This is a monthly guest post, by consulting firm Rosenheim Advisors, which highlights the most interesting acquisitions, financings and partnerships within the Food Tech & Media ecosystem – digital content, social, local, mobile, grocery, e-commerce, delivery, ordering, payments, marketing and analytics – to give you insights into the latest funding and growth trends.

The month of October featured two mega-deals, with First Data’s $2.56 billion IPO (valuing it at $14 billion) and the merger of China’s competing firms Meituan and Dianping, reportedly valued at $15 billion (or potentially even $20 billion).

On top of these deals, globally over $373 million was invested across 18 deals into the private food tech sector, with a majority of the cash influx going to companies in China and India. Online ordering, meal delivery and the grocery sectors were dominant themes, with the restaurant tech sector grabbing most of the headlines (including Heartland’s acquisition of Digital Dining).

M&A

Grofers Acquires Townrush. The Bangalore, India-based business-to-business logistics service was acqui-hired by Grofers, a food delivery startup. The deal follows a similar acqui-hire for Grofers with the healthy meal app, SpoonJoy. Both Townrush and SpoonJoy will cease independent operations.

Announced: 10/27/15  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment:  Not Disclosed  Founded: June 2015

Rocket Internet (Hellofood Middle East) Acquires Otlob.com. The Egypt-based website for food delivery will expand its services and become more user-friendly through Hellofood’s acquisition. The company currently operates in six cities across Egypt and provides consumers with access to over 500 restaurant menus for delivery. For more details, you should read Wamda’s accounting of the company’s ups and downs and recent turnaround story since the founding in 1999.

Announced: 10/28/15  Terms: “As low as $12m”  Previous Investment: Owned by Accelero Capital  Founded: 1999

Heartland Acquires Digital Dining. The Springfield, VA-based software company, which provides handheld point of sale systems for restaurants, will allow Heartland to enhance its Commerce division. With the acquisition of Digital Dining, Heartland will evolve its restaurant customers’ point of sale systems into secure commerce centers.

Announced: 10/30/15  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 1984

Meituan and Dianping Merge. The Beijing, China-based Meituan, which is probably the closest to a ‘Groupon for China’, will merge with its competitor, the Shanghai, China-based Dianping, which is a restaurant review and group discount mobile app. According to a Reuters report, the two companies will retain their respective brands and management structure and independently operate their businesses. It is estimated that the merged company will be valued at $15 billion or more.

Announced: 10/08/15 Terms: Not Disclosed (estimated to be $15 billion or more) Previous Investment: Meituan: $1.0 billion; Dianping: $1.1 billion Founded: Meituan: 2010; Dianping: 2003

FUNDING

Qraved Raises $8m. The Jakarta, Indonesia-based online dining guide provides diners with a restaurant directory as well as service reviews, ratings, and photos. The directory includes information for over 25,000 restaurants in Jakarta and Bali. The company will use the proceeds to enhance its online and mobile apps and expand its presence in Indonesia.

Announced: 10/30/15  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: Gobi Partners (lead), Richmond Global (lead), 500 Startups, Convergence Ventures, GWC, M & Y Growth Partners Previous Investment: $1.3 million  Founded: 2013

TinyOwl Raises $7.5m. The Mumbai, India-based food ordering app provides users with a location-based listing of nearby restaurants from which they can order food. In addition, TinyOwl Homemade allows users to order food from local chefs. The funds will be used in the restructuring of the company—continuing plans that included laying off over 100 employees and closing 4 sites earlier this year. Currently only TinyOwl’s Mumbai and Bengaluru sites remain open.

Announced: 10/30/15 Stage: Series C  Participating Institutional Investors: Matrix Partners (lead), Sequoia Capital  Previous Investment: $19.0 million  Founded: 2012

Gobble Raises $10.75m. The Palo Alto, CA-based delivery service provides dinner kits for home cooking. Kits include a 3-step-recipe as well as all of the preparations for a one-pan, ten-minute meal. Gobble will use the proceeds to fund its engineering team.

Announced: 10/29/15  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Trinity Ventures (lead), Fenox Venture Capital, Initialized Capital   Previous Investment: $1.2 million  Founded: 2010

9now.cn  (Meiwei Buyongdeng) Raises $79m. The Shanghai, China-based mobile app offers users a queuing service which includes reservations, real-time line status, and an alert when the table is ready. Users can also place orders through the app. The company will use the funds to expand online reservation services, improve queuing services and grow the network. The company currently has 30,000 merchant partners using their queue and reservation services.

Announced: 10/28/15  Stage: Series C  Participating Institutional Investors: Dianping, Baidu, Matrix Partners China  Previous Investment: $20.0 million+  Founded: 2013

Leaping Caravan Raises $150k. The Guragon, India-based online food delivery service delivers Indian foods to corporate customers. The company currently operates in Guragon and Delhi, and has recently seen an increase from 30 to over 100 orders per day. The proceeds will be used to grow the business, including plans for two new kitchens in Delhi.

Announced: 10/23/15  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: September 2013

Frsh.com Raises Angel Funding. The Guragon, India-based meal delivery service allows consumers to have healthy meals delivered within an hour. Frsh currently operates in Guragon, Delhi, and Noida. Funds will be used to expand to Bangalore and Mumbai.

Announced: 10/23/15  Stage: Angel  Participating Investors: Kae Capital, Mayank Bhangdia  Previous Investment: $0.6 million  Founded: 2014

Honestbee Raises $15m. The Singapore-based grocery delivery service allows users to choose groceries from their favorite stores for on-demand delivery within the hour. The grocery service aims to cut down shopping time—which averages over 4 hours for many—and provide part-time shopper jobs for people whose domestic roles do not permit full time employment. Honestbee is available in Singapore and Hong Kong, with plans to expand to Taiwan and Japan. The company will use the investment for hiring and expansion throughout Asia.

Announced: 10/21/15  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Formation 8 (lead), Pejman Mar Ventures  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: January 2014

Mouth Raises $5.5m. The New York, NY-based online store offers a wide selection of craft foods, wine, and spirits. Monthly subscriptions are also available. All products sold by Mouth are specialty, indie food products. The company will use the proceeds for executive hiring and corporate sales.

Announced: 10/20/15  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: KarpReilly (lead), Vocap Ventures  Previous Investment: $1.8 million  Founded: 2010

MealHopper Raises $100k. The Guragon, India-based platform for homemade meals connects users with home cooks via mobile app. Currently fifty home cooks prepare meals, which are then marketed, packaged, and delivered by MealHopper. The company will use the investment to expand, with plans to grow its team and operate in three new cities by March 2016.

Announced: 10/20/15  Stage: Seed  Participating Investors: Alok Bajpai, Rajnish Kumar  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2015

First Data Raises $2.56 billion in Initial Public Offering. The New York, NY–based commerce solutions company began moving away from payment processing in 2013 when a new CEO was brought in to turn around the company. According to the prospectus, future growth will be “driven by focusing on helping our clients grow their businesses by providing them with a suite of new commerce-enabling technologies as well as our broad set of existing solutions.” Proceeds from the offering will be used to pay down First Data’s debt, which totaled $21 billion at the end of June, largely a result of the 2007 leveraged buyout by KKR.

NYSE Listing Date: 10/15/15  Valuation at IPO: $14 billion Stage: IPO Founded: 1989

ShopWell Raises $3.4m. The San Carlos, CA-based mobile app provides personalized nutrition information for users. The app suggests healthy alternatives for items on users’ shopping lists and incorporates user preferences and dietary restrictions. Previously acquired by Harvestmark in 2013, the company became independent again when Harvestmark was acquired by Trimble. The funds will be used for company growth and to increase investment in partnerships with retailers, food manufacturers, and other members of the food system.

Announced: 10/13/15  Stage: Series C  Participating Institutional Investors: Finistere Ventures, Fairhaven Capital, Munich Venture Partners, S2G Ventures, ATA Ventures  Previous Investment: $8.0 million  Founded: 2008

Bucketkart Raises $150k. The Bangalore, India-based online grocery store allows consumers to easily buy groceries for delivery. The store currently takes online orders, and mobile app ordering will be available soon. Funds will be used to expand the company to five new cities in the next 2 months. Bucketkart also plans to close a $1million investment soon.

Announced: 10/13/15  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: December 2014

Womai Raises $200m. The Beijing, China-based e-commerce business for food allows consumers to purchase groceries online. Deliveries are made to 31 Chinese regions and are provided within 48 hours of order. Womai will use the funding to develop the company’s cold-food logistics.

Announced: 10/12/15  Stage: Series C  Participating Institutional Investors: Baidu, Taikang Life Insurance  Previous Investment: $110.0 million  Founded: 2008

Thistle Raises $1m. The Berkeley, CA-based meal delivery service allows consumers to choose meals from a selection of healthy foods and juices. Proceeds will be used to implement the company’s newly launched subscription service business model, which requires purchase of a regularly scheduled delivery service.

Announced: 10/12/15  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2013

Zeppery Raises Angel Funding. The Delhi, India-based mobile app allows customers to pre-order food from restaurants. Users can browse photo menus, select their choice, and check status updates. The investment will be used to launch and market the app.

Announced: 10/09/15  Stage: Angel  Participating Investors: Suyash Sharma  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2015

Gratafy Raises $4.3m. The Seattle, WA-based gifting app allows users to purchase and send food and drinks from restaurants and bars as gifts to friends. Gift receivers use the app to redeem their item at the restaurants or bar where it was gifted to them. The company will use the investment to expand and accelerate sales.

Announced: 10/09/15  Stage: Undisclosed  Participating Investors: Rudy Gadre, Greg Enell, Acorn Ventures  Previous Investment: $3.0 million  Founded: May 2011

ZuperMeal Raises $2m. The Mumbai, India-based mobile app allows users to order home-cooked meals for on-demand delivery. Through ZuperMeal, home chefs can sell their signature dishes, which are aggregated on the app for consumer purchase. The investment will be used to expand the company’s locations in India.

Announced: 10/08/15  Stage: Seed  Participating Investors: Ravi Saxena, Sanjeev Kapoor  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2015

EzCater Raises $15m. The Boston, MA-based online catering marketplace provides on-demand catering for businesses. The company serves 23,000 cities in the United States, working with over 40,000 restaurants and caterers. EzCater will use the investment for nationwide expansion.

Announced: 10/06/15  Stage: Series C  Participating Institutional Investors: Insight Venture Partners  Previous Investment: $18.5 million  Founded: August 2007

PARTNERSHIPS

Food & Wine Partners with Drizly to allow users to purchase cocktail ingredients for on-demand delivery.

Delivery.com Partners with UberRUSH to optimize food delivery.

ChowNow Partners with UberRUSH to make delivery more efficient.

AmazonFresh Partners with Hungryroot to deliver ready-to-eat, healthy meals.

Mozido Partners with TabbedOut to enhance customer dining experience and hospitality.

Instacart Partners with Allrecipes to allow recipe browsers to purchase ingredients for delivery.

Blue Apron Partners with Yummly to deliver recipes and ingredients for home cooking.

Target Corp Partners with MIT’s Media Lab to research the future of food.

INDUSTRY LANDSCAPE

As The Food Tech & Media ecosystem continues to see rapid change, Rosenheim Advisors created The Food Tech & Media Industry Map to help entrepreneurs, participants and investors understand this quickly evolving landscape. Let us know about your recent or upcoming funding, partnerships or acquisitions here.

Check out the 2014 Annual Report and last month’s round-up. 

The post Food Tech Media Startup Funding, M&A and Partnerships: October 2015 appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

This is a monthly guest post, by consulting firm Rosenheim Advisors, which highlights the most interesting acquisitions, financings and partnerships within the Food Tech & Media ecosystem – digital content, social, local, mobile, grocery, e-commerce, delivery, ordering, payments, marketing and analytics – to give you insights into the latest funding and growth trends.

Together with more than $220 million raised in the global private markets through funding and acquisitions, and Square’s IPO totaling $279 million in primary shares, over $500 million was infused into the food tech landscape in November.

Among the seven acquisitions, seventeen private capital raises and one IPO, activity within the delivery and on-demand sector was dominant, with continuing trends towards consolidation in this sector and a prevalence of “acqui-hires.” Over two thirds of the deals were international, with companies from India, the UK and France representing the majority.

M&A

Velocity Acquires Uncover. The London, UK-based mobile restaurant booking app will allow Velocity to add mobile booking to its mobile hospitality app, which currently includes mobile payments, restaurant suggestions, and rewards. In the past two months, Velocity has also acquired Cover and Tab Payments, in addition to receiving $16 million in Series A funds in September.

Announced: 11/19/15  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $1.5m  Founded: October 2013

Sattviko Acquires Call A Meal.  The Jaipur, India-based food delivery service will strengthen the delivery services offered by Sattviko, a Delhi-based healthy dining chain, making delivery “a key business vertical for the company”.  The restaurant company also plans to launch fine-dining restaurants, beginning in Jaipur.

Announced: 11/19/15  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: NA  Founded: April 2014

Lidl Acquires Kochzauber. The acquisition of the Berlin, Germany-based healthy food delivery service, which delivers recipe meal kits with fresh ingredients and cooking instructions, will allow Lidl, the German supermarket chain, to increase its sales by entering into e-commerce.

Announced: 11/18/15  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: February 2012

Deliv Acquires Zipments. The acquisition of the New York, NY-based platform for same-day delivery gives the Menlo Park, CA-based retail delivery service greater access to driver services and customer relationships in New York City, including startups Plated, Casper, and Handy and local merchants such as B&H, Murray’s Cheese and Epicerie Boulud.

Announced: 11/09/15  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $2.3m  Founded: 2010

Shadowfax Acquires Pickingo. The Pune, India-based  on-demand delivery service has been acqui-hired by Shadowfax, which offers a similar on-demand delivery service. Shadowfax has hired 45 management team members as well as over 100 deliverers. The new teams will assist Shadowfax with achieving deliveries within 30 minutes to an hour.

Announced: 11/09/15  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $1.3m  Founded: 2014

Postmates Acquires Sosh.  The San Francisco, CA-based local discovery mobile app has been acqui-hired by Postmates, the mobile app for on-demand food delivery. Both Sosh founders, as well as 16 of Sosh’s engineers, product managers, designers, and operations specialists will join Postmates’s teams. Sosh will cease independent operations.

Announced: 11/05/15  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $16.3m  Founded: 2010

GeoPost Acquires Resto In. GeoPost, the international express delivery subsidiary of Le Groupe La Poste has acquired an 80% share in Resto In, a Barcelona-based virtual market place for restaurants offering quick home delivery solutions. The company offers a delivery to over 1 million registered customers and partners with more than 800 restaurants, pastries and stores in 5 countries (France, Belgium, UK, Germany and Spain). This acquisition bulks up GeoPost’s focus on the food category, and comes alongside GeoPost’s investment in local delivery startup Stuart (details in Funding section below), which was also founded by partners of Resto In.

Announced: 10/29/15  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $10.0m  Founded: 2006

FUNDING

Ele.me Raises Strategic Investment from Didi Kuaidi. The Beijing, China-based ridesharing market leader has invested an undisclosed amount into the Shanghai-based food delivery service, which was valued at $3 billion during the most recent fundraise in August. The companies plan to link their services, which will allow Ele.me to expand the range of their delivery service from a 3-mile radius to citywide. As Tech in Asia points out, it is likely a move that’s “aimed at keeping up competition with Uber and Baidu” given each company’s increasing presence in the food vertical.

Announced: 11/25/15  Participating Institutional Investors: Didi Kuaidi  Previous Investment: $1.085 billion (or $1.175 billion according to Tech In Asia)  Founded: September 2008

Deliveroo Raises $100m. The London, UK-based restaurant delivery service allows consumers to order food from exclusive restaurants for on-demand delivery. The user, restaurant, and deliverers each receive information from connected apps, which allows restaurants to respond to orders within 90 seconds and deliveries within 30 minutes. The company currently operates in 50 cities across 12 countries in Europe. Coming on top of a $70 million raise this summer, the new investment will be used for international expansion outside of Europe, with plans to expand to Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Melbourne, and Sydney.

Announced: 11/23/15  Stage: Series D  Participating Institutional Investors: DST Global (lead), Greenoaks Capital (Lead), Index Ventures, Accel Partners, Hummingbird Ventures  Previous Investment: $99.6 million  Founded: February 2013

Square Raises $279m in IPO. The San Francisco-based payment technology company priced its Initial Public Offering at $9 per share, valuing the company at approximately $2.9 billion at IPO. Although the pricing was below the initial proposed range of $11-$13, and significantly lower than the $6 billion valuation in 2014, shares have rallied moderately on the secondary market, and have generally been in the range of $11-$12 range since IPO. The lower public valuation, however, has continued to fuel the narrative of a pullback in the tech IPO market, as well as private market tech valuations.

NYSE Listing Date: 11/19/15  Valuation at IPO: $2.9 billion Stage: IPO Previous Investment: $590.6 million Founded: 2009

Place of Origin Raises Seed Funding. The Bangalore, India-based specialty foods platform allows users to discover a variety of “authentic” foods from across India. Users can choose from over 500 products from 25 cities, with delivery available to 20 cities in India. The funds will be used to enhance the company’s technology and infrastructure and to expand menu offerings.

Announced: 11/18/15  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Axilor Ventures  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: September 2014

Salido Raises $2m. The New York, NY-based SaaS operating system for restaurants allows restaurants to manage the front and back of house together, including point of sale, reporting, customer and labor management, inventory, and recipes. The company will reportedly use the investment to expand to 350 restaurants in the next year.

Announced: 11/18/15  Stage: Seed  Participating Investors: Highline Venture Partners (lead), 500 startups, Accelerator Ventures, Great Oaks Venture Capital, Tom Colicchio, Stephen Starr Ben Daitz  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2012

Stuart Raises $23.4m. The Barcelona, Spain-based delivery service, founded by founders of Resto In (recently acquired by GeoPost), is pre-launch, yet describes itself as an “on-demand urban logistics app and platform.” The company plans to allow consumers to make purchases for same-hour on-demand delivery, reportedly done by “allowing anyone to deliver anything at any time.” According to TechCrunch, “rather than going down the surge-pricing route, Uber-style, the startup’s algorithm will where necessary ‘pool’ deliveries to keep the cost down”. The funds will be used for international expansion, with plans to expand to Brussels, London, and Berlin.

Announced: 11/18/15  Valuation: ~€45 million  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Geopost  Previous Investment: $1.7 million  Founded: 2015

Eating with the Chefs Raises “Seven-Digit” Seed. The Berlin-based food startup offers affordable high end sous-vide dinners created by rising chefs for customers to heat up at home. The startup was launched in September 2015 by former StudiVZ CEO Clemens Riedl, Eatüber founder Chanyu Xu and Jochen Wolf. The team plans to use the funds to expand operations.

