agrilution Democratizes Vertical Farming, CircleUp Raises $30M + More

Every week we curate and deliver the latest food tech and innovation news, trends and research to our readers’ inboxes. Tracking the top technology and innovation happenings across agriculture, CPG, retail, restaurants, cooking and health, our newsletter is the absolute easiest way to stay on top of the emerging sector.

From how Bitsee’s plan to build the online hub for culinary tourists to how Chew is helping the nation’s biggest food companies create better snacks, these are last week’s top food tech news and innovation stories. Like what you read? Feast your eyes on the full newsletter here. Or better yet, sign up for Food+Tech Bytes and get the latest and greatest food tech and innovation news delivered to your inbox every week.

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1. Bitesee Aims To Build Global Guidebook For Food-Focused Travelers

Food writer Kiri Tennenbaum saw an increasing need for a global travel website focused solely on culinary tourism, so she launched a Kickstarter to build Bitesee.

2. Millennial Food Innovators: How Agrilution Is Democratizing Vertical Farming

This series profiles Thought For Food’s student food innovators. This week, get an inside look at vertical farming pioneer agrilution.

3. How Two Tech Nerds Revolutionized Bean-to-Bar Chocolate

From tech startup founders to artisan chocolatiers, and inside look at Dandelion Chocolate’s history, challenges and plans to redefine the bean-to-bar movement.

4. CircleUp Banks $30 Million to Help Investors Find Top Food Startups – Wall Street Journal

The Series C was led by Collaborative Fund and will go towards launching new products and services for entrepreneurs and investors.

5. Chew Is A Lab, Studio, Kitchen – Boston Globe

Chef Adam Melonas’s new innovation lab is looking to change the way some of the nation’s biggest food companies create snacks, breakfast foods, juices and more.

6. Kroger Is Building The Grocery Store Of The Future – Business Insider

Thanks to QueVision, a technology that uses sensors and predictive analytics to feed managers real-time data, wait time at Kroger is less than 30 seconds.

7. The Bay Area Has Opened America’s First USDA-Certified Organic Fast-Food Restaurant – Quartz

Organic Coup was founded by Erica Welton, a former buyer for Costco. She wanted to go even further than Chipotle when it comes to responsible sourcing.

8. What is Ag Big Data? We interviews 8 Companies To Try And Find Out – AgFunderNews

Climate Corp, OnFarm, FarmLogs and more share more about their businesses, how they define big data and where they see the sector heading.