Source: Forbes

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.

Oatly’s long awaited public offering has finally hit the market, trading at $10 billion and raising $1.4 billion for the Swedish consumer brand.

The race to bring cultured meat to market gained steam this week with news of Eat Just’s $170 million investment to fuel the accelerated development of its cultured meat division.

As Covid restrictions ease, the restaurant industry is grappling with a labor shortage – an added stress on top of trying to recoup lost revenue.

Last but not least, Shanghai-based Dingdong Maicai has raised $1 billion and Goldbelly has raised $100 million for its food delivery platform.

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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. Backed by Oprah and Blackstone, Oatly’s $10B IPO Hits the Market – Forbes

Oatly started trading at a $10b valuation after an initial public offering that raised $1.4b for the Swedish consumer brand.

2. Eat Just’s Cultured Meat Unit Raises $170M in Funding – Bloomberg

The company is aiming to ramp up production and sales of the product in Singapore and, when possible, in the US as well. It plans to produce in the thousands of pounds range this year.

3. How the Labor Shortage Is Shifting Restaurant Strategy – Restaurant Dive

Diners are returning in droves as Covid-19 dining room restrictions ease, but staff are hard to come by, creating a difficult balancing act for operators trying to recoup lost revenue.

4. Chinese Produce Platform Dingdong Maicai Raises $1B from SoftBank, Coatue – AFN

The Shanghai-based grocery app said it will use the funding for regional expansion, enhancement of its supply chain capabilities and to hire more staff.

5. A $100M Bet on Cross-Country Restaurant Delivery – New York Times

The question now is whether the trends that Goldbelly and its new investors plan to capitalize on will outlast the pandemic, or whether a surge in at-home dining will abate as more people feel comfortable eating in restaurants again.

6. Rapper Drake Invests in Faux-Chicken Maker’s $40M Round – Bloomberg

The new funds will help Daring Foods roughly triple its retail distribution, which already includes Kroger and Costco, to more than 4.5k US stores this year.

7. Banks Fight $4B Debt Relief Plan for Black Farmers – New York Times

Lenders are pressuring the Agriculture Department to give them more money, saying quick repayments will cut into profits.

8. Hundreds of PPP Loans Went to Fake Farms in Absurd Places – The Counter

An online lending platform called Kabbage sent 378 pandemic loans worth $7m to fake companies (mostly farms) with names like “Deely Nuts” and “Beefy King.”

9. 80% of Consumers Are Open to Trying Cultivated Meat – Food Dive

Millennials and Gen Z are the most likely to eat cultivated meat, while baby boomers remain more skeptical.

10. Singapore: Impossible Burger to Roll Out Across 300+ 7-Eleven Singapore Locations, Marking First Convenience Store Debut in Asia – Green Queen

The plant-based Impossible Deluxe Burger will make its convenience store debut in Asia at over 300 store locations of 7-Eleven Singapore.

11. General Mills Buying Tyson Foods Pet Treats Business for $1.2B – StarTribune

The Minnesota food maker expands its presence in the fast-growing pet food aisle. Tyson Foods’ pet brands include Nudges, Top Chews and True Chews.

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