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.

Deal volume in May was in line with recent months, with six acquisitions and fifteen fundings, however deal sizes were significantly smaller as the total reported influx into the foodtech sector was just $155 million. In contrast to recent months where larger and later stage rounds represented a least a quarter of fundings, May was filled with a majority of Seed and Series A rounds and featured just one raise over $20 million.

Commerce and delivery were prominent sectors, with restaurant-related technology well-represented among the companies. Close to sixty percent of the capital went to U.S.-based companies, as was the largest acquisition (LAbite’s sale to Grubhub) a U.S.-based deal.

Most international activity was driven by Western Europe which is unusual, and surprisingly there was no activity in China aside from a distressed exit. Given the light representation in May, the surge in shuttering Indian foodtech startups appears to have quelled the funding gold rush (there was only one meaningful fundraise during the month within India).

M&A

Jialebao Acquires Yummly77. The Shanghai, China-based online grocery store sold fresh produce online for delivery and had received a Series B investment of $20 million from Amazon in 2014, but in April  2016, Yummy77.com suspended its operations due to its dire financial situation. The strategic assets will provide Jialebao, a Shanghai, China-based ecommerce group, with a strong brand and consumer base in addition to logistics, storage systems, and operations. With the acquisition, Jialebao aims to become a frontrunner in the market for fresh produce.

Announced: 05/12/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $20.0m  Founded: February 2013

Byte Foods Acquires Pantry. The San Francisco, CA-based smart fridge kiosk will allow the San Rafael, CA-based provider of vending machines and meal delivery for businesses to expand their healthy food options in workplaces. To use a Pantry fridge, customers swipe their credit card to open the fridge and then take whichever item(s) they want. The fridge uses Radio Frequency ID to determine what has been removed and charge the customer.

Announced: 05/12/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $2.3m  Founded: December 2012

ShopWings Merges with Grocery Butler. Grocery Butler, the Australia-based online grocery store and ShopWings, Rocket Internet’s online grocery platform will perform a merger of equals and combine operations under the name ShopWings. By merging, the companies will gain advances in technology and logistics as well as an increased client base. Members of both teams will remain with the merged company—Guillaume Ang, the current COO of ShopWings will become the CEO of the merged company, and Michael Parthenides, the current CEO of Grocery Butler will lead operations in Melbourne. ShopWings will operate in Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne. ShopWings originally launched in Germany, however due to lack of demand and cooperation from local retailers, shut German operations in July 2015.

Announced: 05/12/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Shopwings: €12.0m; Grocery Butler: $0.3m  Founded: ShopWings: 2014; Grocery Butler: July 2013

Roadrunnr Acquires TinyOwl. The Mumbai, India-based mobile app for food delivery will provide the Kormangala, India-based delivery service with technology and data analytics as well as some team members of TinyOwl. For now, TinyOwl will continue operations in only 20 of its Mumbai locations, shutting down elsewhere, and will begin the transition to the merged company, which will be called Runnr when it launches.

Announced: 05/10/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $26.7m  Founded: 2012

Upserve Acquires Breadcrumb from Groupon. The New York, NY-based iPad point-of-sale app for restaurants will enhance Upserve’s (previously called Swipely) smart management assistant for restaurants’ point-of-sale technology. Upserve’s current technology connects point-of-sale, reservations, reviews, and payments for restaurants so that they can monitor staff, guest, and review information from one place. Breadcrumb was previously acquired by Groupon in May 2012 (reportedly for $10-$15 million), but has worked in partnership with Upserve since late 2015.

Announced: 05/09/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2011

GrubHub Acquires LAbite. The Los Angeles, CA-based restaurant delivery service will allow the Chicago, IL-based mobile app for restaurant delivery to expand its delivery network. LAbite diners ordered almost $80 million in gross food sales, with most of the volume coming from the greater Los Angeles area. LAbite previously acquired WaitersonWheels (San Francisco Bay Area) and EatOutIn (Austin, Houston, and San Antonio) in 2015. GrubHub currently works with over 44,000 restaurants in over 1,000 cities in the United States and London.

Announced: 05/03/16  Terms: $65.0m (cash)  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2001

FUNDING

Hooch Raises $950k. The New York, NY-based mobile app for a subscription-based program to receive cocktails at bars provides consumers with a free round of drinks each day at cocktail bars. Membership costs $9.99/month or $99/year and includes specially curated drinks menus at restaurants and bars. Hooch currently operates in New York City, Los Angeles, Austin, Dallas and Miami. The investment will be used to expand the company in the United States and internationally.

Announced: 05/31/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Blue Scorpion Investments  Previous Investment: $1.25 million  Founded: November 2014

Nestor Raises $1m. The Paris, France-based meal delivery service delivers lunches to companies and working professionals. The company offers a starter, entrée, and dessert for €15, and everything is cooked by professional chefs at Nestor. Currently, Nestor delivers 1000 meals per week and is growing by 15% each week. The funds will be used for continued expansion in Paris.

Announced: 05/30/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Anaxago, TheFamily  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2015

Chef’d Raises $12.27m. The El Segundo, CA-based meal and recipe kit delivery service offers over 200 recipes for consumers to choose from, and recently partnered with the NY Times. Customers select meals and kits with recipes and prepared ingredients are delivered to their homes within 48 hours. The investment will be used for expansion.

Announced: 05/17/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $5.2 million  Founded: 2013

7Shifts Raises $900k. The Saskatoon, Canada-based software producer provides restaurants with a platform for employee scheduling. Managers can use an app to evaluate and assign shifts to employees and employees can view their shifts and submit requests to managers. Currently, 7Shifts is used by over 1900 restaurants in North America, Scandinavia, the Middle East, and Australia. 7Shifts plans to use the investment to expand their sales team and to add new features to their app.

Announced: 05/26/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Relay Ventures (lead), Boost VC, Globalive Capital  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2013

ResQ Raises $446k. The Helsinki, Finland-based meal club “rescues” leftover food from restaurants and bakeries that would otherwise be thrown away or not consumed. Customers can buy these foods for 40-70% discounted prices. Currently, ResQ has over 17,000 customers and over 150 provider partners. With the funding, ResQ has announced its expansion to 3 locations in Sweden.

Announced: 05/25/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Cleantech Invest Oyj  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2016

Menu Next Door Raises $2m. The Brussels, Belgium-based platform for home-cooked meals connects local home-cooks with community members who wish to purchase a home-cooked meal, like an “AirBnB for food”. Customers can place a menu order a few days in advance and then pick up their meal from the cook’s home on the day of their order—the company has no delivery option. Menu Next Door currently operates in Brussels and Paris. To date, there are 900 cooks and 110,000 customers using Menu Next Door. With the investment, the company will expand to London.

Announced: 05/24/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: TheFamily, Kima Ventures, LocalGlobe, Index Ventures  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2015

Eatonomist Raises Seed Funding. The Guragon, India-based meal delivery service delivers sandwiches, desserts, and Indian foods to offices. Food preparation and delivery are both controlled by Eatonomist, and all meals produced by the company are “calorie-counted gourmet meals”. The company will use the investment to develop and launch their app.

Announced: 05/23/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: MCube Capital Advisors  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: November 2014

Instabuggy Raises Undisclosed Funds. The Toronto, Canada-based grocery delivery service delivers groceries to consumers in under 1 hour following their order. Customers can pick which items they would like to buy and which stores they are interested in purchasing from. In addition, Instabuggy also delivers meals prepared by in-store chefs. The company plans to expand to the United States within the next year.

Announced: 05/20/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: October 2014

6SensorLabs Raises $9.2m. The San Francisco, CA-based technology company produces portable food sensors that can test food for allergens such as gluten, nuts, and milk. The first sensor tester, Nima, tests food for gluten content. Users put a small piece of their food into a disposable capsule and put the capsule inside the sensor. The sensor then displays results of the test. Funds will be used to further develop and sell sensors to detect peanut and milk content. The company will also change its name to Nima, the name of its first sensor.

Announced: 05/19/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Foundry Group (lead), Lemnos Labs, SK Ventures, SoftTech VC, Upfront Ventures  Previous Investment: $4.0 million  Founded: October 2013

Sun Basket Raises $7.1m. The San Francisco, CA-based healthy meal kit service delivers recipes and USDA-certified organic ingredients packaged and prepared for cooking. Recipes are designed by chef Justine Kelly and include options for those seeking vegetarian, paleo, gluten-free, and omnivore diets. Sun Basket will use the investment for expansion in the United States, an East Coast distribution center, and hiring. The company secured $4.5 million in funding in September 2015 and with this additional funding has closed its Series A round with a total of $11.6 million in capital.

Announced: 05/19/16  Stage: Series A extension Participating Institutional Investors: Vulcan Capital (lead), Filter 14, ROTH Capital Partners, Relevance Capital, Correlation Ventures, Rembrandt Venture Partners, Tyler Florence Group, Baseline Ventures, Robertson Stephens Partners, PivotNorth Capital  Previous Investment: $4.5 million  Founded: April 2014

Orderbird Raises $20m. The Berlin, Germany-based software producer provides restaurants with mobile point-of-sale solutions. The app can take and place orders, simply split bills, and create tax-authority-compliant reports. The investment includes a strategic investment from Metro Group, with the goal of improving digital solutions for restaurants. The funds will be used for expansion in Europe—including France—and for product development.

Announced: 05/11/16  Stage: Series C  Participating Investors: Digital+ Partners, Metro Group, Concardis  Previous Investment: $14.3 million  Founded: March 2011

Swiggy Raises $7m. The Bangalore, India-based online platform for food ordering allows consumers to order meals from over 5500 restaurants for on-demand delivery. Swiggy currently operates in Bangalore, Guragon, Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, and Chennai and makes 38,000 deliveries per day.

Announced: 05/10/16  Valuation: $130 million  Stage: Series D  Participating Institutional Investors: Accel Partners, DST Global, Norwest Venture Parners   Previous Investment: $53.5 million  Founded: August 2014

Purple Carrot Raises $5m. The Needham, MA-based vegan meal kit delivery service offers meal kits with 100% plant-based recipes and ingredients. The funding will be used for marketing research and increasing awareness of the brand and the environmental impact of plant-based eating. In addition, Purple Carrot will be adding a Guest Chef series, which will entail new, plant-based recipes created by well-known chefs specifically for Purple Carrot. Separate from the funding news, it was also announced that Purple Carrot’s chief innovation officer, former New York Times food columnist Mark Bittman, departed the company.

Announced: 05/10/16  Stage: Debt Financing  Participating Institutional Investors: WindSail Capital Group  Previous Investment/debt: $4.8 million  Founded: October 2014

ReserveOut Raises $4.1m. The Amman, Jordan-based software producer provides restaurants with a technological system for reservations, table management, and customer databases. Restaurant customers can make table reservations through the ReserveOut mobile app at over 1000 restaurants in the Middle East. ReserveOut currently operates in Amman, Dubai, Beirut, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Jeddah, and Manama. With the investment, the company will expand operations to Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The investment will also be used to enhance the ReserveOut mobile app.

Announced: 05/08/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Silicon Badia, 500 Startups, iMENA Group  Previous Investment: $1.3 million  Founded: 2012

Winc Raises $17.5m. The Los Angeles, CA-based wine club (formerly known as Club W) offers consumers wines from around the world. Customers can receive personalized recommendations for wine based of their preferences and “palate profile.” Wines can be ordered online and also purchased in-person at restaurants.

Announced: 05/04/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: Bessemer Venture Partners, Shining Capital  Previous Investment: $13.1 million  Founded: August 2011

PARTNERSHIPS

Peapod Partners with Whisk to deliver groceries and ingredients directly from online recipes.

Peapod Partners with ConAgra Foods and Campbell Soup to create new meal kits.

D.C. Taxicab Commission Partners with Delivery.com to deliver restaurant lunch orders.

HungryRoot Partners with Whole Foods to sell healthy “indulgence” foods in stores.

Instacart Partners with PlateJoy to deliver groceries for personal nutrition and health plans.

Punchh Partners with Olo to enhance restaurant sales through loyalty incentives and rewards programs.

Drync Partners with Ebay to create and source ebay Wine, a website exclusively for buying wine.

The New York Times partners with Chef’d to start delivering meal kits to readers

Amazon partners with Tyson Foods to create a meal kit service through Amazon Fresh.

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: May 2016 appeared first on Food + Tech Connect.

We are thrilled to partner with Ryan Williams to offer our first U.S. Branded Food 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.

Editors Note: Please note this database relies on a variety of public sources of information such as industry publications, newsletters, social media mentions, and SEC filings to track investors and investments. 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. 

$1.08B in Venture Capital Invested Across 99 Food & Beverage Deals

With acquisitions on the rise and more capital flowing into the industry, 2017 was a great year for U.S.-based food and beverage startups. The year saw $1.08 billion in venture capital invested across 99 deals, according to our research. This is an 87.8% increase from the 66 deals reported by Dow Jones Venture Source in 2016. There were 124 reported VC financings in 2017, however only 99 reported the amount of capital invested. The largest check size of the year was for $190 million to Brewdog, with a median check size of $4.25 million and average check size of $10.9 million. Despite a slight decline from 142 deals in 2016, M&A remained strong with 136 food and beverage deals closed in 2017, according to SDR Ventures.

Notable Trends Driving 2017 Food & Beverage Investment

1. Food is Hot: More people than ever are paying attention to, creating, and investing in food brands. What was once an overlooked, stodgy industry now has a “cool” factor the natural food pioneers of yesteryear could only have dreamed of. As food choices have become a manner of self-expression, categories ranging from craft beer to salty snacks have exploded to fulfill consumer demands, and celebrities and tech investors are taking notice. This is reflected everywhere from the growing number of investors and funds in the space (450+ last year alone), to the record number of attendees at events like Expo West (85,000 attendees), to the mainstream media coverage of food businesses.

2. E-Commerce is Here: For many, Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods validated food’s e-commerce future. While meal kit companies like Blue Apron have struggled, nascent digitally-native food brands like Daily Harvest and Soylent have shown great promise. The U.S. e-commerce food and beverage category is expected to grow from just $4 billion and 0.8% of e-comm market share in 2015 to $31 billion and 5.5% of e-commerce market share by 2022 and the events of 2017 are important markers on that trajectory.

