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Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Funding

Cooks Venture Raises $12M to Spread Regenerative Agriculture through Heirloom Chickens

Today regenerative agriculture company Cooks Venture announced the close of a $12 million senior secured financing round provided by AMERRA Capital Management.

Founded by Matthew Wadiak, the ex-COO of meal kit company Blue Apron, Cooks Venture is an agtech company selling slow growth heirloom chickens with the lofty goal of saving the planet through regenerative agriculture. As we wrote this spring just after the company’s launch:

Chickens are just the first step for Cooks Venture, whose end goal is to show how regenerative agriculture can slow — or even stop — climate change by sequestering carbon in soil. Next up, they’ll start raising and selling cattle, pigs, and vegetables, all sustained on the same plot of land as the chickens.

For now, Cooks Venture has a farm in Arkansas where it raises its chickens and two poultry processing facilities. Their heirloom chickens cost $15 to $20 and are available through the Cooks Venture website as well as FreshDirect (in the Northeast) and Northern California meat distributor the Golden Gate Meat Company.

On the surface, Cooks Venture’s process might not seem all that unusual. Create a farm that grows crops which can be used to feed chickens, all on the same land. What’s so radical about that?

What you might not know (as this author did not) is that the vast majority of American farmland is dedicated to growing crops — often in huge quantities — that are not destined to feed humans, but to feed animals or produce fuel. In order to grow such large quantities of a single crop quickly, farmers often have to rely on agricultural companies which sell seeds that require inputs like fertilizer and herbicides. That isn’t good for us, or the planet.

Regenerative agriculture, on the other hand, looks at soil microbiology plan which crops to grow and sequester carbon in the process. Wadiak argues that it’s more economically viable than relying on seed companies for constant inputs of fertilizer, pesticide, and the like. “It’s a trifecta of wins: for farmers, for us, and for consumers,” Wadiak told me over the phone earlier this week.

So why isn’t everyone growing their food regeneratively? Corn and soy subsidies are partly to blame, but according to Wadiak, the real reason regenerative agriculture isn’t more widespread is because, well, people just aren’t doing it. At least, not at scale.

Wadiak is confident that Cooks Venture can demonstrate that regenerative agriculture is a viable option through its use of technology. The company employs heat unit mapping and data science to predict which crops will grow best in which soil.

Cooks Venture is growing quickly for company that only started a few months ago — they now have over 100 employees — but Wadiak knows that they have a long way to go. “We’re working on multi-multi-year systems,” he said, referring to the timeline for the company to install its regenerative agriculture plan.

That’s where the new funding will come in. Cooks Venture will use it to renovate and expand its 800-acre poultry processing facility to handle up to 700,000 chickens per week. It will also use its new capital to partner with agroecologists in order to develop new sustainable agriculture practices.

Indian Food E-Commerce Startup FreshToHome Raises $20M Series B

Today Bangaluru, India-based startup FreshToHome announced that it had raised a $20 million Series B round led by Iron Pillar with Joe Hirao and others participating (via TechCrunch). The startup raised an $11 million Series A in May, bringing its total amount of funding raised to $33 million.

FreshToHome is an e-commerce platform that sells fresh food — like vegetables, seafood, and meat — directly to consumers in nine Indian cities. It puts special emphasis on the fact that none of its products have any chemicals and its meat is antibiotic-free. The company will use its new capital to expand further into India and the UAE and add new products to its platform.

This hefty fundraise speaks to the massive potential for food innovation startups in India. Lately we’ve been seeing a lot of investment action in the country, especially in food delivery. There are already two Indian food delivery unicorns, Swiggy and Zomato, both of whom have been racking up significant investment lately to combat competitors like Amazon and UberEats. Cloud kitchen services are growing to support the spread of delivery: Box8 and Faasos have had significant raises within the past year. There are also quite a few Indian grocery delivery services, including e-grocer Big Basket which joined the unicorn club this May.