Announced: 11/16/15  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Founders Fund, Holtzbrinck  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2015

EatFirst Raises $8m. The London, UK-based online restaurant allows customers to order meals online for on-demand delivery. Meals are designed and prepared by professional chefs and made available for order. Restaurants currently operate in London and Berlin. The start-up claims to have already achieved 30% month-on-month sales growth and has delivered over 100,000 meals to date. Initially backed by Rocket Internet, the new funds will be used to grow the company, with plans for international expansion.

Announced: 11/17/15  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: DMGT, HV Holtzbrinck Ventures  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: August 2014

AirGrub Raises $1.5m. The Millbrae, CA-based mobile app allows travelers to pre-order healthy meals for pickup at airports. AirGrub currently operates in San Francisco International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport (New York), and Logan International Airport (Boston). The funds will be used for expansion by adding new restaurant partners and locations.

Announced: 11/16/15  Stage: Angel  Participating Investors: Not disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: October 2014

CircleUp Raises $30m. The San Francisco, CA-based online investment platform connects consumer packaged goods entrepreneurs with potential investors. Currently, CircleUp has allowed over 120 companies to raise a total of $135 million. Funds will be used to expand the company’s platform and product teams.

Announced: 11/11/15  Stage: Series C  Participating Institutional Investors: Collaborative Fund (lead), QED Investors, Rose Park Advisors, Maveron, Canaan Partners, Union Square Ventures  Previous Investment: $23.0 million  Founded: October 2011

Frichti Raises $1.1m. The Paris, France-based meal delivery service allows consumers to order meals online for on-demand delivery. Meals are prepared in Frichti kitchens and delivered with ingredient descriptions and instructions for reheating.

Announced: 11/10/15  Stage: Seed  Participating Investors: Quentin Vacher, Alven Capital  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: June 2015

Chefs Basket raises $6m. The Mumbai, India-based ready-to-cook food startup provides consumers with meal kits. The investment will be used to develop new products and expand the company to 15 cities in India as well as internationally to South Africa, Canada, and Australia. The company has partnered e-commerce websites including Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, BigBasket, Paytm and Grofers, along with supermarket chains Hypercity, D-Mart and Big Bazaar to sell its products. With this expansion, Chefs Basket aims to increase products sales from 130,000 units per month to 400-500,000 units per month by March 2016.

Announced: 11/10/15  Stage: Series A  Participating Investors: Haresh Chawla, SAIF Partners  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2012

BrightFarms Raises $13.65m. The New York, NY-based grower of local produce builds and operates greenhouse farms throughout the United States. Each greenhouse is partnered with supermarkets and vendors to provide consumers with fresh, local produce year-round. The company will use the funding to commercially scale greenhouses to meet increasing demand.

Announced: 11/06/15  Stage: Series B-1  Participating Institutional Investors: NGEN Partners, Emil Capital Partners, WP Global Partners  Previous Investment: $9.2 million  Founded: 2011

Satvacart Raises $1.8m. The Gurgaon-based grocery delivery startup offers over curated products across grocery, fruits and vegetables, personal care, household essentials, and baby care through its online platform. After raising an initial seed in July, the company stated that the funding will be used to strengthen technology backbone and expand into other geographies.

Announced: 11/06/15 Stage: Seed Participating Investors: “Three senior executives in the insurance, telecom and investment banking sectors”, Palaash Ventures Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2014

Innit Raises $25m. The Redwood City, CA-based cloud-based connected home platform “connects food information to appliances and devices.” The platform allows for a smart kitchen which will assist consumers with food selection and preparation.

Announced: 11/05/15  Stage: Venture  Participating Institutional Investors: Not Disclosed (“Unnamed strategic backers”)  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: September 2013

ZenChef Raises $6.5m. The Paris, France-based website creator (previously named 1001menus) allows restaurants to design and create their own digital presence, including website, social media, management systems, and reviews. ZenChef positions itself as a one-stop solution for all marketing and communications purposes, and currently operates in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Spain. The investment will be used for international expansion, and the company aims to have 25,000 clients by 2018.

Announced: 11/04/15  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: Edenred Capital Partners (lead), Elaia Partners, Kima Ventures, Xange Private Equity  Previous Investment: $2.2 million  Founded: November 2010

Boibanit Raises $150k. The Vadodara, India-based meal delivery service, allows consumers to order restaurant food online for on-demand delivery. Customers have the option to combine foods from multiple restaurants in one order. Boibanit currently operates in 350 restaurants in Indore, Lucknow, Surat, Noida, and Vadodara. The investment will be used to expand to Ahmedabad, Bhopal and Ghaziabad.

Announced: 11/03/15  Stage: Angel  Participating Investors: Anubhav Verma, Varun Ahuja  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2014

Twigly Raises $200k. The Guragon, India-based kitchen-on-a-cloud service allows customers to order meals online to be delivered directly to their homes from a central-based kitchen. The company models itself after the United States-based company, Sprig, which delivers organic meals in 15 minutes. The investment will be used to expand kitchen locations and partner with delivery services.

Announced: 11/02/15  Stage: Angel  Participating Investors: Mukhal Singhal, Sahil Barua, Amit Gupta  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: August 2015

PARTNERSHIPS

Zipongo Partners with Yummly to provide suggestions for healthy eating.

Starbucks Partners with Postmates to offer on-demand delivery.

Hello Curry Partners with IRCTC to enhance on-board meal options for train riders in India.

INDUSTRY LANDSCAPE

As The Food Tech & Media ecosystem continues to see rapid change, Rosenheim Advisors created The Food Tech & Media Industry Map to help entrepreneurs, participants and investors understand this quickly evolving landscape. Let us know about your recent or upcoming funding, partnerships or acquisitions here.

Check out the 2014 Annual Report and last month’s round-up. 

The post Food Tech Media Startup Funding, M&A and Partnerships: November 2015 appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

This is a monthly guest post, by consulting firm Rosenheim Advisors, which highlights the most interesting acquisitions, financings and partnerships within the Food Tech & Media ecosystem – digital content, social, local, mobile, grocery, e-commerce, delivery, ordering, payments, marketing and analytics – to give you insights into the latest funding and growth trends.

As has been typical the last couple of years, December funding activity in the U.S. was relatively light, however a bulk of international deals (mainly in Asia) spurred additional momentum in the food tech category. In total, over $125 million was raised globally across sixteen private companies, with $67.1 million of the investment going to six U.S.-based startups.

On the M&A front, while there were some opportunistic acquisitions in the mix, all five targets in December added strategic heft to the acquiring parties, primarily around customer growth and adding to the talent pool.

Overall, restaurant-related tech and delivery concepts continue to make up the bulk of activity, however it was good to see the content sector getting some traction with meaningful capital deployed for Tastemade, Yummly, Panna and Burpple. Stay tuned for the 2015 Annual Report next week, which will take a broader look at the yearly trends and investment breakdown between categories.

M&A

Peppertap Acquires Jiffstore. The Bangalore, India-based grocery delivery service was acqui-hired by Peppertap, the Guragon, India-based on-demand grocery delivery service.  The 40-person Jiffstore team will join Peppertap, aiming to enhance user experience and technology talent. As Inc42 notes, PepperTap will not venture into the same business model as Jiffstore, which collaborated directly with the merchants to fulfill orders and pass on the customers. PepperTap’s approach is to handle everything from taking orders, to procuring supplies and making deliveries. The acquisition comes at the same time as Peppertap closing a $40 million Series B investment.

Announced: 12/21/15  Terms: Not Disclosed (cash and stock)  Previous Investment: $500k  Founded: October 2013

Yummly Acquires The Orange Chef. The San Francisco, CA-based connected kitchen platform was a strong strategic fit for Yummly, as they both are focused on augmenting the food experience through food technology, data and discovery.  Primarily an acqui-hire, over half of the Orange Chef’s team will join the startup’s CEO, Santiago Merea, who was named Chief Revenue Officer of Yummly. Building on Yummly’s 15 million monthly unique users, Merea will lead the company’s effort to drive its revenue streams by working with brands and companies ranging from consumer product goods to kitchenware and to identify new opportunities for growth. Notable, Yummly didn’t acquire the startup’s hardware assets for the Prep Pad, a connected food scale.

Announced: 12/11/15  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $5.4m  Founded: April 2011

Vietnammm Acquires Vietnamese business of Rocket Internet’s Foodpanda. The acquisition will provide Vietnammm, a Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam-based food delivery service, with access to a new customer base as well as a restaurant partner base containing over 1,000 restaurants. Foodpanda shut down operations in Vietnam due to financial issues.

Announced: 12/07/15  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed

GrubHub Acquires Delivered Dish. The Portland, OR-based food delivery and catering service focuses on both corporate and consumer diners, operating in areas including Denver, Las Vegas, San Diego, El Paso and Albuquerque as well as its Portland base. The acquisition will allow Grubhub to expand delivery services and the courier network in the western United States. GrubHub’s delivery service currently serves diners and restaurants in 30 markets and expects to be in more than 40 markets by the end of 2015. According to the Chicago Tribune report, Delivered Dish will maintain current operations and team, with no plans for immediate changes.

Announced: 12/07/15  Terms: Not Disclosed (Estimated at $10-$20m) Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2002

DinnerLab Acquires Dishcrawl. The San Jose, CA-based online culinary community and event finder will expand DinnerLab’s community offerings to include more “food crawl” events. While DinnerLab currently has over 75,000 members (membership allows for early access to events), in an effort to grow its audience, the New Orleans, LA-based social dining event club recently dropped its membership fee, hoping to triple the number of dinners it offers each week (currently hosting between 25 and 30 dinner parties each week across the country).  Separately, as the company continues to refine its business model, DinnerLab also announced layoffs during the month as it shifts to a contract-based model for its events staff, versus full-time. As TechCrunch notes, the company is now centralizing a lot of roles to its main office, such as sourcing ingredients and finding venues, which were traditionally handled by on-the-ground employees.

Announced: 12/02/15  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $150k  Founded: 2010

FUNDING

PepperTap Closed Series B with Additional $4m. The Guragon, India-based grocery delivery service allows consumers to select products from local grocery stores for on-demand delivery. The funding finalizes a $40 million Series B investment, $36 million of which was raised in September from investors including Snapdeal, Sequoia Capital, and SAIF Partners. Along with the investment, PepperTap has acquired Jiffstore, the Bangalore, India-based grocery delivery service.

Announced: 12/21/15  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: InnoVen Capital India  Previous Investment: $47.2 million  Founded: November 2014

Tastemade Raises $40m. The Los Angeles, CA-based digital media company focused on food, travel and lifestyle programming for the “connected generation” has a global audience of 100 million active monthly viewers, with about 60% aged 18 to 34 and its biggest markets in the U.S., Japan and Brazil. With videos available on many social media platforms, including Facebook, Snapchat, Apple TV, Spotify, and YouTube, the company has yet to make a profit and will need to scale up to capture more advertising revenue. According to Entrepreneur, its fastest growing revenue streams come from native advertising. The investment will be used to increase staff and expand the company’s presence on digital platforms.

Announced: 12/17/15  Stage: Series D  Participating Institutional Investors: Goldman Sachs (lead), Comcast Ventures, Liberty Media, Redpoint Ventures, Scripps Network Interactive  Previous Investment: $40.3 million  Founded: 2012

Panna Raises Strategic Investment from A&E Networks. The Westfield, NJ-based digital cooking brand offers consumers premium instructional cooking videos with recipes from award-winning chefs. Panna also recent launched Simmer, described as “Instagram of video recipes,” which enables users to upload their own favorite recipes in step-by-step video format. In conjunction with the undisclosed investment, Panna will partner with A&E to produce recipe videos to be aired as interstitials on A&E’s FYI Network.

Announced: 12/15/15   Participating Institutional Investors: A&E Networks  Previous Investment: $1.4m  Founded: January 2012

Matsmart Raises $3.5m. The Skerike, Sweden-based online grocery store sells “soon-to-be-expired” food products, at up to 90% discount to retail prices. The company aims to reduce the amount of food waste by selling foods that would otherwise be thrown away. The proceeds will be used to expand the company in Sweden and abroad to other European countries.

Announced: 12/15/15  Stage: Venture  Participating Institutional Investors: Northzone, GP Bullhound, Edastra  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: December 2013

TabbedOut Raises $2m. The Austin-based mobile payment app is currently installed in over 10,000 venues in the U.S. and allows patrons to open, review, and securely pay their tab. This investment, which is an extension of the Series C funding announced in June, will be used to expand to 20 planned U.S metro areas and then launch internationally soon thereafter, advance the consumer app, build integrations with other mobile services and extend Periscope’s big data analytics.

Announced: 12/11/15  Stage: Series C (Extension)  Participating Institutional Investors: Aeterna Capital  Previous Investment: $39.0 million  Founded: June 2009

Yumist Raises $2m. The Guragon, India-based meal delivery service provides a low-cost daily meal option for consumers. Yumist cooks and delivers its own meals to consumers, with current operations in Guragon, Bangalore, and South Delhi. The company will use the proceeds to grow operations within these three cities and eventually expand to more cities in India.

Announced: 12/08/15  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Unilazer Ventures (lead), Orios Venture Partners Previous Investment: $1.0 million  Founded: October 2014

Bringg Raises $5m. The New York, NY- and Tel Aviv, Israel-based platform for on-demand delivery provides businesses with an “uber-like experience” delivery option. Consumers can use the mobile platform to monitor delivery status, receive notifications when the driver is on the way, and set up text alerts. The funds will be used to grow Bringg’s team and services in both New York and Tel Aviv locations.

Announced: 12/07/15  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Ituran  Previous Investment: $2.5 million  Founded: June 2013

Gousto Raises £9m. The London-based subscription meal kit delivery service provides chef-developed recipes and organic ingredients in exact proportions. Delivery is free, and meals cost between £3-5. According to the release, with the additional funding, Gousto plans to strengthen its team of chefs and nutritionists, broaden its sales and marketing efforts, and continue to introduce a greater choice of meal and delivery options.

Announced: 12/07/15  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: BGF Ventures, MMC Ventures, Unilever Ventures, Angel Co-Fund  Previous Investment: $11.7 million  Founded: June 2012

Eatigo Raises “Multimillion-dollar” Series A. The Thailand-based online restaurant reservation app  offers discounts according to reservation time slots. The team claims eatigo has seated over one million diners, with 95% of reservations booked during non-peak hours at restaurants. According to e27, the funds will be used to strengthen eatigo’s presence in its current markets of Thailand and Singapore by increasing user and merchant acquisition as well as investing over US$1M into offline brand building in support of its online channels.

Announced: 12/07/15  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: June 2014

Faasos Raises $30m. The Pune, India-based online restaurant chain allows consumers to order food for on-demand delivery. The company currently operates in 15 cities across India, including Pune, Bangalore, Mumbai, and Delhi. According to DealStreetAsia, the company is eyeing revenues of $20 million by end of this fiscal year, and about $100 million in the next financial year as it looks to expand its presence further across India. Faasos currently receives about 350,000 orders per day, however the company aims to receive one million orders per day in the next six months.  The funds are expected to be used to grow the company to more cities throughout India, expand the range of its in-house brands, launch new services including Faasos Daily, a new mobile application for time-slotted food deliveries. The company also expects to utilize the funds for food tech acquisitions.

Announced: 12/07/15  Stage: Series C  Participating Institutional Investors: ru-Net (lead), Lightbox Ventures, Sequoia Capital  Previous Investment: $20.0 million  Founded: 2004

Teforia Raises $5.1m. The Mountain View, CA-based manufacturer of tea-brewing devices offers a brewing machine with a Selective Infusion Profile System as well as technology that allows the consumer to adjust caffeine and antioxidant levels and create personalized tea recipes. The company will use the investment to develop the company and manufacture new batches of brewers.

Announced: 12/04/15  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Upfront Ventures (lead), InnoSpring Seed Fund, Lemnos Labs, Yves Sisteron  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2014

Lozi Raises “Seven-Digit Investment”. The Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam-based mobile app allows consumers to find restaurants and rate dining experience. The app reported 500,000 subscribers at the end of November 2015. The funding will be used to expand the company and develop the app’s technology to better connect restaurants and users.

Announced: 12/04/15  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Golden Gate Ventures, DesignOne Japan Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2013

EatStreet Raises $15m. The Madison, WI-based online platform for food ordering allows users to browse local restaurants and order food for on-demand delivery. EatStreet currently operates in over 15,000 restaurants in over 250 cities in the United States. Founded by college students, the company targets locations with large universities. The company will use the investment to make technological advancements to its core products, hire additional employees and expand to more cities nationwide.

Announced: 12/03/15  Stage: Series C  Participating Institutional Investors: 4490 Ventures (lead), Lumia Capital (lead), GCI Capital Co. Ltd., Math Venture Partners, State of Wisconsin Investment Board  Previous Investment: $12.0 million  Founded: 2010

EasyKhaana Raises $100k. The New Delhi, India-based food delivery service caters meal boxes to corporate and individual customers. The startup’s strategy is to own the complete delivery supply chain – with a combination of food, logistics & technology. The company states that orders can be placed in 30 seconds through their website. The proceeds will be used to strengthen its logistics and technology as well as reach out to more people by expanding its delivery areas.

Announced: 12/03/15  Stage: Angel  Participating Investors: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: September 2015

FOOD LOVES TECH Expo Funded Through Joint Venture. The New York-based event, formed through a joint venture between Edible Holdings and VaynerMedia will hold its inaugural three-day exposition in June 2016 in New York City. The first-of-its-kind event will offer consumers a portal to the future of food through technology by showcasing inventors, startups and platforms that are hacking the food chain. In advance of the event, the team is launching a design competition globally and will host an incubator event in San Francisco, Austin and New York City—in conjunction with the local Edible magazine in these areas—to find designers, hardware specialists, coders, foodies and futurists who are developing products that will disrupt food.

Announced: 12/02/15 Investors: Edible Holdings, VaynerMedia Founded: 2015

Burpple Raises $6m. The Singapore-based food discovery platform assists users with selecting from dining options.  Users act as “tastemakers,” posting photo reviews and guiding each other to the best local restaurant options in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. The funds will be used to expand the company throughout Asia and to develop and add new features to its services. In addition, TechCrunch notes that Burpple has doubled its data science team.

