Last Week’s Top Food Tech News & Innovation Stories

Every week we curate and deliver the latest food tech news, trends and startup resources to our readers’ inboxes. Tracking the top technology and innovation happenings across agriculture, CPG, retail, restaurants, cooking and health, our newsletter is the absolute easiest way to stay on top of the emerging sector.

From our roundup of restaurant tech trends to watch to Blue Apron raising a whopping $135M round at a $2B valuation, these are last week’s top food tech news and innovation stories. Like what you read? Feast your eyes on the full roundup here. Or better yet, sign up for Food+Tech Bytes and get the latest and greatest in food tech delivered to your inbox every week.

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1. Join us TOMORROW for ‘How Nutrition Tech Personalizes Eating’ Meetup

Hear business insights and lessons learned from Edamam, Ingredient1, Power Supply, Meals to Heal and HowGood, plus lots of snacks, drinks and networking.

2. Restaurant Tech Trends: Streamlined Payment Apps, On-demand Explodes + More

From the proliferation of restaurant ticketing to an influx in table-side tech, Kristen Hawley of Chefs+Tech explores consumer restaurant tech trends to watch.

3. Handpick Turns 150M+ Food Porn Posts into Recipes, Aims to Reduce Food Waste

Handpick founder Payman Nejati on how its technology works, funding to date, branching out into e-commerce and his advice for fellow food entrepreneurs.

4. Blue Apron Eats Up $135M At A $2B Valuation – TechCrunch

The round was led by Fidelity Management and Research Company and will be used to further improve the efficiency of BA’s model, from sourcing to fulfillment.

5. Back to the Roots Nabs $2M in Quest to Become The “New Kraft Foods” – AgFunder

Fund Good Jobs led the round. Funds will be used to enhance distribution, increase its online presence and to continue promoting transparency in food.

6. How Munchery is Literally Eating the World –Medium

Munchery announced its Series C of $85M (the largest round in its space) to expand this model to many more cities.

7. Giant Solar Floating Farm Could Produce 8,000 Tons of Vegetables Annually –EcoWatch

Forward Thinking Agriculture’s concept is a sustainable, solar-powered vertical farm that floats on pontoons.

8. Are You Paying Too Much For Organic Food? – Civil Eats

A first of its kind study shows organic agriculture earns farmers significantly more, and suggests it might be worth the price.