The interest is likely spurred by increasing income levels in India as well as the global rise in demand for convenience and the proliferation of online ordering. By placing FreshToHome’s particular emphasis on chemical-free products, FreshToHome is also tapping into consumers’ growing interest in food transparency, especially in India where fish from markets are sometimes treated with chemicals to make them appear fresher.

Of course, as food tech investment heats up, so does the competition. With two significant fundraises in the past three months, FreshToHome seems to be trying to strike while the iron is hot and expand their footprint before the Indian fresh food delivery space gets too crowded.

Verb Energy Raises $3.5M to Build Out its Text-Based Commerce Platform

Verb Energy, makers of the eponymous energy bars, announced today via press release that it has raised a $3.5 million round of funding led Global Founders Capital, with Nebari Ventures, Great Oaks, Supernode, FJ Labs participating. This brings the company’s total amount of funding raised to $5 million.

In addition to further developing its line of green-tea powered caffeine energy bars, the new money will go towards building out the company’s text-based commerce platform. We first covered Verb last year, writing about the company’s use of humans — not chatbots — to process orders:

The company’s CTO built the text ordering platform using payment processor Stripe, which allows customers to simply text when they want their next box of Verb bars. But instead of automating the chat process, each text is answered by one of the co-founders through an online dashboard.

At that time, we questioned whether or not Verb would be able to keep up that human touch as the company scaled. While the company isn’t providing specific numbers with the funding news, it says that it more than tripled its subscriber base last quarter and that Verb processes millions of text messages annually. According to today’s press announcement, Verb said it “treat[s] all of our customers like real people and engage actively with them over text message,” but stopped short of saying that an actual human handles every order. We reached out for clarification.

UPDATE: Verb replied with the following statement via email: “Our order notification system is mostly automated, but our Customer Experience team oversees all customer conversations and responds to questions, dog pictures, and other comments with a personal touch.”

Verb is not the only burgeoning CPG company using text messaging as a commerce platform. Dirty Lemon, which makes bottled water with unconventional ingredients like charcoal and collagen, built its hip brand on the back of text-based ordering. Dirty Lemon received $15 million in funding from Coca-Cola at the end of last year.

Verb still has a ways to go before it reaches Dirty Lemon’s size, but with today’s fundraise, Verb should have the energy to scale up accordingly.

Kencko Raises $3.4M Seed Round for Powdered Fruit and Vegetable Packets

Kencko, a nutrition startup making direct-to-consumer packets of powdered fruits and vegetabes, announced today that it has raised $3.4 million in seed funding. The round was led by NextView Ventures, Kairos Ventures, Techstars, LocalGlobe, Max Ventures, and more.

My colleague Jenn Marston wrote about New York- and Lisbon-based Kencko last year:

Kencko’s current product is simply fruits and vegetables in powdered form, which consumers then mix with water and drink. It’s not a meal replacement like Soylent, but rather, an alternative to whole fruits and veggies that manages to keep nutritional elements intact.

So basically it’s powdered produce that, when mixed with water or milk, makes something between a cold-pressed juice and a smoothie.

Currently Kencko makes its packets in six blended flavors, like so-called “purples” (which includes blackberry, blueberry, raspberry, cranberry, banana, strawberry and dates) and “greens” (which has spinach, kale, kiwi, pineapple, apple, banana and ginger). By flash-freezing and slow drying its produce, Kencko can purportedly retain all of the vitamins and fibers of its ingredients. Each 20-gram packet contains two of the recommended five-a-day servings of fruits and vegetables and has a shelf life of nine months.

Kencko CEO and co-founder Tomas Froes told me over the phone that they plan to use the funding to become fully plant-based. That includes the material used for making the packets themselves. Froes said that they want to exchange the plastic they currently use for a compostable alternative. They’ll also use the new capital to add more flavors to their lineup.

Kencko is currently only available via the company’s website in packages of 3, 20, and 60, which will cost you $16, $60, and $130, respectively. Each shipment comes with a reusable plastic water bottle.

That shakes out to $2-$5 per packet, which isn’t super cheap. However, it starts to look prettyyyy reasonable when compared to pricey cold-pressed juices and smoothies, which can set you back at least $10 per serving.

