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Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Ag Tech

Soos Technology Wins $1M Prize in Grow-NY Competition

Israel-based Soos Technology, an animal agriculture technology start-up, was named the winner of the $1M prize for the Grow-NY food and agriculture competition this week. The competition was comprised of over 260 competitors from around the world and included the following runner-ups winners: SoFresh, Zetifi, Candidus, Halomine, Leep Foods, and PureSpace.

Soos Technology aims to disrupt the commercial egg hatchery industry through its incubation system. Through this system, the sex development of poultry embryos is influenced to change a genetic male chick to an egg-laying female. A variety of factors, including temperature, humidity, sound vibration, and carbon dioxide levels, are used to affect the gene expression responsible for the reproductive system.

SOOS - Egg sex determination

The commercial egg hatchery industry is notoriously cruel for male chicks. Since males cannot lay eggs and it takes too long to raise them to become the proper size for meat, male chicks are often culled as soon as they hatch. This means that 6 billion male chicks are culled each year; Soos Technology wants to end this waste of life, energy, water, and incubation space through its incubation system.  

Several countries like the U.S., France, Germany, and Canada aim to get rid of this standard industry practice and are trialing “in-ovo” sexing. The method involves determining the gender of the embryo long before the chick hatches in order to completely avoid the culling of male chicks. The male eggs would be removed from incubation and used for making vaccines and pet food. A Texas-based company, Ovabrite, is developing a technology that separates female and male eggs based on the sex-specific volatile molecules that leak from eggshells. Jerusalem-based eggXYT is implementing CRISPR gene-editing that would cause male eggs to glow under certain lighting.

With “in-ovo” sexing being trialed and Soos Technologies incubation system, it seems possible to end the culling of male chicks in the near future.

Thrive Containers Officially Launches Its Controlled Environment Farming System

St. Petersburg, Florida-based Thrive Containers officially launched operations this week for its controlled-environment farming technology, a hardware-software system for growing produce out of shipping containers. The company’s first model, dubbed the Ohio Farm Container Model, is built for growing leafy greens, according to a press release sent to The Spoon. 

Like other companies in the indoor ag space, Thrive builds its farms inside 40-foot-long shipping containers and grows plants vertically. Thrive uses the Flood and Drain hydroponic growing method for plants, which is exactly as it sounds. Plant roots are periodically “flooded” with nutrient-enriched water, which saturates the growth medium in which the plants sit. The nutrient solution is then drained, and the process is repeated, usually multiple times a day. 

Artemis’ (née Agrylist) provides the software to control those water cycles as well as the light “recipes” for the plants. Via a smartphone interface, growers can create planting schedules, control the climate inside the containers, track crop health, and detect food-safety issues.

Thrive is owned by Brick Street Farms, a company that recently partnered with Publix brand Greenwise to bring its container farms to grocery stores in Florida. Thrive hasn’t yet said if it plans to follow in its parent company’s steps and focus on grocery. Other potential use cases include bringing farms to schools, as Freight Farms has done, and locating them at food distribution centers, as Square Roots and Gordon Food Service have.

Thrive’s farms can currently grow a variety of lettuces and yield between about 5,000 and 12,000 pounds of greens annually, depending on the crop. Pricing for the Ohio starts at $127,500. For an additional cost, growers can add extra equipment like containers for cold storage and packing. Future models, including those designed to grow micro greens and cannabis, are listed on the company’s website, though specific release dates are yet to be revealed.

ADIO Invests $41M to Improve Farming on Land, at Sea, and in Space

The Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) announced today it will invest AED 152 million (~$41 million USD) across three ag tech companies to develop new ag tech innovations on land, at sea, and in space. According to a press release sent to The Spoon, ADIO has partnered with U.S.-based Nanoracks, India-based FreshToHome, and UAE-based Pure Harvest for the initiatives. 

