Responding to these shifting trends, food tech funding flowed into related services.
Food tech companies raised around $17.3 billion across 631 deals for the year. Sixty-eight percent of that went to e-commerce and delivery businesses. Meal kits alone raised $6.2 billion, and e-commerce companies raised $5.3 billion within the food tech category. The largest deal last year was an $800 million round of funding for the Chinese group-buying app for groceries, Xingsheng Youxuan.
The world also saw how a crisis could disrupt the normal production, processing and distribution of food. Farmers had to dump milk and produce that couldn t be shipped or stored, and conversely brick-and-mortar groceries had empty shelves after shoppers hoarded supplies.
Covid and peak cow created a boom for food and agriculture tech in 2020 CNBC 2 days ago Lora Kolodny
Food and agriculture start-ups attracted a record $22.3 billion in venture funding last year twice as much as these segments raised in 2019, according to a new study by Finistere Ventures.
With people stuck at home during the Covid pandemic, demand spiked for food e-commerce, such as meal kits and deliveries.
The world also saw how a crisis could disrupt the normal production, processing and distribution of food. Arama Kukutai, a partner at Finistere, said that drove interest in growing food in controlled environments, such as vertical farms, where yields are predictable.
Responding to these shifting trends, food tech funding flowed into related services.
Food tech companies raised around $17.3 billion across 631 deals for the year. Sixty-eight percent of that went to e-commerce and delivery businesses. Meal kits alone raised $6.2 billion, and e-commerce companies raised $5.3 billion within the food tech category. The largest deal last year was an $800 million round of funding for the Chinese group-buying app for groceries, Xingsheng Youxuan.
The world also saw how a crisis could disrupt the normal production, processing and distribution of food. Farmers had to dump milk and produce that couldn t be shipped or stored, and conversely brick-and-mortar groceries had empty shelves after shoppers hoarded supplies.