Agriculture & Food

Are Indoor Agriculture and Vertical Farming Growing up?

Chris Sworder
Posted on by Chris Sworder
Urban agriculture and vertical farming, are they viable? There are question marks on efficiency, availability of useful and reasonably priced real estate, and demand for the leafy greens and herbs that are most often the crop of choice. That said, there are several high-profile companies in the U.S. that have been around for several years, e.g. AeroFarms, Plenty, and Bowery, which have raised at total of  over $400M. Alongside these farm developers, we are seeing more indoor agriculture-specific technology (see iUNU’s... Read More »

Food News: Motif Ingredients – Microbes to Meat, the Race is on…

Chris Sworder
Posted on by Chris Sworder
The news about Ginkgo Bioworks spinning out Motif Ingredients signals an acceleration in the race to create an alternative meat. Plant-based meat has opened the door to consumer acceptance. Now the challenges are overcoming production bottlenecks and improving the taste, feel and versatility of the products. With $90 million of fresh capital, an impressive set of investors and a pedigree from Ginkgo Bioworks, the race is on. Spotlight on burgers Plant-based burgers are making the news, with the latest offerings including the UAE-based... Read More »

This Deal Matters: Evogene files for IPO

Amanda Faulkner
Posted on by Amanda Faulkner
 Evogene, an Israeli developer of biotechnologies geared toward developing improved plants for agriculture and biofuel industries through use of plant genomics, filed for an IPO on the NYSE on November 11. The company plans to raised $86 million and would have a market value of $412 million at the midpoint of its proposed range. Evogene has established collaborative relationships with Monsanto, DuPont, Syngenta, and Bayer CropScience, showing real traction with the top players in the industry. While the public markets... Read More »