Announced: 12/01/15  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Triumph Capital, SPH Media Fund, Tembusu Partners  Previous Investment: $0.5 million  Founded: December 2011

Bite Club Raises Seed Funding. The Guragon, India-based mobile app offers consumers a daily menu of meals cooked by home, amateur, and professional chefs available for on-demand delivery. Bite Club currently serves approximately 1,000 meals a day and has served over 100,000 meals since beginning operations in November 2014. The investment will be used to expand operations in the national capital region.

Announced: 11/30/15  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: GrowX Venture Management, Powai Lake Ventures  Previous Investment: $0.5 million  Founded: November 2014

PARTNERSHIPS

Yelp and Open Table End Partnership. The two companies quietly ended a long-running partnership (in April) under mounting competition as each are trying to take charge of the entire customer experience.

DoorDash partners with b8ta to offer on-demand delivery of tech gadgets and products.

Drizly and Favor partner for New Years Eve to deliver snacks and beverages for New Year’s celebrants in four cities–Austin, Boston, DC and Denver.

Drizly and Allrecipes partner to make on-demand beer, wine and liquor delivery accessible from Allrecipes’ most popular recipes.

LevelUp partners with GUSTO, enterprise point of sale technology for the fast-casual marketplace, for direct integration to offer seamless payment, promotion and mobile payment solutions.

PlaceIQ partners with IRI to tackle Online-to-Offline (O2O) attribution.

INDUSTRY LANDSCAPE

As The Food Tech & Media ecosystem continues to see rapid change, Rosenheim Advisors created The Food Tech & Media Industry Map to help entrepreneurs, participants and investors understand this quickly evolving landscape. Let us know about your recent or upcoming funding, partnerships or acquisitions here.

Check out the 2014 Annual Report and last month’s round-up. 

The post Food Tech Media Startup Funding, M&A and Partnerships: December 2015 appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

This annual report, by consulting firm Rosenheim Advisors, looks at the financing and acquisition trends in the Food Tech & Media ecosystem, which encompasses digital content, social, local, mobile, grocery, e-commerce, delivery, ordering, payments, marketing and analytics.

$6.8 Billion of Global Food Tech Investment in 2015

The global food tech and food media ecosystem was piping hot in 2015, with (at least)* $6.8 billion of capital flowing into private companies (including $2.3 billion within the U.S.). Outside of the U.S., a majority of both investment and acquisition activity was driven by China, Germany, India and the U.K.

China appears to be a cycle ahead of the U.S. in terms of market maturity, with an increasing number of companies scaling beyond U.S. benchmarks of reach and growth. Notable deals in 2015 included the merger of China’s competing firms Meituan and Dianping (“akin to a mix of Yelp, GroupOn and food delivery”), reportedly now valued at $18 billion, as well as the massive stockpiling by Ele.me which closed two rounds (Series E and F) totaling $980 million, in addition to an undisclosed strategic investment from Chinese ridesharing leader Didi Kuaidi.

Earlier in the year, Germany’s Rocket Internet made a substantial strategic move to “create the biggest Internet-based food-ordering service outside of China,” and thus formed the “Global Online Takeaway Group.” I definitely recommend spending some time with Rocket Internet’s presentation discussing its investment thesis in the food sector (automatic download of pdf) to gain a clearer understanding of the vision behind the consolidation – some useful industry stats in there as well.

The online ordering and delivery segments represented a significant portion of the global consolidation over the past few years, with Rocket Internet and its portfolio companies (plus others such as Zomato, Just Eat and Grubhub), gobbling up a number of regional players. As with most roll-up M&A plays, now these teams will need to deal with the complexity of their newly acquired networks, and we will likely see some moments of reckoning in 2016 (some have already occurred).

*Given that most small deals are not translated or reported by the international press, the global data represented in this report is not comprehensive, and weighted towards larger/later stage deals.

Over $2.3 Billion Private Capital Invested into the U.S in 2015

The U.S. food tech and food media industry continued to mature in 2015 as investors made their biggest bets yet, with larger and later stage deals increasingly prevalent. We saw a notable shift towards expansion and scalability for the leaders of the pack with 36 percent of all deals sized at $10 million or greater (up from 32 percent in 2014), and 22 percent of deals sized at $20 million and above (up from 17 percent in 2014).

Note: Data for U.S.-based companies only, and reflects the sectors found in the Food Tech and Media Industry Map. Investment data does not include any M&A data or public market offerings.

“On-Demand” + “Convenience” Economy Drove Momentum

With 142 private company fundings totaling over $2.3 billion, 2015 brought in slightly fewer overall deals and dollars than the previous year (there were 157 deals raising $2.6 billion in 2014). That may sound surprising to readers, as the persistent press coverage and stream of high-profile deals seemed to push 2015 into the highest level of food tech mania.

That is likely due to the mounting prevalence of startups and companies aiming to serve our every need through the “On Demand” + “Convenience” Economy, which drove a significant portion of the activity throughout the year (representing approximately 44 percent of 2015’s total U.S. food tech funding versus 29 percent in 2014). Within the sectors that broadly represent this sizzling subcategory (Online Grocery, Catering Marketplaces, Meal Delivery, Experiential Marketplaces, Online Ordering/Delivery, Food eCommerce), just over $1 billion was raised in 2015, up 34 percent from the $760 million of funding in 2014.

In the latest 2016 Food Tech & Media Industry Landscape (at the top of this report) I have clustered the boxes for the “On Demand” + “Convenience” Economy and outlined them in light blue. Notice the lack of M&A activity in these sectors. This will change in 2016.

The post 2015 Food Tech Media Funding & Acquisition Trends Report appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

This is a monthly guest post, by consulting firm Rosenheim Advisors, which highlights the most interesting acquisitions, financings and partnerships within the Food Tech & Media ecosystem – digital content, social, local, mobile, grocery, e-commerce, delivery, ordering, payments, marketing and analytics – to give you insights into the latest funding and growth trends.

Despite market trepidation, the new year kicked off strong for the global food tech and media ecosystem with over $500 million invested (through 17 investments and five acquisitions) plus a freshly minted $3.3 billion for China’s Meituan-Dianping, securing the company a place within the top five unicorns at a $18 billion valuation. Within that, U.S.-based companies took in a little over $300 million in private company funding, and represented all but one acquisition.

On the M&A front, notably, three of the five deals were local grocery delivery services based in TX and CA. The largest, and only international, deal was restaurant guidebook publisher Michelin’s acquisition of Bookatable, estimated to be valued at approximately $122 million. As Eater and French startup blog Rude Baguette respectively note, “it’s certainly a major leap into the 21st century for the 127-year-old company” and “represents both a big step into digital for Michelin, as well as a change in the [mergers and acquisitions] mindset in France.”

Restaurant and meal delivery-related tech was overwhelmingly prevalent among the funding sectors both globally and within the U.S. Signaling a maturing industry, while there were a few early stage concepts, more than half of the investments were sized larger than $15 million.

M&A

Farmhouse Delivery Acquires Greenling and Urban Acres. With the acquisitions, the Austin, TX-based online grocery delivery service Farmhouse Delivery, which offers local produce items for weekly or biweekly delivery, will grow the team to approximately 50 workers and offer a subscription service to customers in the Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio and Houston areas. The company doesn’t expect to operate outside of Texas.

Announced: 01/15/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Greenling – $8.2m  Urban Acres – Not Disclosed  Founded: Greenling – 2005; Urban Acres – 2008

Next Glass Merges with Untappd. Untapped, a Los Angeles, CA-based mobile app that allows users to socially share beer with other users will enhance the platform for Next Glass, a Wilmington, NC-based mobile app for personalized wine and beer recommendations. Going forward, both apps will continue operating under their original names, and each have plans for new developments. As part of the merger, the co-founders of Untappd will join the Next Glass leadership team.

Announced: 01/15/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: Untapped – September 2010; Next Glass – December 2012

Michelin Acquires Bookatable. The London, UK-based online booking service and mobile payments platform is used by more than 15 thousand restaurants across Europe, allowing Michelin to become Europe’s leading digital service for restaurant reservations. According to Rude Baguette, Bookatable was seeing increased competition in Europe from TheFork (LaFourchette, acquired by TripAdvisor in May 2014) among others; however, the relationship between Michelin & Bookatable started as early as May 2013, when the two began their partnership, allowing booking of Michelin-rated restaurants via Bookatable.  With the acquisition, Bookatable plans to expand its new service to countries in Scandinavia. In case you are keeping track – Bookatable was previously known as Livebookings, as the two companies appear to have merged in 2007 (and before that, Livebookings was called Profitable.net).

Announced: 01/11/16  Terms: Est €108 m ($122m)  Previous Investment: $56.5m  Founded: 2005

GrubMarket Acquires FarmBox. The Los Angeles, CA-based organic grocery delivery service will expand the business of Grubmarket, a Newark, CA-based online marketplace where consumers can buy products from farmers markets, farms, and restaurants. The company plans to expand nationwide and according to an interview with Forbes, with the acquisition, the company will reach a total of 60 employees, expecting to double headcount, to 100-140 employees, by the year’s end.

Announced: 01/05/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2009

FUNDING

Tinmen Raised Undisclosed Angel Funding. The Hyderabad-India-based food delivery startup sources meals from home cooks and delivers to offices and professionals, “like a virtual cafeteria.” According to Inc42, the capital will be used to serve a larger set of customers in Hyderabad and thereafter expand to other cities.

Announced: 01/29/16  Stage: Angel  Participating Institutional Investors: Lead Angel Network  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: August 2015

Black Garlic Raises Undisclosed Seed. The Jakarta, Indonesia-based meal-kit delivery startup is targeted towards middle class families and takes about 45 minutes to cook. According to Tech In Asia, the funding will be used to scale up the company’s operations in the Jakarta metro area, and to diversify Black Garlic’s offerings.

Announced: 01/25/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Convergence Ventures, Skystar Capital  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2015

SheKnows Media Secures $22m Credit Facility. The New York, NY-based women’s digital media company operates as a platform where experts, bloggers, and social media influencers post content designed to empower women. According to AdExchanger, 75% of total ad revenue is connected one way or another with an influencer marketing campaign. SheKnows acquired BlogHer in November 2014 and had previously acquired a handful of female-focused publishers, giving it 92 million unique visitors. The credit line will be used for further acquisitions (focused on companies “empowering women”), as well as to enhance SheKnows Media’s Momentum Content Management System technology platform.

Announced: 01/26/16  Stage: Debt  Participating Lender: Ally Corporate Finance  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed (Great Hill Partners acquired SheKnows in 2012)  Founded: November 2003

FiveStars Raises $50m. The San Francisco, CA-based platform for customer loyalty rewards provides rewards programs for restaurants and small businesses via mobile app. Programs track customer visits and include rewards such as discounts and coupons. To date, FiveStars has been used by over 10 thousand merchants and 10 thousand consumers. FiveStars will use the investment to continue to build the team, grow their brand and expand within the United States.

Announced: 01/22/16   Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: HarbourVest Partners (Lead), Menlo Ventures, DCM, Lightspeed Venture Partners  Previous Investment: $42.7 million  Founded: 2011

Olo Raises$40m. The New York, NY-based white label SaaS platform for mobile and online ordering and delivery integrates its services with restaurant’s point-of-sale systems to maximize sales and improve the customer experience. The investment will allow Olo to grow enhance its offerings, and expand its on-demand delivery platform, Dispatch. Dispatch facilitates access to a national network of independent Delivery Service Providers, collects real-time price quotes, chooses the best available, and extends the option to the consumer.

Announced: 01/21/16  Stage: Series D Participating Institutional Investors: The Raine Group  Previous Investment: $23.3 million  Founded: 2005

Boxed Raises $100m. The Edison, NJ-based ecommerce startup sells Costco-sized groceries and household goods online and via mobile app. Rather than taking market share form big box stores like Costco, BJ’s, or Sam’s Club, the founder maintains the company is converting a customer base of over 80 percent ages 25 to 44 to changing their habits to bulk buying instead of purchasing one-off. The company will use the capital infusion to expand the team, offerings and customer service operations.

Announced: 01/20/16  Stage: Series C  Participating Institutional Investors: blisce, Huangpu River Ventures Limited, Vaizra Investments, FJ Labs, Jose Marin, Fabrice Grinda, Yuri Milner, GGV Capital, Safa Partners, Light Street Capital Management  Previous Investment: $32.6 million  Founded: June 2013

Gather Raises $2.5m. The Atlanta-based event management software helps restaurants and venues manage and grow their private events business. Gather allows clients to respond to leads, manage their calendar, create and send proposals, collect payments and more. The company states that it is profitable, and will be using the funding for expedited product development, sales and marketing. The company employs about 25 and plans to double its workforce in the next 12 months.

Announced: 01/19/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Storm Ventures (lead), Ludlow Ventures  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: March 2012

Tovala Raises $500k. The Chicago-based smart kitchen startup automates home cooking through a new type of food tech appliance plus the delivery of premade meals. The company’s appliance, also called Tovala, utilizes a combination of dry and wet heat cooking technology instead of microwave technology, so users can cook several different types of foods in the same unit at the same time. Users can create their own recipes (and upload to the app for the potential to earn royalties), or they can subscribe to get fresh, chef-designed meals delivered to them weekly that are specifically developed for the machine.

Announced: 01/19/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Origin Ventures Previous Investment: $70k  Founded: May 2015

ALICE Raises $9.5m. The New York, NY–based hospitality operations platform focuses primarily on hotels, and enables all front of house, back of house and guest communication needs to be handled in one platform. According to Skift, the new strategic investor allows the company to leverage Expedia’s database of hotel partners. The team will use the funding to “continue to build out the technology and significantly expand the team hiring sales, engineering, product, and account management roles.”

Announced: 01/19/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Expedia (lead), 645 Ventures, Laconia Ventures, neuehouse  Previous Investment: $3.5 million  Founded: July 2012

Swiggy Raises $35m. The Bangalore, India-based on-demand delivery and payments platform service allows customers to order meals from restaurants for on-demand delivery. Swiggy currently operates in Bangalore, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata and Chenna, with around 5000 restaurants on its platform. The investment will be used to expand the company, hire engineering talent, and upgrade platform technology.

Announced: 01/18/16  Stage: Series C  Participating Institutional Investors: RB Investments, Harmony Partners, Accel, Northwest Venture Partners, SAIF Partners  Previous Investment: $18.5 million  Founded: August 2014

Meituan-Dianping Raises $3.3b. The Shanghai, China-based mobile app allows consumers to receive group discounts (similar to Groupon), order food from restaurants, and read and write restaurant reviews. The company, which has emerged as the largest player in China’s online-to-offline (O2O) market, was formed last fall after Meituan (backed by Alibaba) merged with Dianping (backed by Tencent). Meituan and Dianping still operate as independent brands.

Announced: 01/18/16  Valuation: $18.0 billion Stage: Series F  Participating Institutional Investors: Capital Today, Baillie Gifford, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, TBP Capital, Temasek Holdings, ST Global, Tencent Holdings  Previous Investment: $2.1 billion (represents combination of Meituan and Dianping investment)  Founded: October 2015 (through merger)

Grain Raises $1.7m. The Singapore-based “Full-Stack” food delivery service manages the process from meal preparation and cooking, to orders and delivery. The company keeps its menu narrow with four different meals available each day on a selection that rotates weekly. According to Tech In Asia, the company plans to use the funding build up infrastructure and the team, including marketing and tech, as well as expansion to Hong Kong and beyond.

Announced: 01/14/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: NSI Ventures (lead), 500 Startups, Digital Media Partners VC, Ivan Lee  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2014

Foursquare Raises $45m. The New York, NY-based mobile platform for local discovery allows users to explore options for dining and shopping in cities via location-based information and reviews written by other users. The investment will be used to build out its enterprise business, including hiring 30 new positions across sales, engineering and other functions. The round is said to value the company at approximately half of the $650 million valuation it garnered with a $77 million Series D raise in February 2014, but in a TechCrunch interview the new CEO, Jeff Glueck, is careful to note that the financing round was oversubscribed.

Announced: 01/14/16  Stage: Series E  Participating Institutional Investors: Union Square Ventures (lead), Andreessen Horowitz, DFJ Growth, Morgan Stanley  Previous Investment: $117.4 million  Founded: March 2009

Vivino Raises $25m. The Copenhagen, Denmark-based wine discovery app uses image scanning technology to identify wines consumers are drinking and offer suggestions based on users’ rating of the scanned wine. Vivino is currently used by 13 million consumers in 228 countries. The company plans to use the funding to further expand within the U.S., Italy, France, Spain, and Germany, and aims to have 25 million users by the end of 2016. Notably, the lead investor is strategic; SCP Neptune International, is the investment arm of Moet Hennessy’s global CEO Christophe Navarre.

Announced: 01/12/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: SCP Neptune International (lead), Balderton Capital, Creandum, SEED Capital Denmark  Previous Investment: $12.4 million  Founded: 2009

FreshMenu Raises $17m. The Bangalore, India-based meal delivery service runs its own kitchen and offers main meals, salads, sides, and desserts cooked by professional chefs for on-demand delivery. FreshMenu currently operates in Bangalore, Mumbai, and Guragon and will use the investment for further expansion in India. The funds will also be used to build the brand and increase staff.

Announced: 01/08/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: Lightspeed Venture Partners, Zodius Capital  Previous Investment: $5.0 million  Founded: 2014

Toast Raises $30m. The Boston, MA-based provider of point-of-sale systems offers Android tablet point-of-sale systems for restaurants, bars, and other food establishments. The systems provided by Toast include customer loyalty information and are used by 1,400 establishments in 43 US states. The funding will be used to hire more employees, as well as for marketing and expansion across the United States. According to a TechCrunch interview, in 2016 the company plans on launching a suite of tools that allow Toast to integrate with other services.

Announced: 01/05/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: Bessemer Venture Partners, Google Ventures  Previous Investment: $3.0 million (debt financing)  Founded: December 2011

Dipjar Raises $2.4m. The New York-based hardware and software startup provides digital tip jars and donation boxes for credit cards. DipJar manages the processing and disbursement of funds, while customers control the dollar amount setting and monitor their intake through the software dashboard. The company intends to use the funds to expand its national hardware presence and continue development of software solutions for customers.

Announced: 12/28/15  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Bolt, Project 11 Ventures, Corazon Capital, Charge Ventures  Previous Investment: $0.4 million  Founded: 2012

PARTNERSHIPS

MyWebGrocer Parters with Mastercard to streamline consumer grocery shopping.

HelloFresh Partners with Jamie Oliver to share healthy recipes with home cooks.

UnderArmour, Inc. Teams Up With IBM incorporate the Watson supercomputer into its newest fitness and health-tracking app.

Restaurant review app OpenRice partners with foodpanda to deliver in Hong Kong.