ADIO said in today’s press release that the new partnerships will promote more innovation in ag tech specifically as it relates to food security challenges. One major issue highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic is the fragility of the global food system. In response, various countries, including Singapore, China, and those in the European Union, are fostering innovation at the government level in an effort to improve local food production, build more traceability into the supply chain, and establish more trust between consumers and food producers.

In the United Arab Emirates, one regionally specific challenge is growing more food in a desert climate, in which the ag industry deals with minimal water supply, non-arable land, and climate change issues like drought and rising temperatures. ADIO’s investments are in companies that can both assist in solving these regional challenges and address the issue of food security on a global scale.

Hence, space farming. Nanoracks, one of ADIO’s three new partners, uses the International Space Station and is building the first-ever space research program for ag tech. Its StarLab Space Farming Center in Abu Dhabi will research facility focused on food production both in space and in “equally extreme climates on Earth.” (Spoon readers will recognize Nanoracks as the company that made the Zero G oven, capable of baking cookies in space.)

ADIO’s FreshToHome partnership, meanwhile, will expand the latter’s operational and processing capabilities across land and sea in the UAE. FreshToHome operates an e-commerce platform for fresh produce and controls every point along the supply chain. ADIO said in today’s release that the partnership will also focus on innovations for fish farming and cold chain technology.

Finally, Pure Harvest will use the new partnership to advance its technology and processes for produce grown in controlled environments. That includes more artificial intelligence, robotics and automation, and machines optimized for desert temperatures. The company will also advance work on its commercial-scale algae bioreactor facility to grow Omega-3 fatty acids.

The new partnerships are part of ADIO’s AgTech Incentive Programme, which the Abu Dhabi Government’s Ghadan 21 Accelerator Programme established in 2019. Previous investments from the AgTech Incentive Programme include the $100 million (USD) investment ADIO made in April across four companies: AeroFarms, Madar Farms, Responsive Drip Irrigation, and RNZ.

Edible Garden Launches Crowdfunding Campaign for Its High-Tech Greenhouses

New Jersey-based indoor farming company Edible Garden has launched a crowdfunding campaign in the hopes of raising $1 million for its controlled-environment indoor farming operations that supply leafy greens and herbs to grocery retailers across the U.S. The campaign is currently live on crowd investment platform Republic, with $5,075 raised so far and 74 days left to go.

In a press release sent to The Spoon, the company said that funds raised via Republic will go towards further commercializing the company’s greenhouses and expanding its reach in terms of where it sells its produce. 

The company operates a controlled-environment greenhouse in Belvedere, New Jersey that utilizes tech to monitor things like temperature and humidity levels as well as help growers manage crop cycles. The software monitors these and other variables along the food supply chain for greater traceability of its products.

Edible Garden has additional farms nationwide through partnerships with growers, and its greens are already at over 5,000 stores nationwide. Meijer, Shop Rite, Target, Kroger, and Walmart, among many others, are listed as Edible Garden’s retail partners. 

Individuals can back Edible Gardens in different tiers, starting at a minimum of $100. Backers that contribute $250 or more get a Crowd SAFE agreement, which would enable them to receive a financial return “should the company ever sell or file for an IPO,” according to the press release. Other perks include sample of Edible Garden greens, including monthly and yearly supplies, depending on how much the individual invests. 

As with any campaign, backers assume a certain amount of risk investing in companies and projects via crowdfunding platforms, and there is no guarantee Edible Garden will sell or go public and therefore reward this campaign’s backers financially. In other words, caveat emptor.

That said, the last several months have seen a sizable uptick in activity and investment into the controlled-environment agriculture space. To name just a few, Revol Greens recently raised $68 million, AppHarvest nabbed $28 million, and Gotham Greens further expanded its high-tech greenhouses in the U.S. Those numbers are encouraging at a time when more consumers are expressing interest in locally grown food that is more traceable. However, controlled-environment ag as a sector has yet to economically prove its worth as a vital part of the food system, though it’s trekking in that direction.