3. Plant Power: The most innovative food and beverage startups, by and large, have focused on supplanting traditionally animal-based products with plant, nut and other alternative nutrition sources. Startups such as Ripple, which makes milk from peas, and Impossible Foods, which creates impossibly realistic plant-based “burgers,” are leading the charge in products that do not sacrifice taste for their environmental and ethical benefits.

4. Incumbents Try to Regain Market Share: As big CPG companies continued losing market share, there was again significant M&A activity in 2017 with 136 deals compared to 142 in 2016. As such, corporations continue to adjust their size expectations for targets, acquiring startups with lower EBITDAs as a strategic, defensive move to rebalance eroding market share.

Investor Trends

Increased participation of traditionally tech focused investors, a greater emphasis on data driven investing, celebrity participation, and a lopsided funneling of dollars towards the hottest deals and categories defined the major trends of the year.

Many deals reflected the increased sector interest from traditionally tech focused VCs, such as Greycroft (investor in Penrose Hill), GV (investor in Soylent, Blue Bottle and Ripple Foods), and Lightspeed Venture Partners (investor in Daily Harvest). Horizons Ventures, which primarily invests in bleeding-edge tech, helped lead both JUST’s $150 million round and the $75 million Series E for Impossible Foods. As CircleUp CEO Ryan Caldbeck argued in a TechCrunch article, “The uptick in tech VC dollars going to the CPG market is partly because tech investing is brutally competitive and saturated, and largely because these VCs are awakening to the strong historical returns in CPG, especially with the trend leaning towards small brands stealing market share.”

Traditional F&B investors focused on emerging trends and categories like cleaner labels, higher protein, better-for-you snacks and cold brew. Tech-first investors seemed to favor new models of distribution from startups like ALOHA and Daily Harvest, as well as startups with a heavy food science focus like  Impossible Foods, Beyond Meat, and Perfect Day.

CircleUp brought data science to CPG investing in 2017 with the release of Helio, a proprietary machine learning platform that collects billions of data points on over 1.2 million consumer and retail companies in the U.S. to analyze the relative strength and likelihood of success of companies. Helio is designed to help investors make better bets and to inform investment decisions for its newly launched $125 million fund CirlceUp Growth Partners. Notably, CircleUp also launched CircleUp Credit Advisors, a credit platform that provides approved startup CPG businesses with revolving lines of credit to help businesses finance business growth.

The trendiness of food startups has garnered celebrity involvement and investment. Leonardo DiCaprio invested in Hippeas and Beyond Meat, Drake invested in MatchaBar, Serena Williams and Gwyneth Paltrow bought into Daily Harvest, and Olivia Munn took a stake in Chef’s Cut. Celebrities are also getting their hands dirty, with Jennifer Garner joining baby food startup Once Upon a Farm and Ayesha Curry debuting her meal kit startup Homemade. Expect to see more of this in 2018 as celebrities embrace the sales driving potential of their influence.

Notable Exits

As big CPG companies continued losing market share, there was again significant M&A activity in 2017 with 136 deals compared to 142 in 2016. Starting with Mars’s minority investment in KIND at a $4 billion valuation and continuing with the announced $1.6 billion SkinnyPop acquisition by Hershey’s and the $4.9 billion Snyder’s-Lance acquisition by Campbell’s Soup, the mega CPGs may be prioritizing stability and needle moving, immediate top line impact over lofty growth projections. Perhaps, some big companies fare best acquiring medium size companies, as there remains a more navigable cultural and operational philosophy between organizations of comparable size.

Still, incumbents are also acquiring earlier stage startups that are on-trend, clean label, and aligned to consumer demand. Unilever, for example, acquired Sir Kensington’s, a maker of “condiments with character,” for $140 million. Kellogg’s purchased RXBAR, a producer of clean label protein bars, for $600 million. Additionally, Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. acquired plant-based cheese manufacturer Daiya for $325 million driven by its desire to capitalize on the growth of the plant based market.

In 2017, tech backed food had headline grabbing successful exits, like Blue Bottle’s $425 million majority acquisition by Nestle, as well as  flops like Juicero shutting down after raising $120 million. This begs the question of whether the additional capital entering the ecosystem will find its ROI from CPG incumbents who have essentially outsourced innovation to startup M&A or if valuations will need to decrease.

Investment Categories & Trends

2017 saw $1.08 billion invested in food and beverage startups. The majority of the funding went towards alternative protein focused brands, although other categories and characteristics, such as e-commerce and RTD coffee, also drew investor attention.

Top 20 Food & Beverage VC Investments

There were some mega deals in 2017. Occupying the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 7th spots were plant-based protein brands. The Top 20 deals (of 99 disclosed financings) accounted for over 72% of total VC funding.

 Food & Beverage VC Investments by Quarter

While there does appear to be significant quarter over quarter changes in deal activity, it’s usually the result of outlier investments skewing the trend in an upward direction. For instance, Q2, the largest quarter of the year, saw over $418,000,000 worth of checks went out in that period. Nearly half of those dollars, however, went towards just two companies: JUST ($150,000,000) and Soylent ($50,000,000). That said, investors and founders seem relatively likely to close a deal before year end but if not, are in no rush judging by January and February.

VC Funding For Alternative Protein Brands

VC’s invested $179.5 million in alternative protein brands developing everything from meat to milk. The top funders in this category include Horizons Ventures, Collaborative Fund, and Khosla Ventures. Tyson doubled down on its investment in Beyond Meat, which it already owned a 5 percent stake in. Consumer demand for plant-based food and investor activism are driving growth in this sector. A Nielsen study commissioned the Plant Based Foods Association and The Good Food Institute  the leading retail sales research company, found that the total market for the plant-based food sector tops $3.1 billion in sales in 2017, up 8.1 percent from the previous year. The Plant Based Foods Association also released new SPINS data indicating that the total market for the plant-based sector (excluding data from Whole Foods Market) tops $5 billion in sales.

Funding For Digitally Native Food & Beverage Brands

Offsetting what The Atlantic dubbed The Great Retail Apocalypse of 2017 has been the meteoric rise of e-commerce across all categories, but especially food. According to Statista, the domestic Food & Personal Care e-commerce category will grow from roughly $47 billion in 2017 to $78 billion by 2022, a CAGR of ~10.7%. Riding this wave are numerous digitally native brands such as Soylent, Daily Harvest and Vital Proteins, who collected much of the $168 million in venture funding for e-commerce food and beverage brands in 2017.

VC Funding For RTD Coffee Brands

Cold brew has popped up in VC portfolios just as fast as it’s flown off store shelves.  The top four publicly disclosed financings brought in $41,000,000 million in 2017 alone. According to Euromonitor, cold brew, “is going to continue to be a double-digit value growth winner.” After growing by nearly 15 percent in 2017-2018 to over $3 billion, the category is expected to grow a further 10.3 percent in 2018-2019. By 2022, the category is expected to be over $4.8 billion.

2017 Food & Beverage M&A Deals

Bai

• Product(s): Antioxidant Infusion Drinks
• Acquirer: Dr. Pepper Snapple Group
• Date: 1/31/17 (closed)
• Price: $1,700,000,000
• Why It Matters: Because it was a big Bai that hasn’t quite panned out. Snapple quickly replaced founder Ben Weiss and downgraded its projections for the brand. Anyone familiar with Zico and Coke’s failed marriage would find this situation dejavu. A huge cult audience does not always translate into true, mass market appeal.

Blue Bottle Coffee

• Products: Retail Coffee Shops; RTD Cold Brew
• Acquirer: Nestle
• Date: 9/14/17 (announced)
• Price: $425,000,000 (for 68%)
• Why It Matters: Because it validates the retail first strategy. As La Colombe has done with its Draft Latte, the in person appeal of Blue Bottle’s beautifully designed retail stores, along with their loyal VC following, paved the way to launch one of the top performing ready-to-drinks on the market.

Casamigos Spirits

• Products: Tequila
• Acquirer: Diageo
• Date: 6/21/17 (announced)
• Price: $1,000,000,000 (including earnout)
• Why It Matters: Because it shows the power of influencer-led brands. From beauty with Michelle Phan’s IPSY to alcohol with George Clooney’s Casamigos, many successful brands are being built top down. Influencers can best turn their fame into fortune by monetizing their audience around packaged products.

Chameleon Cold Brew

• Products: Cold Brew Coffee
• Acquirer: Nestle
• Date: 11/3/17
• Price: Undisclosed
• Why It Matters: Because acquirers continue to adjust their size expectations for targets. Chameleon had approximately $18M in sales in 2016. These acquisitions are strategic and somewhat defensive in that they don’t move the needle but instead, rebalance eroding market share. Also, because the coconut water wars have given way to the cold brew battle and Nestle isn’t content to let JAB, who already owns Peet’s, Stumptown, Keurig, and Intelligentsia – and is rumored to be eyeing Dunkin – own the entire category.

Daiya

• Products: Alternative Dairy Food Products:
• Acquirer: Otsuka Pharmaceutical
• Date: 7/27/17 (announced)
• Price: $323,201,340 (converted from CAD)
• Why It Matters: Because it validates what many saw as the biggest trend of 2017: the adoption of plant based proteins. No longer limited to tasteless, hippy looking “fake” meats and cheeses, alternative proteins have rightly gained mainstream acceptance for their superior environmental, health and nutritional properties.

Hi-Ball / Alta Palla

• Products: Soft Drinks; Sparkling Water
• Acquirer: AB-InBev
• Date: 7/20/17 (announced)
• Price: Undisclosed
• Why It Matters: Because the world’s largest beer company, AB-InBev, clearly has non-alcohol aspirations. Coupled with what seems a better understanding of “craft” than its peers and its forward-thinking investments through ZX Ventures in Owl’s Brew, GoLive, and Canvas, Coke and Pepsi may have to fend off not just nimble startups but also, a massive third player.

Rao’s Speciality Foods

• Products: Tomato Sauce
• Acquirer: Savos Brands
• Date: 6/8/17 (announced)
• Price: Undisclosed
• Why It Matters: Because it shows strategic acquirers haven’t totally pushed out PE dollars. It’s also nice to see an iconic brand acquired by someone other than Metropoulos & Co. The strategics are buying fast growing, low-profit startups, leaving the legacy, stable cash flows of brands like Rao’s for PE.

RXBAR

• Products: Protein / Snack Bars
• Acquirer: Kellogg
• Date: 10/6/17 (announced)
• Price: $600,000,000
• Why It Matters: Because it does not always take massive amount of outside capital to build a brand. In a time where capital availability for food and beverage brands has skyrocketed, RXBAR hit a grand slam with just $10,000 raised. RXBAR also demonstrates how taking transparency to the extreme – their packaging is the nutrition label – resonates so strongly with Millennial consumers.

Sir Kensington’s

• Products: Condiments
• Acquirer: Unilever
• Date: 4/20/17 (announced)
• Price: $140,000,000
• Why It Matters: Because the brand epitomizes shifting consumer preferences and doing the opposite of the Heinz Ketchup playbook. This demonstrates how even the most iconic brands are not immune to disruption. Like new wave startup darling Hippeas, Sir Kensington’s managed to create both a differentiated brand and innovative products, especially it’s chickpea based mayo, Fabanaise. Read more about the acquisition here.

SkinnyPop (Amplify Brands)

• Product(s): Popcorn
• Acquirer: Hershey’s
• Date: 12/18/17 (announced)
• Price: $1,600,000,000
• Why It Matters: Because it’s personal. I attended the same high school as founder Pam Netsky and started my career in investment banking at Houlihan Lokey, which advised Amplify on its initial sale to TA Associates, a Chicago based private equity firm. This experience, along with witnessing the initial sale of Snack Factory to Snyder’s-Lance, is what drew me into the food industry and I couldn’t be happier!

Snyder’s-Lance

• Products: Salty Snacks
• Acquirer: Campbell’s Soup
• Date: 12/18/17 (announced)
• Price: $4,980,000,000
• Why It Matters: Because Millennials don’t eat, they snack. This trend has taken a bite out of Campbell’s core soup business and the Snyder’s acquisition enables Campbell’s not only to capitalize on this shift but also amass a portfolio of brands including Cape Cod, Snack Factory Pretzel Crisps and Late July with a hipper image than its iconic tomato soup.

Thanasi Foods

• Products: Jerky; Seeds Snacks
• Acquirer: Conagra
• Date: 3/16/17 (announced)
• Price: Undisclosed
• Why It Matters: Because protein is still in and because Conagra apparently sees a brighter future in branded CPG. In 2016, it acquired Frontera Foods, a Chicago based salsa and Mexican foods company while selling off its lower margin, high volume private label division sale to TreeHouse.

2017 Food & Beverage VC Deals

BANZA

• Founders: Brian Rudolph, Scott Rudolph
• Product(s): Chickpea Pasta
• Investment Date: 6/12/17
• 2017 Funding: $7,500,000
• Total Funding: $9,400,000
• Known Investors: Beechwood Capital, Chobani Food Incubator, Strand Equity Partners, SWAT Equity Partners, Vayner/RSE, Rosecliff Ventures, DGNL Ventures
• Comments: Behold the power of the humble chickpea. Beyond its direct explosion when Sabra revitalized hummus, chickpeas have silently become the quiet kale, powering three major brands in distinct categories – Sir Kensington’s Fabnaise, Hippeas salty extruded snacks, and BANZA pasta.

Barnana

• Founder: Caue Suplicy
• Product(s): Upcycled Banana Snack
• Investment Date: 1/18/17
• 2017 Funding: $5,300,000
• Total Funding: $10,300,000
• Known Investors: Blueberry Ventures, Boulder Food Group (BFG), CircleUp, Finn Capital Partners, Trently Advisors, V3 Capital Partners
• Comments: Barnana is one of a handful of companies harnessing the environmental and economic advantages of would-be-wasted food. As Bai did with the frequently scraped coffee cherry husk or brands like Imperfect Produce and Misfit Juicery are doing with unaesthetic fruit, Barnana is doing – deliciously – with bananas.