Kencko also has the added appeal of convenience. Its packets are shipped directly to consumers and can hang out in a cabinet or desk drawer for months until you need them. “We’re not replacing cold-pressed juice or smoothies,” Froes elaborated. “We’re adding another layer of convenience to them at a better price point.”

For now, Froes said they’re happy sticking with the D2C model. “Consumers are getting a better experience through us,” he explained. But I actually think the grocery store would be an opportune sales channel. Imagine checking out at the supermarket and, alongside the Snicker’s bars and Doublemint gum, there’s a packet of freeze-dried fruits and vegetables ready to be turned into an afternoon pick-me-up. I’d definitely be tempted to grab one, especially if I realized I’d been lax about eating my veggies that day.

Kencko seems to be unique in terms of its dehydrated produce packets. But it won’t necessarily be for long. With its new funding, Kencko would be smart to continue diversifying its offerings and retail options to keep ahead of the pack.

Nez Scores £2M for its Discounted Lunch Discovery App Targeting Office Workers

Today nez, a London, U.K.-based app that helps users find food and drink deals, announced that it had raised £2 million (~$2.54 million) in funding from investors including Martin Robinson, the chairman of Burger King U.K. (tip via tech.eu). This brings the company’s total amount of funding to £3 million (~$3.8 million)

Founded in 2016, nez is an app that features real-time deals to local restaurants, bars and cafes that are no more than a 15 minute walk away from the users’ current location. Specifically, it targets busy office workers who want to spice up their daily lunch routine beyond the same old ham-and-cheese sandwich.

On its website, nez describes itself as “the chalkboard for the digital age.” But while a sidewalk chalkboard proclaiming discount burritos can only draw in people who happen to stroll by, nez can actively push out deals out to all nearby app users and attract more restaurant footfall.

It also offers a companion app for foodservice partners (separate from nez’s consumer-facing one) to help them track purchases and get customer feedback, and has a service called nez perks, which lets employers give workers virtual “credits” which translate into discounts at local bars and restaurants. Users also earn points whenever they redeem a nez deal, which can accrue to help them get bigger discounts at their favorite spots.

Recently there has also been a new crop of companies trying to connect office workers with cheaper, better lunch options. Mealpal offers discounted lunch subscription options for pickup at local restaurants. Peach is similar, but lets users get their discounted lunch options delivered to the office. Perhaps most akin to nez, Feedback and Gebni let restaurants offer dynamic menu pricing (though only the latter has delivery).

Nez is smart to target the office lunch crowd. It’s easy to fall into a rut with picking up the same old chicken salad day after day from the place around the corner once noon hits. By offering a discovery aspect, nez can satisfy diners’ hunger for new lunch options nearby and also help food establishments — especially smaller, under-the-radar ones — attract new customers and incentivize them to keep coming back. One challenge is that nez doesn’t seem to offer any sort of delivery, so they’re counting on workers taking the time to get up and pick up their lunch, which might eliminate some busier or lazier diners.

According to tech.eu, nex claims to have 150,000 users who have redeemed 385,000 food and drink deals through the service. It currently works in eight London neighborhoods.

Update: Amazon to Invest in Deliveroo

UPDATE: Deliveroo confirmed this funding via press release sent out today. From that announcement:

  • Amazon is set to be the largest investor in Deliveroo’s Series G funding round
  • Deliveroo is raising a total of $575MM with participation from Amazon alongside existing investors T Rowe Price, Fidelity Management and Research Company, and Greenoaks
  • Deliveroo will invest heavily in expanding the company’s tech team at its UK Headquarters, expand further to reach new customers, and continue innovating through its delivery-only super kitchens, “Editions”

Original post:

Amazon is in negotiations to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in UK-based food delivery service Deliveroo, according to a report in Sky News. If true, Amazon’s money would be part of a larger £450 million (~$575M USD) fundraise by Deliveroo.

