Blue Apron Co-Founder Launches New Food Company, Starbucks Invests $100M in Startup Fund + More

Image source: Cooks Venture

Every week we track the business, tech and investment trends in CPG, retail, restaurants, agriculture, cooking and health, so you don’t have to. Here are some of this week’s top headlines.

Blue Apron co-founder and former COO Matthew Wadiak has launched Cooks Venture , which will sell pasture-raised, heirloom, slow growth chickens, offering distribution both direct-to-consumer and in-store starting July 2019. The company is focused on regenerative agriculture and transparency in food production.

Starbucks is investing $100 million in a new $400 million  food-focused fund in partnership with private equity firm Valor Equity Partners.

Finally, Sweetgreen has partnered with FoodCorps to launch Reimagining School Cafeterias, which will allow kids in 50 schools to design their own fresh, locally sourced lunches.

Check out our weekly round-up of last week’s top food startup, tech and innovation news below or peruse the full newsletter here.

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1. Starbucks Will Anchor the New $400M Food-Focused Valor Siren Ventures Fund – TechCrunch

Starbucks will provide a $100m cash commitment to anchor the new fund, which will focus on companies developing new technologies and products for the food and retail industry.

2. Blue Apron Founder Launches Next-Gen Food Company – Food Dive

Blue Apron co-founder and former COO Matthew Wadiak has launched Cooks Venture, which will sell pasture-raised, heirloom, slow growth chickens, offering distribution both direct-to-consumer and in-store starting July 2019. The company is focused on regenerative agriculture and transparency in food production.

3. Sweetgreen Is Redesigning School Lunches to Make Them More Healthy — and More Fun – Fast Company

Sweetgreen and FoodCorps have partnered to launch Reimagining School Cafeterias. By next year, kids in 50 schools will get to design their own fresh, locally sourced lunches, Sweetgreen-style.

4. Online Grocery Sales Surge Through Digital Platforms as Consumers Crave Convenience – Forbes

Online grocery shopping in the US will more than double from $14.2b in 2017 to $29.7b in 2021 led by retail giants Amazon and Walmart.

5. Amazon Meal Kits Surface at Whole Foods – Grocery Dive

The retailer is doing more than just stepping into a growing category. It’s seizing an opportunity to strengthen its in-store visibility and build its brand affiliation as a grocery provider.

6. Postmates’ Newest Feature Is Like Uber POOL for Food Delivery – TechCrunch

The new feature lets customers within the same neighborhood pool their orders. In return, these customers get the food delivered for free.

7. Trump Crackdown Unnerves Immigrants, and the Farmers Who Rely on Them – New York Times

It has long been an open secret that some farms survive by relying on an undocumented labor force. Now, tough immigration enforcement has caused a crisis.

8. Silicon Valley Startups Backed by Celebrities Like Bill Gates Are Using Gene-Editing Tool Crispr to Make Meat without Farms — and to Disrupt a $200B Industry – Business Insider

New Age Meats and Memphis Meats are both experimenting with this technique to culture animal tissue using Crispr.

9. Singapore: Shiok Meats Takes the Cultured Meat Revolution to the Seafood Aisle with Plans for Cultured Shrimp – TechCrunch

The company has raised pre-seed financing from investors like AIIM Partners, Boom Capital and Ryan Bethencourt and is now part of the Y Combinator cohort presenting next week. Financial terms were undisclosed. The company estimates it can make a kilogram of shrimp meat for $5k.

10. China: Pet Food Brand Mollybox Gulps $13M In Series B Funding – Entrepreneur

The round was co-led by DCM and Mars backed venture capital Digitalis. The company now has a total of 30k customers who are receiving its products.

11. Women, Women of Color & Gender Non-Conforming Innovator Database

We created this open-source list to increase representation, support and investment in women, women of color & gender-nonconforming innovators in food. Join the list & help us spread the word using #womxninfood

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