Source: Upside Foods

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.

Alpha Food Labs, our sister company, was commissioned by Beef + Lamb New Zealand and New Zealand Winegrowers to understand the current state and future market potential of regeneratively produced food and wine within the United States, Germany and the UK. The research reveals consumers may be willing to pay more for regeneratively-produced food, especially if science can show it tastes better, is better for people’s health and better for the environment.

The world’s largest cultivated meat facility is now a reality, thanks to Upside Foods, formerly known as Memphis Meats. The 53,000-square-foot facility is capable of producing up to 400,000 pounds of meat annually. In other news, the New York Times’ dubbed “Starbucks of the Right,” Black Rifle Coffee is going public through a $1.7 billion SPAC deal.

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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. Regenerative Agriculture Market Scan & Consumer Insights Report

Alpha Food Labs, our sister company, was commissioned by Beef + Lamb New Zealand and New Zealand Winegrowers to understand the current state and future market potential of regeneratively produced food and wine within the United States, Germany and the UK. The research reveals consumers may be willing to pay more for regeneratively-produced food, especially if science can show it tastes better, is better for people’s health and better for the environment.

2. Cell-Cultured Meat in the Spotlight As Upside Foods Opens ‘Most Advanced Cultivated Meat Production Facility in the World’ – Food Navigator

The 53k-sq-ft facility and innovation center can produce 50k pounds of finished product a year, with a future capacity of over 400k pounds – a significant milestone for an industry that didn’t exist six years ago.

3. Veteran-Focused Black Rifle Coffee Going Public Through $1.7B SPAC Deal – Wall Street Journal

Known for its pricier coffee and firearms-themed products such as its AK-47 Espresso Blend, Black Rifle is combining with the SPAC SilverBox Engaged Merger Corp I.

4. Brazil’s Future Farm Rakes in $48M to Sell More Plant-Based Meat and Dairy – TechCrunch

In addition to expanding into more retail outlets in the US and Europe, the company plans to add plant-based milks and dairy to its range.

5. Kellogg Is Importing Cereal Into US During Strike – Bloomberg

The company is bringing in cereal from Mexico, Canada, the UK and even as far away as Australia to help supply the US market as workers at its four cereal plants in the country strike.

6. Autonomous Delivery Startup Nuro Lands Investment from Google, Tiger Global in New $600M Round – TechCrunch

The funding has pushed Nuro’s valuation to about $8.6b. New capital will go towards funding its third gen vehicle.

7. Kenya’s Twiga Raises $50M to Scale Food Solutions Across Africa – TechCrunch

The company uses technology to connect FMCGs, manufacturers and smallholder farmers with retails in Kenya. Funding will allow it too scale its efforts in the Eastern African nation and other neighboring countries.

8. UK: IGS Banks $58M to Cement Its Place As the John Deere of Vertical Farming – AFN

IGS designs and builds vertical farms for third-party operators, and provides them with the technology to get their farms up and running. It claims that its technology is used by customers across four continents.

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