NutriSavings and FreshDirect Partner to Reward Consumers for Purchasing Healthier Foods.

Chili’s® Grill & Bar partners with Olo to power its online ordering platform.

INDUSTRY LANDSCAPE

As The Food Tech & Media ecosystem continues to see rapid change, Rosenheim Advisors created The Food Tech & Media Industry Map to help entrepreneurs, participants and investors understand this quickly evolving landscape. Let us know about your recent or upcoming funding, partnerships or acquisitions here.

Check out the 2015 Annual Report and last month’s round-up. 

The post Food Tech Media Startup Funding, M&A and Partnerships: January 2016 appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

This is a monthly guest post, by consulting firm Rosenheim Advisors, which highlights the most interesting acquisitions, financings and partnerships within the Food Tech & Media ecosystem – digital content, social, local, mobile, grocery, e-commerce, delivery, ordering, payments, marketing and analytics – to give you insights into the latest funding and growth trends.

Investment and M&A activity in February was moderate, with over $265 million of reported transaction value during the month. The bulk of the value was driven from Just Eat’s acquisition of five companies from Rocket Internet ($140 million).

On the funding front, sixteen companies raised a little over $105 million during the month (excluding Instacart’s undisclosed Whole Foods investment), with all but four financings sized at less than $10 million. This was a significant shift from January’s activity, as most deals were Series A or earlier and there was an absence of later stage deals. Approximately 65% of funded companies had operations in the U.S.

Noticeably, “health” was a prominent theme across the deals for the month; ranging from One Medical’s acquisition of Rise to multiple fresh or healthy food concepts to nutritional data and analysis. While health is a regular food tech discussion topic, it doesn’t show up quite as regularly in the investment landscape. Beginning of a new trend or we just happened to still be in close proximity to New Year’s resolutions? We shall see.

M&A

Craftsvilla Acquires PlaceofOrigin.  The Bangalore, India-based platform for specialty Indian foods will provide Craftsvilla, a Mumbai, India-based online marketplace for ethnic products, with a diverse regionalized food market and specific experience with the key logistics challenges in this space. As part of the acquisition, the 15 person team of PlaceofOrigin will join the Craftsvilla team. The acquisition follows Craftsvilla’s acquisition of Sendd, the Mumbai, India-based shipping service in January.

Announced: 02/26/16  Terms: Not Disclosed (“all equity deal”) Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: September 2014

Thirstie Acquires DrinkFly. The Chicago, IL-based mobile app for on-demand alcohol delivery will grow the footprint of Thirstie, particularly in Chicago’s metro area, where it will now be the single biggest player in the space. Based in New York, NY, Thirstie is a content-to-commerce marketplace for alcohol delivery, offering both traditional ecommerce and on-demand delivery by partnering with local stores to offer a range of wine, beer, and spirits for delivery within an hour. DrinkFly’s users and retail partners will be transitioned over to the combined entity, which includes Thirstie’s digital magazine, The Craft (the company says 80% of consumers come through their content platform), featuring recipes, news, hosting tips and local stories.

Announced: 02/17/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: April 2014

Just Eat Acquires Rocket Internet’s Delivery Businesses in Spain (La Nevera Roja) and Italy (PizzaBo & hellofood Italy), Brazil (hellofood Brazil) and Mexico (hellofood Mexico). In order to “further reduce complexity of Rocket Internet,” the Berlin, Germany-based incubator has decided to sell “non-core operations that are not market-leading” to the London-based publically traded online ordering and delivery company Just Eat. Interestingly, this comes exactly one year after Rocket Internet announced it formed its “Global Online Takeaway Group” in addition to acquiring La Nevera Roja and Pizzabo. While the exact value of the assets being sold are difficult to pinpoint, Tech Crunch notes that there are clues that Rocket is selling these at a loss; “For example, in Italy, hellofood is understood to have paid €55 million — nearly half the value of the whole deal today — for PizzaBo alone.”

Announced: 02/05/16  Terms: $140 million

One Medical Acquires Rise. The San Francisco, CA-based mobile app for personalized nutrition and diet coaching will allow One Medical, a healthcare company, to connect patients with virtual nutritionists. According to the Wall Street Journal, One Medical sees an opportunity to “offer its patients a wider range of healthcare services via the smartphone that could potentially save them trips to the doctor’s office”. Rise will continue to operate independently, and the company will still be run by its original co-founders within One Medical.

Announced: 02/05/16  Terms: $20.0m  Previous Investment: $4.0m  Founded: 2013

FUNDING

iChef Raises $5.6m. The Taipei, Taiwan-based software developer produces iPad point-of-sale systems for restaurants. The software system includes table management, reservations, ordering, and payment. iChef a will use the funding to expand and to develop data analytics. To date, over a thousand restaurants are using iChef systems, and the company aims to reach 3,000 stores in Asia by the end of 2016.

Announced: 02/25/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: China Development Industrial Bank (CDIB), CDIB Capital, AppWorks Ventures  Previous Investment: $1.5 million  Founded: 2012

Pocketin Raises $150k. The Noida, India-based platform for restaurant deals and events allows consumers to discover, compare, and choose restaurant deals in real time. To date, the company reports it has over eight thousand app downloads and has seated over 6,500 diners. The funds will be used for expansion throughout Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, and Guragon, with additional plans for expansion to Mumbai, Bangalore, and Dubai. In addition, the company says it plans to double its team of 15 and partner with over 1,200 restaurants in the next six months.

Announced: 02/24/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Swastika  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: August 2015

Deliv Raises $28m. The Menlo Park, CA-based crowdsourced delivery service provides customers with same-day delivery of products from local merchants, national and e-commerce retailers. Deliv currently operates in over 100 cities and serves over four thousand businesses. UPS Strategic Enterprise Fund is a notable new investor in the round, stating it intends to gain insights into the market dynamics of same-day delivery. The investment will be used for product development and to broaden the company’s national presence.

Announced: 02/24/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: UPS Strategic Enterprise Fund, Westfield Labs, Taubman Centers Inc, Simon Venture Group, The Macerich Company, General Growth Properties, PivotNorth Capital, RPM Ventures, Upfront Ventures  Previous Investment: $12.4 million  Founded: January 2012

Instacart Raises Undisclosed Strategic Funding from Whole Foods. The San Francisco, CA-based grocery delivery service will receive funding from supermarket chain, Whole Foods. The deal will expand available geographies with Instacart delivery and includes a five-year partnership between the companies, making Instacart the exclusive delivery service for Whole Foods perishable items. Additionally, with the Instacart Deals platform, Whole Foods Market shoppers can take advantage of special deals and discounts on their favorite products. The partnership thus far is reportedly impacting Whole Foods’ bottom line; as TechCrunch points out, “Whole Foods stores with dedicated shoppers are seeing growing Instacart sales – on average, this can be in the 5 to 10 percent range of their total store sales.”

Announced: 02/23/16  Participating Institutional Investors: Whole Foods  Previous Investment: $274.8 million  Founded: July 2012

Fooda Raises $5.9m. The Chicago, IL-based catering platform offers virtual cafeterias to corporate offices by sourcing a rotating daily menu from local restaurants. The company also offers delivery and pop up locations, which extends the reach and brand of local restaurants. As the Chicago Tribune reported, in November the company opened its first mall location at The Shops at North Bridge to expand to more publicly accessible locations.

Announced: 02/23/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: Undisclosed  Previous Investment: $12.8 million  Founded: 2011

RAW Pressery Raises $4.5m. The Mumbai, India-based delivery juice company currently delivers cold-pressed juices to homes in six Indian cities. According to Tech Crunch, the company aspires to be the largest “clean label” lifestyle brand by adding soups, smoothies, and other pre-packaged food without additives. The company will use the money to introduce new flavors, increase production capacity and launch brand-building campaigns

Announced: 02/23/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: Sequoia Capital, Saama Capital, DSG Consumer Partners  Previous Investment: $1.8 million  Founded: 2013

First Eat Raises $200k. The Guragon, India-based mobile app offers subscription and on-demand delivery of healthy meals. The startup allows users to choose meals according to their health requirements, and aims to solve the problem of ‘awareness, availability and affordability’ of necessary healthy meals, by offering healthy organic meal options. The funds will be used to expand throughout the NCR region, deploy targeted marketing and develop the First Eat technology platform. In addition, the company aims to increase service to 400 to 500 meals per day next quarter.

Announced: 02/22/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Investor: “Undisclosed F&B entrepreneur”  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2015

Feasty Raises $800k. The Cincinnati, OH-based local deals app shows users deals at nearby restaurants based on their location. According to the Cincinnati Business Courier, users don’t need to purchase the deals, the app is intended to help encourage users to choose restaurants with small perks, like a free item. The company has partnered with 60 restaurants in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky.

Announced: 02/19/16  Stage: Angel  Participating Investors: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2015

TableHero Raises $1m. The Mountain View, CA- and Bangalore, India-based company provides restaurants and small businesses with intelligent operating systems. The operating systems include a simple website designer, as well as products to manage reservations, bookings, payments, and customer loyalty. The investment will be used for product development and for the engineering and product design team. TableHero plans to launch the product in the U.S. on the west coast in cities like Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, and the Bay Area.

Announced: 02/16/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Globevestor, Powai Lake Ventures, GrowX Venture Management  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: May 2015

Label Insight raises $10m. The St. Louis, MO-based technology and software producer provides consumers and retailers with information about food labels. Label Insight technology allows nutritional information and food product data to be more transparent to retailers, consumers, and manufacturers.  Data includes, but is not limited to, allergen information, whether foods meet “healthy” standards, and if sales of certain types of products are up or down. The strategic investment by KPMG allows its member firms to offer retail food and beverage clients around the globe access to Label Insight’s proprietary technology, which transforms product information into smart attributes, such as nutrients and allergens, providing users with a deep understanding of their product set. The investment will be used to develop new products, broaden custom data views and expand data science capabilities.

Announced: 02/11/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: KPMG Capital (lead), Mercury Fund, Cultivation Capital, Serra Ventures, dunnhumby Ventures, West Capital Advisors  Previous Investment: $3.0 million  Founded: January 2008

Good Uncle Raises $2.2m. The New York, NY-based delivery-only restaurant concept, which expects to launch in the fall, will allow consumers in smaller U.S. cities to order top restaurant food from major cities for on-demand delivery. The company plans to set up kitchens and delivery fleets in those smaller cities and towns, linking local populations to them with a mobile app that features small, carefully curated menus of hits from acclaimed restaurants. The funds will be used to build a team and app and develop restaurant partnerships.

Announced: 02/09/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: First Round, Box Group, Gunderson Dettmer Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: November 2015

IfOnly Raises $10.25m. The San Francisco, CA-based marketplace for “incredible experiences” offers a catalog of experiences with experts in the domains of food, sports, animals, entertainment, technology, and more. The company currently operates in the Bay Area, New York, and Los Angeles and offers over 10 thousand experiences. The company is working to offer more experiences tailored to (and priced for) a broader range of clients.

Announced: 02/08/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: Khosla Ventures, Founders Fund, Advance Newhouse, American Express, Digital Garage Previous Investment: $15.0 million  Founded: 2012

Power Supply Raises $5m.  The Alexandria, VA-based health food delivery service offers healthy meals for one-time or weekly subscription delivery. The company differs from other meal delivery services in that it uses local restaurants and caterers in place of central production kitchens and that it delivers directly to fitness community spots, such as gyms. Power Supply is currently operating in Washington D.C., Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The investment will be used to expand into new markets.

Announced: 02/04/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investor: Upfront Ventures Previous Investment: $0.5 million  Founded: 2010

FarmDrop Raises $4.4m. The London, England-based online farmers market allows consumers to buy local food directly from local farmers. The company’s mission is to “fix the food chain” by making the food industry based on local farms and food production. Customers place orders online and pick up their orders from producers at their local FarmDrop venue. FarmDrop will use the funding to develop its platform.

Announced: 02/03/16  Stage: Venture  Participating Institutional Investors: Jamjar Investments, Atomico  Previous Investment: $1.3 million  Founded: 2012

Food.ee Raises $6m. The Vancouver, Canada-based corporate catering and concierge service provides companies with meal delivery from local high-end restaurants. Food.ee has over 4000 customers and has partnered with over 250 restaurants. After success in its three U.S. pilot cities—Austin, Denver, and Philadelphia, the company will use the funds to launch in Atlanta and Minneapolis in March as well as more U.S. cities throughout 2016.

Announced: 02/03/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: BDC Capital  Previous Investment: $4.0 million  Founded: October 2011

Thrive Market Raises ~$20m. The Los Angeles-based wholesale buying club for health-conscious products has reportedly raised additional capital after an oversubscribed Series A this past summer via a convertible note, according to Bloomberg. The company has stated 2015 revenues of close to $50 million, with about 180,000 members, and recently expanded into private label, releasing its own organic coconut oil and tomato sauce.

Announced: 02/01/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Investors: Henry Kravis, Paul Tudor Jones  Previous Investment: $39.0 million  Founded: 2013

La Belle Assiette Raises $1.5m. The Paris, France-based on-demand private-chef and catering service allows consumers to select a professional chef to cook in their home or at office events. The chosen chef provides all ingredients and equipment to cook the catered menu. Currently, La Belle Assiette employs over 700 professional chefs in six European countries. The investment will be used to launch four new catering services—Buffets, Canapé Receptions, Office Lunches and Cooking Classes—in the next six months.

Announced: 02/01/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Kima Ventures, Cabiedes & Partners Previous Investment: $2.2 million  Founded: February 2012

PARTNERSHIPS

Foursquare Partners with Delivery.com to provide on-demand delivery in 36 cities in the United States.

Peapod Partners with WMATA to allow commuters to pick up grocery delivery orders at their Metro station stop.

Zomato Partners with Quick Delivery  to provide online ordering and on-demand delivery in the Philippines.

Amazon Partners with U.K. Grocer Morrisons to include “hundreds of Morrisons products” within Amazon’s one-hour Prime delivery and Pantry services.

Scanbuy Partners with inMarket to connect with consumers via mobile app while they are shopping.

HotSchedules Partners with PAR Technology Corporation to sync point-of-sale data with HotSchedules mobile platform.

INDUSTRY LANDSCAPE

As The Food Tech & Media ecosystem continues to see rapid change, Rosenheim Advisors created The Food Tech & Media Industry Map to help entrepreneurs, participants and investors understand this quickly evolving landscape. Let us know about your recent or upcoming funding, partnerships or acquisitions here.

Check out the 2015 Annual Report and last month’s round-up. 

The post Food Tech Media Startup Funding, M&A and Partnerships: February 2016 appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

This report is double the fun, with two monthly reports in one. Written by consulting firm Rosenheim Advisors, it highlights the most interesting acquisitions, financings and partnerships within the Food Tech & Media ecosystem – digital content, social, local, mobile, grocery, e-commerce, delivery, ordering, payments, marketing and analytics – to give you insights into the latest funding and growth trends.

Is There a Food Delivery Bubble?

The foodpocalypse has been a prominent theme over the last couple of months, as many opine on the bursting of the food delivery bubble. Just as the “On Demand” and “Convenience” Economies drove a significant portion of 2015’s investment (representing approximately 44 percent of 2015’s total U.S. food tech funding versus 29 percent in 2014), the category will also lead the headlines as the investor community continues to shift from a “grow at any cost” mentality to a higher emphasis on unit economics and operating KPIs.

That said, investment into the delivery category was still prominent in March and April 2016. In fact, the total combined investment in food delivery startups for the two months was actually greater than the same period in 2015. This was largely due to a massive $1.25 billion investment into Ele.me in 2016. If we normalize the data by stripping out the Ele.me investment in April 2016 and an $850 million investment into Dianping in March 2015, then combined investment into the food tech sector during the period in 2016 was down 23 percent versus 2015. M&A activity was generally in line with 2015 levels for both months.

The month of March featured six acquisitions, all of which were in the delivery sector and all except for one involved either an international buyer or target. Investment during the month totaled close to $420 million across ten deals with a similar theme of online ordering and delivery across the board. With only one seed deal, the remaining rounds were Series A or beyond, and 60 percent were international companies.

The month of April included eight acquisitions across a variety of sectors, with most based in the U.S. Investment during the month totaled close to $1.6 billion across fourteen deals, but as mentioned above Ele.me’s funding accounted for a majority of that. Close to $345 million was raised outside of the Ele.me investment. Ecommerce, ordering and delivery were dominant themes across a variety of stages ranging from seed all the way to public debt.

As I discussed in Fortune’s predictions for the year, “The 2016 Fortune Crystal Ball”, (as well as my annual report), consolidation is absolutely on the menu for 2016 and it may fast become the main course. While Kitchit, KitchenSurfing, Spoon Rocket, Chef Nightly and Dinner Lab are some of the more notable food tech startups to recently shutter, there are likely more companies to follow. But while the current narrative is focused on lack of funding and subsequent closures, I do think the private market overhang will give way to a significant number of opportunistic acquisitions as well.

Food Tech Is More Than Delivery

On a related note, due to the significant amount of press around and investment into the food delivery category, the term “food tech” has become almost synonymous with delivery-related startups for the average person (or average investor). As a result, the overall food tech sector is hitting a bit of a rough patch on the PR front.

Many startups outside of the delivery sector I speak with say they feel the implications of the delivery shakeout in their own quest for funding. This is unfortunate, as recent shifts in consumer demand and behavior around food will continue to foster tremendous opportunity through technology – both through direct to consumer solutions, as well as business to business efficiencies and insights. While the delivery category is clouding the food tech narrative, the overall sector is still at the beginning of a long trajectory. The current rightsizing will make it a stronger sector overall.

M&A

EnterWorks Holding Co. Acquires Majority of Digital Foodie. Sterling, VA-based EnterWorks, which offers product information management (PIM) solutions, has acquired a majority stake of Digital Foodie, a Finnish SaaS platform for on-demand groceries. The combined platform will be launched into the U.S. market as an end-to-end, on-demand, omni-commerce solution for the food and grocery industry. Digital Foodie’s cloud platform currently powers the largest Finnish grocer, S-Group, and has been deployed in more than 1,100 stores in Europe, ranging from hyper-markets to grocery stores and convenience stores. According to Progressive Grocer, IGA stores including Wynn’s Market in Florida, will be the first to roll out the Digital Food platform in the U.S. The transaction was led by Black Dragon Capital, a U.S.-based private equity fund that owns EnterWorks.