Deliveroo has raised close to a billion dollars already, and Sky’s sources were unable to peg a clear valuation on the company if this new round goes through. Deliveroo was valued at $2 billion during its last round of funding a year and a half ago.

For Amazon, this deal is basically an if-you-can’t-beat-’em-buy-into-’em strategy. In November of last year, Amazon shuttered its Amazon Restaurants delivery service in the UK after two years of trying to break into that market. As my colleague, Catherine Lamb wrote at the time:

Despite its big name and massive reach, it seems Amazon Restaurants couldn’t compete against existing food delivery companies in the U.K. like Deliveroo and Uber Eats. Since 2013, Deliveroo has carved out a sizable chunk of the U.K. food delivery market and become one of the fastest-growing tech companies in Europe. The company also differentiates themselves with their Editions project: geographically-targeted hubs of delivery-only cloud kitchens Deliveroo began rolling out in 2017.

Speaking of Uber Eats, Deliveroo’s reported fundraise comes on the heels of Uber’s IPO. Though Uber’s IPO was anemic, it still raised $8.1 billion that will help fuel Uber Eats’ expansion to 700 cities from the current 500.

Additionally, Uber is looking to expand into other food verticals, including cloud, or “ghost” kitchens, that would house delivery only restaurants that are only available on the Uber app. The company has even reportedly started leasing space in Paris to build out such a ghost kitchen.

This move into the virtual restaurant game would then pit Uber Eats against Deliveroo not only for restaurant delivery dominance, but also makes a play for Deliveroo’s own ghost kitchen program: Deliveroo Editions.

An influx of cash (sprinkled in with some Amazon-style know-how), then, puts a few more arrows in Deliveroo’s quiver to put up a bigger fight. Or, as my colleague, Catherine pointed out, bring the fight to the U.S., where Deliveroo isn’t active yet.

*The headline for the original version of this post said Amazon invested hundreds of millions in Deliveroo when that was still the report. We updated the headline to more accurately reflect the story.

Hybrid VC Firm Big Idea Ventures Wants to Scale the Alternative Protein Revolution

We hear a lot about plant-based startups raking in big funding dollars — cough, Impossible Foods, cough — but not a lot about the companies investing in them.

One such company working to fund the alternative protein revolution is Big Idea Ventures (BIV). Helmed by Andrew Ive, formerly of food innovation accelerator Food-X, Big Idea Ventures is a hybrid venture firm with a VC arm and accelerator program.

It tore onto the scene a few weeks ago when it closed its first fund: the New Protein Fund, which now stands at roughly $50 million. “It’s the first and largest plant-based accelerator fund,” Ive told me over the phone last week.

The fund is backed by giants like Tyson Foods and Temasek, the Singaporean government’s VC arm. It will focusing heavily on plant-based protein startups, Ive said they’re are allocating 5 to 10 percent of their money for cell-based endeavors.

That makes it all the more interesting that they chose to make their first investment cultured shrimp company Shiok Meats. Ive told me that they were drawn in by the Singaporean startup’s product focus: crustaceans. He believes that the flavor and texture of cultured shrimp will be easier to commercialize than, say, beef or chicken. I’m not sure if that’s true, but it is impressive that Shiok Meats, which is less than a year old, has already done an (apparently successful) taste test of its minced “shrimp” in dumpling form.

BIV is also launching physical accelerator programs in two locations: New York City (to launch in Q3) and Singapore (to launch in Q4). Mike Lightman, Managing Partner of BIV, told me that they plan to accept 8 to 10 companies per cohort and do two cohorts per year. All accepted startups will receive $250,000 in funding, a space to work, and mentorship from their entrepreneurs in residence in exchange for a convertible note. Once the program is over, BIV will allocate $1 to $3 million among the top-performing companies. Over the next four years, Ive said that BIV is hoping to back around 100 companies.