For its part, Edible Garden will run its campaign until January 16, 2021.

The DFA CoLab Accelerator Is Now Taking Applications for All Things Dairy Tech

Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) announced this week that applications are open for its 2021 accelerator program, newly renamed the DFA CoLab Accelerator. Any early-stage food product company working in some portion of the dairy supply chain is welcome to apply, according to a press release sent to The Spoon.

The DFA, a decades-old cooperative of U.S. dairy farms, has run the accelerator program for the last five years, using it as a way for startups to get a foothold in agtech and for the dairy industry to keep an ear to the ground when it comes to new technologies and processes. The solutions that come out of this program showcase just how much milage the food industry could actually get out of dairy products. The 2020 cohort, unveiled last May, included, among others, a company that makes sustainable fashion from excess milk and one brewing up premium alcoholic spirits from whey.

“On the food front, the sky is really the limit as long as one of the main ingredients is dairy,” Doug Dresslaer, director of innovation at DFA, said in this week’s press release. 

To that end, the 2021 program is looking for early-stage companies that are “dairy-focused or dairy-based” and using “applications or technologies related to any portion of the dairy value chain.” Some areas include supply chain optimization, traceability, data management, herd health management, and sustainability. 

The 90-day program will be a mix of virtual and onsite training that takes place from April through June, 2021. Participants get mentorship opportunities with DFA executives as well as training around business development, finance, product development, brand building, supply chain logistics, and several other areas of running a business. 

Applications are open through December 29, 2020.

Arable Raises $20 Million Series B Round For Agriculture Data Collection Tools

Arable, which makes tools that collect and synthesize agricultural data, announced today that it raised $20 million in its Series B funding round. This round was led by San Francisco-based Prelude Venture Capital, and brings the company’s total funding to $38 million.

I spoke with the CEO of Arable, Jim Ethington, on the phone this week, and he said the company will use the new funding to expand globally and increase its teams in Brazil, Chile, and the U.S. Additionally, the funding will be used to continue the company’s efforts in R&D, including new undisclosed projects.

Arable’s proprietary tech is called the Arable Mark 2, which is essentially a frisbee-shaped disc with several sensors that attaches to a pole. This hardware can be set up by a farmer in as little as 5 minutes. The sensor is able to monitor important metrics like rainfall, humidity, soil moisture, plant temperature, solar radiation, wind speed and direction, and chlorophyll index to name a few. After this data is collected, a farmer can go onto Arable’s app to check these metrics. Additionally, the app can be set to send notifications for any information collected that is important or out of the ordinary.

There are a few other Agtech companies besides Arable focusing on using unique techniques for data collection. Hawaiian-based Sensei Ag has built a 10,000 sq.ft. greenhouse, and uses an AI platform to collect crop data and implement an algorithm for growing practices. InnerPlant recently launched its first sensor plant (a tomato plant) that is fed a particular protein, and using a camera with augmented reality, the plants appear to be a different color when stressed, under attack from pests, or dehydrated.

The Arable Mark 2 and the system that comes along with it start at $850 a year. This subscription includes the hardware, the app, service, and support.

Forager Partners With Roche Bros. To Make Local Food More Accessible

Forager, a procurement platform for sourcing local food, announced its partnership with Massachusetts-based Roche Bros. grocery store this week. Over 20 Roche Bros. and its subsidiaries in the Boston Metro area will be implementing Forager’s platform.

Forager forms relationships with local farmers, ranchers, fishers, and artisanal producers, and then streamlines the process of getting their products into stores. Local producers can update their inventory on a phone, and buyers from grocery stores can instantly see the price and amount of these items. Through the Forager program, local food and products go straight from the farm to the grocery store, rather than to a warehouse before heading off to the grocery store.

I spoke with Forager Founder, David Stone, this week about this recent partnership and Forager’s mission. Stone said that his company prefers focusing on partnering with smaller, independent grocery stores over the big players in the grocery game like Walmart or Amazon. By connecting smaller grocery stores with more local producers, this gives smaller stores a chance to compete with larger retailers and providers by attracting consumers that are specifically looking for local produce.