Announced: 04/27/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2009

Hello Curry acquires The First Meal. The Hyderabad, India-based meal delivery service will allow Hello Curry, an Indian restaurant chain based in Hyderabad, to enter the subscription and meal delivery business, as well as the additional breakfast segment. The First Meal offers subscription breakfast and lunch meal boxes, and reports that it currently sells 10,000 boxes per month with an 89% retention rate. Through First Meal, Hello Curry aims to sell 5,000 meals sold per day in the next 6 months.

Announced: 04/26/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2015

Fexy Media Acquires Simply Recipes. Elise Bauer’s award-winning recipe and food blog, which grew to 6.5 million uniques in November of last year, will be the newest addition within Fexy’s portfolio of diverse digital brands, each appealing to specific food lifestyle needs. As one of six acquisitions since 2014, Simply Recipes will join Serious Eats, Roadfood, The Food Lab, and Relish as part of Fexy Media.

Announced: 04/21/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2003

Homemade Acquires CookNook. The New York, NY- and Washington D.C.-based platforms for home-cooked meals allow consumers to connect with home chefs and purchase homemade meals through online and mobile platforms. Homemade currently operates in New York, Washington D.C., Chicago, Philadelphia, and Toronto. As part of the acquisition, CookNook chefs and customers will join Homemade, and the company intends to expand along the East Coast.

Announced: 04/13/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2014

US Foods Acquires Food Genius.  The Chicago, IL-based data analytics company will provide the Rosamond, IL-based foodservice distributor with data about US Foods, which has been a customer of Food Genius for over a year. As part of the deal, the Food Genius team will join the US Foods team.

Announced: 04/13/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $2.5m  Founded: May 2010

Delivery.com Acquires BrewDrop. The Austin, TX-based mobile app for on-demand alcohol delivery will allow the New York, NY-based online delivery service to increase its alcohol-ordering consumer base. BrewDrop will cease operations and according to Austin Business Journal, BrewDrop’s CEO, will join  Delivery.com as director of market development and will oversee the company’s Texas expansion, with Houston and Dallas targeted next.

Announced: 04/12/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2013

Chope Acquires Restaurant MakanLuar. The Indonesia-based restaurant reservation service will allow the Chope, a Singapore-based reservation service, to expand to Indonesia. Chope currently operates in Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Beijing. At present, MakanLuar will maintain its own name, but will eventually come under Chope’s name.

Announced: 04/05/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: November 2013

Reserve Acquires Dash. The New York-based mobile payments data technology startup will add sophisticated Point of Sale integration capabilities with systems like Micros and Aloha to Reserve’s growing tech platform. Dash, which is Reserve’s fifth acquisition, also brings along an innovative “Venue Vibes” feature which notifies guests of a restaurant’s atmosphere based on real-time data.

Announced: 04/01/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $6.9m  Founded: 2011

Glovo Acquires Foodinho. The Milan, Italy-based on-demand meal delivery service Foodinho will allow Glovo, a Barcelona, Spain-based mobile app for on-demand delivery, to expand internationally. In addition to delivering restaurant and café meals, Glovo delivers any product available at local stores. Glovo currently operates in Madrid, Barcelona, and Valencia, Spain, and with the acquisition will expand its operations to Milan, Italy.

Announced: 03/31/16  Terms: Not Disclosed (all cash) Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: June 2015

Paylo.in Acquires Ruplee. The multi-channel offline payment platform Paylo.in has acquired in-restaurant payment app. According to the company, the transaction will be a “merger of both teams and products, helping Ruplee evolve into an omni-channel payment platform from an app-only play, in addition to expanding its cashless payment experience to more verticals beyond food where it already enjoys a first-mover advantage.”

Announced: 03/21/16  Terms: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: October 2014

FoodPanda Acquires Delivery.com’s Hong Kong Operations. The Berlin, Germany-based online meal delivery service will take over the Hong Kong operations of Delivery.com, which it launched in 2014 noting that Hong Kong is “one of the world’s most densely populated places with a cultural and business environment that mirrors New York City” (where Delivery.com is headquartered). Foodpanda entered Hong Kong in 2014 as well, and has pursued an acquisition strategy in the area, with previous acquisitions from Hong Kong including Koziness and Dial a Dinner. The company notes that that the Hong Kong sale will allow Delivery.com to “refocus on its home market, where it is active in dozens of U.S. cities”.

Announced: 03/17/16 Terms: Not Disclosed  Founded: Launched in 2014

iFood Acquires SpoonRocket. Just days after announcing it was shutting down, The Brazil-based on-demand meal delivery provider will use the Berkeley, CA-based meal delivery service’s logistics platform to improve delivery time and order tracking. Spoon Rocket with cease independent operations. Currently iFood is working to expand operations throughout Latin America.

Announced: 03/17/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $13.5m  Founded: June 2013

InnerChef Acquires EatonGo and Flavour Labs. InnerChef, a Guragon, India-based platform for food discovery and delivery will utilize EatonGo’s foothold in Bangalore, while also building a network of kitchens to be closer to customers. In addition, the Flavour Labs acquisition will allow InnerChef to leverage the team’s mobile kitchen know-how and add the company’s custom designed food trucks to its operations. Both acquisitions are acqui-hires.

Announced: 03/09/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: EatonGo – $0.4m; Flavour Labs –  Not Disclosed  Founded: EatonGo – February 2015;  Flavour Labs – 2014

New Fresh LLC Acquires The Fresh Diet. The Miami, Florida-based meal delivery service allows consumers to choose healthy, gourmet meals for delivery. The company was acquired from Innovative Food Holdings by an investment group led by the original founder of The Fresh Diet.

Announced: 03/01/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Founded: November 2005

FUNDING

BoxGreen Raises $335k. The Singapore-based healthy snack delivery service provides consumers with single-serve healthy snacks delivered via subscription box. Since launching in May 2015, the company reports it has delivered over 75,000 snack packs to over 2,000 customers. The investment will be used to grow its food and innovation, customer service, and marketing/sales teams, and to develop new snacks. The company also plans to expand to Malaysia and other areas soon.

Announced: 04/29/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: 500 Startups, Expara IDM Ventures  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2014

Milkbasket Raises $500k. The Guragon, India-based mobile app allows consumers to order groceries from their phone for delivery. Milkbasket originally only sold milk, but it now offers over 3,000 other products. The company currently operates in 15 clusters in Guragon, with about 500 app users in each cluster. The funds will be used to expand the Milkbasket team, enhance technology, and improve the logistics network.

Announced: 04/26/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: EVC (Entrepreneurship & Venture Capital)  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2015

Baedal Minjok (Woowa Brothers Corp) Raises $50m. The Seoul, South Korea-based online restaurant ordering and delivery app will use the investment to expand its business scope toward food logistics as well as enhance apps, Baemin Riders, Baemin Fresh, and Baemin Cook—which deliver drinks, fresh foods, and pre-made foods respectively. According to Deal Street Asia, the company aims to become profitable in 2016.

Announced: 04/25/16  Stage: Series E  Participating Institutional Investors: Hillhouse Capital Group  Previous Investment: $50.1 million  Founded: 2010

Fexy Media Raises $6m. The Seattle-based digital platform for food media is building a portfolio of food-focused brands. According to the Seattle Times, Fexy Media now has 50 employees and in addition to the recently acquired Simply Recipes (see M&A section above), the company operates three other websites and apps for cooks and diners: Roadfood, Serious Eats and Relish. According to the Sacramento Bee article in discussing the Simply Recipes acquisition, in addition to a network, Fexy is able to help its portfolio companies produce and distribute videos in a cost-effective way, and aims to offer data analysis of followers that would otherwise be unaffordable to smaller platforms.

Announced: 04/21/16  Stage: Venture  Participating Institutional Investor: Tritium Partners  Previous Investment: $16.3 million  Founded: 2014

CaterSpot Raises $800k. The Hong Kong-based online platform for catering connects consumers with caterers and restaurants. The company operates in Singapore and Hong Kong with over 200 providers offering over 1,000 catering menus. CaterSpot will use the investment for growth of its current operations, hiring, and product development.

Announced: 04/19/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Triplestar Capital, Swiss Founders Fund  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: January 2016

Yummy Express Raises $10m.  The Beijing, China-based O2O solutions provider offers last mile delivery services to catering merchants and takeout platforms. Rather than many crowd-sourced competitors, Yummy Express differentiates its services through its “well-trained proprietary delivery men” and delivering relatively higher-ticket items. The company says it currently delivers over 200,000 meal orders per day in 18 cities in China, working with companies like Baidu Waimai, Meituan-Dianping, and Tencent-backed Ele.me. The new funding will be invested into company’s expansion module.

Announced: 04/19/16  Stage: Series C  Participating Institutional Investors: ClearVue Partners (lead), SB China Capital (SBCVC)  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2012

Wolt Raises $12.4m. The Helsinki, Finland-based mobile app allows consumers to order meals from restaurants for on-demand delivery by Wolt’s courier network, which arrives within about 30 minutes. To date, the app has over 100,000 users and works with over 400 restaurants. The investment comes with the launch of the company in Stockholm.

Announced: 04/15/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Investors: EQT Ventures (lead), Niklas Zennström (Skype founder), Ilkka Paananen (Supercell CEO), and Risto Siilasmaa (Nokia Chairman) Previous Investment: $2.6 million  Founded: October 2014

TabSquare Raises $2.6m. The Singapore-based restaurant management platform provides restaurants with tablet menus which customers can browse, order and pay for their food from. Restaurants can update the menus in real time via a content management system that includes a cloud-based data warehouse and analytics engine in order to track customer behavior and spending data. TabSquare is currently used by over 60 food and beverage brands and over 150 stores. The investment will be used for expansion and for technological development.

Announced: 04/14/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Walden International (lead), Infocomm Investments, Phillip Private Equity, Raging Bull  Previous Investment: $0.5 million  Founded: May 2012

Ele.me Raises $1.25b. The Shanghai, China-based online food delivery service received a strategic investment from Alibaba but didn’t provide any further details of the transaction. TechCrunch points out that there are synergies in Alibaba’s portfolio including a joint venture called Koubei which helps restaurants offer promotions via mobile. As part of the deal, Alibaba’s executive vice chairman has joined the board of Ele.me. Ele.me will continue operations as an independent company, but may become a target for full acquisition in the near future as Alibaba is reportedly selling its stake in Meituan-Dianping.

Announced: 04/13/16  Stage: Growth Participating Institutional Investors: Alibaba Group (and its arm, Ant Financial Services Group)  Previous Investment: $1.085 billion  Founded: September 2008

Homemade Raises $2.1m. The New York, NY food marketplace offers an app that connects cooks in communities with people looking for homemade food. Users can browse through local cook options and indicate their interest in certain dishes; cooks can then confirm the meal and arrange a meet-up or drop-off. In conjunction with the raise, the company announced the acquisition of CookNook (see M&A section above). According to the Wall Street Journal, the company, which has four employees, will use the funding to hire employees in community building, product development and operations.

Announced: 04/08/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Maven Ventures (lead), Maveron, Rostrum Capital, Scrum Ventures, Slow Ventures, Third Kind Venture Capital, XG Ventures  Previous Investment: $0.1 million  Founded: 2015

Groupon Raises $250m.   The publically-traded Chicago-based local deals marketplace received a strategic investment by Comcast’s (“independent”) investment fund Atairos, via unsecured, senior convertible notes. In addition to the investment, Comcast Corporation will work with Groupon to identify and implement potential strategic partnership opportunities, exploring the opportunity to combine Groupon’s local expertise with Comcast’s subscriber and advertiser network.

Announced: 04/05/16  Stage: Convertible Debt  Participating Investor: Atairos Founded: 2007

Jinn Raises $7.5m. The London, UK-based mobile app allows consumers to place orders for on-demand delivery. Users can order any item that can be purchased in the local area for delivery within an hour. The service operates 24/7 and is currently available in London and Manchester. Jinn will use the funds to expand to more cities in the United Kingdom and Southern Europe.

Announced: 04/05/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Samaipata Ventures (lead), Bull Partners, Elderstreet Investments  Previous Investment: $2.3 million  Founded: 2013

Petoo Raises $1.0m. The Bangalore, India-based meal delivery service offers traditional Indian dishes for online ordering. All dishes are easily accessible and boxed so that they are convenient to eat. Petoo currently operates in 20 locations in Bangalore. The funding will be used for food research and for expansion to more areas in Bangalore as well as Chennai and Hyderabad.

Announced: 04/07/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Axilor Ventures  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded:  2015

Reserve Raises Undisclosed Investment from Diageo Technology Ventures.  The New York, NY-based dining concierge service has growth to allow users to find restaurants, make a reservations and mobile pay the bill or split the check at the end of the meal. The round was funded by global liquor brand Diageo and in conjunction with the funding announcement, the company announced the acquisition of Dash (see above in M&A section). The company intends to use the funds to grow its restaurant presence within the existing seven cities it operates, launch in new cities, expand the userbase and build out more functionality.

Announced: 04/01/16  Stage: Strategic  Participating Investor: Diageo Technology Ventures  Previous Investment: $17.3 million  Founded: 2014

Juicero Raises $70m. The San Francisco, CA-based smart kitchen company produces internet-connected kitchen appliances, beginning with a $700 smart juicer. The appliance cold presses juice from packs (a similar idea to Keurig cups) that customers buy from Juicero that contain a mix of fruits and vegetables. Each pack has a QR code that allows the company to track which flavors are used the most and in what quantity, and allows the app to suggest other pack flavors to the consumer that will provide them a nutritional balance. While much of the world is going crazy about this as an overly-expensive residential product (myself included), it may become more prevalent as a commercial product, as the Verge reports that Le Pain Quotidien has already ordered 21 juicers to be placed in eight of its Los Angeles locations.

Announced: 03/31/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: ARTIS Ventures (lead), Abstract Ventures, Acre Venture Partners, Aspiration Growth, Campbell Soup Company, First Beverage Group, GV, Interplay Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Thrive Capital, Two Sigma Ventures, Vast Ventures  Previous Investment: $20.5 million (or, according to the New York Times, $50 million)  Founded: 2013

Frichti Raises $13.4m. The Paris, France-based meal delivery service allows customers to order lunches, dinners, and weekend brunches for on-demand delivery. Meals are prepared by Frichti chefs in the company’s kitchens and are delivered cold with instructions to reheat at home. Frichti’s plans for the investment include uder acquisition via word of mouth systems and referral programs as well as expansion within and outside of France.

Announced: 03/30/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Alven Capital, Idinvest Partners Previous Investment: $1.1 million  Founded: June 2015

DoorDash Raises $127m. The San Francisco, CA-based delivery service works with local businesses, including restaurants, to deliver items and food to customers for a flat fee. DoorDash currently operates in 22 urban areas in the United States and Canada. The company reports the investment will be used to expand “both across the U.S. and beyond”.

Announced: 03/22/16  Valuation: $717 million Stage: Series C  Participating Institutional Investors: Sequoia Capital (lead), Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Wellcome Trust, Y Combinator  Previous Investment: $59.7 million  Founded: 2013

Big Basket Raises $150m. The Bangalore, India-based online grocery store allows consumers to select and order groceries for delivery. Big Basket currently operates in 8 metros and 10 tier-two cities in India and receives over 1 million orders each month. The investment will be used to expand its express delivery service and launch new specialty stores.

Announced: 03/22/16  Stage: Series D  Participating Institutional Investors: Abraaj Group (lead), Ascent Capital Group, Bessemer Venture Partners, Helion Venture Partners, International Finance Corporation, Sands Capital Management, Zodius Capital  Previous Investment: $85.8 million  Founded: October 2011

Jolly Food Fellow Raises Undisclosed Seed Funding. The Ahmedabad, India-based mobile app provides a platform for food retail vendors. Vendors can use Jolly Food Fellow for branding, managing customer loyalty, and analytics-led engagement. The company will use the funding for expansion and product development. Currently working with over 50 vendors, the company aims to work with over 500 by the end of this year.

Announced: 03/14/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Investor: Janak Parikh  Previous Investment: $300k  Founded: 2015

Marley Spoon Raises $17m. The Berlin, Germany-based ingredient delivery service allows consumers to order cook-at-home recipe box meal kits. The company currently operates in Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Austria, and Australia. The investment will be used for expansion to the west coast of the United States and the east coast of Australia.

Announced: 03/10/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: Luxor Capital Group, Kreos Capital, QD Ventures, Lakestar  Previous Investment: $10.5 million  Founded: April 2014

Nom Raises $4.7m. The San Francisco, CA-based platform for video sharing allows amateur and professional chefs and food lovers to create, post, and watch their own food videos. Videos on Nom.com are both live and interactive and are intended to build an online community centered around a mutual interest in food. Notably, the founders of Nom are YouTube cofounder Steve Chen and former YouTube engineering lead Vijay Karunamurthy. The funding was announced with the company’s public launch.

Announced: 03/09/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Investors: Corey Lee, Jared Leto, Khosla Ventures, Park Jae-sang, SV Angel, WI Harper Group  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: July 2014

NinjaCart Raises $3m.The Bangalore, India-based mobile app provides a platform for farmers and supermarkets/retailers to connect. Currently, NinjaCart supplies over 15 tons of fruits and vegetables to over 120 retailers each month, and is growing at a rate of 30% weekly. The company will use the funds to expand its team and invest in supply chain infrastructure and technology.

Announced: 03/07/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Accel, M&S Partners, Qualcomm Ventures  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: July 2015

Eight Days Raises $30.7m. The China-based online grocery store, also known as 8Dol.com, allows college students to purchase groceries online for delivery to their campuses. The store website also includes a social media platform through which students can share photos. Eight Days currently operates in 50 cities and 1200 universities in China, with 100 convenience stores in addition to campus locations. The funds will be used to expand to over 2000 colleges and 1000 convenience stores.

Announced: 03/03/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: Longliqi Group, Jiangsu Suda Tiangong Venture Capital  Previous Investment: “Tens of Millions of Dollars”  Founded: 2012

Hungryroot Raises $3.7m. The New York, NY-based stovetop-ready meal delivery service allows consumers to purchase healthy meal kits for on-demand delivery. All of the foods and ingredients produced by Hungryroot are gluten free and entirely vegetable based. Currently, products are available on FreshDirect and Amazon in addition to the Hungryroot site. The investment will be used for expansion, developing new products, and hiring.

Announced: 03/01/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Lightspeed Venture Partners (lead), Crosslink Capital, Great Oaks Venture Capital, KarpReilly, Lerer Hippeau Ventures  Previous Investment: $2.0 million  Founded: 2015

PARTNERSHIPS

The New York Times Partners with Chef’d to deliver recipe and meal kits.

Instacart Partners with PlateJoy to deliver groceries based on personal diet and nutrition recommendations.

OpenRice Partners with Foodpanda to bring on-demand delivery to app users in Hong Kong.

