Author: Anthony James

Beeflow, which provides crop pollination technologies, has raised US$8.3 million in a Series A financing round, led by Ospraie Ag Science and joined by Future Ventures’ Steve Jurvetson (a Tesla and SpaceX board member), Jeff Wilke (former Amazon CEO, worldwide consumer), Vectr Ventures, SOSV’s IndieBio and Grid Exponential. The Beeflow platform is based on extensive scientific research into how bee nutrition and behaviour influence pollinators’ performance and health. Dr. Walter Farina, an Argentinean researcher with more than 20 years of experience studying bee brains and communication, leads the scientific effort for Beeflow’s ToBEE – a technology that trains bees to…

US food robotics company Soft Robotics Inc has announced a $10m Series B funding extension, with the capital raised going towards the launch of its SoftAI™ powered robotic solution that layers 3D vision and AI on top of the company’s patented ‘mGrip’ IP69K-rated, soft grasping technology to give industrial robots the hand-eye coordination of human beings. The Massachussetts-based firm says this combination of robotic ‘hands’, ‘eyes’ and ‘brains’ heralds the automation of bulk picking processes (for example, bin picking) in the food supply chain. The round was co-led by Material Impact, Scale Venture Partners, and Calibrate Ventures and sees Tyson…

Vehicle maker CNH Industrial is set to acquire Raven Industries Inc, a US-based leader in precision agtech, for US$2.1 billion (US$58 per share). The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021, subject to the approval of Raven shareholders and receipt of regulatory approvals. The acquisition builds upon a long partnership between the two companies and will further enhance CNH Industrial’s position in the global agriculture equipment market by adding strong innovation capabilities in autonomous and precision agriculture technology. CNH is currently the world’s second largest agricultural equipment manufacturer after John Deere, offering vehicles via its New…

A solar-powered, low-cost, rugged ear tag that uses satellite monitoring to track cattle could soon provide ranchers with a powerful, new, bargaining tool Whether you call them ranches (US) or stations (Australia), the sheer size of some cattle grazing grounds defies belief, often stretching over thousands of acres, with King Ranch in Texas (825,000 acres), and Alexandria station in Australia (4 million acres), among some of the biggest and most well-known examples. Keeping track of livestock across such vast and varied landscapes in all weather conditions is a clear challenge, whether on horseback, from the front seat of a four-wheel…

In what it claims is a world first, Singapore-based Sophie’s Bionutrients is now offering protein-packed burger patties made from microalgae. The company, which uses microalgae and patent-pending technologies to develop 100% plant-based and sustainable alternative protein, says its alternative meat patty boasts up to two times more protein than beef or most commercially available fish. Each patty, which weighs around 60g, is loaded with 25g of proteins – comprising all nine essential amino acids, including histidine and leucine, which are vital for producing proteins and tissue repair. For every 100g of the microalgae patty, up to one third is comprised…

CNH Industrial has taken a minority stake in Bennamann Ltd, a UK-based agtech firm specialising in clean energy derived from biomethane. The acquisition coincides with a report just published from the World Biogas Association (WBA) highlighting the opportunity to drastically cut the methane emissions from the huge volume of organic waste generated annually by human activity, including farming, using the latest technology. Bennamann Ltd, which is headquartered in St Allen, UK, was founded in 2011 and is committed to delivering a local clean energy revolution by unlocking the power of biomethane. It is pioneering an innovative, new approach to sustainable farming that maximises the use of…

The implementation of zero-emission and near-zero-emission technologies over the past year at Frito-Lay’s (a division of PepsiCo) Modesto, California manufacturing site has succeeded in reducing the site’s fleet absolute greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by more than half (53%), or 2,790 metric tons of absolute GHG emissions, as well as lowering fleet diesel usage by 78%. The site has also been able to convert to 100% renewable electricity for direct operations at the Modesto site through a combination of renewable electricity certificates and on-site generation, due in part to PepsiCo achieving 100% renewable electricity in the US in January 2021. The…

As part of a US$8 million Series A funding round, farm equipment giant CNH Industrial has taken a minority stake in Augmenta, an agtech firm focused on automating farming operations using computer vision and artificial intelligence ‘on the edge’, whereby data is processed in real time, directly by the system. The move will see CNH Industrial become Augmenta’s strategic partner in crop sensing and machinery automation, and future research and development. Furthermore, the partnership reinforces the product portfolio of AGXTEND, CNH’s accelerator for tech startups, through which Augmenta’s technology will now be available on a global scale. Augmenta’s real-time precision…

US-based iFoodDS, a leading platform provider of food safety, traceability, and quality management solutions for the fresh food supply chain, has raised US$15 million in a Series A funding round led by Insight Partners, a global venture capital and private equity firm focused on investing in startup software companies. iFoodDS will use the funding to accelerate product innovation and support its market and category expansions. Developed specifically for the food industry, iFoodDS says its cloud-based platform provides retailers, foodservice chains, processors, shippers, packers, and growers with instantaneous visibility across the supply chain, delivers real-time food safety practice assessment and data capture,…

Pixxel, which aims to build the world’s highest resolution commercial hyperspectral satellite constellation, has come out of stealth and raised US$7.3 million in a seed funding round with new capital from Omnivore VC, Techstars, and others, who are joining alongside Lightspeed Ventures, Blume, growX, Ryan Johnson, former President at Planet Labs, and additional industry leaders. The company’s first hyperspectral satellite will launch within the next few months. “We are very excited to finally speak about what we are building at Pixxel,” said Awais Ahmed, co-founder and CEO of Pixxel. “Our new funding enables us to build a health monitor for…