Kellogg’s Launches $100M Fund, Impossible Burger Hits Restaurants & More Food Innovation News

Every week we track all the business, tech and investment trends in agriculture, CPG, retail, restaurants, cooking and health, so you don’t have to. There were a couple of exciting funding announcements last week: Kellogg’s launched a $100 million fund and Rabobank is launching an accelerator in partnership with RocketSpace. Also making headlines is the public debut of the Impossible Burger, the $210 billion food delivery market, Kimbal Musk’s new fast casual restaurant serving healthy food for $5 or less and much more.  Check out our weekly round-up of last weeks top food startup, tech and innovation news below.

Want more? We can’t fit all the news in our round-up, so feast your eyes on last week’s newsletters here and here.

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1. Kellogg’s Launches $100M Fund, 1894, to Back Food and Related Startups – TechCrunch

Kellog’s fund will invest up to $100 million in startups over the next four years. It will invest $1-3 million in Series A and Series B stage startups.

2. The Impossible Burger is Ready for Its (Meatless) Close-Up – The Wall Street Journal

Impossible Foods’ long awaited plant-based burger hits select restaurants in SF and NYC this month. Production is limited, so the rollout is calibrated to target high-end diners first.

3. Building The Internet of The Sea To Reinvent Commercial Fishing

Seafood processors are building the internet of the sea with tech like autonomous underwater vehicles, drones and big data to reinvent commercial fishing.

4. Rabobank and RocketSpace Launch Terra Agtech Accelerator – AgFunderNews

During the eight-week accelerator curriculum startups will focus on sharpening their product and pitch before the eight-week product validation phase. The team has not finalized the selection criteria for applicants yet.

5. The Food Delivery Sector Isn’t Slowing Down Anytime Soon – Eater 

A new study of the food delivery market by Morgan Stanley analysts, finds that the food delivery market is worth $30 billion and has the potential to be worth some $210 billion.

6. Elon Musk’s Brother is Opening a Restaurant Where Everything Is Less Than $5 – Tech Insider

Kimbal Musk is launching The Kitchenette in Memphis, Tennessee. The fast casual restaurant will serve healthy, affordable grab-and-go sandwiches, soups and salads.

7. Why ‘Grocerants’ Are The Future Of Food Shopping – Forbes

Evidence in two new reports is suggesting that neither restaurants nor grocery stores are the future of food shopping. Instead, what could dominate is a hybrid of the two: “grocerants.”

8. Startup’s Mantra: Eat A Meal, Take A Picture, Let AI And Nutritionists Do The Rest – Boston Business Journal

Ava raised $3 million in funding from DCM Ventures, Khosla Ventures and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s Innovation Endeavors to bring people intelligent eating.

9. Dinner Lab Declares Bankruptcy –  New Orleans Times-Picayune

Pop-up dining startup Dinner Lab filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy last week. Initial filings with the Eastern District of Louisiana listed Dinner Lab’s assets as between $100,001 and $500,000. The company estimates its debts as between $500,001 and $1 million.

10. Panera Is Making A Major Change That Some Of Its Biggest Competitors Have Yet To Make – Business Insider

Panera is cutting artificial flavors, sweeteners, preservatives and colors from all packaged foods by the end of the year.

11. New Food Labeling Laws Could Stop Us Throwing Away Perfectly Good Eats – Fast Company

In the future, food expiration date labels could be far less confusing, thanks to a new bill introduced to the U.S. Senate and House. The proposed legislation also aims to reduce food waste