Beyond Meat

• Founder: Ethan Brown
• Product(s): Plant Based Meat
• Investment Date: 1/18/17
• 2017 Funding: $55,000,000
• Total Funding: $150,900,000
• Known Investors: 301 Inc., DNS Capital, GlassWall Syndicate, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, New Crop Capital, Obvious Ventures, S2G Ventures, Stray Dog Capital, Tyson New Ventures, Cleveland Avenue
• Comments: Beyond Meat is a fascinating player among the truly believable meat replacement startups. Unlike Impossible Foods, whose go to market strategy has been to partner with premium branded on-premise chains where they guide distribution and preparation standards, Beyond Meat has been faster to mass market and is already in 12,000 stores and have sold over 11 million Beyond Burgers to date. It’ll be interesting to see if they can lock in brand loyalty from most customers before Impossible Foods, Memphis Meats and others can achieve similar scale.

Bhakti Chai

• Founder: Brook Eddy
• Product(s): Chai Tea
• Investment Date: 9/11/17
• 2017 Funding: $5,278,397
• Total Funding: $9,128,937
• Known Investors: 301 Inc., DNS Capital, GlassWall Syndicate, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, New Crop Capital, Obvious Ventures, S2G Ventures, Stray Dog Capital, Tyson New Ventures, Cleveland Avenue
• Comments: In 2010, Spark Capital’s Andrew Parker wrote a now famous blog post examining the “Spawn of craigslist.” As tech startups from StubHub to AirBnB have nipped away various functions with their own standalone platforms, similarly, food and beverage startups have begun to transform subsets of the largest categories into standalone brands. In the case of the massive $5.8 billion domestic RTD tea category, the obvious leaders are chai and matcha.

Bobo’s Oat Bars

• Founder: Beryl Stafford
• Product(s): Bars
• Investment Date: 3/2/17
• 2017 Funding: $8,000,000
• Total Funding: $8,000,000
• Known Investors: Ridgeline Ventures, Boulder Investment Group Reprise (BIGR Ventures)
• Comments: In what is arguably the most competitive category in food and with brands like RXBAR already chosen as the acquisition worthy winners, it’ll be interesting to see just how many more, however delicious, can succeed.

Bonafide Provisions

• Founder: Sharon Brown
• Product(s): Bone Broth, Vegetable Smoothies
• Investment Date: 8/8/17
• 2017 Funding: $4,500,000
• Total Funding: $4,500,000
• Known Investors: AccelFoods, Boulder Investment Group Reprise (BIGR Ventures), Ridgeline Ventures
• Comments: A recent Washington Post expose noted, “acolytes say the resulting collagen-rich liquid reduces inflammation, cures leaky guts, nourishes the immune system, strengthens bones and promotes radiant hair and skin. Detractors think it’s a ridiculous rip-off.”  Will bone broth live up to its lofty expectations or will it bust like an over-hyped draft prospect? The verdict is out.

Bulletproof

• Founder: Dave Asprey
• Product(s): Butter Coffee; Fat Water; Snacks; Supplements
• Investment Date: 5/24/17
• 2017 Funding: $19,000,000
• Total Funding: $31,300,000
• Known Investors: CAVU Ventures, Trinity Ventures
• Comments: Stemming from Dave Asprey’s audaciously titled 2014 book, “The Bulletproof Diet: Lose up to a Pound a Day, Reclaim Energy and Focus, Upgrade Your Life,” the brand offers, “high performance food, drinks & supplements to power your life.” It remains to be seen whether its current fanatical following will translate into long-term success, with one potential pitfall being that “Diets Do Not Make Good Investments.” Bulletproof’s core coffee line will also be competing with the other darling child of cold brew, nitro, which offers a latte like experience without calories, fat or other additives. Which do you prefer?

Celsius

• Founder: Janice Haley
• Product(s): Energy Drinks
• Investment Date: 3/14/17
• 2017 Funding: $15,000,000
• Total Funding: $34,000,000
• Known Investors: Horizons Ventures
• Comments: Legions of startups have attempted to dethrone the long-reigning Red Bull, but only Monster has landed a market share blow. And yet, Celsius and others bravely continue to charge forward alongside brands in adjacent categories like cold-brew who are attempting to sway energy drink consumers their way as a healthier option. Consumer preferences continue to shift away from unnatural ingredients, however, and Celsius’s significant capital backing and superior health positioning may just give it a fighting chance.

Core Hydration

• Founders: Lance Collins, Lukasz Gottwald
• Product(s): Water; Flavored Beverages
• Investment Date: 5/24/17
• 2017 Funding: $16,200,000
• Total Funding: $43,100,000
• Known Investors: Halen Brands
• Comments: Founder Lance Collins is the Elon Musk of beverage, having also successfully founded FUZE and NOS Energy. This goes to show the value of connections and experience in such a competitive field and the power of a rockstar CEO. The ability to access capital, distributors and high profile supporters such as Katy Perry and Adam Levine has put Collins well on his way to a third successful exit.

Daily Harvest

• Founder: Rachel Drori
• Product(s): Smoothies, Soups
• Investment Date: 6/8/17
• 2017 Funding: $4,000,000
• Total Funding: $4,900,000
• Known Investors: VMG, Brand Project, M13 Company, Collaborative Fund, 14W
• Comments: Daily Harvest deserves a ton of credit. First, Rachel Dori and her team have created a scalable, direct-to-consumer frozen supply chain in a category seemingly ill suited to e-commerce. And second, they have one of the most impressively curated feeds on Instagram with 195,500 engaged followers and counting. The ability to build a loyal audience without sampling and engaging customers at a retail level is a remarkable accomplishment. It paves the way for Daily Harvest to enter brick and mortar with pre-existing demand and velocity as other consumer brands such as AWAY with luggage and Casper with mattresses have begun to do.

DrinkMAPLE

• Founders: Kate Weiler, Jeff Rose
• Product(s): Maple Water, Melon Water
• Investment Date: 2/28/17
• 2017 Funding: $3,880,000
• Total Funding: $5,340,000
• Known Investors: FreshTracks Capital, Centerman Capital, Cleveland Avenue
• Comments: A potential challenger to the coconut water category, DrinkMAPLE shares many similarities with the incumbent: single ingredient, hydrating, and a polarizing flavor profile. It arguably takes better to flavors than coconut water and it’s primary source – maple trees – are available domestically, making it more sustainable to boot.

Farmhouse Culture

• Founders: Kathryn Lukas
• Product(s): Gut Healthy Chips, Vegetables, and Beverages
• Investment Date: 3/13/17
• 2017 Funding: $7,750,000
• Total Funding: $12,80,000
• Known Investors: Renewal Funds, White Road Partners, 301 Inc, Advantage Capital
• Comments: Instead of building a company around a brand or product line, Farmhouse has built it around the body, creating a line of products unified by their claimed digestive benefits. This appears to be a successful and unique strategy, allowing them to extend across different areas of the store naturally.

Fishpeople Seafood

• Founders: Duncan Berry, Kipp Baratoff
• Product(s): Sustainable Seafood
• Investment Date: 6/6/17
• 2017 Funding: $12,000,000
• Total Funding: $18,400,000
• Known Investors: 3×5 Special Opportunity Partners, Advantage Capital Partners, Blueberry Ventures, Collaborative Fund, S2G Ventures
• Comments: The seafood industry has been noticeably resistant to innovation compared to the snack aisle and beverage cooler. Fishpeople has brought transparency to one of the most environmentally threatened categories while making consumer facing products that are approachable for modern consumers.

Foodstirs

• Founders: Galit Laibow, Greg Fleishman, Sarah Michelle Gellar
• Product(s): Baking Products
• Investment Date: 7/31/17
• 2017 Funding: $5,000,000
• Total Funding: $4,000,000
• Known Investors: Beechwood Capital, Cambridge SPG
• Comments: Convenience? Check. All natural, organic and non-GMO? Check. Celebrity founder? Check. Direct-to-Consumer? Check. Foodstirs has all the checks modern, informed shopper are looking for.

good culture

• Founders: Jesse Merrill
• Product(s): Cottage Cheese
• Investment Date: 9/12/17
• 2017 Funding: $6,000,000
• Total Funding: $9,800,000
• Known Investors: 301 Inc., CAVU Ventures
• Comments: Good Culture has reawakened a stale but high potential category. High protein, low in fat and snackable, the well executed branding alongside creative flavors has transformed staid cottage cheese into an appealing option.

Grainful

• Founders: Jeannine Sacco, Jan Pajersk
• Product(s): Oat Centric Frozen and Prepared Meals
• Investment Date: 6/13/17
• 2017 Funding: $3,300,000
• Total Funding: $6,010,000
• Known Investors: Advantage Capital Partners, CircleUp, Rand Capital
• Comments: Grainful has been a fantastic, differentiated addition to prepared meals. They demonstrate the eureka possible in food and beverage – the brand started when the founders wanted to make dinner but didn’t have traditional grains like rice and pasta on hand and still managed to make a delicious meal using steel cut oats.

High Brew

• Founders: David Smith, Elizabeth Smith
• Product(s): Cold Brew Coffee
• Investment Date: 5/30/17
• 2017 Funding: $17,100,000
• Total Funding: $28,400,000
• Known Investors: Boulder Investment Group Reprise (BIGR Ventures), CAVU Ventures, Tasty Ventures
• Comments: High Brew has seen some high growth as the cold brew category continues to explode. Its affordable, straightforward, right-sized cans have won over consumers from convenience to conventional and things show no sign of slowing. They’ve also dipped their toes into the protein and coffee subset, which brands such as Sunniva are focusing on full time. It’ll be fascinating to see which areas under the cold brew umbrella, from butter to protein to alternative dairy, perform best.

Hippeas

• Founder: Livio Bisterzo
• Product: Chickpea Puffs
• Investment Date: 10/10/17
• 2017 Funding: $10,000,000
• Total Funding: $10,000,000
• Known Investors: CAVU Ventures, Green Park Brands, Strand Equity Partners
• Comments: Hippeas has a visionary founder who has created one of the most successful launches in industry history. From starting in mid-2016, Hippeas has closed two rounds from top tier firms and with participation from the likes of Leo DiCaprio, presciently built its snacks using the deservedly on-trend chickpea and was generating monthly revenue of nearly $1,000,000 barely a year post launch. Part of their success has been understanding The ROI of Surprise and Delight.

Humm Kombucha

• Founders: Jaime Danek, Michelle Mitchell
• Product(s): Kombucha
• Investment Date: 6/5/17
• 2017 Funding: $10,000,000
• Total Funding: $17,600,000
• Known Investors: VMG
• Comments: Next to cold brew, kombucha remains one of the hottest areas of beverage and Humm is well positioned to meet the demand. The company announced it’s opening of a new plant at the end of 2016 capable of producing 36,000,000 bottles per year. Traditional CPG startups have looked to co-packers to handle production, but those at the forefront of innovation seem to be increasingly consider keeping production in house. This strategy, however operationally demanding, enables more rapid innovation, fuller control and a more compelling brand story than employing a third party producer allows.

ICONIC

• Founders: Billy Bosch
• Product(s): Protein Drinks
• Investment Date: 9/13/17
• 2017 Funding: $8,000,000
• Total Funding: $9,000,000
• Known Investors: AccelFoods, KarpReilly
• Comments: In keeping with the social issue zeitgeist of 2017, ICONIC’s success is due in large part to creating a healthy, high-protein drink void of the hyper masculine branding which characterizes Muscle Milk and others. Everyone needs food and ICONIC’s success serves as an important reminder for new products and innovations to not overlook the diversity of consumer wants and needs.

Impossible Foods

• Founders: Patrick Brown
• Product(s): Plant-Protein Meats
• Investment Date: 7/28/17
• 2017 Funding: $75,000,000
• Total Funding: $313,000,000
• Known Investors: Collaborative Fund, Horizons Ventures, Khosla Ventures
• Comments: As an avowed carnivore, my first bite of the Impossible Burger was the most memorable food experience of my life. Beyond multi-star Michelin hauts or the fantastic pizza of Brooklyn, the likeliness of Bareburger’s rendition to the real deal cannot be overstated. Goldman Sachs recently declared “meatless meats” as one of “8 Huge Trends That Are About to Change the World” and companies like Impossible are turning the future into reality.

Just, Inc. (formerly Hampton Creek)

• Founders: Josh Tetrick, Josh Balk
• Product(s): Vegan Cookies, Eggs and Sauces
• Investment Date: 5/26/17
• 2017 Funding: $150,000,000
• Total Funding: $373,000,000
• Known Investors: Khosla Ventures, Founders Fund, Radicle Impact, Collaborative Fund, AME Cloud Ventures, Horizon Ventures, Ali Partovi, Hadi Partovi, Ashvin Patel, Scott Banister, Kat Taylor, Mustafa Salesman, Far East Ventures, Tao Capital Partners, Demis Cassabas, WP Global Partners, Jean Piggozzi, Eduardo Severin, Velos Partners, OS Fund, BlackPine Private Equity Partners, Marc Benioff, Brian Meehan, Uni-President Enterprises Corporation
• Comments: JUST has continued to push forward on its mission driven path, overcoming product and personnel hiccups along the way. Despite its board walking out, accusations of deceptive buy back practices and inappropriate work relationships, the company closed one of the largest financing rounds of the year and launched a new egg free ‘scramble’ product to glowing reviews.

JUST Goods

• Founders: Grace Jeon, Ira Laufer
• Product(s): Bottled Water
• Investment Date: 9/29/17
• 2017 Funding: $2,010,000
• Total Funding: $15,700,000
• Known Investors: Cranberry Capital, DGNL Ventures, HDS Capital, Raptor Consumer Partners
• Comments: Often, the intersection of two superior qualities creates disruptive mass appeal. In the case of JUST Goods, the maker of a sustainable bottled water, they are price and eco-friendliness. The specially designed Tetra Pak paper-based packaging allows the brand to stand out on a crowded shelf, is more economical at scale than plastic and is 82% recyclable. Given the threats of climate change, economically viable improvements to our global consumption of one million plastic bottles per minute ought to be applauded.

Kidfresh

• Founders: Matt Cohen, Gilles Deloux
• Product(s): Frozen Kids Meals
• Investment Date: 5/9/17
• 2017 Funding: $10,300,000
• Total Funding: $10,300,000
• Known Investors: AccelFoods, Emil Capital Partners, Monogram Capital Partners
• Comments: There are few areas where consumers are less price sensitive than the their children’s health. Despite this, frozen and refrigerated kids meals has been stagnant for some time and Kidfresh has placed itself at the nexus of a general shift towards healthier, all natural food preferences and modern, highly informed parents seeking to provide their kids with superior nutrition.