Zomato Partners with Snapdeal to simplify online ordering of meals.

Ibotta Partners with Anheuser-Busch to provide cash back on beer purchases.

Kitchen Brains Partners with HotSchedules to connect cooking appliances and platforms and point-of-sale systems with cloud-based technology.

NatureBox Partners with Target to Expand Retail Distribution.

Twitter Integrates with Yelp for Location Tags in the UK and Japan.

Hyatt Centric Partners with GrubHub to Help Reinvent Room Service

TouchBistro and iZettle Partner on Restaurant Payment Services.

Gourmia Partners with Ready for Sky and Freshub to Reinvent the Smart Kitchen

INDUSTRY LANDSCAPE

As The Food Tech & Media ecosystem continues to see rapid change, Rosenheim Advisors created The Food Tech & Media Industry Map to help entrepreneurs, participants and investors understand this quickly evolving landscape. Let us know about your recent or upcoming funding, partnerships or acquisitions here.

Check out the 2015 Annual Report and last month’s round-up. 

The post Food Tech Media Startup Funding, M&A and Partnerships: March and April 2016 appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

This is a guest post written by consulting firm Rosenheim Advisors; it highlights the most interesting acquisitions, financings and partnerships within the Food Tech & Media ecosystem – digital content, social, local, mobile, grocery, e-commerce, delivery, ordering, payments, marketing and analytics – to give you insights into the latest funding and growth trends.

While there were a number of interesting deals this summer, overall activity was relatively light. The last three months brought in approximately $758 million in funding for 51 private companies across the global food tech sector, broken down into $165 million, $170 million and $423 million for June, July and August, respectively.

Year-over-year the number of funded companies during this 3-month period was down 21% while total funding dollars were down 56%.  Excluding later-stage deals from the data ($100+ million), the average funding amount per deal during the three month period was ~$8 million versus ~$14 million the previous year.

There was a clear narrative around organic, clean eating and health, with half of the acquisitions in this category and a third of the funding dollars supporting the theme. Building upon that, the online grocery sector dominated the headlines this summer with a variety of cash infusions, consolidation, and rebirth. The delivery category (which includes grocery) continues to maintain momentum representing 80% of the capital and over half of the deals during the three months.

Year to date (tracking the first eight months of the year), overall M&A activity was down by about 18% versus the same period last year, a trend which was definitely reflected this summer as there were no M&A deals in July and only eleven deals in June and August (versus 21 during the same 3-month period last year).

Perhaps reflecting a shift in corporate strategy towards investment over full-on acquisition, there have been a number of strategic investments in recent months.  For example, while Yelp has made five acquisitions to build out its platform, it decided to make its first and only (publicly announced) strategic investment in NoWait this summer.

Among the various global food/restaurant ordering rollups, there were a couple of geographic deals in play as Takeaway.com scooped up Just Eat’s and Netherland/Belgium operations, Foodpanda merged hellofood with Hungerstation in Saudi Arabia, and ifood was further funded by Just Eat and Movile to expand deeper into Mexico. Separately, a new acquirer in the U.S. online grocery space, Direct Eats, made two acquisitions since May, promoting speculation that it may continue to acquire smaller regional players for scale.

M&A

Direct Eats Acquires Wholeshare. The San Francisco, CA-based sustainable and organic foods online marketplace will augment Direct Eats’ customer base. While Wholeshare was able to build a strong offering and loyal customer base, the company struggled to scale. Wholeshare is the second acquisition for Direct Eats this year, as the company acquired Abe’s Market, a similar online marketplace, in May.

Announced: 08/29/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $2.0m  Founded: 2009

Waitr Acquires Requested. The Sacramento, CA-based restaurant booking app will provide Waitr, a Lake Charles, LA-based restaurant management system focused on delivery/takeout service, with in-restaurant dining and booking options. According to Street Fight, Requested’s key innovation is a “dynamic pricing system that allows restaurants to offer deals and negotiate directly with customers on slow day”. Waitr will incorporate these elements into its present, flat-rate restaurant delivery app. Currently, Waitr operates in over 1,000 cities, and will expand to Roseville, CA with the acquisition. In addition, Requested’s team will continue in Sacramento, while co-founder Sonny Mayugba will become Waitr’s chief marketing officer.

Announced: 08/26/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2014

Tripadvisor Acquires CityMaps. The New York, NY-based map app will allow Tripadvisor to enhance its mobile map features and deepen its location-based activities marketing. CityMaps functions as a travel guide within a real-time navigation map app where users are able to view restaurants, attractions, and events around them, and create a personalized map based on their interests. With the acquisition, CityMaps will continue as a standalone business.

Announced: 08/26/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $12.0m  Founded: November 2010

Hooch Acquires Tipsy. The Tempe, AZ based nightlife app offers discounted drinks and other perks to members, with over one third of their premium members being active subscribers for over a year. According to Phoenix Business Journal, in addition the userbase, Tipsy has a venue dashboard Hooch is interested in taking advantage of.

Announced: 08/25/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: None  Founded: 2015

Cooked Chicago Acquires Chefmade. The Chicago, IL-based meal delivery services will join to offer weekly meal delivery. Both companies provide consumers with a menu from which they can select meals for the week. Deliveries are made once a week. Cooked will continue to offer Chefmade meals as menu options along with their own menu items. In addition, half of Chefmade’s team will join Cooked, and co-founder Sarah Arel will become Cooked’s director of creative growth.

Announced: 08/24/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2015

Foodpanda Acquires Hungerstation, Merges it with Hellofood. The Ad Damman, Saudi Arabia-based online platform for meal ordering and delivery will allow FoodPanda, Rocket Internet’s on-demand food delivery company, to expand its current Middle East operations (Hellofood). Foodpanda also operates two other food delivery companies in the region– 24h in the UAE, and Otlob in Egypt. Together, the combined company will reach 2000 restaurants in 30 cities. HungerStation will continue standalone operations.

Announced: 08/09/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: March 2012

Takeaway.com Acquires JustEat’s Netherlands and Belgium operations. The London, UK-based online meal ordering service has sold its Belgium and Netherlands businesses to Takeaway.com. an Amsterdam, Netherlands-based online meal delivery service. The deal was priced at €22.5 million ($25.3 million USD). Just Eat sold the businesses due to less profitability in those countries and will focus on its other operations. This comes as Takeaway.com is gearing up for an IPO in September, potentially valuing the company at over a billion dollars.

Announced: 08/02/16  Terms: $25.3m  Previous Investment: $89.0m  Founded: October 2000

PaidEasy Acquires Happy Any Hour. The New York–based mobile app, which helps bars and restaurants solve excess capacity through time-based, localized happy hours, was acquired by PaidEasy, a New York-based mobile payment app for restaurants. As TechCrunch reports, the new product and technology will add “an element of discovery” to the PaidEasy platform.

Announced: 08/02/16  Terms: Not Disclosed (Cash and Stock)  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: November 2014

Door to Door Organics Merges with Relay Foods. The Louisville, CO-based Door to Door Organics will merge with the Charlottesville, VA-based Relay foods to create an online grocery store delivering to 63 markets in 18 states, focused on natural, organic and locally sourced products. The company will maintain offices in Louisville and Charlottesville and will continue to operate as separate, customer-facing businesses until the integration is complete; the new brand is expected to be announced later this year. The merger also includes a $10 million equity financing deal from The Arlon Group (a previous Door to Door Organics investor).

Announced: 06/08/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Door to Door Organics – $38.8m; Relay Foods – $13.3m  Founded: Door to Door Organics – 1997; Relay Foods – 2007

Jugnoo Acquires SabKuchFresh. The Chandigarh, India-based fresh produce delivery startup will allow Jugnoo, a Chandigarh-based ride hailing app, to expand its grocery delivery options and improve logistics, and quality of the deliveries. SabKuchFresh has a relationship with over 100 farmers and has built a network of B2B and B2C users. Earlier this year Jugnoo relaunched its hyperlocal grocery delivery business ‘Fatafat’ in a bid to strengthen and diversify its delivery business. Jugnoo plans to expand delivery to Guragon in the next month and 30 other cities in the next year.

Announced: 06/01/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2013

Direct Eats Acquires Abe’s Market. The Chicago-based natural foods marketplace will expand the brand offering and userbase for relative newcomer Direct Eats, which is focused on building a leading ecommerce venture featuring better-for-you products in both the food and health and beauty categories. Abe’s Market will be rebranded as Direct Eats, moving the new website and platform. In contrast to competitor Thrive Market, Direct Eats does not charge shipping and does not require a membership fee.

Announced: 05/18/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $19.1 million  Founded: 2009

FUNDING

FoodByUs Raises $2m. The Sydney, Australia-based online platform allows users to buy and sell local, homemade foods. Home cooks can apply to be makers on the platform, which allows them to sell their food products with business and ecommerce support from FoodByUs. Consumers can view items listed by makers on the platform and place orders, which can be picked up or delivered. Since launching in August, the company has 80 makers offering 500 meals. FoodByUs will use the funds for marketing and sales. The company also plans to expand to other cities in Australia.

Announced: 08/31/16  Stage: Venture  Participating Institutional Investors: Kadima Group  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: February 2016

Velocity Raises $22.5m. The London, UK-based digital restaurant booking and payment platform is focused on premium restaurants worldwide. The app can also be used for payment at the restaurants. Velocity currently operates in London, New York, Miami, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The company has made three acquisitions thus far and plans to use the investment to expand to 29 cities by 2020.

Announced: 08/29/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: DIG Investments (lead) Previous Investment: $16.4 million  Founded: April 2014

Runnr Raises $7m. The Bangalore, India-based online delivery platform allows consumers to order restaurant meals for on-demand delivery. The company is the merged product of Roadrunnr and TinyOwl. Runnr currently operates in Bangalore and Mumbai, with plans to open in Delhi.

Announced: 08/29/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Blume Ventures, Nexus Venture Partners   Previous Investment: Not Disclosed (formed via merger)  Founded: February 2015

HappyFresh Raises Undisclosed Funding. The Jakarta Pusat, Indonesia-based online grocery store allows consumers to order groceries for on-demand, under an hour delivery. HappyFresh shoppers shop and make deliveries, while consumers can track the status of their delivery from the HappyFresh app. HappyFresh has closed its operations in Taiwan and the Philippines, but continues to operate in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. The funding amount remains undisclosed, but is larger than HappyFresh’s $12 million Series A funding round from last year.

Announced: 08/29/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: Samena Capital (lead), Sinar Mas Digital Ventures, Vertex Ventures  Previous Investment: $12.0 million    Founded: October 2014

Vivanda Raises Undisclosed Funding. The Baltimore, MD-based technology company, which was founded by group of McCormick employees and partners then spun out in 2014, uses FlavorPrint technology to create personalized flavor profiles based on a person’s preferences for different tastes, flavors, and textures. Companies can use the technology to understand consumers’ preferences and create personalized web content  based on their preferences. Customers such as Serious Eats already use the platform to help analyze recipes.  Notably, this strategic investment comes from software multinational SAP, which states the investment will “further enable food companies using solutions enabled by SAP HANA to leverage the FlavorPrint technology and data collected to engage and connect with consumers in more personalized and relevant ways”. Vivanda will use the investment for growth, including hiring, and aims to double its customers in the next 6 months.

Announced: 08/26/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: SAP  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed (Spun out of McCormick)  Founded: December 2014

Prepd Raises $2.78m. The San Francisco, CA-based company launched a successful Kickstarter campaign to create a lunchbox and mobile app pair which helps consumers eat healthily and track calorie and nutrient intake. Users prepare recipes from the app, which are designed to fit perfectly in the lunchbox. They can then use the app to record their exact intake and use their compiled personal data points to manage their health and weight.

Announced: 08/24/16  Stage: Crowdfunding  Participating Institutional Investors: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2016

Zzungry Raises Undisclosed Funding. The Bangalore, India-based online restaurant allows consumers to order chef-made Indian food for on-demand delivery. Zzungry operates out of 6 kitchens in Bangalore and changes its menu offerings weekly. At present, Zzungry delivers over 150 orders per day. The investment will be used for expansion and new kitchens, building revenue channels, and marketing.

Announced: 08/22/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Madhusudhan Jujare, Satish Vasudeva  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: August 2015

Sample6 Raises $12.7m. The Cambridge, MA-based synthetic biology company uses its technology to detect unwanted and harmful bacteria in food. Their Listeria detector uses light and an illumination box to reveal contaminated bioparticles in food products. The detectors are simple to use and fast-detecting, with results in 6 hours. The investment will be used to expand technology to include detection of Salmonella and E coli. In addition, with the investment, Acre Venture partner Sam Kass will join the Sample6 board of directors.

Announced: 08/22/16  Stage: Series C  Participating Institutional Investors: Acre Venture Partners (lead), Cultivian Sandbox Ventures, Canaan Partners, Valley Oak Investments  Previous Investment: $14.8 million  Founded: March 2013

Announced: 08/18/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Andy Murray  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: January 2014

Zero Cater Raises $4.1m. The San Francisco, CA-based catering service deliver meals to office employee groups. Meals can be ordered from local chefs, restaurants, and food trucks. ZeroCater currently operates in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, Chicago, Washington, DC, and Austin, serving over 1,000 companies tens of thousands of meals each day. The funding will be used to expand product and engineering teams.

Announced: 08/17/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Romulus Capital (lead), Struck Capital  Previous Investment: $1.5 million  Founded: 2009

Glovo Raises $5.6m. The Barcelona, Spain-based mobile app operates similarly to Postmates and Jinn. Consumers can use the app to order any item available in their city for on-demand delivery in under one hour. Users can place their order, track the status of their order, and rate service following delivery. Glovo currently has over 300 partners and 200,000 users. The investment will be used to consolidate the company’s presence in Spain.

Announced: 08/11/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Caixa Capital Risc, Bonsai Venture Capital SCR, Entrée Capital, Seaya Ventures, Antai Venture Builder  Previous Investment: $2.3 million  Founded: March 2015

Nowait Raises $8m. The Pittsburgh, PA-based mobile app allows users to get in line at restaurants before arriving. Users can view wait times and join waitlists from the app; the app notifies them when their table is ready. Nowait operates in 4,000 restaurants in all 50 US States. The strategic investment from Yelp will expand Yelp’s restaurant platform capabilities and make Nowait reservations available directly from restaurants’ Yelp pages.

Announced: 08/11/16 Stage: Growth  Participating Institutional Investors: Yelp  Previous Investment: $14.0 million  Founded: 2010

9KaCha Raises $10m. The China-based mobile app uses label recognition to provide users with information about their wine. Users take a picture of their wine bottle’s label, upload it on the app, and then receive information. The investment from Haier will incorporate 9KaCha’s recognition technology into Haier’s new smart wine cabinet. The cabinet will adapt conditions to the type of wine being stored.

Announced: 08/11/16 Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Haier  Previous Investment: $1.8 million  Founded: 2012

Fruitday Raises $15m. The Shanghai, China-based ecommerce company for produce offers imported fruit for purchase. The company has visions of becoming a broader ecommerce platform for fresh food, and as such, according to Produce Report, in addition to the funding announcement, the company Fruitday declared that it would form a strategic cooperation with Lactalis, which is one of the biggest dairy companies in the world.

Announced: 08/09/16  Stage: Series D  Participating Institutional Investors: Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park Fund  Previous Investment: $80 -$100 million  Founded: 2009

Deliveroo Raises $275m. The London, UK-based meal delivery service allows consumers to order meals from restaurants for on-demand delivery. Deliveroo currently operates in 12 countries in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Its competitors include UberEats, Just Eat, and Delivery Hero. The company will use the investment for expansion and new services, such as alcohol delivery and RooBox—a service that provides delivery-only kitchens for restaurants.

Announced: 08/05/16  Valuation: Over $1 billion Stage: Series E  Participating Institutional Investors: Bridgepoint (lead), DST Global (lead), General Catalyst Partners (lead), Felix Capital, Greenoaks Capital, Nokia Growth Partners  Previous Investment: $199.6 million  Founded: February 2013

GrubMarket Raises $20m. The Newark, CA-based online farmers market allows consumers to order organic, fresh food for delivery. GrubMarket offers meats, fish, and produce directly from farmers. Bulk ordering is also available for offices and restaurants. The investment will be used for marketing and expansion.

Announced: 08/04/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: FJ Labs, Great Oaks Venture Capital, Riverhead Capital, Danhua Capital, GGV Capital, Global Founders Capital, Sound Ventures  Previous Investment: $12.1 million  Founded: February 2014

Drizly Raises $15m. The Boston, MA-based platform for alcohol delivery allows consumers to order beer, wine, and spirits for on-demand delivery. Consumers can also place orders with up to 48 hours for delivery by using Drizly Connect, which launched this summer. Drizly currently operates in 23 cities and has plans to expand to 30 by the end of this year. The funding will be used for marketing and to expand the team. In August it was also noted that spirits producer Diageo indirectly invested in Drizzly’s round last year via First Beverage Group.

Announced: 08/04/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: Polaris Partners   Previous Investment: $17.8 million  Founded: July 2012

City Pantry Raises $1.46m. The London, UK-based catering platform allows users to order food for office groups, events, and meetings. Users can choose from two offerings—a one-time event order or a subscription meal plan for recurring events. Food can be ordered from chefs, restaurants, and street vendors, and is delivered by City Pantry. The investment will be used for expansion in the UK and Europe.

Announced: 08/03/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Angel CoFund, London Co-Investment Fund  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: April 2013

Petoo Raises $500k. The Bangalore, India-based online restaurant delivers prepackaged Indian meals to consumers. The company also does food research to explore their food’s freshness and create methods for keeping food fresh without refrigeration or preservatives. Their food offerings include breakfast foods that stay fresh for 1 month, lunch and dinner products fresh for 3 months, and desserts fresh for 6 months. Petoo will use the funding for food research and implementing its new products.

Announced: 08/03/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: LetsVenture  Previous Investment: $1.0 million  Founded: 2015

Peek Raises $10m. The San Francisco, CA-based online platform allows users to find and book local tastings, activities and tours. The mobile-first platform features listings, reviews, and booking functionality for consumers, as well as Peek Pro, to help tour operators manage their business online and via mobile. The investment will be used to grow the company and team and to increase partnerships. In addition to the funding, Peek will partner with Yelp, so that companies can have consumers book directly from their Yelp pages.