In a lot of ways, this accelerator follows the typical script: young startups get funding and advice in exchange for a portion of their company. But BIV’s program diverges in a few ways. Firstly, it’s five months long as opposed to the more traditional three-month programs like Y Combinator and Food-X, which Ive found was too short to really help a company grow. BIV also has a full kitchen in their accelerator space, so startups can actually work on developing/scaling their products in-house. Finally, with their dual presence in Asia and the U.S. (with plans to expand into Europe sometime in the future), Lightman also noted that they can help reduce opportunity costs for entrepreneurs by giving them ready access to multiple markets.

BIV is entering the scene at a time when every major company and their mother seems to be launching a new accelerator. For mega CPG companies, like General Mills, Danone, and Kraft-Heinz, they’re a relatively easy way to discover new companies for acquisition and keep a finger on the pulse of what’s new and “hip.”

With this in mind, it’s not hard to see why Tyson and Temasek want to get in on an alternative protein accelerator.

Tyson has set out to become the number one provider of protein, no matter the source. It has invested widely in both plant-based and cell-based meat companies, including Memphis Meats, FutureMeat, and, up until recently, Beyond Meat. They’re also developing their own line of plant-based proteins set to launch this summer. Through their involvement in the BIV accelerator, Tyson will have access to a wide range of innovative new alternative protein companies, which they can try to acquire or just use to gain inspiration.

For Temasek’s part, Singapore has been quite progressive in pushing for innovation the alt-protein space. Through its new RIE2020 plan, the city-state will invest over $100 million in foodtech endeavors like cultured meat and microbial protein production. Temasek can use BIV’s cohorts to attract promising new alt-protein startups to Asia; which we’ve already predicted will be a hotbed for cell-based meat.

TL;DR: If you’re curious about what new companies are shaking up the alternative protein space, keep an eye on what Big Idea Ventures is up to. Another good way to stay up to date is to subscribe to our Future Food newsletter! You’ll get a weekly dose of in-depth analysis on the plant-based and cultured protein landscape.

If you’ve got a plant- or cell-based startup of your own, you can apply for BIV’s inaugural accelerator program here.

Ocado Leads $9M Seed Round in Food Robotics Company, Karakuri

U.K. based online grocer Ocado announced today that it has acquired a minority stake in London-based food robotics company, Karakuri. Ocado’s investment led a $9.1 million seed round in Karakuri, which also included Hoxton Ventures, firstminute Capital and Taylor Brothers.

Karakuri makes two different food robots: The DK-One, a more industrial robot that can assemble (not cook) 48 ingredients into ready-to-go meals on a mass scale in commercial kitchens; and the Marley, which is a smaller scale machine meant for applications like candy stores and frozen yogurt dispensing and topping.

Ocado is no stranger to robots: the company uses them to power its smart, automated warehouses, where totes on rails bundle up grocery orders for delivery. With the minority stake in Karakuri, Ocado appears to be setting itself up to expand this robot-powered automation into other forms of food delivery. From Ocado’s press announcement:

The [DK-One] can be used in the assembly of all boxed meals, using a configurable, modular design which can easily be installed in-store or in “dark kitchens”, and can aggregate up to 48 food items to create a wide range of food-to-go options.

Dark kitchens (restaurants that are delivery only) in particular are an interesting avenue for Ocado/Karakuri. Not only could a dark kitchen automate order assembly quickly, but the restaurant could then subscribe to Ocado’s logistics and delivery service to manage and optimize getting those orders to customers. This would mean more revenue for Ocado and also more data, giving the company insight into what, when and where people are ordering different restaurant meals.

Ocado also said it would tie Karakuri’s robots into its existing grocery service, which makes me wonder they will be used for something akin to customized meal kits, or even prepared food that customers could shop for as part of their daily or weekly shopping.

As we saw at our ArticulATE conference last month, automation is invading almost every part of the food stack. Here in the U.S. companies like Takeoff, Alert Innovation and Common Sense Robotics are creating robot-powered micro-fulfillment centers for grocery stores to speed up online order processing. Kroger, which is an investor in Ocado, is building out Ocado-powered smart fulfillment centers here in the U.S. to speed up its own grocery fulfillment and delivery. Will that now include Karakuri robots?