Kill Cliff

• Founders: Todd Ehrlich
• Product(s): Energy Drinks
• Investment Date: 8/10/17
• 2017 Funding: $13,500,000
• Total Funding: $24,700,000
• Known Investors: Sherbrooke Capital, Sunrise Strategic Partners
• Comments: In the notoriously competitive energy drink market, Kill Cliff has found its niche within the CrossFit community. The brand also donates a portion of its sales to a foundation benefitting Navy Seals, in which founder Todd Ehrlich previously served. By combining a loyal niche and a genuine mission, they are successfully attacking the well defended territory of Red Bull and Monster.

koia

• Founder: Chris Hunter
• Product(s): Plant Protein Beverages
• Investment Date: 7/13/17
• 2017 Funding: $7,500,000
• Total Funding: $8,180,000
• Known Investors: AccelFoods, KarpReilly
• Comments: In his second beverage startup act, Chris Hunter has demonstrated a remarkable degree of entrepreneurial versatility. Formerly of Four Loko fame, Hunter has since adopted a healthier lifestyle as reflected in his new company, koia, which makes fresh, plant protein based smoothies. They’ve come a long way since their initial MVP and in a short period, have earned national distribution at Whole Foods with no signs of slowing.

Kuli Kuli

• Founders: Lisa Curtis
• Product(s): Moringa Bars and Powders
• Investment Date: 7/13/17
• 2017 Funding: $4,250,000
• Total Funding: $5,350,000
• Known Investors: Eighteen94 Capital, InvestEco, Radicle Capital, S2G Ventures, Terra, Village Capital
• Comments: It’s always exciting when a new food is introduced domestically. From matcha to quinoa to, in Kuli Kuli’s case, moringa, a nutrient dense leaf common in parts of Africa, the Americanizing of ingredients popular in other cultures and countries can be a tricky balancing act between approachability and respect for the original. Kuli Kuli is doing a great job, especially in its impact efforts: to date, it has planted over 1,000,000 moringa trees and provided more than $1.5 million in income to women-led farming cooperatives and nonprofits in Ghana.

nona lim

• Founders: Nona Lim
• Product(s): Bone Broth; Soups; Noodles
• Investment Date: 6/5/17
• 2017 Funding: $1,950,000
• Total Funding: $2,100,000
• Known Investors: AccelFoods, Cambridge SPG, CircleUp, Echo Capital Group, Harbinger Ventures
• Comments: Originally founded as a meal kit company, nona lim successfully pivoted away from what’s proven a problematic business model even for public companies like Blue Apron to zeroing in on asian inspired broths and noodles. The willingness to adapt without losing the incipient brand flavor is an important lesson for all early stage startups, but particularly those, like nona lim, attempting to create new categorizes such as bone broth.

Once Upon a Farm

• Founders: Jennifer Garner, John Foraker, Cassandra Curtis, Ari Raz
• Product(s): Baby Food
• Investment Date: 2/8/17
• 2017 Funding: $3,100,000
• Total Funding: $3,100,000
• Known Investors: Cambridge SPG, Harbinger Ventures, S2G Ventures
• Comments: If anyone can muscle their way into the crowded baby food category (eg. Kidfresh, NuturMe, etc.) it’s a dream team including John Foraker, who sold Annie’s to General Mills for in excess of $800 million and grounded A-lister Jennifer Garner. The brand also deserves bonus points for its supply chain transparency and excellent e-commerce design, the later an increasingly vital channel in the Age of Amazon.

Owl’s Brew

• Founder: Jennie Ripps
• Product(s): Mixers, Alcoholic Beverages
• Investment Date: 1/4/17
• 2017 Funding: $4,080,000
• Total Funding: $4,520,000
• Known Investors: Cambridge SPG, ZX Ventures, Crimson Seed Capital
• Comments: Not only has Owl’s Brew been a leader of the mixers category, they also debuted one of the most creative offerings in beer – the Radler, a part beer, part tea combo which pairs perfectly with outdoor summer evenings. The brand has justifiably earned the attention of ZX Ventures, the investment arm of AB InBev and it will be exciting to see if they have a third creative, category defining creation in the pipeline for 2018.

peeled snacks

• Founder: Noha Waibsnaider
• Product(s): Dried Fruit Snacks
• Investment Date: 5/17/17
• 2017 Funding: $4,460,000
• Total Funding: $7,230,000
• Known Investors: Fireman Capital Partners, Hammerstone Capital, Seurat Group, Avondale Ventures, TFIC
• Comments: The company is attacking the snack aisle from two angles: healthy fruit snacks and, more recently, extruded, plant-protein rich puffs. Upon closing their latest round, Noha Waibsnaider remarked, “one thing I learned from the dried fruit category is that when we started we didn’t really have strong competitors and it made it really hard to disrupt a category alone.” This touches on a fascinating, broader debate within food and beverage circles: is it wiser to “create” a category (eg. coconut water) or “disrupt” an established one (eg. cold brew coffee)?

Penrose Hill

• Founders: Erik Steigler, Philip James
• Product(s): Wine
• Investment Date: 2/27/17
• 2017 Funding: $5,000,000
• Total Funding: $7,250,000
• Known Investors: Prehype, Greycroft
• Comments: There is a clear lack of innovation in alcohol compared to the overall food and beverage industry. Beyond Smirnoff Ice, Fireball, Spiked Seltzer and Underwood canned wine, precious few truly differentiated alcohol brands emerge. The three tier system and generally tight TTB regulations explain most of the industry’s conservativeness, yet innovative businesses like Penrose Hill have nonetheless emerged. Using structured data and customer feedback, they’ve adopted a decidedly modern approach to product development in a craft characterized by its long standing traditions. It’s a unique, Millennial minded approach that’s won over both investors and customers alike.

Perfect Day

• Founders: Ryan Pandya, Perumal Gandhi
• Product(s): Alternative Dairy
• Investment Date: 5/3/17
• 2017 Funding: $20,500,000
• Total Funding: $26,700,000
• Known Investors: Horizons Ventures
• Comments: The majority of science focused food startups have come from Silicon Valley and Perfect Day is no exception. A self described “cellular agriculture company making milk from cell culture,” the company underwent a rebrand from Muufri to Perfect Day in August 2016, marrying their high growth worthy technology with a high growth worthy brand identity. Perfect Day is also among a growing number of startups backed by Hong Kong based billionaire Li Ka-shing, whose portfolio also includes Impossible Foods, JUST and Celsius.

Powerful

• Founders: Carlos Ramirez
• Product(s): Protein Enhanced Yogurt and Oatmeal
• Investment Date: 11/7/17
• 2017 Funding: $4,000,000
• Total Funding: $7,500,000
• Known Investors: CircleUp, River Hollow Partners, Reason Venture Partners, SWAT Equity Partners
• Comments: Powerful gained initial traction by launching a well covered irreverent marketing campaign targeting male consumers. Since then, they’ve toned down the bravado and expanded their product line while growing to $11 million in annual sales. Clearly the protein trend has enough capacity to support both female focused brands like Iconic and, albeit less than at its outset, male geared companies like Powerful.

PRE Brands

• Founder: Lenny Lebovich
• Product(s): Beef
• Investment Date: 2/24/17
• 2017 Funding: $1,120,000
• Total Funding: $2,120,000
• Known Investors: BRJ Ventures
• Comments: PRE Brands continues what has been a more and more common trope – food companies describing themselves as technology startups. From Sweetgreen to JUST, the technology startup image presumably connotes open-minded innovation and helps justify a tech company valuation multiple. Unlike some other meat suppliers, PRE Brands outsources production to partner farms, allowing it to focus on the brand experience. That said, essentially using a co-packer does not a tech startup make. Apart from that, their introduction of high quality beef and well designed packaging to a generally staid category deserves plenty of praise.

Protein2o

• Founders: Bob Kral
• Product(s): Protein Enhanced Water
• Investment Date: 11/16/17
• 2017 Funding: $4,00,000
• Total Funding: $11,480,000
• Known Investors: CK Capital Management Corporation
• Comments: Capitalizing on the ongoing protein trend, Protein2o has created a unique concept in the enhanced waters space. One potential pitfall may be the name, Protein2o, which could hamper line extension possibilities and comes across a bit unnatural and scientific. Founded and run by a team of CPG veterans, however, they have both experience and differentiation working in their favor and saw sales grow 300% in the first half of 2017 alone.

Purely Elizabeth

• Founders: Elizabeth Stein
• Product(s): Granola, Snacks and Grains
• Investment Date: 4/3/17
• 2017 Funding: $3,00,000
• Total Funding: $3,000,000
• Known Investors: 301 Inc.
• Comments: Like RXBAR, Purely Elizabeth has successfully taken the approach of avoiding dependency on venture capital. Only after generating $12 million in sales did they decide to accept outside funding, further proving the best brands attract outside capital but are not built on it.

Rhythm Superfoods

• Founders: Scott Jensen, Keith Wahrer
• Product(s): Vegetable Snacks
• Investment Date: 1/1/17
• 2017 Funding: $6,00,000
• Total Funding: $17,200,000
• Known Investors: 301 Inc., Blueberry Ventures, CircleUp, M13 Company, Tasty Ventures
• Comments: Founded in 2009, Rhythm seems to have really hit its stride nearly a decade in with its proprietary, all natural, crispy yet unfried vegetable chips, Following in the footsteps of successes like Popchips who offered crunch with less calories and timing their growth with rising consumer adoption of plant centric and vegan diets, Rhythm has a great future ahead.

SAFE + FAIR

• Founders: Dave Leyrer, Pete Najarian
• Product(s): Grains, Snacks and Deserts
• Investment Date: 5/3/17
• 2017 Funding: $10,00,000
• Total Funding: $14,000,000
• Known Investors: Acre Venture Partners
• Comments: Allergy friendly foods is a formula that’s had success in the past. Enjoy Life Foods, also founded in Chicago, went on to be acquired by Mondelez in 2015 and clearly Acre, the V.C. arm of Campbell’s, sees an equally bright future for SAFE + Fair.

Sipp

• Founder: Beth Wilson-Parentice
• Product(s): Flavored Beverages and Mixers
• Investment Date: 3/21/17
• 2017 Funding: $1,250,000
• Total Funding: $2,650,000
• Known Investors: Emil Capital Partners
• Comments: Considering its seemingly widespread distribution, Sipp has expanded remarkably well on relatively little disclosed funding. From upscale independents throughout the metro NYC area to, more recently, expansion into Costco and Safeway, the high margin, high class line has national appeal and potential. There have even been rumors of a potential Coca Cola acquisition in recent months and it wouldn’t be shocking to see Sipp in the M&A section of next year’s report.

SomruS

• Founder: Pankaj Garg
• Product(s): Liqueur
• Investment Date: 10/16/17
• 2017 Funding: $3,600,000
• Total Funding: $3,600,000
• Known Investors: Cleveland Avenue
• Comments: SomruS, an Indian liqueur similar to Baileys, is entering the surprisingly large global liqueurs and cordials market, estimated at $111 billion as of 2016. As the “craft” movement slows down, the smart VC money seems to be flowing to “weird” concepts with a true chance of disrupting large, established categories.

Soylent

• Founder: Rob Rhinehart
• Product(s): Meal Replacement Shakes
• Investment Date: 5/4/17
• 2017 Funding: $50,000,000
• Total Funding: $71,500,000
• Known Investors: Andreessen Horowitz, GV, Lerer Hippeau Ventures, TAO Capital
• Comments: Soylent has many of the markings of a brand set for success: true differentiation, support from an A list roster of VCs and some to be expected hiccups along the way – in particular, multiple product recalls this year. Nonetheless, Soylent is selling close to two million bottles per month despite extremely limited retail presence. The company is yet another example of how matching a creative go-to-market distribution strategy to a product weird enough to stand out can be a recipe for success.

Spindrift

• Founder: David Kimmell
• Product(s): Fruit Juice Beverages
• Investment Date: 5/12/17
• 2017 Funding: $13,100,000
• Total Funding: $23,500,000
• Known Investors: KarpReilly, New Ground Ventures, Prolog Ventures, Revelry Brands, RiverPark Ventures, VMG Partners, Warbos Venture Partners
• Comments: No commentary needed other than declaring Spindrift (apart from RISE Brewing Co., of course!) my favorite beverage on the market today. The branding, nutrition and taste are all exceptionally well executed and I’m proud to count myself as a loyal supporter.

Temple Turmeric

• Founder: Daniel Sullivan
• Product(s): Turmeric Beverages
• Investment Date: 2/28/17
• 2017 Funding: $2,400,000
• Total Funding: $5,680,000
• Known Investors: Boulder Investment Group Reprise (BIGR Ventures)
• Comments: The latest two editions Google’s Beverage Trends report identified turmeric as something to, “keep an eye on.” Undermining its great health benefits, turmeric’s insolubility and color degradation under heat make it technically challenging to work with. It may turn out that brands like REBBL, which also raised a large funding round from BIGR, have the wisest approach – deploying certain superfoods and spices in supporting roles rather than as standalone stars.

Vital Proteins

• Founder: Kurt Seidensticker
• Product(s): Collagen Products
• Investment Date: 11/1/17
• 2017 Funding: $19,000,000
• Total Funding: $19,000,000
• Known Investors: CAVU Ventures
• Comments: Mansome, a collagen focused beverage, is popular throughout Southeast Asia, so why can’t a collagen forward brand do well here? That’s at least part of the calculus behind CAVU’s decision to lead its latest round. If Vital can continue its rapid, category creating ascent – the four-year-old brand has achieved 240%+ consecutive year-over-year-growth for the past three years and has grown its retail presence into over 8,000 retail stores – it’ll be nearly $20 million well spent.

Wandering Bear Coffee

• Founders: Matthew Bachmann, Ben Gordon
• Product(s): Cold Brew Coffee
• Investment Date: 4/6/17
• 2017 Funding: $2,400,000
• Total Funding: $2,450,000
• Known Investors: AccelFoods, M3 Ventures, RCV Partners
• Comments: Wandering Bear has built a spot for itself in the red hot cold brew category with a straightforward cold brew paired with innovative bag-in-box and Tetrapak serving options. The former is especially well suited to office environments where Millennial workers at top tier firms expect better offerings than K-cups and burnt, stale pots of day old coffee. As the cold brew category matures, the ability to offer both attractive flavors and serving mediums will help separate the pack .

