IFA Berlin kicks off this weekend, and with it comes a slew of news about smart kitchen appliances, product integrations, and food innovation services than you can shake a stick at. We’ll be bringing you all the updates from Die Hauptstadt (The Capital, for non-German speakers), so keep checking back. Until then, we’ve rounded up a few food tech news stories that caught our eye this week — ones that we didn’t get to write posts for — just for you. Catch up over a stack of pancakes and kick off the long weekend in food tech style.
Photo: Soylent
Soylent launches food tech innovation lab
Meal-in-a-bottle company Soylent announced this week that it will create an innovation lab to foster early-stage food tech companies. Their website says that they hope to foster a community of entrepreneurs working towards the goal of feeding our growing population. Participants will get to work out of Soylent’s L.A. offices alongside their team; the site doesn’t seem to indicate other perks like access to investors or mentorship opportunities. Applications are open now.
Alexa can now get sate your donut craving
Dunkin’ Donuts announced this week that on-the-go mobile ordering is now available through Amazon Alexa. (h/t Restaurant News) DD Perks Rewards members can link their account to Alexa and use the voice assistant to place orders for their favorite donuts/coffee — then skip the line (or use the mobile-only drive-thru lane) to pick it up at their local Dunkin’.
Photo: Foodsby.
Foodsby raises Series B funding round
This week Minneapolis-based food delivery startup Foodsby raised a $13.5 million in Series B funding. Foodsby lets users pre-order meals from local restaurants, then aggregates the orders so restaurants can more efficiently prepare meals. They also don’t use their own drivers; instead, restaurants deliver the orders for a $1.99 fee. (Though it seems counterintuitive, they claim that this makes it easier for restaurants.) According to Crunchbase, this latest round brings Foodsby’s total funding to $20.4 million.
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