Announced: 07/28/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Investors: Pete Flint, David Bonderman, Ray Lane, Gigi Pritzker, Michael Pucker, Eric Schmidt, Jack Dorsey, Carl Sparks  Previous Investment: $6.9 million  Founded: 2012

Shipt raises $20m. The Birmingham, AL-based online grocery delivery service provides on-demand delivery in under 1 hour. Customers purchase a Shipt membership which allows them to place orders online or through a mobile app. Shipt currently operates in 27 cities in the southern United States, including cities in Florida, Alabama, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee,  Arizona, and Ohio. Shipt will use the funds to expand, develop grocery partnerships, and add alcohol delivery to its offerings.

Announced: 07/27/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Greycroft Partners, e.ventures, Harbert Growth Partners  Previous Investment: $5.2 million  Founded: 2014

Good Eggs Raises $15m. The San Francisco, CA-based online grocery delivery service delivers organic and local meats, dairy products, and produce to consumers. After having to shut down out of state operations and fire 140 employees late last year, Good Eggs has found a second life, currently operating solely in the San Francisco region. The investment will be used to expand Good Eggs in the Bay Area and subsequently expand again throughout the United States.

Announced: 07/27/16  Stage: Series C  Participating Institutional Investors: Index Ventures (lead), Obvious Ventures, S2G Ventures  Previous Investment: $31.5 million  Founded: July 2011

Sun Basket Raises $15m. The San Francisco, CA-based healthy meal kit delivery service offers organic meal kits with options for paleo and gluten-free diets. Kits come with simple recipes and ingredients that have been pre-portioned according to the recipe. Sun Basket aims to make organic products more accessible for consumers. The company currently serves 34 US states. They will use the investment to open a third distribution center, which will allow the company to reach 98% of the US—“more zip codes than the largest grocery store chain in the US.”

Announced: 07/26/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: Accolade partners (lead), Baseline Ventures, Founders Circle Capital, PivotNorth Capital, Relevance Capital, Shea Ventures, Vulcan Capital  Previous Investment: $11.6 million  Founded: April 2014

Innit Raises $18m. The Redwood City, CA-based connected kitchen platform uses technology, nutrition, and food science to make cooking easier. Innit smart kitchen products identify and measure food ingredients and suggests recipes and cooking techniques. The investment will be used to accelerate growth. The company recently announced partnerships with Good Housekeeping, Pirch and Whirlpool Corporation to enable advanced automated cooking on their kitchen appliances.

Announced: 07/21/16  Stage: Venture  Participating Institutional Investors: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $25.0 million  Founded: September 2013

iFood Raises $30m. The Sao Paulo, Brazil-based online platform for food delivery allows consumers to order restaurant food for on-demand delivery. Users can place orders online or via mobile app. At present, iFood makes about 1.7 million deliveries per month. The ongoing strategic investment from Movile and Just Eat will help iFood expand into Mexico through SinDelantal, the largest food delivery service in Mexico, which was acquired by Just Eat in February. As the press release notes, iFood recently acquired Hellofood Brazil from JUST EAT and also acquired US-based SpoonRocket‘s technology, with plans to harness its logistics backend to optimize delivery time and enhance the restaurant-to-consumer experience.

Announced: 07/20/16  Stage: Series F  Participating Institutional Investors: Movile, Just Eat  Previous Investment: $61.9 million  Founded: May 2011

Kiip Raises $12m. The San Francisco-based mobile rewards network, platform and app works with brands such as McDonalds and  Pepsi to engage their audiences by rewarding them with free samples, special offers, virtual currency and other items during in-app events called “moments”. The company will use the funding to expand its sales and marketing efforts.

Announced: 07/19/16  Stage: Series C  Participating Institutional Investors: North Atlantic Capital (lead), U.S. Cellular  Previous Investment: $20.0 million  Founded: July 2010

Zuppler Raises $300k.  The Conshohocken, PA-based software producer provides software for restaurants that can be used to manage ordering and delivery. Currently, Zuppler’s software is used by over 1600 restaurants in the United States, Canada, Ireland, and the UK. The investment will be used to further develop its technology, point of sale and loyalty integrations, sales and marketing initiatives.

Announced: 07/18/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: SRI Capital  Previous Investment: $1.6 million  Founded: November 2008

LifeSum Raises $10m. The Stockholm-based digital health startup tracks what users eat as well as their exercise. The company has 15 million users and according to TechCrunch, is seeking partnerships with organizations in other sectors, including food, fitness, healthcare, DNA and pharmaceuticals. The company will use the funds to build out the team and product development as it expands in Europe and the United States.

Announced: 07/18/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: Nokia Growth Partners (lead), Bauer Media, Draper Esprit, SparkLabs Global Ventures  Previous Investment: $6.7 million  Founded: November 2008

Benchmark Intelligence Raises $500k. The Fresno, CA-based restaurant analytics startup aids restaurant and retail chain owners in understanding why certain locations perform better than others. According to Fresno Business Journal, Benchmark Intelligence collects data from three main sources — voice-of-the-customer SMS text messaging surveys, social media reviews and field study audits. The company will use the funds to build out the team.

Announced: 07/15/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: San Joaquin Capital  Previous Investment: $70k  Founded: August 2014

Twigly Raises $600K. The Guragon, India-based online meal delivery service allows consumers to order fresh meals for on-demand delivery.  The menu is updated weekly and all meals are prepared at Twigly’s own central kitchens. Presently, Twigly operates 2 kitchens in Guragon and delivers 150 orders per day. With the investment, the company plans to expand to Delhi and Bangalore and deliver 1000 orders per day.

Announced: 07/13/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Investors: Tracxn labs (lead), Gaurav Bhalotia, Hyderabad Angels, Kunal Shah  Previous Investment: $0.2 million  Founded: August 2015

Jumbotail Raises $2m. The Bangalore, India-based online food and groceries marketplace provides a platform for wholesalers to sell their products and services online. According to Deal Street Asia, Jumbotail works with wholesalers in India using technology, data science and design and employs approximately 50 people.

Announced: 07/13/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Nexus Venture Partners  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: November 2015

Freshly Raises $21m. The New York, NY–based meal delivery service provides fully prepared healthy meals. Users create a weekly subscription and select meals from Freshly’s menu options. All meals are delivered at the start of the week ready to be reheated. Freshly currently delivers 250,000 meals per month to consumers in 28 states. The funding will be used to expand to all 50 U.S. states and to agressively grow its technology team.

Announced: 07/12/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: Insight Venture Partners (lead), Highland Capital Partners, Slow Ventures, White Star Capital  Previous Investment: $9.0 million  Founded: January 2012

Holachef Raises $1.95m. The Mumbai, India-based mobile and web app allows users to order chef-cooked meals for on-demand delivery. Holachef’s menu is changed daily, offering about 50 choices each day. Currently, the company delivers 100,000 orders per month.

Announced: 07/08/16  Stage: Venture  Participating Institutional Investors: Kalaari Capital (Lead), India Quotient  Previous Investment: $3.4 million  Founded: 2014

Quickli Raises Bridge Funding. The Guragon, India-based mobile app allows consumers to place orders for delivery. Users can order food, groceries, and healthcare/pharmaceutical products. All orders are delivered on the same day they are placed. Quickli currently operates in Delhi and fills 2000 orders per day. The company will use the funding to expand to new locations, including Bangalore.

Announced: 07/07/16  Stage: Venture  Participating Institutional Investors: 500 Startups, AVG Group  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: April 2015

BevSpot Raises $11m.  The Boston, MA-based mobile platform allows businesses to easily manage liquor and alcohol sales and inventory. BevSpot is currently used by over 400 companies in over 40 of the United States. These include restaurants, bars, nightclubs and hotels. The investment will be used for product development and expansion.

Announced: 07/07/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: Bain Capital Ventures  Previous Investment: $6.1 million  Founded: March 2014

Cookoo Raises $300k. The London, England-based meal delivery service offers healthy, home-cooked meals for delivery. All meals come ready-to-eat and microwave re-heatable. The investment will be used to add more cooks and expand Cookoo’s offerings.

Announced: 07/05/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2016

Grab Raises $2m in Debt Financing. The Mumbai, India-based logistics services platform provides delivery services for restaurants, food tech platforms, groceries, ecommerce platforms, and banks. To date, Grab has made over 5 million deliveries for over 12 thousand merchants in 10 cities. The funds will be used to further develop its technology and roll out additional service verticals.

Announced: 07/04/16  Stage: Debt Financing  Strategic  Investor: Aramex Ventures  Previous Investment: $1.0 million  Founded: 2012

ProducePay Raises $2.5m. The Los Angeles, CA-based online platform for payment solutions connects farmers with cash flow earlier in the farming and distributing process than other payment methods. Instead of having to wait for produce to be distributed and sold to receive payment, farmers are able to receive payment the day after produce is shipped. To date, ProducePay has financed $80 million of produce from farmers in the United States, Mexico, Chile, and Honduras.

Announced: 06/29/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Menlo Ventures, Arena Ventures, CoVentures, Red Bear Angels, Social Leverage  Previous Investment: $1.4 million  Founded: December 2014

Ancera Raises $8.9m. The Branford, CT-based food safety technology company develops hardware and software to test food for contaminants such as salmonella and e.coli. Ancera’s product Piper is a small instrument that can detect salmonella a food sample within 1 to 8 hours. This contrasts with tradition testing methods which can take up to 5 days. The funds will be used for hiring, commercial production and distribution of products, and for research to create products to detect other food contaminants like e.coli.

Announced: 06/28/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Glass Capital Management (lead), Bulldog Innovation Group, Metabiota, Packers Sanitation Service  Previous Investment: $1.3 million  Founded: 2012

Farm Hill Raises $3m. The Redwood City, CA-based meal delivery service provides healthy meals to companies and office workers. Customers can order individually or as an office group, with a lower delivery payment rate for group orders. Farm Hill makes and distributes all of its meals, and includes options for all diets (including paleo, vegetarian, vegan options). Farm Hill currently operates in Silicon Valley. The investment will be used for expansion to San Francisco, as well as for new technology to make delivery and kitchen operations more efficient.

Announced: 06/27/16  Stage: Venture  Participating Investors: Eagle Cliff Partners, Liberty City Ventures, Soma Capital, StartX, Zalmi Duchman  Previous Investment: $1.0 million  Founded: June 2013

Thrive Market Raises $111m. The Los Angeles, CA-based online organic grocery store offers wholesale organic foods. Users pay an annual membership fee to purchase from Thrive, while the company offers a free membership to a low-income family for each paid membership on the site. The company plans to use the funding for growth—expanding infrastructure, marketing, and creating new written and video content.

Announced: 06/27/16  Stage: Venture  Participating Institutional Investors: Invus, Cross Culture Ventures, e.ventures, Greycroft Partners  Previous Investment: $58.0 million  Founded: 2013

FareWell Raises $8.5m. The San Francisco, CA-based online program for lifestyle and diet intervention seeks to help people with elevated body mass indexes or chronic weight-related diseases. The 16-week program includes a diet program with video tutorials, meal plans, shopping lists, and plant-based recipes. In addition, participants have access to health coaches, physicians, chefs, behavioral psychologists, and dieticians through the program. The funds will be used to launch the pilot program.

Announced: 06/23/16  Stage: Venture  Participating Investors: David Perry  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: May 2015

Eunoia Raises $800k. The Singapore-based restaurant tech platform, Ordr, allows food and beverage businesses to view information from 3^rd party apps for menus, ordering, and payment in one consolidated layout. The restaurant can easily process orders and update and sync menus. The technology serves both to combat labor shortage in Singapore with the use of automation and to make serving customers more efficient, mobile-friendly, and profitable.

Announced: 06/17/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Golden Equator Capital  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2015

CaterWings Raises $6.7m. The London, England-based online catering platform connects businesses with caterers. CaterWings currently operates in Amsterdam, Berlin, Hamburg, London, and Munich. The investment will be used to expand to additional cities in Europe as well as to expand CaterWings’ online presence and improve customer service.

Announced: 06/16/16  Stage: Venture  Participating Institutional Investors: Tengelmann Ventures, Rocket Internet, HV Holtzbrinck Ventures  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2015

Qloo Raises $4.5m. The New York, NY-based local and cultural discovery platform provides users with recommendations based on their personal preferences. Recommendations encompass 8 categories, including: dining, nightlife, fashion, books, music, film, television, and travel. The investment will be used to increase Qloo’s database and add clients.

Announced: 06/15/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Investors: Barry Sternlicht, Adriaan Ligtenberg, Leonardo DiCaprio, Pierre Lagrange  Previous Investment: $3.0 million  Founded: April 2011

Ava Raises $3m. The Boston, MA-based mobile nutrition coach app allows consumers to track food consumption and receive personalized nutritional feedback. Users take a picture of the food they eat and text it to Ava to receive health information. Caloric value is calculated using image recognition software. The investment will be used to develop technology and expand Ava’s nutrition science team.

Announced: 06/14/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: DCM Ventures (lead), Innovation Endeavors, Khosla Ventures  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2016

Khanagadi Raises Undisclosed Funding. The Jaipur, India-based mobile app allows train commuters to order food for on-train delivery. Khanagadi currently operates in 200 railway stations in India, and serves 100 to 150 orders per day. Khanagadi will use the funding for expansion, marketing, and hiring.

Announced: 06/11/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: 50KVentures  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2015

Door to Door Organics / Relay Foods Raises $10m. In connection with the merger, the combined company received additional funding from Door to Door Organic’s previous investor, The Arlon Group.

Announced: 06/08/16  Stage: Growth  Participating Institutional Investor: The Arlon Group

Ordermentum Raises $2.5m. The Sydney, Australia-based B2B order management platform allows food and beverage retailers to manage and place orders with suppliers. Suppliers can also use the platform to receive and manage orders and payment. Currently, Ordermentum is used by over 3000 businesses in Australia. The investment will be used to grow the company.

Announced: 06/07/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Capital Markets Technologies  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: July 2014

SevenFifty Raises $8.5m. The New York City-based online wholesale platform for alcohol distributors is focused on modernizing and streamlining the wholesale alcohol supply chain by connecting the beverage alcohol industry with a platform that helps distributors and buyers interact.

Announced: 06/01/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Formation 8, Pritzker Group Venture Capital  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2012

WISErg Raises $4m. The Issaquah, WA-based technology producer provides restaurants and grocery stores with a simple, sustainable method to recycle food scraps. WISErg’s Harvester machine uses collected scraps of food to make a liquid fertilizer for agricultural farmers. In addition to creating fertilizer, the machine collects and reports data on what foods are thrown away that stores can use to manage their products. The funds will be used to scale operations on the west coast.

Announced: 06/01/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $44.6 million  Founded: September 2009

PARTNERSHIPS

Ibotta Partners with Button, Jet, and Doordash to offer in-app purchases.

Toast Partners With Chowly to integrate online ordering systems with restaurant point of sale systems.

Square Partners with TouchBistro and Vend to increase payment and point of sale options for restaurants.

Olo Partners with Conversable to offer online ordering through messaging apps.

Yelp Partners with Nowait (and invests $8m) to add restaurant wait times and waitlists to its offerings.

Square Partners with Upserve to offer loans to small businesses in the restaurant industry.

TouchBistro Partners with 7Shifts to simplify restaurant employee scheduling and management.

Google India Partners with Zomato and Swiggy to allow consumers to order from restaurants directly from their Google search or app.

Instacart Partners with Food Network to deliver groceries and recipe ingredients.

Publix Partners With Instacart to deliver groceries in Miami.

PlateJoy Partners with Instacart to make recipe ingredients available via delivery.

Sprouts Farmers Markets Partners with Amazon Prime to deliver fresh groceries in under one hour.

Marley Spoon Partners with Martha Stewart to deliver meal kits with ingredients and directions for Martha Stewart’s recipes.

RedBrick Partners with Monj to provide information about food and behavioral change for people with prediabetes and chronic conditions.

HookLogic Partners with Instacart, Fresh Direct, and Drugstore.com to increase digital sales and marketing of consumer packaged goods.

Uber Partners with Foursquare to allow users to find locations by name instead of street address.

Retail Control Systems Partners With Toast to provide an all-in-one software for a restaurant management and point-of-sale system.

Chowly and Revel Systems Partner to connect online restaurant orders with restaurant point-of-sale systems.

foodjunky.com Partners with Yelp to provide online ordering and delivery directly from Yelp pages.

Monsanto Partners with Microsoft to fund agricultural technology development in Brazil.

Stuart Partners with Just Eat to offer on-demand delivery services and drivers to restaurants.

Alibaba Partners with Menusifu to begin use of mobile payment app Alipay in the United States.

Zomato Partners with Helpchat to offer in-app online food ordering.

Peek Partners with Yelp to offer booking directly through Yelp platform.

Cisco Partners with H-FARM to launch a food tech accelerator.

INDUSTRY LAANDSCAPE

As the Food Tech & Media ecosystem continues to see rapid change, Rosenheim Advisors created The Food Tech & Media Industry Map to help entrepreneurs, participants and investors understand this quickly evolving landscape. Let us know about your recent or upcoming funding, partnerships or acquisitions here.

Check out the 2015 Annual Report and May’s round-up. 

The post Food Tech Media Startup Funding, M&A & Partnerships: Summer 2016 appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

This is a monthly guest post written by consulting firm Rosenheim Advisors; it highlights the most interesting acquisitions, financings and partnerships within the Food Tech & Media ecosystem – digital content, social, local, mobile, grocery, e-commerce, delivery, ordering, payments, marketing and analytics – to give you insights into the latest funding and growth trends.

The food tech ecosystem brought in over $665 million of capital in September, with a little over half attributed to the IPO of Dutch food delivery marketplace Takeaway.com. There were 17 private companies who announced funding during the month, raising close to $300 million in total private capital, half of which were U.S.-based. Within this, Fresh Direct’s private equity infusion of $189 million was the largest raise during the month.

With six relatively early stage deals announced in September, M&A activity was a bit light but notably international as nearly every acquisition announced took place outside the U.S. Among the larger strategics, Just Eat and Zomato were active acquirers during the month as well as iZettle, a fast-growing mobile payments and POS startup.

While meal delivery, meal kits and grocery continue to be well-represented categories, there was a lot of activity among SaaS-based restaurant ops players, both on the M&A front as well as funding. Top themes included business automation, reservations and point of sale solutions.

M&A

Zomato Acquires Sparse Labs. The Guragon, India-based delivery monitoring technology will allow Zomato to enhance its delivery technology.  Sparse Labs technology allows both the company and customer to view the location and progress of a delivery in real time via mobile app. Zomato will incorporate this technology into its meal delivery services, which rely on individual restaurant’s own delivery teams to complete their orders. With the acquisition, Sparse Labs will become Zomato Trace.