Waterloo

• Founders: Daniel Barnes, Brandon Cason
• Product(s): Flavored Sparkling Water
• Investment Date: 8/7/17
• 2017 Funding: $3,200,000
• Total Funding: $3,200,000
• Known Investors: CAVU Ventures
• Comments: Most founders can only dream of being able to secure significant funding from a top tier investor pre launch. Waterloo’s team of seasoned execs was able to make that happen and is making a push into the zero cal sparkling water market, starting in Texas. It’ll have some catching up to do with Spindrift, but it’s on trend flavor and nutrition, well designed packaging, established network and capital backing should give it more than a fighting chance.

The post 2017 U.S. Food & Beverage Startup Investment 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.

July was exceptionally active on the fundraising front compared to last year, with 23 deals totaling $318 million* in 2015 compared to just $75 million over 10 deals last year during the same month. This cash influx continued to fuel the progression towards a maturing industry, with about a third of all the deals (globally), and half of U.S. deals, sized at least $20 million.

On the other end of the spectrum, three of the ten seed stage deals were based in the U.S., averaging $2.1 million per deal, while the remaining international seed deals were primarily based in India, averaging $300k per deal.

M&A activity for the month included four acquisitions of undisclosed value, which is less substantial than last year due to a remarkable month in 2014 (six transaction totaling over $660 million in July 2014). I don’t think this signals any major shift in the strategic market. Quite the contrary in fact, as I have mentioned a number of times, I believe we are in store for some significant consolidation in the coming year.

As has been the case seemingly every month, delivery was dominant, with 61% of deals (and 66% of cash) invested into on-demand or convenience-economy concepts, mainly around the meal and restaurant category. The remaining majority of deals were also focused on the restaurant category, ranging from reviews to loyalty and marketing to payment.

*Excludes CircleUp’s new $22 million growth fund, as those funds did not go towards the company.

M&A

Benseron IT acquires Restajet.com. Benseron IT, a developer of POS systems, will integrate the Naples, Florida-based provider of custom Android and iOS apps for restaurants with its Bevo POS system in order to futher streamline the order process. RestaJet’s apps offer reservation services, customer feedback, and push notification features, as well as online ordering capabilities for franchises.

Announced: 07/23/15 Terms: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2014

Groupon Acquires OrderUp. The Baltimore, MD-based online and mobile food ordering and delivery service will bring expertise in food ordering and delivery to Groupon, and significantly boost its presence in the $70 billion sector by creating “an online and mobile food ordering marketplace of significant size and scale” while also providing opportunities for inventory cross-promotion, according to the Company. As TechCrunch notes, Groupon’s reach and ability to meet demand at large scales will enable OrderUp to grow at an accelerated pace and further expand in targeted markets. OrderUp is currently available in 40 markets throughout the U.S., focusing on those with high student populations.

Announced: 07/16/15 Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $10.0m  Founded: September 2009

Private Investors Acquire Yeti. The Los Angeles-based local discovery app fosters conversation with a local focus. Nicknamed the “Tinder for places,” Yeti presents users with a series of photo cards with topics based on their location, giving users the option to swipe left to pass on a topic or swipe right to join in on a conversation. According to LA Business Journal, Yeti faced the choice to try to raise a large funding round to acquire more users or seek acquisition. The company stated that is decided to sell to a small group of private investors (JA Partners and Edgewater Ventures) so that it can continue to develop and retain the original mission of the app versus likely sunsetting the app if it were acquired by a larger tech company. Yeti will operate under a new CEO following the acquisition, and may develop more curated local recommendations.

Announced: 07/16/15 Terms: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: $875k Founded: June 2014

Meredith Acquires Grocery Server (Qponix). The Bainbridge Island, WA-based search and shopping engine, which targets customers using hyperlocal digital advertising for consumer packaged goods and grocery retail outlets, is part of Meredith’s strategy to drive digital and cross-platform growth, particularly withing the AllRecipes platform. Grocery Server, which has been a client of Meredith’s for some time, developed its technology in response to the shifting behaviors of mobile-equipped, value-minded shoppers and delivers product offers using shoppers’ recent mobile activity. The women’s interest publisher Meredith has used Grocery Server’s services in the past year, and as part of the acquisition, Grocery Server will supply Meredith with grocery data as well as nearly 150,000 monthly localized advertising specials in every residential zip code in the US.

Announced: 07/13/15 Terms: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: August 2010 (as joint venture between Qponix and MyGroceryDeals.com)

FUNDING

Noodle Play raises $160k. The Mumbai-based online ordering startup serves delivery-only Chinese food made in its own kitchens and guarantees delivery within 29 minutes. The brand is owned by Lollypop Foods Pvt Ltd and currently operates in five locations in Mumbai. Noodle Play will use the capital injection to expand its delivery service and has plans to open delivery outposts in over 50 locations in Mumbai by 2016. Eventually, the company plans to expand its services into other metropolitan areas.

Announced: 07/31/2015 Stage: Angel Participating Angel Investors: Gautam Sinha, Elliot Stechman, Ambarish Ray Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2012

GoButler Raises $8m. The New York-based on-demand startup offers a free, SMS-based personal concierge. Users can text the company to request a variety of services including food delivery, travel bookings and restaurant reservations. Customers’ ordering history and preferences are attached to their profile so that GoButler personal assistants, called Heroes, can see their preferences and use existing on-demand apps and e-commerce sites to provide its service. The company, founded by former Rocket Internet executives, believes its free service differentiates it from competitors and plans to make a profit by building an advertising network around customer data. The service is currently available in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The capital injection will be used towards to fund a marketing campaign.

Announced: 07/30/2015 Stage: Series A Participating Institutional Investors: General Catalyst Partners (lead), BoxGroup, Cherry Ventures, Lakestar, Global Founders Capital, Slow Ventures, Sound Ventures Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: February 2015

Thrive Market Raises $30m. The Los Angeles-based wholesale buying club for health-conscious products operates like a hybrid of Whole Foods and Costco. For a $60 annual membership fee, users can access natural or organic products across a variety of verticals, such as food, home goods, and baby supplies at or below the price of the conventional equivalent. In the first eight months from launch, the company gained over 100,000 active members, 1,000,000 registered users, and generated $5mm in monthly sales. The company has also partnered with a number of non-profits to offer free memberships to families in need for every paid membership on the platform. Thrive Market will use the funding to expand its operations, with the opening of a new distribution center on the East Coast and developing its mobile app.

Announced: 07/30/2015 Stage: Series A Participating Institutional Investors: Greycroft (lead), Scripps Network, CAVU, Powerplant Ventures Previous Investment: $9 million Founded: 2013

Delight Foods Raises $156k. The Bangalore-based food startup enables users to purchase famous Indian food brands from across the country. The venture works with over 60 brands sourced from 11 cities, allowing customers have delicacies particular to a city delivered to their homes. The venture is logistics heavy, and has packing centers in all the cities in which it operates. Funding will be used to make new hires, enter into new food categories, expand its location, and launch a marketing campaign in Bangalore.

Announced: 07/27/2015 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: MAPE Advisory Group, Fireside Ventures Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: December 2014

ShopKeep Raises $60m. The New York-based point-of-sale solution builds point-of-sale software for mobile devices and tablets. The company’s platform additionally offers customer marketing, inventory and staff management, back-end reporting and detailed analytics. The Wall Street Journal attributes the traction tablet-based point-of-sales systems are gaining to the proliferation of broadband internet that makes cloud software available at merchant locations. ShopKeep will use the funding towards growing its overall customer base in the US, strengthening industry partnerships, and launch international operations, starting with the UK.

Announced: 07/28/15 Stage: Series D Participating Institutional Investors: Activant Capital Previous Investment: $37.5 million Founded: October 2008

Deliveroo Raises $70m. The London-based restaurant delivery service focuses on marketing, selling and delivering meals from premium restaurants that do not usually offer takeout. Deliveroo targets affluent cities with high population density and an abundance of restaurants, currently serving 18 cities and towns across the UK as well as Paris, Berlin, and Dublin. Funding will be used towards expansion into new cities in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, marketing on the internet, billboard, and TV, in addition to hiring managing and product engineering staff.

Announced: 07/27/15 Stage: Series B Participating Institutional Investors: Greenoaks Capital (Lead), Index Ventures (Lead), Accel Partners, Hoxton Ventures Previous Investment: $29.6 million Founded: February 2013

Homer Logistics Raises $2m. The New York-based food delivery service for restaurants combines orders that originate in the same area and that head in the same direction to eliminate empty-handed return trips and make delivery more efficient. Additionally, Homer Logistics provides software to restaurants to receive and analyze incoming orders from a variety of platforms. The company reports that is has completed over 6,000 orders in Manhattan in June 2015.

Announced: 07/21/15 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: Brooklyn Bridge Ventures, Two Sigma Ventures, Vayner RSE, Rugged VC, Haystack Fund II Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2014

Flypay raises $10.7m. The London-based mobile payment startup allows users to check, split and pay their restaurant bill from their smartphones by scanning an on-table QR code/NFC tag to pull up the bill. Since its launch, Flypay has added other solutions catering to the hospitality industry, including order and collect, order at table, pay at bar, and customer loyalty features. Notably, TimeOut – a media brand – appears to be positioning itself as a strategic investor, calling itself a “global multimedia discovery platform”, with plans to help enable global deployment of Flypay’s solution.

Announced: 07/16/15 Stage: Series A Participating Institutional Investors: TimeOut Previous Investment: $1.9m Founded: February 2013

Plated Raises $35m. The New York-based subscription service for ready-to-cook meal ingredients and recipes markets itself as a premium meal kit delivery service. Plated distinguishes itself by offering sustainably sourced goods, with a slightly higher price-point per meal than competitors. To that end, Plated has invested in farming and transportation to ensure that its products are sustainably produced and shipped in sustainable packaging as well as mobile technology. Funding will be used to develop a low-waste supply chain and new regional fulfillment centers.

Announced: 07/16/15 Stage: Series B Participating Institutional Investors: Greycroft Partners, Formation 8 Previous Investment: $21.4 million Founded: January 2012

Main Street Hub Raises $25. The Austin, TX-based marketing platform for small-businesses uses data and analytics to help merchants acquire and maintain customers. The company’s “do-it-for you” local marketing platform offers an integrated social, web, and email marketing solution designed to help local restaurants and merchants drive more customers. The funding will provide the company with resources to grow, and facilitate the introduction of new products and addition of 300 employees in its Austin, TX, and New York offices by the end of 2015.

Announced: 07/16/15 Valuation: $216 million Stage: Series C Participating Institutional Investors: Vista Equity Partners Previous Investment: $40.9 million Founded: June 2009

Freshly Raises $7m. The New York-based meal delivery service offers meals inspired by the paleo diet. The meals are prepared by chefs employed by Freshly and then packaged and delivered to customers. The company primarily delivers in Arizona and California, and has shipped over 200,000 in its first five months of operation. Funding will be used for expansion to cover 80% of the country with new production and logistics facilities.

Announced: 07/15/15 Stage: Series A Participating Institutional Investors Highland Capital Partners (lead), White Star Capital Previous Investment: $2.0 million Founded: 2012

Spoon University Raises $2m. The New York based food network for millennials offers localized and more general stories about food, wellness, and lifestyle. Content on the website is produced by college students, who volunteer to share recipes, health and lifestyle stories, restaurant reviews, BuzzFeed-esque quizzes, and other food-related content. The website has a national page as well as individualized verticals for participating college campuses. Spoon University is different from similar platforms in that members who want to contribute content receive training in writing headlines, using Facebook to promote their content, and managing analytics tools to see how well their contributions are performing. Funding will be used towards expanding its network of contributors and creating more video content.

Announced: 07/14/15 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: BBG Ventures, BoxGroup Partners, Lerer Hippeau Ventures, Math Venture Partners, SoftTech VC, Vayner/RSE Previous Investment: $500k Founded: September 2013

Satvacart Raises Seed Funding. The Gurgaon-based grocery delivery startup offers over 4,000 curated products across grocery, fruits and vegetables, personal care, household essentials, and baby care through its online platform. Satvacart plans to use the funding to scale up its operations and expand into six new cities by the end of the fiscal year.

Announced: 07/14/15 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors Palaash Ventures Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2014

Zesty Raises $17m. The San Francisco-based office catering service differentiates itself by delivering meals from local restaurants cooked in a more health conscious way or created off-menu. Meals come with ingredients and nutrition facts, and Zesty works with restaurants to ensure that meals do not contain added sugar or MSG. In return for handling all the logistics of delivery and scheduling for the restaurants, and Zesty receives a fraction of the catering revenue. Zesty will use the investment to fund expansion into new markets.

Announced: 07/14/15 Stage: Series A Participating Institutional Investors: Index Ventures (lead), Founders Fund, Forerunner Ventures Previous Investment: $3.7 million Founded: November 2013

CircleUp Raises $22m Growth Fund. The San Francisco-based equity-based crowdfunding platform helps accredited investors find free access to private consumer-focused (mainly within consumer products and retail) investments, making it easier for investors to identify, diligence, and back companies they understand. Funding will be used to launch its Consumer Growth Fund, which will be used to match investments in consumer brands made through its crowdfunding platform. Whereas CircleUp’s traditional business model charges 5 percent commission tied to funds raised, the new Consumer Growth Fund will charge investors and also take both performance and management fees between 2 and 20 percent. According to TechCrunch, the average company funded through CircleUp has witnessed 90 percent growth per year after raising funds, but so far there have been no exits through sales or other liquidity events.

Announced: 07/13/15 CircleUp’s Investment To-Date (excluding this investment fund): $23.0m Founded: October 2011

Grofers Raises $36m. The Gurgaon, India-based online mobile delivery app delivers produce and other goods from local stores on-demand. Customers can choose from a selection of over 20,000 items, including essentials like diapers and personal grooming items and have purchases delivered within 90 minutes. The Economic Times notes that the deal increased the company’s valuation threefold. Funding will be used towards marketing and expanding its offerings in more categories and geographies.

