๐ย ๐จ๐ฟย Rohlik, a Czech startup, raised โฌ220M for its online grocery delivery supermarket. It is already active in four markets and looks to expand in three new countries (Spain, Romania and Italy). Money will be used to finance the automation of its operations.
While the attention is very much put on quick-delivery startups, more traditional grocery delivery ventures such as Rohlik, Picnic (in the Netherlands) and Oda (Norway) have each raised between โฌ300 to โฌ1B. The three are also moving toward more automation andโฆ Germany, which the three mention as one of their next markets to enter. As for quick-commerce (Europeโs biggest players are born in Berlin and have the biggest market shares there), it seems that Germany is the place to look at for the future of groceries.
๐ณย ๐ฌ๐งย Peckwater, a UK-based startup, raised ยฃ15M for its platform that helps restaurant and kitchen owners to become franchisees to its set of virtual brands. It uses technology to determine the ideal menu and improve performance in the kitchen operations. Is this kind of autopilot tool the future of the restaurant industry?
๐ ย ๐ฎ๐ณย WayCool, an Indian startup, raised $25M (as a part of a larger equity + debt $40M round)? The startupโs goal is to remove intermediaries and to connect quality farm-sourced products to various channels (notably retailers and restaurants).
๐ฟย ๐บ๐ธย ๐ธ๐ชย Symbrosia, a US-based startup, raised $7M to reduce cowsโ methane emissions by feeding them with seaweed (as an additive) with the participation of Danoneโs corporate VC. It will use the funding to build a facility to increase its seaweed production. Interestingly, the same week, Volta Greentech, a Swedish competitor announced that it was launching its low methane beef in supermarkets (with cows partially fed with seaweed). Following a study made by the startup, seaweed could help reduce methane by above 90%.
๐ย ๐บ๐ธย Current Foods, a US-based startup, raised $18M for its plant-based alternatives to tuna and salmon. Beyond this deal, not a week goes by without a new deal or product launch in seafood alternatives. If nuggets and milk were the products to substitute in 2021, it seems that seafood is the plant-based buzzword of 2022. Unfortunately, most of what we tasted wasโฆ underwhelming (to put it nicely).
๐ฅย ๐ฌ๐งย This, the UK plant-based brand raised ยฃ4M in a new crowdfunding campaign (and in less than 2 hours). This has certainly succeeded in one of the most difficult tasks for a food brand: creating a community of fans, something where most food startups and even larger CPG brands fail.
