso)
- 🇺🇸 Growers Edge acquires FarmTest (FinSMEs)
- 🇳🇱 🇨🇳 Prosus offloads $250 million stake in Chinese food delivery giant Meituan (Deal Street Asia)
- 🇺🇸 🇧🇷 Cargill to acquire a Brazilian feed producer (World Grain)
People Moves
Recent changes in leadership include:
- 🇺🇸 Sound Agriculture CEO Adam Litle steps down (LinkedIn)
- 🇺🇸 AgriNovus Indiana announces changes to its board of directors (AgriNovus)
Other Noteworthy News
Additional significant updates from the industry include:
- 🇺🇸 Beyond Meat rebrands, dropping the term ‘meat’ from its name (Fast Company)
- 🇯🇵 🇺🇸 Square Roots launches Sage, an AI copilot for indoor farmers (iGrow News)
- 🇺🇸 Friends & Family Pet Food Company receives Singapore approval for cultivated meat (Green Queen)
- 🇬🇧 Automated vertical farming startup Vertical Future is up for sale following a $13 million loss (AgFunderNews)
- 🇨🇳 China supports the introduction of laser weeders with a new robot, Hg LaserWeeder (Future Farming)
- 🇧🇷 Brazil installs its first in-ovo sexing machine: a major milestone for the Latin American egg industry (Innovate AnimalAg)
- 🇺🇸 Ahimsa Companies invests $12 million into an Ohio plant, supporting the alternative meat sector (AgFunderNews)
- 🇧🇪 FlyBlast files for bankruptcy, citing challenges in the cultivated meat sector (AgFunderNews)
- 🇯🇵 🇺🇸 U.S.-based indoor strawberry grower to establish R&D facility in Japan (Nikkei Asia)
- 🇩🇪 Bayer submits a novel herbicide for regulatory approval across multiple regions including the U.S. and EU (The Packer)
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