Announced: 07/11/15 Valuation: $115 million Stage: Series C Participating Institutional Investors: Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global Previous Investment: $45.5 million Founded: December 2013

Eatlo Raises Angel Funding (“under $1m”). The Bangalore-based mobile platform allows users to order food and have it delivered within 20 minutes. The company currently delivers food from across seven locations in the city and operates with a network of seven chefs and 10 fulfillment centers, claiming to serve 1,200 orders daily. Funding will be used to scale up the business by increasing its delivery locations to 20, hiring 100 employees, and improving its back-end technology.

Announced: 07/07/2015 Stage: Angel Participating Institutional Investors: Globevestor, Powai Lake Ventures Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2014

Foody Raises Undisclosed Series B and Series C. The Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam-based startup initially launched as a gourmet search and user review media platform has since diversified its services to include table booking and food delivery. TechinAsia reports that Foody aims to become to top platform in Vietnam and is interested in expanding into other countries in Southeast Asia using a hyperlocal strategy.  Stunningly, the company announced both a Series B and Series C in the same month! Foody will use to funding to accelerate growth in user number, content, and expand its booking and delivery services as well as into new markets in Southeast Asia, beginning with Indonesia.

Announced: 07/07/15 and 7/28/15  Stage: Series B Participating Institutional Investors: Garena (Series B), Tiger Global (Series C)  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: June 2012

Quinto Raises Seed Funding. The Pune, India-based personalized recommendation app lets users discover dishes using crowdsourced ratings. Quinto differentiates itself from similar services by emphasizing ratings of particular dishes instead of the restaurant as a whole. Funding will be used to build up Quinto’ engineering and marketing teams, in addition to improving and expanding the recommendation engine.

Announced: 07/05/15 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2012

Berry Kitchen Raises $1.25m. The Jakarta, Indonesia-based meal delivery service employs a ‘bento model,’ allowing users to create their own lunch or dinner menus by combining different food options. Berry Kitchen claims that since its launch, it has served more than 245,000 boxes to 7,000 customers, who purchase credits in advance which can be redeemed for meals. The new capital will be used towards marketing, expanding its operational and technology team, improving its tech platform, and building two kitchens to serve orders in the Jakarta area.

Announced: 07/05/15 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: Sovereign’s Capital (lead), East Ventures Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2012

1to1Fitness Raises Seed Funding. The Noida, India-based lifestyle startup aims to optimize healthy nutrition and lifestyle needs of the modern day professional. The company’s online platform features diet plans, work outs, health assessment, online lifestyle coaching, and live yoga classes. As part of the investment 1to1Fitness will receive consulting from investor SeedSphere.

Announced: 07/09/15 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: SeedSphere Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: Not Disclosed

Adored Raises $2.3m. The Manchester, New Hampshire-based loyalty experience platform beams personalized offers to customers in restaurants, cafes, and resorts by employing iBeacon transmitter technologies. Adored’s app is available on iOS and Android platforms and tracks customer preferences from phones behavior, without requiring information such as names and emails that may provoke privacy concerns. For merchants, Adore’s customer analytics could provide insight for increasing sales and promoting engagement. The company intends to use the funds to double its team, in particular the engineering and sales teams.

Announced: 07/08/15 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: Borealis Ventures, Boston Seed Capital, Kepha Partners, Matrix Partners Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: September 2014

Chope Raises $8m. The Singapore-based restaurant reservation platform sends users instant reservation confirmation emails after users log on to the service to place a reservation at their desired restaurant. The company recently expanded to become a restaurant management and marketing platform and derives its revenues equally between a monthly fee for its operations management features and booking fees from its reservation service. Funding will enable Chope to add new features, including the development of an app for the Apple Watch and “What’s Happening,” a feature to enable diners to track the restaurants at which their friends have dined.

Announced: 06/30/15 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: F&H Fund Management (Lead), NSI Ventures (Lead), DSG Consumer Partners, Frontier Ventures, Singapore Press Holdings Previous Investment: $3.4 million Founded: June 2011

AAGAAR Raises Angel Funding. The New Delhi-based hyperlocal delivery service provides fresh and daily essentials, including groceries and personal care products, to customers’ doorsteps. The company noted that the current round helped the company set up as well as validated the process and infrastructure for the company’s services. The funding will be used to re-structure AAGARR’s portal, augment warehouse infrastructure, and improve delivery setup.

Announced: 06/29/15 Stage: Angel Participating Investors: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: November 2014

PARTNERSHIPS

Drizly Partners with BlueConic to create a more individualized experience across commerce and content when shopping for beer, wine, and liquor.

Revel Systems Partners with Zapper to integrate payment solutions so that restaurants using Revel Systems have an additional payment option for customers.

7-Eleven Partners with Postmates to launch one-hour delivery service.

TripHobo Partners with Zomato to provide users with destination based restaurant suggestions.

Foursquare Partners with Uber to introduce ride ordering services within Foursquare’s app.

USDA Partners with Microsoft to create $60,000 innovation challenge to spur the creation of tech tools for analyzing food supply data.

Crisp Media Partners with Reader’s Digest to connect consumer packaged goods marketers and retailers with consumers.

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: July 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.

Global food tech investments dominated August, with two thirds of the funded companies based outside of the U.S. (representing 95% of the total capital raised). Total food tech and media funding for the month rounded out to approximately $950 million across 26 global companies, with a subset of eight U.S. companies garnering a combined investment of $44 million. There were four acquisitions with undisclosed values, all based in the U.S. and relatively early stage.

The broad international trends reflect the same hot sectors in the U.S. – food delivery, online ordering, ecommerce, restaurant platforms – and with five of the deals valued at more than $20 million, we are seeing the same shift towards expansion and scalability for the leaders of the pack. In August, the two largest deals were China-based companies, totaling $710 million of investment. In this context, China appears to be a cycle ahead of the U.S. in terms of maturing concepts, with an increasing number of companies scaling beyond U.S. benchmarks of reach and growth.

Meanwhile, as I discussed in May, India has begun to embrace food tech concepts, and entrepreneurs are churning out a steady number of new companies each month. While there are a handful of established brands in India, like BigBasket.com and Zomato (both recently reported to be valued at $1 billion), most players in the Indian food tech space are still in the early stages of market- and thesis-testing modes. As highlighted in the Economic Times, this evolving market is quickly becoming cluttered, and the “real test will come when they plan to scale in other geographies without comprising on quality.”

M&A

Reserve Acquires Set for Service. The New York-based provider of CRM systems for restaurants will allow Reserve to offer restaurants the ability to track customer feedback and details, such as reservation notes, dining habits, or allergies, in order to improve guest experience. Reserve, a provider of restaurant reservation and payment solutions, will continue to offer all Set for Service features to its existing clients while deciding which features to integrate with Reserve. Set for Service’s CEO and founder has joined Reserve as the head of restaurant product and New York General Manager.

Announced: 08/21/15  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2009

InstaCart Acquires Wedding Party. The Palo Alto, CA-based mobile app has been acquihired by InstaCart, which will take on six of Wedding Party’s employees, most of which are engineers. As both companies are data driven, the new hirers are expected to work on the consumer-facing aspects of its technology, the shopper-facing app, as well as preferred partner products including partner interface and catalogs. Reportedly, Wedding Party’s app will continue to exist into the near future.

Announced: 08/04/15  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $1.0m  Founded: August 2012

Vivonet Acquisitions Acquires Syrus Restaurant Information Services. The Columbus, OH-based SaaS back-office and above-store reporting solutions provider focuses on the North American restaurant industry, and will allow Vivonet, which provides omni-channel POS solutions, to offer its clients an integrated solution for labor, inventory, and ordering.  Syrus’s SaaS platform integrates with most point of sale systems in the market, and serves over 2,500 restaurants.

Announced: 08/27/15  Terms: All Cash Transaction  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 1996

Rise Acquires HealthyOut. The New York-based mobile nutrition platform, which gives users recommendations on healthy dishes at local restaurants, will help Rise, a mobile platform that connects users with personal diet coaches, improve its services in helping users create a healthier diet. The company utilizes machine learning technology to process over 140,000 restaurant menus in the country. According to TechCrunch, the acquisition will also help Rise retain its competitive edge without having to invent a similar product.

Announced: 08/19/15  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $1.2m  Founded: 2013

FUNDING

Ele.me Raises $630m. The Shanghai-based food delivery service is an online platform that offers customer-to-customer meal ordering services, and also works as a communication platform between users and restaurants. According to Forbes, the deal has made Ele.me, which translates to “Are you hungry now?,” the fourth largest food ordering platform after Grubhub, Delivery Hero, and Just Eat. The company will use the funds to expand into more cities and build its own delivery network. As part of its investment in Ele.me, retailer Hualian will partner with Ele.me to deliveries from its supermarkets across the country.

Announced: 08/28/15  Valuation: $3 billion  Stage: Series F  Participating Institutional Investors: CITIC Capital Holdings (Lead), Hualian (Lead), JD.com, Sequoia Capital, Tencent Holdings  Previous Investment: $455.0 million  Founded: September 2008

iZettle Raises $67m. The Stockholm, Sweden-based provider of mobile point-of-sale solutions enables small businesses to provide mobile payment services through its card readers for smartphones and tablets. With the raise, the company announced its new project, iZettle Advance, a financing product that will allow iZettle customers to access extra capital as an advance on card sales. Upon approval into the iZettle Advance program, customers will receive funding within days, and paybacks occur automatically as a fraction of card sales. iZettle intends to use the funding towards development and expansion of the iZettle Advance project, as well as continued growth in existing and future markets.

Announced: 08/28/15  Stage: Series D  Participating Institutional Investors: Intel Capital (Lead), Zouk Capital LLP (Lead), 83North, Creandum, Dawn Capital, Index Ventures, Northzone, Santander Innoventures   Previous Investment: $108.8 million  Founded: April 2010

Pronto Raises $1.6m. The London-based meal delivery service offers cooked meals using ingredients sourced from local producers. According to TechCrunch, Pronto differentiates its service from delivery giants by offering healthier versions of traditional British meals. Pronto currently has over 1,000 customers, and reports to have a large number of return customers. The company plans to use the funding to hire more personnel and start a marketing push for the first time.

Announced: 08/27/15  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors:  Playfair Capital,  Seedcamp,  London Co-Investment Fund, Ballpark Ventures  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2014

Food Talk India Raises $500k. The Gurgaon, India-based online food community lets members read and share food experiences through real-time restaurant recommendations. Originally starting out as an invite-only social food forum on Facebook, the company currently has over 400,000 followers across various social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Viber. The company additionally offers in-person events in the form of curated social events. Funding will be used to launch its new product, a mobile app Food Talk Plus geared towards hyper-local dish discovery.

Announced: 08/26/15  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2014

Yogiyo Raises $35m. The Seoul, Korea-based food delivery service app was Korea’s first online food ordering platform, and now through strategic investment, represents a Korean brand of Delivery Hero.  Although Korean competitor Baedaltong, was acquired by Delivery Hero last December, Delivery Hero has no immediate plans of merging YoGiYo and Baedaltong, as they each “have well established their own positions in the market.” With this new capital infusion, Yogiyo will focus on customer satisfaction through continued development and improvement to products and services.

Announced: 08/25/15  Stage: Venture  Participating Investors: Delivery Hero  Previous Investment: $23.6 million  Founded: June 2012

EazyDiner Raises $3m. The Delhi, India-based restaurant reservation platform is offers real-time guaranteed restaurant reservations. The company features over 19,000 restaurant and bars, as well as over 1,000 critic reviews. Users receive deals and discounts with each reservation, and the company has a loyalty rewards program. The company will use the capital injection to expand into 12 cities in India by the end of 2016.

Announced: 08/25/15  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Chrys Capital, DSG Consumer Partners, Saama Capita, Deepak Shahdadpuri, Gulpreet Kohli  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2014

Jolly Food Fellow Raises $300k. The Ahmedabad, India-based mobile app provides food vendors operating through ecommerce platforms with analytics about their customers to apply customer target strategies. The startup currently offers data on customers, including what they eat, and the number of times they visit. The company has plans to add more analytics of customers to identify repetitive clients, which it claims will help food vendors monetize. Jolly Food Fellow has run prototypes across food retail outlets in Ahmedabad, and will use the cash infusion to expand into metro cities of Mumbai and Bengaluru.

Announced: 08/24/15  Stage: Angel  Participating Institutional Investors: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2015

Sampler Raises $1m. The New York, NY and Toronto-based SaaS startup enables consumer packaged goods companies to distribute samples of their products through their own redistribution channels. Using Sampler’s technology platform, companies can offer samples to targeted users, who will then receive information about picking up samples via email and social media. The company states that Sampler’s targeted method of sample distribution to targeted customers guards against “Freebie Hunters,” and provide companies with demographic and feedback data to identify their customer base.

Announced: 08/21/15 Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Business Development Bank of Canada, David B Perkins, MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund   Previous Investment: $0.6 million  Founded: November 2013

RedMart Raises $26.7m. The Singapore-based online grocery retailer site enables users to browse and buy groceries, household essentials and related products. Funding will be used to support international expansion, the growth of its grocery and marketplace business, the launch of its On Demand Marketplace, and investment in its dry and fresh private label offering. TechCrunch notes that RedMart owns its own logistics and warehouse chain, which could facilitate venturing into other product categories.

Announced: 08/20/14  Stage: Series C  Participating Institutional Investors: Far East Ventures, Garena, SoftBank Ventures Korea, Visionnaire Ventures  Previous Investment: $33.0 million  Founded: March 2011

Revel Systems Raises $13.5m. The San Francisco-based iPad-based point-of-sale system for grocery, retail and restaurant establishments includes front-end order entry, cash register and payment processing, plus a full suite of back-end products. Revel’s platform enables small- and medium-sized businesses, franchise operators and enterprises to access a full suite of operations and reporting features designed to help manage and grow their business. The Revel platform can connect to the internet via Ethernet, and is thus accessible to merchants who do not have Wi-Fi. The new funding will be used for global expansion and to support engagements within existing and new verticals.

Announced: 08/18/15  Valuation: Over $500 million Stage: Series C-3  Participating Institutional Investors: ROTH Capital Partners  Previous Investment: $113.8 million  Founded: September 2010

Bright Cellars Raises $1.8m. The Cambridge, MA-based online subscription wine retailer distributes personalized wines using a proprietary matching algorithm. The company develops individual preference profiles for new members through a wine quiz, which has questions including which type of chocolate they prefer, how they prefer their tea, and how adventurous they are with dining. Customers then receive a selection of wines that match their tastes, and can refine their preference profile by rating wines after drinking them. Bright Cellars plans to use the funding to build its platform and hire new team members.