The demand for local produce surged at the beginning of the pandemic, and although it is unclear if this trend is still on an upward trajectory, companies have responded to it. Besides Forager, other companies have made an effort to connect consumers to local goods. Grubmarket raised $20 million in funding earlier this month for its virtual farmer’s market platform. This summer, Chipotle also launched a virtual farmer’s market so consumers can have access to local cheese, meat, and produce from its suppliers.

The Forager platform is currently being used in about 30 grocery stores in nine different states. The company is in discussion with about 10 other grocery stores for new potential partnerships.

Apeel Raises $30M to Help Smallholder Farmers Fight Food Waste and Access New Markets

Apeel, best known for its edible produce peel that extends the lifespan of fruits and vegetables, announced today it has raised $30 million in funding from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Temasek, and Astanor Ventures. The new funds will be used to help smallholder farmers both reduce food loss and gain access to higher-value markets for their produce.

For this initiative, Apeel is focused primarily on smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa, Mexico, Southeast Asia, and Central and South America. James Rogers, founder and CEO of Apeel, explained during a chat with me this week that in these regions, farmers face a two-pronged problem when it comes to growing and selling produce: time and access.

There is little in the way of cold chain infrastructre in many of these regions, which makes it virtually impossible to keep produce fresh long enough to go from farm to market without spoilage. This lack of cold chain operations is the main cause of food loss in these parts of the world. 

Apeel’s technology, of course, builds time into the food supply chain via its edible peel that coats fruits and vegetables and to keep them fresher longer. But as Rogers noted, that extended shelf life is only truly valuable to farmers if they have access to markets with buyers, which is the other part of the food waste problem for smallholder farmers. Up to now, a lack of extra time when it comes to produce lifespan has barred farmers from reaching buyers outside of local markets and as a result has limited any economic gain.

Apeel’s new funding will in part go towards alleviating that second hurdle. In addition to providing investment, IFC is also partnering with Apeel to create programs that will plug these smallholder farmers into the Apeel supply chain and give them access to markets in the U.S. and Europe, where the economic opportunities are higher.

By way of example, Rogers explained that a mango grown on a smallholder farm in Kenya might sell for 1 cent in a local setting. If that mango makes it to one of the country’s urban centers, it might sell for $1, bringing greater economic gains for the farmer. Getting the mango to even higher-value markets like the U.S. and Europe only increases the economic gains. 

In a sense, the one couldn’t exist without the other when it comes to the combination of Apeel’s technology and its IFC partnership that gives farmers access to exporters. As Rogers explained to me, the technology — that is, the edible peel that extends shelf life — builds more time into the supply chain, enabling the produce to reach exporters before it goes bad. “The time creates the access,” he said.

In more developed countries like the U.S., Apeel has made a name for itself partnering with major retail chains like Kroger and Walmart. The company also raised $250 million in May of this year.

But this latest fundraise and the IFC partnership is Apeel’s first major step into developing countries that experience food waste and loss in the earlier stages of the food supply chain — though such a move has been on the company’s radar for a long time. Rogers explained that when Apeel started a decade ago, one of its goals was to provide the same supply and demand opportunities for people in parts of the world that don’t have refrigeration and cold chain tech.

“[Food is] only valuable if the underlying infrastructure is there to make it valuable,” he said, adding that part of Apeel’s mission with this new fundraise is to “bring demand from some of the largest markets in the world and be able to make the world much larger for these smaller farmers.”

TeleSense Raises $10.2M for its IoT Crop Spoilage Prediction Platform

TeleSense, which uses IoT-enabled sensors to detect and predict crop spoilage, announced today that it has closed a $10.2 million Series B round of funding. The round was led by existing investor, Finistere Ventures with participation from Fulcrum Global Capital, UPL Ltd, Artesian and Mindset Ventures. This brings TeleSense’s total amount of funding to $17.5 million.

