Agtech Action | Week of 07.29.23 - 08.04.23
Agtech Action is a weekly newsletter highlighting and commenting on current events in the world of agtech
Synthetic food bill passes Italian Senate, Niger coup’s impact on food and ag, and Uber is profitable. ‘Buy now, pay later’ for groceries, tick-linked meat allergy and nanotechnology in agriculture.
Market correction is the theme of the agtech week. We are in the midst of a correction to the agtech market. What does this mean? We will double click on that and the next Soy Innovation Challenge is announced in this week’s newsletter.
Food and the World:
Climate, broadband among farm bill goals of New Democrat Coalition
New antibiotic regulation shines a light on the need for veterinarians
Senators propose a $250,000 ‘hard cap’ on farm subsidies
Maryland Department of Agriculture Forms Farmer Taskforce
Farm bill coming in a ‘timely manner,’ says House chairman
US Agricultural Producer Sentiment Slightly Improves in July
Farmers doubt there will be a farm bill this year
Mexican official says U.S. refuses to cooperate on GM corn studies
Farmers remain cautiously optimistic about ag economy
Niger Coup - West African Leaders Suspend Ties With Junta
Nigerian leader has announced economic measures to ease hardship as labor unions threaten protests
Alaska’s newest gold rush: Seaweed
Agtech in the News:
A New Agri Hackathon in Saudi Arabia
UK sets out support to make Nigeria's agriculture sector more climate-resilient
Plant-based chicken startup Nowadays ceases operations, in ‘active conversations’ over selling IP (the promise of alt-proteins)
Synthetic food bill passes in the Italian Senate
Plenty and Driscoll’s Break Ground on Virginia Vertical Farm
Israeli Microalgae Startup Brevel Raises $18.5M in Seed Funding
Intelinair, Eiwa Announce Research Collaboration, Distribution Agreement
New Research Unlocks the Mystery of Reproductive Isolation in Rice Subspecies
UK Supports Food Security in Nigeria
DTN Empowers Sustainable Agriculture with EcoField Data
TiNDLE Foods Expands into Plant-Based Milks, Ice Creams, and Sausage
Indoor Vertical Farming Report: Interest Rate Hikes' Impact Felt Across
Andes Unveils Microbial Carbon Mineralization Methodology
Nasekomo’s Insect Center of Excellence
Pennsylvania Invites Farmers to Apply for $13M Tax Credits
Plantations International’s Green Bonds to Commence Trading on Vienna ESG Exchange
As vertical farms topple, can tech sow sustainability into controlled environment agriculture?
Fun:
Practical Farmers of Iowa launches conservation cost-share program
Helpful Resources:
PitchBook Analyst Note: Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks
PitchBook Global Manager Performance Score League Tables
Will General Partnerships Lose Their Payment Limits?
Global Fund Performance Report as of Q4 2022 with preliminary Q1 2023 data
Interesting Reads:
What do pork and apples have in common? Gene-editing
9 Drought-coping tips from ranchers who have been there
Tick-linked meat allergy may be far more common than previously known
Influencers Built Up This Wellness Startup—Until They Started Getting Sick (Lesson: stop taking advice from a celebrity!)
Climate Change Hasn’t Set the World on Fire
Uber’s Business Is Finally Making Money After Years of Losses
Majority of U.S. Renewable Diesel is Consumed by California
How to pick the right startup Accelerator?
Senators Look to Rein-In Abuse of Farm Payment System
U.S. pork firms split over Congress bill to overturn California animal welfare law
Humans will never eliminate animal agriculture — nor should we (Of course!)
Safaricom cleared to invest in startups
Meet the Women Making Waves in Maine’s Tough Lobster Industry
Kraft Heinz’s Maxwell House launches its first innovation in nearly a decade
Evolution of startup funding by region in Africa, H12020 – H12023
Farm Kids Are Experiencing High Rates of Anxiety and Depression
Texas Lost More Than Half of This Year’s Cotton Crop to Drought. Could Hemp Be the Salvation?
