Source: Inc

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.

Sweetgreen has confidentially filed for an IPO. The company’s last funding round earlier this year valued it at nearly $1.8 billion. Two cell-based meat companies announced their pilot plants — one in California belonging to Wildtype and one in Israel belonging to Future Meat Technologies — are operating this week.

“Food meets friends” startup Snackpass has raised $70 million to fuel its rapid growth that has exploded 7x in the last three months alone to 500k users.

Last but not least,  Singapore University plans to offer Asia Pacific’s first ever alt protein course to undergraduate students developed in partnership with the Good Food Institute.

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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. Salad Chain Sweetgreen Confidentially Files for Initial Public Offering – CNBC

The company’s last funding round earlier this year valued it at nearly $1.8b. Its 2019 revenue topped $300m.

2. Snackpass Gobbles Up $70M at a $400M+ Valuation As Its Social Food Ordering Platform Crosses 500K Users – TechCrunch

The startup is a social commerce platform for ordering from restaurants, with aims to disrupt the queue. It has seen its growth explode 7x in the last three months alone.

3. Singapore University To Offer Asia Pacific’s First Alt Protein Course – Green Queen

Undergraduate students at Nanyang Technological University will be able to join a new course dedicated to exploring novel meat alternatives.

4. Once Upon a Farm Acquires Baby Food Delivery Startup Raised Real – The Spoon

With this purchase, Once Upon a Farm will add a frozen direct-to-consumer product line to its lineup.

5. Cell-Based Meat Plants Come Online for Future Meat Technologies and Wildtype – Food Dive

The Israeli company plans to commercialize its products for the U.S. at its facility, while the seafood startup’s plant has an educational center and sushi tasting room.

6. Nature’s Fynd Gets FDA GRAS Approval for Its Yellowstone Park Fungi Protein ‘Fy’ – Green Queen

The startup can now use its fungi protein ingredient dubbed Fy to be used and sold in food products.

7. Small Farmers in California Face Tough Choices Amidst Drought – Civil Eats

After a historically dry winter, some growers are farming less land, switching crops, and trucking in water, or taking the season off entirely.

8. SoftBank-Backed Dingdong Targets Over $6B Valuation in US IPO – Reuters

The valuation represents a jump of over 20% from the $5.1b the company was worth after the Japanese conglomerate invested in it last month.

9. China: Tencent-Backed Missfresh Eyes $3.8B Valuation in US IPO – Reuters

The pandemic has fueled online demand for fresh produce in China, with e-commerce companies including Dingdong Macai, Alibaba Group and Pinduoduo competing aggressively to grab a major slice of that vast market.

10. Delivery Service Gopuff Acquires rideOS for $115M – TechCrunch

Gopuff aims to use rideOS’s new IP to better power multimodal deliveries and reduce delivery times.

11. Scottish Alt-Protein Startup Enough Banks $51M Series B Led by Nutreco, Onassis Foundation – AFN

Enough is building a “first of its kind” protein factory with the aim of producing 1 million tons of mycoprotein each year by 2032.

12. Canada: Low-Sugar, Vegan Candy Startup Yumy Bear Will Go Public At $50M Value – Forbes

Canadian confectioner Yumy Bear that offers a line of low-sugar and vegan gummy will start trading on CSE in July under the symbol “YUMY” with an anticipated $50m enterprise value, and plans to expand to the US in 2022.

13. Prosus to Expand ‘Dark Stores’ in $16B Food Business – Bloomberg

Prosus NV, Europe’s largest consumer internet company, is planning to expand its grocery services using “dark stores” as competition booms in the global market for food delivery.

14. Uber Buys Remainder of Grocery Delivery Firm Cornershop – Grocery Dive

Uber is making the full acquisition nearly a year after launching its grocery service in the US.

15. Hong Kong: Chinese Husband-and-Wife Duo to Become Billionaires on Bubble Tea Chain’s IPO – Forbes

The company is seeking to raise up to $656m. Proceeds will be used to enhance its supply chain and open more than 600 stores in China this year and next.

16. Krispy Kreme Is Seeking a $640M IPO – Fortune

Since its acquisition by JAB in 2016, the chain has expanded its online presence. Its e-commerce business now accounts for close to a fifth of sales in the US.

17. California’s Drought Is So Bad That Almond Farmers Are Ripping Out Trees – Bloomberg

The famed farming valleys of California are being swept into what feels like permanent dryness, raising the specter of food inflation.

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