PowerPlant Ventures Partners (from left to right) Dan Gluck, Mark Rampolla, Kevin Boylan, and T.K. Pillan – Photo courtesy of Tom Cocking (www.fmtsphotography.com)

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.

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

1. UK: Takeaway and Just Eat to Merge in $10B Deal to Take on Deliveroo and Uber Eats in Europe – TechCrunch

The deal would help them combine forces and take on more scale to compete better with Uber Eats and Amazon-backed Deliveroo.

2. PowerPlant Ventures Raises $165M Fund To Keep Betting On Plant-Based Nutrition – Crunchbase News

The firm plans to lead or co-lead Series A and Series B rounds in plant-based food technology companies with check size ranging between $4 million to $8 million dollars.

3. Brandless’ New CEO Is Dumping Its $3 Price Point, Hitting The Stores And Going Big On CBD – Forbes

The ex-COO of Walmart.com is employing new strategies to turn around the e-commerce startups money-bleeding operations.

4. Beyond Meat’s Q2 Earnings Highlight Stunning Growth and Investor Jitters – The New Food Economy

Shares of the company’s stock have risen 775 percent in the last three months, though analysts predict a bust to come.

5. As Amazon Eyes Food Delivery in India, New Report Details Tech Giant’s Grocery Ambitions – GeekWire

Amazon is reportedly in talks with Uber to buy out the Uber Eats India business. It is also working with Catamaran to get its food delivery service off the ground.

6. Plant-Based Eggs Land Their First Major Fast Food Deal – CNBC

Tim Hortons is testing JUST Egg at locations in Canada, marking the first fast-food deal for the plant-based egg.

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7. Impossible Foods In Full Scale-Up Mode With Burger Manufacturing Deal And FDA Approval – Forbes

Impossible is partnering with major food producer OSI Group to increase its production capacity. The company received approval from the FDA and is targeting a September retail release.

8. The Owners of Eleven Madison Park Are Ending Their Partnership – New York Times

Will Guidara and Daniel Humm, whose restaurant group includes the world-famous Manhattan destination, are splitting up in a major divorce for the industry.

9. PepsiCo Buys Stake in One of China’s Biggest Natural Food Companies – CNN

The company is buying 26% of Natural Food International for $131m as it seeks to capitalize on the global health food craze.

10. Cannabis Sales Could Hit $41B by 2025, Nielsen Predicts – Food Dive

The market for all legalized cannabis, including CBD, is expected to quintuple from $8 billion in 2018 to $41 billion by 2025, according to new data from Nielsen.

11. Amazon Wants to Rule the Grocery Aisles, and Not Just at Whole Foods – New York Times

Instead of Whole Foods being the answer to the tech behemoth’s grocery ambitions, it seems to have encouraged executives to pursue other ideas, too.

12. Trump Plan Failed to Note That it Could Jeopardize Free School Lunches for 500,000 Children, Democrats Say – NBC News

The administration failed to include its analysis of how many schoolchildren would be affected by food stamp changes in its formal proposal, according to a lawmaker who was briefed on the figures.

13. 2018 U.S. Food & Beverage Startup Investment Report

Over $1.45B was invested across 247 deals in 2018, according to the research in our second annual investment report produced in partnership with Ryan Willams.  Check out the report for a deep dive into the investor and investment trends. We also share a complete list of deals and acquisitions.

14. 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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