Announced: 08/18/15  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Angels on the Water, BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation, CSA Partners LLC, gener8tor  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2014

Peach Raises $8m. The Seattle-based food delivery startup delivers lunches from local restaurants to office workers in Seattle and San Diego, providing a bulk-order boost to restaurants’ business during what would typically be slow periods. The company sends registered members a daily text with a lunch dish of the day as well as lite and vegetarian alternatives. The company has delivered over 400,000 meals since June 2014, and added catering services. Peach will use the capital injection to expand Boston and Washington D.C.

Announced: 08/18/15  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Madrona Venture Group, Vulcan Capital  Previous Investment: $2.8 million  Founded: June 2014

Shadowfax Raises $300k. The Gurgaon, India-based on-demand hyperlocal delivery service enables delivery from local merchants to their customers. The company’s technological platform incorporates multiple modes of communication, as well as GPS tracking functions and automated algorithms to make its network efficient. Customers are charged on a pay-per-delivery basis depending on distance and level of service quality. Shadowfax plans to use the capital injections to expand into 10 more cities within the next year and grow its staff to more than 35 employees and 350 riders.

Announced: 08/17/15  Stage: Angel  Participating Angel Investors: Kunal Bahl, Prashant Malik, Rohit Bansal, Zishaan Hayath  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2015

MassBlurb Raises Angel Funding. The Mumbai, India-based startup provides social media marketing services to small and medium sized restaurants. The company’s marketing automation tool is a single dashboard for restaurants to manage their online presence and list their businesses on sites like Zomato and FoodPanda. MassBlurb will use the capital infusion to provide more features to its product offerings and expand across India and abroad.

Announced: 08/13/15  Stage: Angel  Participating Angel Investors: Abhimanyu Munjal, Keshav Baljee, Vikram Chachra  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2014

Big Basket Raises $50m. The Bangalore, India-based online grocery store is the largest in India. TechCrunch reports that BigBasket presently offers four daily time slots for delivery, but may launch one hour delivery after its acquisition of hyperlocal delivery startup Delyvr. The company is currently facing competition from other hyperlocal delivery services offering on demand delivery from nearby stores. BigBasket.com will apply the funding towards expansion, and has plans to open 10 new warehouses expand into 50 Tier II cities.

Announced: 08/12/15  Valuation: $1 billion  Stage: Series C  Participating Institutional Investors: Ascent Capital Group, Bessemer Venture Partners, Helion Venture Partners, Zodius Capital  Previous Investment: $35.8 million  Founded: October 2011

Mogl Raises $8m. The San Diego-based rewards and loyalty app allows users to gain cash-back rewards for spending money at partner restaurants and also provides the option to donate rewards to a fundraiser or transfer rewards into points toward airline flights, hotel stays and more.  Offline merchants can create an offer to be displayed on the company’s network of participating websites and apps. Customers who would like to take the offer can link their debit or credit card through the participating website or app, and get rewarded when making a purchase offline. Mogl plans to use the funding to expand and apply its technology foundation to other industries, including gas stations, health-conscious grocery stores, clothing stores, and spas.

Announced: 08/11/15  Stage: Venture Round  Participating Institutional Investors: Aequitas Capital, Avalon Ventures, Correlation Ventures, Monroe Capital, Moore Venture Partners, Sigma Partners  Previous Investment: $26.8 million  Founded: 2010

RainCan Raises $100k. The Pune, India-based provider of dairy, meat, bakery, fruits, and vegetables operates on a subscription-based service. RainCan earns a 10-15% margin on its products, and has partnered with distributors of Nestle, ITC and P&G. The proceeds will be used to help the company grow and increase orders from 100 a day to 500 a day.

Announced: 08/10/15  Stage: Angel  Participating Angel Investors: Ajeet Khurana  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: March 2000

Dinner Lab Raises $7m. The New Orleans-based membership-based dining club connects undiscovered chefs with interested diners by giving members access to pop-up dining events thrown in particular locations. The company hosts multiple dinners a month more than 30 cities. Locations include warehouses and helipads, and the food is prepared by chefs that may not be operating their own kitchen. Dinner Lab currently has over 25,000 members, and charges a yearly membership fee as well as a per meal fee should members decide to attend. The company intends to use the funding to expand operations across U.S. markets and its B2B solutions.

Announced: 08/06/15  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: James River Capital, Innovation Catalyst  Previous Investment: $3.1 million  Founded: August 2011

Green Blender Raises $900k. The New York-based smoothie ingredients subscription service sends customers pre-portioned ingredients to make smoothies at home. The company sends ingredients for ten smoothies, with five recipes, and claims to source ingredients from organic and local farms whenever possible. The funding will be used to support the company’s growth, through hiring, geographic expansion, partnerships, and marketing initiatives.

Announced: 08/06/15  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: FOOD-X, Point Nine Capital, SOSV   Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2014

Beat the Q Posse Group Raises $5m. The Sydney, Australia-based group is newly formed, comprised of three formerly separate companies Posse, Beat the Q, and E-Coffee Card. The company’s app Hey You enables customers to order from cafes en route, gain loyalty benefits, and connect with storeowners. Beat the Q Posse Group plans to use the funding for further product development and operation scaling. According to BRW, new features will include group ordering as well as beacon-enabled table service.

Announced: 08/04/15  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Reinventure  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2011

Meal Box Raises $3.6m. The Istanbul, Turkey-based on-demand meal delivery service offers traditional home-cooked style Turkish food. According to TechCrunch, Meal Box’s offering is in contrast to that of most meal delivery services in Turkey, which serve fast food or street food. Meal Box operates its own centralized kitchen and has a network of delivery centers throughout the cities, enabling the company to ensure delivery within 30 minutes. The company has plans to expand to Ankara and other major cities by the end of the year.

Announced: 08/03/15  Stage: Venture Round  Participating Institutional Investors: Aslanoba Capital  Previous Investment: $3.6 million  Founded: 2014

IOrderFresh Raises $1m. The Delhi, India-based mobile food and grocery retailer caters to customers in and around the National Capital Region. The company does not store inventory for retail, and instead procures products from wholesale retailers the day of delivery. The cash infusion will be used for technology development, increasing the supply chain, and customer acquisition and services.

Announced: 08/01/15  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Best Foodworks (lead)  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2013

Cake Raises $2.2m. The London-based mobile payment platform lets users pay or split the bill to their preference at restaurant and bars. Cake currently has a network of over 20 registered businesses and expects to expand to 100 businesses by the end of 2015. Funding will be used to support growth in London and Los Angeles.

Closed: 08/01/15  Stage: Equity Crowdfunding  Participating Institutional Investors: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $1 million  Founded: February 2014

Jiuxian Raises $80m. The Beijing-based online alcohol retailer is the largest in China. In addition to its core business of alcohol retail, Jiuxian has developed four other business segments, including integrated branding services, on demand delivery service services, creation of customized brands for online sales channels, and online special offers. The funding makes Jiuxian China’s tenth best funded startup, and part of the new funding for Jiuxian will go towards growing a spin-off, on-demand wine and beer delivery service Jiukuaidao, which taps local brick-and-mortar stores to deliver to buyers in their area. Funding will also be used towards expansion of the company’s market share of online retail and line of customized brands.

Announced: 07/31/15  Valuation: $1.05 billion  Stage: Series G  Participating Institutional Investors: Merrysunny Wealth (lead)  Previous Investment: $182.5 million  Founded: 2009

Improvonia Raises $4m. The Washington, DC-based mobile and web-based communication platform connects buyers and sellers to improve communication and streamline the ordering process in the hospitality industry. Restaurants that use the service can place all their orders to all their suppliers at once. The company will apply the funding towards expansion to new cities, hiring more user facing employees, and building out the ordering platform.

Announced: 07/31/15  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: BlueRun Ventures  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: July 2014

Opinio Raises $1.3m. The Bangalore-based last mile delivery service connects customers with restaurants, grocers, laundry services, and pharmacies. The startup is currently processing over 1,000 orders daily, and is available in seven areas within Bangalore. Opinio has plans to expand into more cities, and funding will be used to sustain the company for another 4 to 5 months as it plans to raise another round.

Announced: 07/28/15  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Accel, TraxcnLabs  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: January 2015

PARTNERSHIPS

Focus Brands Partners with Postmates to launch on-demand delivery service for the six foodservice chains in its portfolio, including Auntie Anne’s Pretzels, Carvel, Cinnabon, McAlister’s Deli, Moe’s Southwest Grill, and Schlotzsky’s.

POS on Cloud Partners with Clutch to offer Clutch’s suite of customer intelligence and engagement solutions to its network of merchants.

Google Partners with ASOS and Munchery to promote its music station.

Subway Partners with PayPal to let people pay via PayPal when ordering from its mobile app.

Revel Systems Partners with Zapper to let restaurants activate Zapper as an additional payment option for customers.

Peapod Partners with FarmLogix to launch Pea Pod Local Farm Box, which delivers local seasonal produce to customers.

CircleUp Partners with Amazon Launchpad to enhance consumer discoverability for food entrepreneurs in CircleUp’s portfolio.

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: August 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.

This month brought in $420 million of private capital across twenty two global companies, half of which were based in the U.S. There were some sizable deals moving the needle, with ten companies raising more than $10 million and of those, six raising more than $35 million. The five M&A deals hinted at increasing consolidation in the restaurant technology sector, while the funding activity also skewed towards restaurant tech and (of course!) delivery concepts ranging from meals to logistics.

While some “restaurant platforms” are being formed through acquisitions, other companies in the space made news in September by unveiling new seamless experiences for restaurants. Olo launched a delivery platform, called Dispatch, which enables restaurant operators to offer food delivery at scale. Swipely wants to “provide the operating platform that restaurants run on”, creating a one-stop-shop where they can manage all of their tech and service providers. Lightspeed POS raised $61 million around it universal omnichannel platform, and expects to use part of the funds to make acquisitions in the space. And both Delhi-based Zomato and Indian startup Tinyowl announced plans to launch full stack tech platforms for restaurants and kitchens. As technologists strive to create an elegant “integrated solution,” this is an area that will continue to swell, whether driven by M&A or internal innovation.

M&A

WalmartLabs Acquires PunchTab. The Palo Alto, CA omni-channel engagement and insights platform will be used by WalmartLabs to enhance its customer relationship management tools and leverage its software platform to provide targeted offers on the Sam’s Club app and website. Punchtab, which is WalmartLabs’ 15^th acquisition in four years, is a multi-channel loyalty and engagement platform that enables agencies, brands, and enterprise organizations to incentivize user behavior and drive business success. As part of the acquisition, six PunchTab technologists will join WalmartLabs. Future plans include applying what it learned through Sam’s Club to other businesses, including Walmart.com.

Announced: 09/22/15  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $11.5m  Founded: 2011

Velocity Acquires Cover. The New York-based mobile payments app is the first major acquisition of Velocity, an international digital hospitality service, and will enable it to expand its global hospitality platform as part of its strategy to connect venues with tastemakers and hospitality spenders. Rather than taking on additional capital, the company decided to join a larger platform. As Cover’s founder commented to Re/code, “payments is really a hard business.” Re/code elaborates on this point by pointing out how hard it is to “build sustainable payment-processing businesses without enormous transaction volume, and why even much bigger payments startups such as Square and Stripe are diversifying their product offerings to beef up profit margins and create new e-commerce markets.”

Announced: 09/22/15  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $7.0m  Founded: 2013

Jugnoo Acquires Bistro Offers and Yelo. Bistro Offers, the Chandigarh-based deal discovery platform, and Yelo, the Bangalore-based mobile peer-to-peer service networking platform will enable Jugnoo to be a comprehensive service aggregator, according to Inc42. Jugnoo is a ten month old startup providing apps for both auto rickshaw rides and food delivery. The acquisition will enable Jugnoo to strengthen its position in the hyperlocal marketplace. Jugnoo is currently involved in 10,000 daily transactions, and plans to expand to 40 cities by the end of the year.

Announced: 09/16/15  Terms: $1 million cash and stock  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: April 2014 (both companies)

ShopKeep Acquires Ambur. The Buffalo, NY-based iPhone and iPad POS system, which caters to dining establishments including restaurants and food trucks, will add 1,500 customers to ShopKeep’s merchant base, bringing it to 20,000 across the U.S. and Canada. TechCrunch notes that ShopKeep will keep the product alive as it integrates it. While ShopKeep has its own restaurant product, the acquisition enables the company to further its reach into the restaurant industry and expand overall market share among independent merchants.

Announced: 09/18/15  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: NA  Founded: September 2010

Restalo Acquires Restaurantes.com. The Madrid, Spain-based restaurant reservation platform had been a local competitor of Restalo, another restaurant reservation platform, prior to the acquisition. Restaurantes.com currently partners with 6,000 restaurants in 600 cities across Spain, and the merged entities will operate under the brand of Restaurantes.com, and according to TechCrunch, the merged platforms makes Restaurantes.com a leader in Spain. Following the merge, the companies will launch a new website and app, as well as new benefits programs for users, including the ‘My €uros’ loyalty program in which users can earn up to 4€ per reservation.

Announced: 09/16/15  Terms: “Mid-single million euro” (Up to $5.65m) Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2009

The Priceline Group Acquires AS Digital. The Melbourne, Australia-based restaurant reservation platform serves clients from casual eateries to Michelin starred restaurants in over 40 countries, mostly in Australia and the Asia Pacific, and following the acquisition, AS Digital will be integrated into OpenTable. The company’s table reservation and management software, ResPAK, helps restaurants manage front-of-house operations while its brand bookarestaurant.com powers mobile apps, widgets, and websites. According to Skift, OpenTable has been revamping its back-end consumer and business technology platforms, and recently experienced double-digit growth in dining reservations in the U.S. domestic market. The acquisition is part of its strategy to expand OpenTable’s operations into Australian, Japanese, and Asia Pacific markets.