Americans using ‘buy now, pay later’ apps to contend with high grocery prices
Why Kenyans are scanning their eyeballs for Sh7,000 Worldcoin cryptocurrency tokens
Exclusive: Copia’s Latest Round of Layoffs Takes out Hundreds
Finance:
From boom to bloat: VCs face tough choices to stay afloat
Nuveen adds farmland strategy to wealth advisory platform iCapital
QIC buys Packhorse asset for Queensland Natural Capital Fund
Investors to CEA: The time for profitability is now
Midwest Growth Partners takes stake in French Gourmet
INTENT Receives Equity Investment from BioGenerator Ventures to Accelerate Ag Tech Advancements
Ocean 14 Capital Fund Secures Another €30M, Increases Funding Goal to €200M
Origin Digital, Aspia Space Partnership Enabling Farmers to Measure Vegetation From Space
GrainCorp, GrainInnovate Co-Lead $9M Investment In Agrizoom
Kenya’s FarmWorks raises $4M pre-Series A funding
Ocean 14 Capital surpasses €150M fundraising target
Herzog, VP Harris announce $70M agriculture tech fund for Mideast, Africa
Booker seeks investment restrictions to balance farmland consolidation
Coming Soon - Soy Innovation Challenge 2023
Are you an innovator, scientist or startup with a technology or innovation that creates new and novel uses for soybean meal?
We want you to apply to the Soy Innovation Challenge 2023!
Compete for cash, in-kind services and resources, mentorship and support from The Yield Lab Institute's and United Soybean Board's global network of #agtech executives, innovators, thought leaders and end users. We want to advance, scale and commercialize your technologies and innovations in new and novel uses for soybean meal.
The Soy Innovation Challenge 2023 is brought to you by The Yield Lab Institute, the United Soybean Board, and Amazon Web Services (AWS).
For more information on the Soy Innovation Challenge 2023, please visit https://lnkd.in/gwpiwZJn
Theme of the Agtech Week: Market Correction
The market correction is here. Agtech is experiencing a correction to the market conditions that allowed it to have record investment, increased valuations and a flood of capital to specific sectors (see vertical farming, precision ag) in 2022. What does this mean for agtech innovators and startups? Let’s dive into that.
What do I mean by market correction? Agtech enjoyed a glut of several things in 2021-2022: venture capital, outside (of food and ag) investment and investors, increased valuations, funding for shiny (aka shaky) business models and technology verticals and an influx of technology from other industries and verticals. Some of those market conditions remain but a lot of them are gone. More specifically, venture capital is very tight, shaky technologies, business models are no longer getting funded or re-funded, and more market validation is being asked of founders and their startups. This sets the stage for a treacherous road for agtech.
How do we respond to this market correction? First, if you are an agtech startup you have to know that fundraising (raising capital) in this environment is going to be extremely tough. Investors are going to do even more due diligence on your technology, team, business model and progress you’ve made. Second, if you, as a founder, are asking for capital from new investors, know that it will come with strings attached (e.g. more restrictive terms and conditions). If you are raising capital from your existing investors, know that they will likely yes IF you can demonstrate XYZ. Have your story, financials, traction and ask down tight AND be prepared for some tough questions when you ask for money. And finally, know that this market correction will turnaround and when it does, demonstrating to your partners, investors and employees that you can weather the storm signals A LOT about your business. It reinforces to your partners why they are working with you, it reinforces to your investors why they invested in you in the first place, and it reinforces to your employees why they want to continue working with you.
The correction is here. How are you going to respond? Expect resistance but stay focused. Have a great weekend and thanks for reading.
BD
Brandon Day is the Chief Operating Officer of The Yield Lab Institute, the global agtech think-tank, ecosystem builder, non-profit arm of The Yield Lab global network of venture capital funds. The views, opinions and commentary expressed are solely those of Brandon Day.