Ocado said that it would take delivery of its first Karakuri robot in the second half of this year. For its part, Karakuri said it will use the new money to further develop its technology, “strengthen its IP base,” and expand its team.

Beyond Meat Prices Its Public Offering, Could Be Valued at $1.2 Billion

Beyond Meat, maker of plant-based chicken, crumbles, and burgers, just set the terms of its initial public offering.

According to a regulatory filing, the El Segundo, California-based startup could raise as much as $184 million for its IPO. Beyond plans to offer 8.75 million shares priced between $19 and $21 each. If it follows through, the company would be valued at as much as $1.21 billion.

Additionally, the filings show that Beyond’s losses shrank while its revenue grew. In 2018, Beyond lost $29.9 million on revenues of $87.9 million. This is down/up from 2017, when the company lost $30.4 million on revenue of $32.6 million.

This makes sense, as Beyond continued its expansion at grocery stores across the U.S. throughout 2018, launched an R&D new center and added a second production facility to keep up with white-hot demand for alternative protein.

Beyond Meat has raised $122 million, and it’s not just the company’s investors (which include Cleveland Avenue, DNS Ventures, Tyson Foods and celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio and Bill Gates) watching this IPO closely. Beyond could be a bellwether for other startups and established players in the alternative protein space.

For example: Beyond Meat rival, Impossible Foods, has raised $387.5 million and its ability to go public will be impacted by the success or failure of Beyond’s offering. Additionally, Big Food companies have been upping their investment in alternative proteins: Nestlé is rolling out several new alterna-meat products, Unilever bought the Vegetarian Butcher, and Canadian meat processor Maple Leaf Foods acquired Lightlife and Field Roast. A Beyond Meat bummer on the public market could chill some of the investment heat the sector has.

Beyond no doubt knows the responsibility that’s on its shoulders: not only to its employees and investors but also to the plant-based food space on the whole. And since it announced that it would go public last November, it has been hustling to make sure the IPO goes well. The company has accrued a possé of celebrity endorsers, brought on big name fast-food restaurant partnerships like Carl’s Jr. and Del Taco, released a new version of its Beyond Meat recipe, announced a new ground version of its “meat” to be released this year, and is also prepping new category products like sausage patties. Just today, Beyond announced that it will be on grocery shelves in Canada starting next month.

CNN reports that Beyond plans to start trading in early May, and needless to say all eyes (including ours) will be on that debut.

Jumprope Raises $4.5M for Guided Cooking through GIFS

As a teen I was briefly obsessed with making a very complicated, cream puff-heavy pastry called a croquembouche. I tried to make it using text-heavy cookbooks and bad internet photos, but to no avail.

Maybe if guided cooking service Jumprope had been around I would have fared better. The startup creates how-to slideshow videos showing you how to do everything from makeup looks to crafting to cooking. It already has a mobile site and just launched its iOS app yesterday — at the same time it announced a $4.5 million seed round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners (h/t Techcrunch).

Jumprope is pretty similar to most guided cooking apps. You can search for and select a recipe, after which you can see a visual ingredient list and click through the various recipe steps, each of which has a gif for reference.

Guided cooking has been gaining momentum over the past few years. There’s Innit and SideChef, Allrecipes, Yummly, and Project Foodie, to name a few. Companies like Amazon and Google are also making smart displays to bring guided cooking (and their smart speakers/devices) into the kitchen.

In fact, Jumprope, which was founded in 2017, is kind of late to the game (though admittedly they’re offering how-to’s for a lot more than cooking). But what could set Jumprope apart is its UX, which reminded me a lot of cooking how-to videos on Instagram from companies like Buzzfeed Tasty or Bon Appetit. Each how-to bit is illustrated with a short gif on a loop. It’s also super low-touch: no fancy paired induction cooktop or pan required — just a smartphone.

Youtube tutorials get billions of views teaching people how to do, well, everything. Jumprope is streamlining that process and chopping it up into little bite-sized gifs, so you can easily fast forward or rewind, even with greasy fingers. It also gets all its content from users, meaning it’s likely cheap to produce and easy to get a ton — though the quality of said content won’t necessarily be great.

