World Bank’s $30 billion plan, Galley raises $14 million: The Week in Agrifoodtech

Several restaurant tech companies made headlines this week, from Galley Solutions’ massive Series A fundraiser to TRAY’s multi-year deal with IHOP. Meanwhile, a carbon initiative in Africa snagged its first tranche of land restoration funding, and the World Bank unveiled plans to deal with the escalating global food security crisis.

Foodtech Funding

🇬🇧 Restaurant software platform Galley Solutions raises $14.2 million. Impact investor Astanor Ventures led the Series A round, which the San Diego-based Galley will use to drive product development and grow into new markets. (TechCrunch)

🇬🇧 Curated Food Delivery Platform Locale Closes $14M Round. The San Francisco-based company’s platform allows users to bundle items from multiple restaurants into a single online order. (Forbes)

🇦🇺 Fresho snags $14 million for market expansion. The Australian company’s platform allows restaurants to order products directly from suppliers. (The Australian Financial Report)

🇬🇭 Upcycling startup Koa raises $10 million. The startup recycles cocoa pulp from small farmers for use as a functional ingredient. (food ingredients first)

🇸🇬 Oddle Raises $5M in Pre-Series B Funding from Altara Ventures. The funds will allow the Singapore-based company to launch its restaurant tech platform in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Taiwan. (Technology in Asia)

🇬🇧 Foodsteps receives $4.1 million from Octopus Ventures to help food companies calculate and label their carbon footprint. Foodsteps will use the funds to expand its database, which currently has over 1,000 ingredients. (tech.eu)

🇨🇦 Evolved Meats lands $2 million to scale up its cultured meat, made without scaffolding or binders. Maple Leaf Foods led the round with participation from Big Idea Ventures. (Vegetarian)

🇬🇧 The Engine leads the $2 million pre-seed round for Hyfé Foods. The latter makes a high-protein mycelial meal from repurposed sugar water and plans to use the new funding to scale up its process and push commercialization. (Hyfe Foods)

Agtech Funding

🇬🇧 Stable, “home of hedging” for commodity farmers, banks with $60 million. The startup helps farmers participate in futures markets so they can offset the risk of volatile product prices. His round of Serie B was lead by a crew; include other investors Continental Grain Company and Syngenta. (Stable)

🇬🇧 Moa Technology secures £35m ($44m) Series B funding to bring next-generation herbicides to market. Lansdowne Partners, Oxford Sciences Innovation and Parkwalk Advisors co-led the investment in the Oxford-based startup, which is testing thousands of chemical processes to discover new modes of action. (AFN)

🇬🇧 Regrow Raises $38M in Round Led by Galvanize Climate Solutions. The US-based startup will use the Series B funds to expand its regenerative agriculture-enabling technologies to “key food-producing regions around the world.” (AFN)

🇬🇧 Mazen Animal Health Raises $11M Series A from AgFunder, Fall Line Capital and Others. The Iowa-based animal health startup makes an oral alternative to injectable vaccines for swine and poultry. (AFN) [Disclosure: AgFunder is AFN’s parent company.]

🇬🇧 Revoltech completes seven-figure seed round. The startup’s leather substitute, LOVR, is made from hemp fibers that are left over from the manufacture of CBD products. (veg economist)

Mergers and acquisitions, IPOs and partnerships

🇬🇧 J&J Snack Foods acquires Dippin’ Dots for $222 million. According to J&J Snack, the deal, which is expected to close in late June, will allow for the expansion of Dippin’ Dots’ cryogenic frozen ice cream products into new markets. (Food Business News)

🇨🇭🇧🇷 Nestlé is in talks to acquire Brazilian food maker Puravida for an undisclosed sum. Subject to the approval of the Brazilian antitrust authorities, the transaction is expected to close later in 2022. (Reuters)

🇬🇧🇬🇷 Ocado is buying Greek robotics company Myrmex for $10.2 million. Supermarket tech company Ocado says its acquisition of the startup will help speed up the order fulfillment process at its automated grocery fulfillment centers. (Reuters)

🇬🇧 Eat Just unveils plans for a commercial scale cultured meat facility. The start-up’s cultured meat division, Good Meat, has signed a multi-year contract with biotechnological process manufacturer ABEC to build 10 250,000 liter bioreactors. (just eat)

Other news

🌐 The World Bank announces response plan to the global food security crisis. It could include up to $30 billion in funding for existing and new projects in agriculture, food, social protection, water and irrigation. (World Bank)

🌍 The Restore Africa carbon initiative receives the first tranche of a $150 million package from Climate Asset Management. The program aims to restore two million hectares of land in six African countries by 2026 and support an additional 2 million small farmers. (Agriinvestor)

🇬🇧 Better nature gets £350,000 ($440,000) grant to make tempeh from upcycled food. Innovate UK provided the grant to Better Nature, which will combine its traditional fermentation process with new methods to create a plant-based tempeh. (Green Queen)

🇬🇧 Restaurant technology company TRAY signs multi-year deal to oversee IHOP locations. The cloud-based restaurant management system prevailed over 82 competitors in a three-year selection process. (AFN) [Disclosure: AFN’s parent company AgFunder is an investor in TRAY.]

🇬🇧 Tomorrow Farms is launching a new cruelty-free milk. The company’s first product uses Perfect Day’s fermented milk protein and will be available for shipment to US consumers in June. (milk reporter)

🇸🇬🇺🇸 Ai Palette expands into the US and launches a new food trend detection tool. US and Latin American companies such as Diageo, Cargill, Bauduccoand BRF are already using Ai Palette’s product development platform. (AFN) [Disclosure: AFN’s parent company AgFunder is an investor in Ai Palette.]

🇺🇸🇷🇺 Starbucks officially exits Russia, closing 130 stores. The coffee chain will support the approximately 2,000 affected workers by offering them six months’ wages and help in finding a job. (CNBC)

🇬🇧 Orbillion Bio claims its cultured meat will reach price parity with conventional meat by 2026. The San Francisco-based startup says it can operate “faster and cheaper” than other sophisticated companies. (Green Queen)

🇬🇧 Oishii opens vertical strawberry farm and lowers prices. The company’s high-end omakase berry now retails for $20 for 11 berries, up from $50 for eight. (Horti Daily)

🇬🇧 🇬🇧 🇹🇷 Instant food startups Getir, Zapp and Gorillas announce job cuts. The slowdown comes amid the technology downturn, which is cooling investor interest in the previously heavily funded instant food sector. (AFN)