Announced: 09/03/15  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: NA  Founded: January 1983

Dineout Acquires inResto. The Bangalore-based restaurant management software suite will enable Dineout, a table reservation platform, to offer an end-to-end B2B restaurant management platform to restaurants. Following the acquisition, inResto’s entire team will be joining Dineout. According to YourStory, the new product will be marketed as nresto by Dineout, and provide restaurants one dashboard to manage everything from table reservations, home delivery, takeaways, customer feedback, mobile payments, and loyalty programs.

Announced: 09/01/15  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: Not Disclosed

FUNDING

Ibotta Raises $40m. The Denver, CO-based couponing and loyalty app allows users to earn rebates and cash rewards at over 500,000 stores for interacting with brands and retailers by responding to polls, watching videos, reading about new products, and other game-like activities within the app.. The company will use the funds to scale the platform, grow the userbase, and triple the size of its team, hiring up to 300 new employees. According to TechCrunch, Ibotta is also focusing on new lines of business, including media businesses and “Ibottalytics,” an analytics service offering consumer insights and market snapshots.

Announced: 09/30/15  Stage: Series C  Participating Investors: Jim Clark (lead), Tom Jermoluk, Great Oaks, Thomas Lehrman  Previous Investment: $33.0 million  Founded: January 2011

Farmigo Raises $16m. The Brooklyn-based online marketplace and platform connects consumers directly to local farm-fresh food that is harvested or made-to-order, then customers pick them up from local “food communities,” such as a nearby school or office. The company says it’s selling to more than 15,000 families and adding about 2,000 new families each month. The company plans to expand to Seattle following the raise.

Announced: 09/30/15  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: Formation 8 (lead), Benchmark Capital, Sherbrooke Capital  Previous Investment: $10.0 million  Founded: August 2009

Peppertap Raises $36m. The Guragon, India-based mobile app allows users to order groceries and vegetables to be delivered in two hours, with the option to either pay cash-on-delivery or through the platform.  This is the company’s third round of investment this year, and the new funds will be used to expand from its 17 current to 75 cities across India. The company is also reporting it plans to close an additional $20 million by the end of the year.

Announced: 09/29/15 Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: Snapdeal (lead), Sequoia Capital, SAIF Partners, ru-Net, JAFCO, BEENEXT  Previous Investment: $11.2 million  Founded: November 2014

InnerChef Raises $1.66m. The Guragon, India-based “kitchen-as-a-cloud” and food delivery service brings ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook meals to customers in Guragon and South Delhi. Ready-to-make meals include ingredient portions selected, washed, and chopped by professional chefs and can be prepared in under 20 minutes. The company will use the investment to expand its services to Delhi, Bangalore, and Mumbai—launching 10 new kitchens. Funds will also be used to build and launch Indulge, a dessert delivery service, in South Delhi and Guragon.

Announced: 09/24/15 Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: TA Ventures and angels  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: April 2015

Beequick raises $70m. The Beijing-based one-hour delivery service launched with the aim of delivering fresh produce and daily necessities to residents of Beijing. The company has expanded its operations to a dozen major Chinese cities, with 5 million registered users, and processes over 100,000 daily. Beequick does not have warehouses, distribution hubs, or delivery staff, and instead trains owners of mom-and-pop corner shops to complete the last mile delivery. The company plans to use the funding on market expansion in addition to investments in logistics infrastructure.

Announced: 09/23/15  Stage: Series C  Participating Institutional Investors: Hillhouse Capital, Eastern Bell Venture, Tiantu Capital,  Sequoia Capital  Previous Investment: $40.0 million  Founded: June 2014

Allset Raises $1.5m. The San Francisco, CA-based mobile app lets users pre-book, -order, and -pay for sit down meals at restaurants during the lunch rush. The app has been tested at 12 restaurants and the company reports it has been shown to save users up to 40 minutes by providing diners with their lunch upon arrival. Every time a reservation and order is made using the Allset app, a flat rate of $1 is charged to both the diner and the restaurant. The company will use the funds to expand operations and publicly launch the app.

Announced: 09/22/15 Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: SMRK VC Fund  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: April 2015

DishCo Raises Angel Funding. The Mumbai, India-based mobile marketplace allows users to book restaurant tables and discover signature dishes. In addition, users can rank dishes and receive location-specific coupon deals. According to Inc42, DishCo offers listing and ranking service for free and only has a fixed subscription fee for restaurants who opt for booking tables, offering coupons and other value-added services. Funds will be used to expand the company—which currently operates in Mumbai, Pune, and Goa—to Delhi, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru.

Announced: 9/21/15 Stage: Angel  Participating Investors: Anand Mahindra, Uday Punj, Ashish Hemrajani, Sanjeev Mehra   Previous Investment:  Not Disclosed Founded: 2015

GrubMarket Raises $10m. The Newark, CA-based online farmers market allows users in the San Francisco Bay Area to purchase fresh and perishable organic, local foods, and nationwide users to purchase natural and organic (non-perishable) products. According to TechCrunch, the company recently shifted the growth strategy, by ceasing fresh product delivery outside of the Bay Area, however the team may reintroduce fresh delivery in certain markets going forward. The company currently has home delivery services for the San Francisco Bay Area as well as mail-order delivery for the continental US states.

Announced: 09/18/15  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Fosun Capital Group, Y Combinator, Battery Ventures, GGV Capital, AME Cloud Ventures, Great Oaks Venture Capital  Previous Investment: $2.1 million  Founded: February 2014

Bueno Foods Raises $600k. The New Delhi, India-based meal delivery service lets customers choose from a menu spanning close to ten cuisines, with “ambitions to build a one-stop global food shop”. Bueno also provides bulk orders and catering services, and currently operates in Guragon and the National Capital Region. According to Deal Street Asia, the new funds will be used for talent acquisition, technology upgradation, operations, data analytics and expansion. Bueno Foods is also planning to build a network of 8-10 satellite kitchens for faster delivery.

Announced: 09/17/15  Stage: Angel  Participating Institutional Investors: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2013

Servy Raises $800k. The New York, NY-based mobile app pays users to give restaurants private feedback. Customers take surveys, which are customized by the restaurants, and are reimbursed 5% to 75% of the price of their meal. According to TechCrunch, the company has an algorithm that uses demand to determine how much reimbursement is offered to diners. The proceeds will be used to expand the company, which currently operates in 80 restaurants in New York City.

Announced: 9/17/15  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Riverpark Ventures, DreamIt Ventures, SOSV, FOOD-X, Beacon Funding Corporation Previous Investment: $40k  Founded: September 2014

HelloFresh Raises $84.7m. The New York, and Berlin, Germany-based subscription meal kit company delivers boxed “ready-to-make meals” containing with recipes and pre-portioned ingredients on a weekly basis. The company operates in seven different countries in Europe, the U.S., and Australia, and in the third quarter, HelloFresh delivered 13 million meals to its 530,000 active subscribers, up from 3.2 million meals and 115,000 subscribers in the year-earlier period. This is likely the last capital raise ahead of an expected IPO in Frankfurt this fall, Germany, with the company using the capital injection to consolidate its position.

Announced: 09/16/15  Valuation: $2.9 billion  Stage: Series F  Participating Institutional Investors: Baillie Gifford  Previous Investment: $193.5 million  Founded: 2011

Lightspeed POS Raises $61m. The Montreal-based provider of apps and services helps retailers manage and sell inventory across online and offline shopfronts. The company currently processes $10 billion annually in transactions from 25,000 customers across 100 countries, and reportedly has grown 745 percent year-over-year in Europe, largely due to the company’s restaurant product launch and European payment processing regulations requiring restaurants to upgrade their POS systems. The company will use the funding to grow internationally, make acquisitions to grow its omnichannel sales model, build and scale its infrastructure, expand eCommerce offerings, and support its customer base.

Announced: 09/16/15  Stage: Series C  Participating Institutional Investors: Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec (lead), Investissement Quebec (lead), iNovia Capital, Accel  Previous Investment: $65.0 million  Founded: March 2005

Quiqup Raises “Multi-million” Series A Funding. The London-based on-demand pickup service lets customers order anything on-demand for delivery to homes or other premises with an hour. The company currently operates in Central London and employs couriers known as Quiquees to go into a store or restaurant to make the purchase, enabling brick and mortar retailers to compete in e-commerce. Since its launch, Quiqup has fulfilled over 100,000 orders. Funding will be used to increase its market share in the UK as well as expand into further markets. TechCrunch notes that since the investors also operate in the delivery space, Quiqup can capitalize on the synergies between its two investors.

Announced: 09/15/15  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Delivery Hero, Global Founders Capital  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: September 2014

HappyFresh Raises $12m. The Jakarta Pusat, Indonesia-based food delivery service allows consumers to shop for groceries online. All items are picked by a personal shopper and arrive within an hour. The company currently serves users in Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and Taiwan and will use the investment to expand HappyFresh across Southeast Asia. In addition, the company plans to launch HappyRecipe, a recipe platform within HappyFresh that will give consumers recipe suggestions for their shopping items.

Announced: 09/14/15 Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Sinar Mas Digital Ventures, Asia Venture Group, BEENEXT, Ardent Capital, 500 Startups, Cherry Ventures, Vertex Venture Holdings  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed (“Multi-million dollar seed round”) Founded: October 2014

Sun Basket Raises $4.5m. The San Francisco-based delivery service provides recipes and pre-portioned ingredients for home-cooked meals focuses on easy-to-prepare recipes and sustainably sourced, organic ingredients. The raise will be used to bring on a COO/CFO, as well as expand the service to other states and build a larger facility in the San Francisco Bay Area. The San Francisco-based company serves the western United States and expanded to seven states, including Arizona.

Announced: 09/13/15  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: PivotNorth Capital (lead), Baseline Ventures (lead), Vulcan Capital, Tyler Florence Group, Rembrandt Venture Partners, Roth Capital, Correlation Ventures, Relevance Capital  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: April 2014

Zomato Raises $60m. The Gurgaon, India-based restaurant technology platform recently introduced food delivery services in India and Dubai, and will be rolling out food ordering services in Australia and South Africa this month. The company also launched a service that enables restaurants to create white-labeled apps. Funding will be used to push into new verticals, including food delivery, payments, and table reservations.

Announced: 09/07/15  Stage: Series G  Participating Institutional Investors:  VY Capital, Temasek   Previous Investment: $163.8 million  Founded: August 2008

Holachef Raises Additional Angel Funding. The Mumbai-based web and mobile app for food delivery operates in Mumbai and Pune, where it has seen substantial growth, The Times of India reports. The company states that the guidance of Ratan Tata, the round’s investor, will enable the company to become a leader in the food-tech space.

Announced: 09/02/15  Stage: Angel  Participating Angel Investors: Ratan Tata  Previous Investment: $3.4 million  Founded: 2014

Bindo Raises $2m. The New York, NY-based cloud-based business management solution for brick-and-mortar merchants announced the beta launch of a new iPad point of sale system for restaurants, called “Bindo POS for Restaurant”. The system will allow restaurants to easily integrate telephone and online orders, table management, reservations, and ingredient level tracking. Bindo will use the investment to launch the new POS system globally, with fifty percent of the current bridge funding being used to support the company’s Asian operations, Hong Kong and Singapore in particular. According to e27, Bindo seeks to raise a more significant Series A round to “give its expansion into Asia an extra push and help the company launch a long-talked-about marketplace app Bindo Market in New York and Hong Kong”.

Announced: 09/02/15 Stage: Seed Bridge  Participating Institutional Investors: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $1.8 million  Founded: December 2013

Yummly Raises $15m. The Redwood City, CA-based food discovery platform that uses patent-pending technology and proprietary data to understand food and taste. The company, which has almost 10 million registered users, partners with more than 6,500 companies through API and native mobile integrations including DuckDuckGo, Instacart, Jawbone, Nutrisystem, United Healthcare and Stanford University. Through  partnerships with Instacart and Blue Apron, users can also order ingredients for on-demand delivery. The company will use the investment to increase its team, expand its products and enter new partnerships.

Announced: 09/01/15 Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: Bauer Venture Partners  Previous Investment: $8.4 million  Founded: 2009

Saucey Raises $4.5m. The Los Angeles, CA-based 1-hour alcohol delivery service and mobile app currently serves  users in San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles and with the new funding, Chicago. Saucey sets itself apart from competing delivery services by having its own couriers— which can reportedly make up to six deliveries per hour. The company will use the investment to expand Saucey’s services to Chicago, develop advanced purchasing tools within the app, build out personalization, and enhance data and advertising.

Announced: 09/01/15  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Blumberg Capital (lead), Structure Capital, Altpoint Ventures, T5 Capital, Hashtag One LLC  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: October 2013

Zomato Invests in Pickingo, Grab and Delhivery. Gurgaon-based Pickingo and Mumbai-based Grab are both hyper-local delivery services that allow dine-in only restaurants to outsource delivery services. Pickingo operates in six cities in India, employs over 700 “field executives”, and with the investment by Zomato, the company plans to leverage Zomato’s online ordering business and relationships with restaurants across India. Grab claims to have delivered over 8 million orders over the past 2 years, will use the funding to advance its last mile delivery technology. Delhivery is an e-commerce enablement company which offers last mile deliveries, third party fulfillment, warehousing services and software solutions such as channel integration software for sellers selling across multiple platforms.

Announced: 09/01/15  Stage: Venture  Participating Institutional Investors: Zomato  Previous Investment: Pickingo: $1.3 million; Grab: $1 million; Delhivery: $127.5 million  Founded: Pickingo: 2014; Grab: 2012; Delhivery: 2011

PARTNERSHIPS

Foursquare Partners with OpenTable to allow users to see and book available tables via Button.

Revel Systems Partners with Apple to create point-of-sales system for the Apple iPad.

Target Partners with Instacart to launch same-day grocery delivery starting at $3.99.

MyCheck Partners with Marketing Vitals to share and integrate data to help restaurants further leverage insights.

Postmates Partners with Walgreens to offer same day delivery.

MyCheck Partners with Round It Up America to enable diners to donate to RIUA charities when viewing their bill via branded restaurant mobile payment apps.

Qualia Partners with Ibotta to deliver conversion data analytics to cross-platform marketers.

Zomato Parters with Delhivery to improve last-mile delivery experience for users placing orders through Zomato.

DoorDash Partners with 7-Eleven to deliver drinks, food, and household goods in 45 minutes or less.

Amazon Partners with Fresh Nation to deliver farmers market produce.

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 & Partnerships: September 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.

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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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.