The Week in Agrifoodtech: Oatside secures $65m for Singapore’s first oat milk, input supplier iProcure scores $10m

Fashion designer Stella McCartney is helping rollout a climate-focused fund and alt-protein heavyweight Eat Just pulled in capital to expand in China. Foodtech backing 🇸🇬 Temasek , GGV Capital lead $65 million Series A for Oatside .

Oatside is Singapore’s first oat milk brand and will use the financing to establish a presence across Asia. ( Deal Street Asia ) 🇺🇸 🇨🇳 Eat Just raises $25 million from China-focused private equity firm C2 Capital Partners . The backing will support Eat Just’s business roll-out in China for plant-based. Cultivated meats. ( AFN ) 🇮🇳 Organic Kitchen nabs $1 million seed round from ‘prominent angel backers.’ Funds will help build technology, including consumer- and farmer-facing apps, and widen Organic Kitchen’s range of products. ( VieStories ) 🇺🇸 Novel Farms lands $1.4 million to develop its whole-cut cultivated pork.

The SAFE (simple agreement for future equity) funding comes from a group of backers, including a majority stake by Big Idea Ventures . ( TechCrunch ) 🇺🇸 Honest tea developer Seth Goldman’s Eat the Change raises $14.5 million to debut Just Ice Tea. Collaborative Fund and S2G Ventures led the round, which will go towards setting up and scaling production. ( Food Dive ) 🇮🇳 Hot sauce business Naagin secures $1 million in seed financing. Actor Abhishek Bachchan participated in the round along with Eight Innovate Fund-I and other high-net-worth individuals ( VCCircle ). 🇺🇸 Boisson brews up $12 million seed round to expand.

Connect Ventures and Blue Scorpion Investments led the round for the non-alcoholic beer, wine, and spirits business. ( FoodBev Media ) 🇫🇷 🇳🇬 Koolboks closes $2.5 million seed round to scale solar refrigeration in Africa. Aruwa Capital Management led the round, which Koolboks will use to grow around Nigeria. ( Radarr Africa ) 🇺🇸 Functional beverage brand Wet Hydration raises $1.3 million.

Launched in 2020, the business makes zero-calorie zero-sugar beverages enhanced with electrolytes, vitamins and antioxidants. ( Food Business News ) 🇳🇱 Water tech firm Sensoterra raises $1 million from Future Food Fund and the Regional Development Agency (ROM) Utrecht Region . New capital will support development of Sensoterra’s water management smart soil sensors. ( Sensoterra ) 🇺🇸 ‘Ethnic’ grocery marketplace Bakkal secures $3 million seed round. The online grocery service will put the funds towards technology development and hiring. ( Grocery Dive ) 🇺🇸 Positive Food Co. banks $7 million to widen availability of its ‘heat-and-eat’ meals.

Shareholders include BlueYard Capital , Y Combinator , and others. ( TechCrunch ) 🇺🇸 Byte Kitchen serves up $6 million for its digital food halls. The San Francisco Bay Area-based business will widen beyond California thanks to the new funds. ( Restaurant Business Online ) Agtech backing 🇮🇱 Groundwork BioAg completes $18 million Series B led by Climate Innovation Capital .

Groundwork is a leading producer of mycorrhizal inoculants, fungi that can enhance the growth of harvests. ( Yahoo! ) 🇺🇸 Stella McCartney is helping rollout a $200 million sustainability fund. In partnership with VC company the Collaborative Fund , the fashion designer plans to debut a fund for businesses in food, agriculture. Biomaterials sectors. ( Vegconomist ) 🇰🇪 Ag input distribution startup iProcure closes $10.2 million Series B round led by Investisseurs & Partenaires .

The iProcure digital platform connects principal agricultural input suppliers directly to local agro-dealers. Will widen to Uganda and Tanzania thanks to the new backing. ( AFN ) 🇳🇬 Deere & Company makes minority investment in fleet management tech startup Hello Tractor . Going to John Deere, hello Tractor aligns with the business’s “Leaps Ambition” which aims to see 100% of small ag equipment connectivity enabled by 2026. ( AFN ) 🇰🇷 Mycel banks $10 million for fungal-based biomaterials.

The pre-Series A backing will go towards opening a production plant in South Korea for scaling manufacturing. ( TechCrunch ) 🇺🇸 Crop monitoring startup Soiltech Wireless completes $2.5 million seed round led by Homegrown Capital . New Culture makes mozzarella and other animal-free dairy products and will be able to speed up development thanks to this partnership. ( Food Navigator ) Other news 🌍 Ukraine conflict puts food security at risk for 3% of global population, states McKinsey . An forecast 35% to 45% decline in Ukraine crop production next year, is set to impact the nutritional needs of up to 250 million people. ( AFN ) 🇸🇬 Shiok Meats confirms 2023 commercial rollout for cultivated meat.