From AgFunderNews, June 3:
This time last year, the world—much less venture capital—was grappling with an extraordinary amount of economic uncertainty, brought on by an unprecedented global health crisis. By now we know that the agrifood sector not only rebounded from the pandemic’s early disruptions, it outpaced expectations.
In Europe, however, the pace of recovery was more measured. European agrifoodtech investing in 2020 ended the year slightly down from 2019, according to AgFunder’s latest Europe investment report, published in partnership with F&A Next. Agrifoodtech ventures raised $3.3 billion in 2020, down from $3.9 billion in 2019. We expect the total to end up closer to $3.8 billion once all 2020 deals come to light. Still, that represents a 2.6% decrease from 2019.
Globally, meanwhile, total dollars committed to agrifoodtech ventures is estimated at $30.5 billion for 2020, a 34.5% increase over 2019 investment levels.
While some categories had more muted activity, especially downstream like eGrocery and Retail and Restaurant Tech, investors upped their commitments to other sectors, particularly upstream European companies, in keeping with a global trend. Companies working closest to the farm raked in $600 million more from investors in 2020 than the previous year, and an additional 90 startups raised rounds.
In Novel Farming Systems, for instance, ventures raised an estimated $800 million last year, compared to just $300 million in 2019. Insect farming companies did particularly well, with French companies Ynsect and InnovaFeed raising big rounds.
In Innovative Foods, like cellular meat and other alternative proteins, ventures raised and estimated $479.4 million, compared to $283.5 million in 2019. Netherlands-based lab-grown burger producer Mosa Meat was the big winner, raising $75 million to prepare its product for the consumer market....
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