Food Tech remained an attractive target for venture capital during the last quarter of 2020. According to data from PitchBook released last week, food tech companies raised a total of $4 billion during the quarter.
According to PitchBook, the pandemic spurred much of the continued investment in the food tech space as consumers adopted new behaviors around online grocery shopping as well as restaurant takeout and home delivery.
The strong finish to the year in food tech investment is not that surprising, given previous financial tracking. Last November, a report from Finestere Ventures, using PitchBook’s data, found that $8.37 billion had been invested in food tech companies throughout the first three quarters of 2020.
Other findings from PitchBook’s Q4 report include:
- Lab-grown meat companies raised more than $383 million in 2020
- Funding for cultivated agriculture companies hit a record $1.6 billion in 2020. Investment in that space is expected to accelerate this year.
- Increasing consumer demand for plant-based meat and dairy is expected to create annual growth rates in that sector of around 20 percent and revenues of around $3.3 billion in the U.S.
- Retailers have responded to the surge in online grocery with investments in technology that will, in turn, spur further e-commerce adoption.
These are all trends that we’ve been watching closely here at The Spoon. Cultured meat in particular has already seen a flurry of activity already in Q1 of this year. CellulaREvolution, Future Meat and Mirai Foods have all raised funding over the past month and a half. With Singapore having become the first country to approve the sale of cultured meat, expect more regulatory dominoes to fall and more investment in the space.
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