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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. The World Loses $400 Billion of Food Before It Reaches Stores – Bloomberg

Some 14% of all food produced is lost annually, with central and southern Asia, North America and Europe accounting for the biggest shares, according the UN FAO.

2. FreshDirect Shopping Itself After Move to the Bronx Fails – New York Post

FreshDirect is looking for a buyer after a “poorly planned and executed move” to its new distribution facility in the Bronx.

3. Uber To Buy Latin American Online Grocery Delivery Service, Cornershop – NPR

Uber is getting into the grocery delivery business, at least in Mexico, Chile, Peru and Canada. Details of the agreement were not disclosed.

4. Christina Tosi’s Milk Bar Raises Series B Funding Round to Expand Into the Grocery Aisle – Fortune

Sonoma Brands is the sole investor in the round. Milk Bar will continue push deeper into e-commerce with its “care packages” and keep expanding its physical presence, but it will use Sonoma’s expertise to expand into CPG.

5. The End of Big Food – Politico

The Grocery Manufacturers Association is rebranding to the Consumer Brands Association and pivoting to focus on representing all CPG companies. The rebrand signals the emergence of a new landscape for foodmakers, one in which there is no central, unified lobbying group representing the sector inside the Beltway.

6. M13 Closes “Founder-Focused” Second Fund – Nosh

M13’s $175 million fund will primarily invest in seed and series A rounds. M13 has already made 80 direct investments (including Daily Harvest, Ancient Nutrition, Union Snacks, Thrive Market and Good Catch) and has had 16 exits (including Kevita and Blue Bottle).

7. Pod Foods is Bringing Its Food Distribution Network to New York, LA – Built in NYC

Working with 600+ brands, Pod Foods is expanding its food distribution platform to Los Angeles and New York City.
Lear more about Pod Foods at Rethinking CPG SF on Nov 5.

8. The Growing Personalized Nutrition Market Has A Big New Contender: Nestlé – Forbes

Nestlé bought two-year-old startup Persona, a customized vitamins-pack subscription service, to expand into personalized nutrition and compete with the likes of Care/Of, Ritual, GNC and Vitamin Shoppe.

10. The Biggest Names in Food Delivery Are Getting into the Restaurant Business – Food&Wine

DoorDash, Grubhub, and Uber Eats all made ‘virtual restaurant’ announcements this month.

11. The Impossible Whopper is Driving Steady Traffic to Burger King, Data Shows – CNBC

Barclays used geolocation tracking to study traffic at Burger King restaurants in St. Louis during the company’s trial phase of its new Impossible Whopper. Analysts showed traffic grew about 18%.

12. This Startup is Ditching Plastic Waste by Bringing the Refills to You – Fast Company

Chilean startup Algramo initially used vending machines to sell refills of staple goods in stores. Now it’s expanding to include a mobile refill unit—and it’s coming to the U.S.

13. Ginkgo Bioworks Raises $350 Million Fund For Biotech Spinouts – Reuters

Dubbed the Ferment Fund, the investment vehicle will invest in two to three companies using its bio-engineering tech per year.

14. Pontifax AgTech Holds First Close of Fund II on $140M With $170M Committed – AgFunder

Pontifax is a growth equity fund focused on foodtech and agtech. It invests at Series B stage and beyond. Its first fund, a $105 million vehicle, has already had two exit events with the acquisition of robotics startup Blue River Technology by John Deere and the IPO of Precision Biosciences.

15. Provivi Raises $85M Series C to Combat Field Pests With Pheromones – AgFunder

Pontifax Agtech and Temasek led the round.

16. 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.

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