The Week in Agrifoodtech: Food delivery’s latest unicorn, $80m for virtual restaurants, Pat Brown’s new venture

Virtual restaurant/cloud kitchen startups like Not So Dark and CloudEats continue to rake in the funds and Impossible Foods’ founder Pat Brown hinted at a new venture business. Line Corporation and Singapore’s GIC led the Series B round for the food delivery business. ( Deal Street Asia ) 🇫🇷 Virtual restaurant franchiser Not So Dark raises $80 million to widen.

Kharis Capital and Verlinvest led the Series B round. ( Yahoo Finance ) 🇺🇸 Robot-barista Artly brews up $8 million pre-Series A financing. The firm will use the funds primarily to grow around the United States’ west coast. ( OttOmate ) 🇺🇸 Plant-based foods firm Wicked Kitchen raises $20 million bridge round.

The two firms will co-create alternative dairy products and expand distribution. ( Vegconomist ) 🇪🇸 Innomy rakes in €1.3 million ($1.3 million) pre-Series A to scale up mushroom-based proteins. Corporación Cervino , Rockstart and others participated in the round. ( Protein Report ) 🇰🇷 Envisioning Partners leads $1.6 million pre-Series A for TissenBio .

The latter produces whole cuts of cultivated and plant-based meat using 3D bio-printing technology. ( Vegconomist ) 🇩🇪 Blue Farm scores €3 million ($2.9 million) for “radically redeveloping” oat milk. Capital will primarily go towards expanding the online business and user experience. ( Übermorgen ) 🇵🇭 CloudEats cooks up $7 million Series A extension led by Nordstar .

The cloud kitchen startup plans to grow further across Southeast Asia in 2023. ( Tech in Asia ) Agtech financing 🇦🇹 Insect protein startup Livin Farms makes public $5.8 million Series A raise. Peter Luerssen led the Series A round, which will go towards Livin Farms system for processing black soldier flies. ( TechCrunch ) 🇬🇭 Agribusiness marketplace Farmerline Group announces $1.5 million round.

The funding, part of a pre-Series A raise from social impact investor Oikocredit , is part of a total financing round worth $14.4 million. ( AFN ) 🇳🇬 Food procurement platform Vendease secures $30 million Series A. Partech and TLcom Capital co-led the round, which Vendease will use to grow and rollout new products. ( AFN ) 🇺🇸 Carbon measurement business Yard Stick gets $18 million.

The backing is part of the United States Department of Agriculture ’s (USDA) Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities initiative. ( AFN ) Funds, grants & accelerators 🇺🇸 Dairy Farmers of America gets $45 million grant to reduce methane emissions, develop low-carbon products. The grant is part of the United States Department of Agriculture ‘s Partnership for Climate Smart Commodities. ( FoodBev Media ) 🇬🇧 The Biotechnology. Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) to invest £20 million ($22 million) into alternative protein.

Funds will go towards work, innovation and commercialization. ( Vegconomist ) 🇬🇧 Diageo makes public £450,000 ($486,000) backing across three innovation “challenges.” These challenges are intended to reduce and monitor the impact of water and climate crises on smallholder farms in Africa. ( Diageo ) 🇫🇮 Protein-from-hyrdogen startup Solar Foods is chosen for the European Commission’s €5.2 billion project. The Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) initiative supports innovation around hydrogen projects. ( Food Matters Live ) 🇺🇸 Uber & Visa are issuing $1 million in grants to small businesses.

The Grants for Growth program awards 100 merchants active on the Uber Eats platform with $10,000 each. ( Restaurant Dive ) 🇺🇸 🇳🇱 Kraft Heinz teams up with agrifoodtech accelerator StartLife . The partnership gives Kraft Heinz access to novel technologies and startups in production, processing and packaging. ( Food Navigator ) 🇺🇸 The National Science Foundation awards Akorn Technology $1 million. The decision comes after a lengthy battle over whether organic crops in the US must be planted in soil. ( Food Dive ) 🇺🇸 Impossible Foods ‘ founder Pat Brown is leading a new venture firm.

Tentatively known as Impossible Labs, the new business will fuel and fund innovation to support Impossible Foods. ( Food Dive ) 🇺🇸 Instacart unveils health program features and tools. The new health-focused business initiative will focus on nutrition security, food as medicine and making healthy options easier to access. ( Grocery Dive )