Pilotworks Shuts Down, Postmates & Beyond Meat Prepare For IPOS + More

Source: Pilotworks

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.

On Saturday, Pilotworks abruptly announced it was shutting down, leaving nearly 200 food businesses in NYC scrambling to find a commercial kitchen to resume operations. The food community has rallied around those impacted, offering lists of alternative kitchen spaces across the US.

Postmates and Beyond Meat are both shopping for investment banks, as they prepare to IPO.

In retail news, Albertsons has launched its online marketplace featuring over 40,000 specialty products. Instacart has raised a secondary round of funds with an additional $600 million to boost its expansion efforts. Grocery omnichannel sales hit $1 trillion in the US, with online sales totaling $21.6 billion over the past three years.

Check out our weekly round-up of last week’s top food startup, tech and innovation news below or peruse the full newsletter here.

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1. Lessons From Pilotworks’ Demise

The need for experienced leadership, accountability and diversity are just a few of the lessons former employee Andrea Carbine says we can learn from Pilotworks’ abrupt shutdown.

2. Stranded by Pilotworks? Here are Some Alternatives to Check Out – The Spoon

A growing list of commercial production spaces across the US.

3. Blockchain of Food

Join us on November 5th at our November Food+Tech meetup to hear from Phil Harris of Ripe.io, Jasmine Crowe of Goodr, Nicolas Jammet of Sweetgreen and Dr. Dan Beckmann of Foodshed.io as they discuss how they are leveraging blockchain technology to improve the food system.

4. Grocery Omnichannel Sales Hit $1T in the US – Winsight Grocery Business

Online grocers saw more than $21.6b in sales over the past three years. While that number represents 26% of online sales, brick-and-mortar continues to lead grocery.

5. Instacart Raises Another $600M at a $7.6B Valuation – TechCrunch

D1 Capital Partners led the round. The company plans to use the capital to double its engineering team by 2019. In total, Instacart has $1.2b at its fingertips.

6. Albertsons Aims for Endless Aisles with New Online Marketplace – Grocery Dive

The retailer has launched its digital marketplace that offers over 40k specialty products to consumers across the country. Suppliers ship their products directly to consumers, while Albertsons oversees the operation and customer service.

7. April Bloomfield Breaks Her Silence About Harassment at Her Restaurants – New York Times

The Spotted Pig chef finally speaks about her role in the abuse scandal that has enveloped her and her partner, Ken Friedman.

8. Postmates Interviews Banks for IPO – Wall Street Journal

The food delivery service is likely to go public in the first half of 2019.

9. Kettle & Fire Receives $8M in New Funding – NOSH

The round was led by CAVU Venture Partners with Rocanà Ventures and strategic individual investors also taking part. This secondary investment will provide some liquidity to early investors and employees.

10. Our Dirty Secret: Soil is on the Endangered List

FoodShot Global has launched a $30 million investment platform to transform the food system, starting with sustainable soil.

11. Plant-Based Yogurt Lavva on Reinventing Supply Chains [Video]

Victor Friedberg joined us at our Rethinking CPG Meetup to speak about plant-based yogurt Lavva’s business strategies and supply chain.

12. India: Alipay Tops Up Zomato’s Cart with $210M – Bloomberg

This is the second fundraise by Zomato this year. In February, it raised $200m from Alipay in a round that valued Zomato at over $1b.

13. Beyond Meat Vegan Food Company Taps Investment Banks for IPO – CNBC

Beyond Meat has hired JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse for an initial public offering. It will be the first for one of the slew of plant-based meat companies.

14. Women, Women of Color & Gender Non-Conforming Innovator Database

We created this open-source list to increase representation, support and investment in women, women of color & gender-nonconforming innovators in food. Join the list & help us spread the word using #womxninfood.

15. Join the Alpha Food Labs Community

We’re rethinking the way food is made, starting with community. The Alpha Community. Join us to help develop, test, and get early access to food designed for your tastes and values.

Our newsletter is the absolute easiest way to stay on top of the emerging sector, so sign up for it today and never miss the latest food tech and innovation news and trends, Already signed up? Share the love with your friends and colleagues!