Announced: 09/26/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: July 2014

U-Feast Acquires Pass the Table. As a competitor to U-Feast which offers exclusive weekly “feasts” at different area restaurants, Pass the Table allows consumers to customize their menu and food experience at restaurants. Pass the Table will bring U-Feast 2,000 new customers. With the acquisition, the co-founders of Pass the Table will join U-Feast as a chief experience officer and a member of the board of directors. According to Betakit, in the coming year U-Feast plans to launch a new user interface focusing on “customization and building out its data analytics engine to better target customers”.

Announced: 09/23/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2014

1C Acquires Quick Resto. The Moscow-based SaaS solution for restaurant business automation sold a controlling stake to 1C, a Russian enterprise software giant. According to East-West Digital News, 1C intends to develop the company further with its founders.

Announced: 09/12/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2013

Eating with the Seasons Acquires Bay Area Operations of Farmigo. Farmigo announced this summer that they would sell their delivery operations and continue solely working to develop their software system. Eating with the Seasons has bought the Bay Area operations and will add Farmigo customers to its current local food delivery service under the name Farmhouse Foods. Farmigo is reportedly looking to sell its Seattle and New York operations as well.

Announced: 09/09/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed (Divestiture) Founded: 2009

iZettle Acquires intelligentpos. The Edinburgh, UK-based cloud-based point of sale system will enhance iZettle’s mobile point of sale system by integrating advanced features such as stock and table management. According to TechCrunch, intelligentpos, which has been a partner to iZettle for three years, will add another €500 million in processing volume to the €3 billion that iZettle already processes annually. TechCrunch also notes that this may be just the beginning of an acquisition spree for iZettle as the company is company is “looking to go beyond its original payment roots as a route to more recurring revenue and a wider customer base”.

Announced: 09/06/16  Terms: Not Disclosed (Cash and Equity) Previous Investment: $0.8m  Founded: 2013

Just Eat Acquires Partial Assets of Tok Tok Tok. The France-based shopping and delivery service, which operates similarly to Postmates, will provide Just Eat with logistics technology to further manage restaurant delivery drivers. According to TechCrunch, the company had been “on its last legs for a while now”, and with the sale of the assets will be shutting down.

Announced: 09/06/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $2.0m  Founded: February 2012

Revel Systems Acquires iqPOSitive. The Russian developer of cloud-based automation solutions for restaurant businesses offers tablet-based solutions for a range of process including checkout, employee schedule and inventory management. The transaction reportedly took place in May, with iqPOSitive now operating as a subsidiary of Revel Systems.

Announced: 08/15/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2014

FUNDING

Takeaway.com Raises $368m in IPO. The Amsterdam, Netherlands-based online meal delivery service allows consumers to order meals from restaurants for on-demand delivery. Takeaway provides restaurants with an online ordering platform, and the meals are delivered by restaurants’ own delivery services. Takeaway operates in Europe and parts of Asia. As TechCrunch notes, Takeaway.com priced its shares at €23 each ($25.82), giving the company an enterprise value of around €849 million ($952 million) and a market cap of around €993 million ($1.1 billion).

Announced: 09/30/16  Valuation (at IPO): $1.1 billion  Stage: IPO  Previous Investment: $118.0 million  Founded: 2000

Home Chef Raises $40m. The Chicago, IL-based meal kit delivery service offers a menu of recipe kits updated weekly. Kits include prepared ingredients and directions and can be customized with add-ons including breakfast and fruit baskets. Home Chef has distribution centers in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Atlanta and ships kits throughout the United States. The company delivers over 1.5 million meal kits per month, and has recently increased its team to 600. The investment will be used for growth.

Announced: 09/29/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: L Catterton  Previous Investment: $16.0 million  Founded: June 2013

VMO Raises Undisclosed Funding. The Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia-based platform for event scheduling allows customers to book venues for events for free. VMO offers over 650 venues and services, and 20% of those may be booked instantly online. Strategic investor, Rhombus Food, operates popular eateries in Malaysia and saw a stream of bookings to their restaurants from VMO, which led to the funding. VMO plans to use the investment to expand in Malaysia.

Announced: 09/27/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Rhombus Food Holdings  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: August 2014

Fresh Direct Raises $189m. The Long Island City, NY-based grocery delivery service has grown to $600 million in revenue and has been profitable since 2010. In addition to its core order-ahead service, Fresh Direct also operates FoodKick, which delivers food in an hour. Fresh Direct currently operates in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Delaware. The investment will be used for “manufacturing capacity” and expansion to “new geographies.” According to Reuters, the CEO has said it is ‘too early’ to comment on potential plans for either an initial public offering or a sale to a larger competitor.

Announced: 09/26/16  Stage: Private Equity  Participating Institutional Investors: J.P. Morgan Asset Management (lead), AARP, W Capital Partners  Previous Investment: $91.0 million  Founded: July 2002

Umi Kitchen Raises $1.4m. The New York, NY-based mobile app offers a home-cooked meal delivery marketplace. Home cooks apply to cook for the platform, and the app offers users 4 to 7 meal choices each night.  Meals are delivered to consumers by Postmates. Umi Kitchen currently operates in Brooklyn and Manhattan for dinners five days a week.

Announced: 09/26/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: BoxGroup, Version One Ventures, SWTLF Ventures, YEI Innovation Fund  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: March 2015

Chef’s Plate Raises $6m. The Toronto, Canada-based meal kit delivery service allows consumers to select recipes they want to cook and delivers pre-portioned ingredients and directions. Recipe offerings are changed weekly, and each meal takes about 30 minutes to prepare once delivered. Chef’s Plate currently has distribution centers in Ontario and Vancouver. An estimated 200,000 kits are delivered each month, with sales increasing 10 percent week to week.

Announced: 09/20/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Acton Capital Partners (lead), BrandProject, Emil Capital Partners, Linas Matkasse  Previous Investment: $2.0 million  Founded: December 2014

Brava Raises $12m. The Mountain View, CA-based domestic automation company specializing in food and kitchen experiences produces hardware and software to “simplify aspects of daily life”. Brava is currently working on a kitchen appliance, and according to TechCrunch, the product will be “for everyone” and “not a luxury item.” Brava plans to launch their first product sometime next year.

Announced: 09/20/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: True Ventures (lead), Aileen Lee, Chris Anderson, Robert H Reid  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2016

Allset Raises $2.35m. The San Francisco, CA-based mobile app allows restaurant patrons to book a table, order their meal, and pay in advance. The aim of the app is to decrease wait time and let consumers finish their restaurant experience in 30 minutes. Allset currently operates in San Francisco, Palo Alto, and Manhattan. It operates in over 180 restaurants and serves over 8,500 customers per month. The investment will be used for expansion to Los Angeles and Chicago, as well as product research, development, and marketing.

Announced: 09/20/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Compound (lead), Andreessen Horowitz, FJ Labs, SMRK VC Fund  Previous Investment: $1.5 million  Founded: April 2015

SmartBite Raises Undisclosed Funding. The Petaling Jaya, Malaysia-based food delivery service delivers lunches to working professionals. People who use the service get a text message each morning with a daily menu and reply with their choice of options to select their meal. Currently, SmartBite only offers lunch deliveries, but the company has plans to offer breakfast, snacks, and take-home dinners.

Announced: 09/19/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Marna Capital, Noodles, Rhombus  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2016

Swiggy Raises $15m. The Bangalore, India-based meal delivery service provides restaurant meals to consumers with on-demand delivery. Swiggy claims to have the fastest delivery rates in India, with an average time of 37 minutes. Swiggy currently operates in 8 cities, works with over 9000 restaurants, and processes over 40000 orders per day. The funding will be used to increase delivery efficiency, upgrade technology, and expand the number of restaurants.

Announced: 09/19/16  Stage: Series D  Participating Institutional Investors: Bessemer Venture Partners, Accel Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, SAIF Partners  Previous Investment: $60.5 million  Founded: August 2014

FoodChéri raises $6.7m. The Paris, France-based online restaurant offers healthy meals prepared by chefs for delivery. Orders are taken in advance and on-demand, and meals are delivered ready to reheat. FoodCheri currently serves over 1,000 meals per day and operates in Paris and surrounding suburbs. The company will use the funding to expand in France, to increase its staff, and to develop.

Announced: 09/19/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: 360 Capital Partners (lead), Breega Capital (lead), Samaipata Ventures  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: April 2015

Sourcery Raises $5m. The San Francisco, CA-based app allows restaurants to digitally manage orders, inventory, and costs. Restaurants can scan and upload invoices and receipts, and the Sourcery app will organize the information. Sourcery will use the funds to create an app feature that will allow vendors to send and track invoices and bill customers.

Announced: 09/13/16  Stage: Venture  Participating Institutional Investors: Marker (lead), Palantir Technologies, Steadfast Venture Capital  Previous Investment: $8.0 million  Founded: 2012

eBev raises $1.5m.  The Sydney, Australia-based online platform allows wholesale wine purchasers to manage their inventories and order directly from wine sellers. The platform includes 22,000 wines and is currently used by 700 venues. eBev aims to have 8,000 venues using the platform in the next year. The investment will be used to expand to Melbourne and other areas, as well as to expand services—including offering more wines and further developing customer relationship and payment tools.

Announced: 09/12/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Sydney Angels Sidecar Fund  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: September 2014

Idea Chakki Raises Undisclosed Funding. The New Delhi, India-based mobile app works with restaurants to provide digital video menus and allow customers to gift food and beverages across the world. Currently Idea Chakki operates in six restaurants, and the company aims to expand to 30 restaurants by the end of this year. The funding will be used to expand to new locations, build the team, and advance technology.

Announced: 09/12/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Investors: Ratan Tata  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2013

Salido Raises $2m. The New York, NY-based restaurant operating system lets restaurants manage workers, point of sale, inventories, and customer relations from one operating system. Having overall management of restaurants sets Salido apart from other operating systems which focus individually on single aspects of restaurant management, such as point of sale or orders. At present, Salido has processed $27 million in transactions for more than 1 million guests.

Announced: 09/08/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Investors: Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Phil Suarez  Previous Investment: $2.0 million  Founded: 2012

GoSpotCheck Raises $16.5m. The Denver, CO-based mobile data collection app helps companies collect and analyze inventory, display and price information.  The data analysis helps companies make better retail decisions, such as how best to display their products to increase business. Clients include The Dannon Company and Labatt Brewing Company. GoSpotCheck will use the funds to hire more employees and develop new app features.

Announced: 09/07/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: Point Nine Capital, Insight Venture Partners  Previous Investment: $9.5 million  Founded: June 2011

VizEat Raises $4.3m. The Paris, France-based “social dining platform” allows travelers to eat a local, home-cooked meal in a home where they are visiting. In addition to meals, some VizEat hosts also offer cooking classes and food tours. To date, VizEat has over 20000 hosts in 110 countries. The funding will be used for growth, and VizEat plans to open offices in the UK and Germany, in addition to its current offices in France, Spain, and Italy.

Announced: 09/06/16  Stage: Venture  Participating Institutional Investors: Eurovestech  Previous Investment: $1.3 million  Founded: 2014

DayBox Raises $600k. The New Delhi, India-based platform for fresh produce sales connects farms with restaurants and retailers. At present, over 30 farms and 50 restaurants use the platform. The funding will be used to grow the team, develop technology, and to expand to Bangalore and Mumbai.

Announced: 09/01/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Investors: Ashutosh Lawania, Badal Malick, Rajul Jain, Rishi Gupta  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2016

PARTNERSHIPS

Edamam Partners with Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Tablespoon and QueRicaVida to provide nutrition information.

Fishbowl Partners with Groupon to help restaurants measure and analyze success of Groupon campaigns.

Revel Systems Partners with Punchh to enhance restaurant customer mobile engagement.

Hershey Partners with Chef’d to make dessert meal kits.

EatStreet Partners with Pingup to allow consumers to order food directly from Yahoo and YP searches.

INDUSTRY LANDSCAPE

As the Food Tech & Media ecosystem continues to see rapid change, Rosenheim Advisors created The Food Tech & Media Industry Map to help entrepreneurs, participants and investors understand this quickly evolving landscape. Let us know about your recent or upcoming funding, partnerships or acquisitions here.

Check out the 2015 Annual Report and the Summer 2016 round-up. 

The post Food Tech Media Startup Funding, M&A & Partnerships: September 2016 appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

We are thrilled to partner with Ryan Williams to publish our 2018 U.S. Food & Beverage Startup Investment Report. A reformed banker, Ryan now leads finance and special projects for RISE Brewing Co., an award winning nitro cold brew coffee brand. On the side, he likes techno, backpacking, helping other food entrepreneurs, and long walks through the grocery store.

$1.45+ Billion Invested Across 247 Food & Beverage Deals

With acquisitions on the rise and more capital flowing into the industry, 2018 was another great year for U.S. based food and beverage startups. The year saw $1.45 billion invested across 200 disclosed deals, according to our research. In total, there were 247 reported financings in 2018. The largest check size of the year was for $114 million to Impossible Foods, with a median check size of $2.4 million (up from $3.9 million in 2017) and average check size of $7.3 million (up from $8.9 million in 2017). Despite a slight decline from 65 deals in 2017, M&A remained strong with 59 branded food and beverage deals closed in 2018, according to data compiled by Houlihan Lokey.

Our Investment Report examines U.S. based food and beverage investor trends, investment trends by category, and overall industry trends from 2018. Additionally, the report concludes with a detailed overview of notable exists and investments.

Please note, we used new data sources for 2017 and 2018 figures. Please do not refer to 2017 figures in our prior report for comparison purposes, as updated data alters prior year results. Improvements to our tracking and methodology allowed us to better track deal activity in 2018 than the year prior, allowing us to catch some of the smaller deals that are less widely publicized. We also began tracking three new categories, including CBD & THC, meal kits, and supplements.

The database underlying this report relies on a variety of public sources of information such as industry publications, SEC filings, Crunchbase, newsletters, and social media to track investments made by by angel investors, incubators, venture capital firms, and private equity firms. While a best effort is made, no guarantee is given regarding its comprehensiveness or accuracy. The database covers the U.S. branded food and beverage category, which includes in-market products sold to consumers through e-commerce or traditional retail channels.

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and tag us  #foodtech @ryanwilliams @foodtechconnect

Report Content

Click on the links below to easily navigate this report.

1. Investor Trends
2. Food & Beverage Investment Category Data & Trends
3. Notable 2018 CPG Trends
4. Notable Exits
5. Complete List of 2018 Food & Beverage Investments

Investor Trends

On the investing side, 2018 was more focused on maturation than innovation. Last year saw the full scale arrival of traditional tech investors, the advent of data-driven funds such as CircleUp, and the emergence of mega rounds backing category leaders. These strategies continued through 2018, albeit directed at the ever widening scope of exciting categories and trends, from plant-based to CBD.

As more investors have flocked to food, capital providers have sought to differentiate their dollars. CircleUp, for example, notes on its website: “We now provide not only access to capital, but also introductions to retailers and strategics, as well as actionable insights, powered by our machine learning platform, Helio.” Similarly, influencer-centric Wild Ventures specializes in online distribution and sales. It has assembled an investor syndicate of wellness influencers that can help drive direct sales. Bringing something unique to the table is becoming increasingly important and VCs are seeking to establish their value-add.

Some investors are generalists, investing in a wide variety of brands. One of the most active firms this year, AccelFoods, participated in 17 deals ranging from bone broth (Bonafide Provisions) to cold brew coffee (Wandering Bear). Cambridge SPG was also lively, closing seven deals in brands such as Vive Organic, Tosi Health, and Once Upon a Farm. More frequent participation helps firms learn faster, diversify their risk, and double down on category winners.

While other investors target specific sectors, particularly when it comes to plant-based. New Crop Capital, Powerplant Ventures, and Stray Dog Capital have all built impressive portfolios by focusing exclusively on the industry’s continued embrace of alternatives to meat, seafood, and dairy. Other niche focused investors include The DTX Company, Elizabeth Street Ventures, and Outbound Ventures, which have concentrated on e-commerce standouts such as Dirty Lemon, RISE Brewing Co., Ark Foods, and spero.

Just as interesting as who came to the table in 2018 is who didn’t. Whereas tech focused VC firms made many showings in 2017, very few of the big names closed new deals in 2018. Neither Accel, Andreessen Horowitz, Box Group, First Round Capital, Greycroft nor GV did a food related deal. Only Horizons Ventures, which placed tech angled bets on Endless West, Impossible Foods, and Perfect Day; Kleiner Perkins, with its check to Beyond Meat; and Khosla Ventures, with its participation in Perfect Day and Ripple, represented the tech set. The intersection of new technology paired to food brands most excites this group.

Also worth noting is the distribution of deal activity more generally. Of the 412 investors tracked in 2018, 160 wrote no checks at all. While some of that group may have quietly shuttered or some deals went unnoticed, the 202 active firms were still predominantly one check ponies. Of the 430 tracked checks written in 2018, nearly half (45 percent) came from just 30 firms. Another notable development is that A-tier firms appear to be increasing the size of their investment, while decreasing their investment frequency. VMG, for example, made just four disclosed investments in 2018, but the rounds in which they participated averaged $37 million, including Ancient Nutrition ($108,000,000), SmashMallow ($10,000,000), Spindrift ($20,000,000), Humm Kombucha ($10,000,000).

In 2018, an expanded array of corporate VCs began to invest off their balance sheets, following the precedent set by name brand corporate venture incubators and funds such as Coke’s Venture Emerging Brands (“VEB”). Ingredient supplier Döhler Ventures, for example, has taken positions in Bizzy, REBBL, Ripple Foods, Vive Organic, Vrai, and Your Super. WeWork’s Food Labs, which wasn’t officially announced until March 2019, had nonetheless begun meeting with brands and touting its global reach before the new year.

As usual, however, and the above notwithstanding, the only thing more exciting than the trends within the investment community were the trends among the brands themselves.

Food & Beverage Investment Category Data

The following is a breakdown of investments by category, including alcohol, alternative dairy, alternative protein, bars, beverages beyond water, CBD & THC, chips & salty snacks, coffee, tea & kombucha, keto, protein beverage, sweets, soups & broths, supplements, and other.

Please note, for the graphs and data presented below, every company is only classified in one category. Editorial judgement is used when determining how to group these brands.

Top 20 Food & Beverage VC Investments by Brand

Like 2017, there were two brands in the $100 million club. Following Brewdog ($190 million) and JUST ($150 million) in 2017, this year’s nine-figure club included Impossible Foods and Ancient Nutrition. Six of the top 20 brands (Beyond Meat, Bulletproof, High Brew, Impossible Foods, Perfect Day, and Spindrift) appeared years, raising a combined $461 million.

The post 2018 U.S. Food & Beverage Startup Investment Report appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.