Startup news and deals
๐ฎ๐ณ๐พ Agrim, an Indian startup, raised $17.3M for its seed and input digital marketplace. Thousands of retailers, who were unfamiliar with online operations until now, use the marketplace to sell agricultural products.
๐บ๐ธ๐ฆ The Rounds, a US-based startup, raised $24M for its zero-waste grocery essentials and home goods refillable containers delivery service. It works on a subscription model, where consumers choose when they would like to see each time restocked.
๐ฉ๐ช๐ฟ Root, a German startup, raised โฌ8M for its โclimate operating systemโ for the food industry. It provides food companies with a software platform that helps them measure, reduce, and communicate their environmental impact across their entire value chain. While there were one or two startups in that field three years ago, it now feels quite crowded with the trend of startups having raised between 5 and 10 million. There is not enough space for all these players to create meaningful differentiation. Some form of consolidation will happen sooner rather than later.
๐ซ๐ฎย ๐ธย Solar Foods, the Finnish startup known for its biomass fermentation โtransformingโ CO2 into proteins, is planning for a โtechnical listingโ on Helsinkiโs stock market this month. This process is much less cumbersome than a traditional IPO.
๐บ๐ธ๐งฌ ZBiotics, an American startup, raised $12M for its genetically engineered probiotics, which target gut health, hangovers, and other health concerns.
๐บ๐ธ๐ฑ HabiTerre, an American startup, raised $10M in a round led by John Deere for its technology that monitors the environmental and productivity impact of farming activities.
๐ธ๐ช๐ฟ Nordic Seafarm, a Swedish startup, raised โฌ2.1M for its seaweed farming operations.
๐จ๐ฆ๐ New School Foods, a Canadian startup, raised $6M for its plant-based whole-cut salmon filets. It uses patented scaffolding to mimic the texture and mouthfeel of real fish.
Industry news & trends
๐ฏ๐ตย 7-Eleven, the Japanese world-famous convenience store chain, is the target of an unfriendly takeover bid from its Canadian competitor Couche Tard. Behind the M&A story is the fascinating story of kombinis (Japanese convenience stores) and their unique operations that have no equivalent in the rest of the world in terms of digitisation, automation, and supply chain.
๐ฅตย Interesting read on how we should start to prepare to live with temperatures of 40C and beyond. These levels, notably combined with humidity, mean that humans can cool themselves down. It implies to rethink everything in the way we live, and indeed the food supply chain and how we get and consume food.