I could see Jumprope integrating with an e-commerce service like Instacart or Amazon Fresh to make their recipes shoppable. That would mean users could decide to make meatballs, order all the ingredients for delivery that day (cause millennials love convenience), then cook them, all from one app.

It’s too soon to tell if Jumprope will be able to compete in the how-to cooking space with giants like Instagram or more established startups like SideChef and Innit. But I’m betting it will be a hit with millennials and especially Gen Z who are friendly with other gif-ified networks like Snapchat.

Here’s hoping they add a how-to gif guide for croquembouche…

ezCater Raises $150M to Expand Global Catering Marketplace

Today, online catering marketplace ezCater announced it’s closed a $150 million Series D-1 round, co-led by Lightspeed VenturePartners and GIC.

This comes nine months after ezCater raised a $100 million Series D round. It brings the catering giant’s total funding to $320 million and puts them at a $1.25 billion valuation, making them a food tech unicorn. And as far as we’re aware, they’re the first food tech catering unicorn.

In addition to raising some serious funds, ezCater has been on the expansion path this past year. In July 2018 the Boston-based company expanded globally by acquiring Paris-based online catering platform GoCater. And just last week, they acquired MonkeySoft Solutions, a software company which helps restaurant operators increase off-premise sales through training and data insights.

Currently, over 60,000 restaurants and caterers use ezCater’s platform worldwide. According to a press release sent to the Spoon, the latest raise will help ezCater expand their global operations.

It’s a big day for corporate catering companies, apparently. Hungry, the online marketplace which connects independent chefs with business catering opportunities, raised $8 million.

Which, compared to $150 million, might not sound all that significant. However, it goes to show that the growth in the catering market isn’t slowing down anytime soon, especially as more and more tech companies offer free food perks to entice employees.

In the past year, both ZeroCater, Chewse, Oh My Green and Platterz raised double-digit million dollar rounds. In the U.K., Feedr raised £1.5 million (~$1.92M USD). At the same time, there’s also been some consolidation and reduction in the space. Square acquired Zesty, EAT Club acquired Farm Hill and Peach laid off 33 percent of its staff.

ezCater’s massive funding round shows that the catering space is likely to see some more big investments — and big shakeups — in the next year, too.

Frozen Plant-Based Meal Co. Alpha Foods Raises $7M

Today Alpha Foods, a plant-based meal company, announced that it has raised $7 million in funding, led by New Crop Capital and AccelFoods (h/t Fortune). The Glendale, CA-based companies makes frozen meat-free meals, like chik’n nuggets and vegan pot pies.

In a world where companies like Impossible Foods have raised over $387 million in funding and Beyond Meat is preparing to go public, a $7 million raise for a frozen plant-based meat company isn’t all that much. It just goes to show what we already know: investors are eager to get in on the exploding popularity of meatless proteins.

But Alpha Foods has an added draw — its products are frozen. Frozen foods are having a renaissance: consumers love the convenience of being able to stockpile frozen meals to heat and eat when they want, without being beholden to the expiry dates of fresh food. Frozen food offerings have also expanded, going way behind frozen pizza and microwaveable mac & cheese with higher-quality offerings and even meal kits (though I still love me some Stouffer’s).

Alpha Foods isn’t the only one in the frozen meat-free food space. Just last week mega frozen food company Bird’s Eye launched Green Cuisine, a new line of plant-based meats like sausages and meatballs. Freezer section standbys like Annie’s, Weight Watchers and Lean Cuisine also offer frozen vegetarian meals.

However, what sets Alpha Foods apart is the convenience factor. They make complete, ready-to-eat meals, most of which — like handheld pot pies or vegan burritos — are meant to be eaten on the go. No extra preparation or ingredients needed.

For consumers convenience is king, and Alpha Foods seems like it’s in a good place to capitalize on that as well as the plant-based eating trend.