When we first wrote about TeleSense in 2018, it was focused on grain spoilage detection. Connected sensors placed in grain stores would monitor conditions like humidity and temperature to help farmers prevent spoilage.

But since then, the company acquired Dutch sensor company Webstech, and expanded TeleSense’s use case from just detection and more into prediction. TeleSense now combines it detection data with machine learning and AI to help maintain grain quality and optimize its path through the supply chain.

“Sensing temperature and humidity is nice, but that’s only part of the value,” Telesense CEO Naeem Zafar told my by phone earlier this month. “It’s beyond spoilage and more [about] operational efficiencies.”

To that end, TeleSense has also shifted its target customer. Initially, the company was going after farmers, but it has since shifted to focus more on large grain trading companies and co-ops. With its sensing and analysis technology, TeleSense can help predict how long to store grain and the optimal time to sell.

The company is also expanding into grain transportation. According to Zafar, dozens of grain barges catch fire because grains overheat. With its temperature monitoring, TeleSense sensors can help prevent this type of crop loss during transport.

In addition to prediction, Zafar said that TeleSense is also moving beyond grains and applying its technology to potatoes and other perishable commodities.

TeleSense is among a new crop of companies fighting food waste along the supply chain. Other players include companies like HWY Haul helps automate the trucking of produce, Silo aims to automate supply chain operations, and Strella Biotech, which uses IoT sensors on shipping palates to track produce freshness as it travels from farm to fork.

Headquartered in California, TeleSense also has offices in Australia and Europe.

Applications Are Open for THRIVE’s Ag Tech Accelerator Program

SVG Ventures’ THRIVE platform, which connects farmers, food tech companies, corporations, and investors, is now taking applications for Cohort VII of its THRIVE accelerator program. Typically, the program looks for seed-stage startups from all over the world whose solutions have a tech angle and aim to make the agricultural system more efficient, sustainable, and secure.

The upcoming cohort will run March through June, 2021, according to email from THRIVE sent to The Spoon. Selected companies will participate in the three-month-long program. Like other accelerator programs operating in the midst of the pandemic, Cohort VII will be a mix of virtual and onsite work, with the latter being in the Salinas and Central California growing regions.

THRIVE’s program looks for early- to growth-stage startups working in a number of different areas of food tech: robotics and automation, indoor farming, supply chain management, and biotech, to name a few. Trace Genomics, FarmWise, and Harvest Automation are a few notable alumni of the program. 

Admission to the program is competitive: THRIVE has said in the past it has an acceptance rate of less than 3 percent and pulls from an applicant pool of more than 500 startups from around the world. Of those, just eight are chosen to participate in the accelerator program.

Selected companies receive $75,000 investment ($37,500 in cash and $37,500 in program value). The program website notes there is opportunity for follow-on investment. Startups also receive mentorship opportunities and access to corporate partners and farmers via the THRIVE network. The program ends with a Demo Day at the annual Forbes AgTech Summit.

Separate from the accelerator program, this year SVG /THRIVE have also launched the THRIVE Global Initiative in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S Department of State. Through a series of “challenges” in different regions around the world, THRIVE will award startups for innovative solutions, beginning with the THRIVE Australia Challenge on December 17, 2020. Challenges in Canada and Africa will follow in 2021.

Meanwhile, the THRIVE accelerator program kicks off in March 2021. Applications are open until November 20, 2020.

Plenty Raises $140M to Expand Its Vertical Farming Operations

Vertical farming startup Plenty announced today it has raised a $140 million Series D round led by Softbank’s Vision Fund 1. The round also included participation from berry producer Driscoll’s, according to a press release sent to The Spoon. The investment brings Plenty’s total funding to date to $541 million.

The funding announcement comes mere days after Plenty announced a partnership with Driscoll’s to grow strawberries inside Plenty vertical farms. Part of this new investment will go towards that partnership, as well as Plenty’s collaboration with grocery retailer Albertsons and development on the company’s new farm in Compton, California.

Both the Driscoll’s and Albertsons partnerships mean Plenty’s produce will be available in more locations, especially California, where the company is headquartered. The Albertsons partnership, announced in August of this year, will put plenty greens in 431 of the retailer’s California stores. For the Driscoll’s partnership, Plenty will use its Laramie, Wyoming facility to grow the berry producer’s proprietary strawberry breed.

Plenty’s news follows other recent developments in the vertical/indoor farming sector that span commercial-scale farms, at-home gardens, and initiatives in the grocery store itself. Kalera, another massive vertical farming operation, announced Denver as the next city for its rapid expansion westward. Rise Gardens this week announced an investment from the Amazon Alexa Fund for its in-home hydroponic grow system, and last month, In-Farm raised $170 million to expand its network of vertical farming pods across more grocery stores. 

Less than one year ago, the vertical farming sector was expanding, but a lot of questions remained around the scalability of the concept and how appealing it could be to investors. The nearly constant stream of funding and product announcements in 2020 has sped up that expansion. Part of this is due to, yep, you guessed it, the pandemic. Disruptions in the food supply chain due to COVID-19 have consumers more interested than ever in where their food comes from, and having it grown closer to home is an increasingly attractive option. 

Amazon’s Alexa Fund Invests in At-Home Vertical Farming Company Rise Gardens

Rise Gardens announced today it has received an investment from the Amazon Alexa Fund that builds upon a $2.6M seed round Rise closed in May. The amount invested by the Amazon Alexa Fund was not disclosed.

According to a press release sent to The Spoon, the deal is both a collaboration and a cash investment that will “fuel new products, accessories and further R+D” for Rise Gardens.

The Chicago-based Rise is best known for its standalone console (roughly the size of a standard bookcase) that contains a hydroponic grow system for consumers at home. The system does most of the hard work—calculating nutrition and pH levels, knowing when and how much to water the plants—for the user, whom it notifies via a corresponding app.

Rise’s system is also modular, so it can be added to or subtracted from over time depending on how many greens your household consumes each week. Users can also grow beets and tomatoes in addition to leafy greens and herbs.

Rise raised $2.6 million in seed funding earlier this year; Amazon’s new investment is an extension of this seed funding, according to today’s press release.

Amazon’s investment in Rise sounds promising, not just for the company but for the entire vertical farming sector. To start, Rise CEO and founder Hank Adams hinted today at Alexa functionality for the Rise system: “Collaborating with the Alexa Fund will better enable us to integrate our smart, connected garden with Alexa, making indoor gardening even easier. We are also excited about the opportunity to work with Amazon to evolve and expand how we reach consumers with our device and consumables business concept,” he said. The details of that Alexa integration are scant as of now, but one imagines being able to ask Alexa about your plant’s pH levels or tell the speaker to adjust the light mixture. On the flip, Rise could notify users via Alexa when it’s time to water the plants.

There’s no question that consumer-grade vertical farms are still a pretty niche product right now, since many of them cost more than the average person can easily afford. (Rise’s single unit console starts at $549.) But the pandemic and accompanying disruptions to the food supply chain have undoubtedly increased folks’ desire to control more of what they eat, which has led to an influx of new devices. From Gardyn’s stylish take on at-home farming to consumer electronics companies like LG building them into the kitchen, vertical farming is definitely making its way into the home. 

Amazon, of course, wants to control your entire home, including your kitchen, so it’s not surprising the Seattle tech giant would partner making at-home vertical farming products. As well, the company has made forays into the gardening space before, like this patent from 2017. Amazon knowing what types of plants you are growing can fuel its selling machine to recommend recipes and other groceries.

Like it or not, Amazon’s moves in food tech tend to influence others, which means the collaborations and products that come out of the Rise partnership will influence the future of at-home vertical farming for everyone.