Source: Bloomberg

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.

Grocery e-commerce sales of packaged food and beverages grew 125% in 2020, with potential to top $100 billion in 2021.

In other news, major investments made headlines this week with a $95 million Series D round bringing Imperfect Foods’ valuation to a whopping $700 million and Helsinki-based Wolt raising $530 million to expand beyond restaurant delivery.

Beyond Meat shares soared by 39% on Tuesday after it announced its joint venture with Pepsi to develop and market plant-based snacks and beverages.

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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. Online Packaged Food and Beverage Sales Could Top $100B in 2021 – Grocery Dive

Grocery sales rose 125% in 2020, accounting for 44% of all CPG e-commerce sales.

2. Imperfect Foods Funding Round Brings Valuation to $700M – Bloomberg

Insight Partners and Norwest Venture Partners led the $95m Series D round. The cash infusion will be used to accelerate growth, with an aim to double capacity and reduce errors and delayed deliveries.

3. Beyond Meat’s Pepsi Partnership Awakens Animal Spirits – Bloomberg

The plant-based meat startup’s latest joint venture sparked a 39% jolt in its shares before settling at around 18%. The joint venture will develop and market plant-based snacks and beverages.

4. Finland: Wolt Closes $530M Round to Continue Expanding Beyond Restaurant Delivery – TechCrunch

Iconiq Growth led the round. The company recently expanded into the grocery and retail sectors. Funding will go towards the buildout of a logistics setup for last-mile delivery and dark store operation.

5. Hippeas Raises $50M to Fund Innovation and Expansion Plans – Food Dive

The Craftory Limited led the round. New capital will be used to increase innovation, expand production and grow distribution.

6. 5 Actions to Reboot Food Retail

We have a responsibility to all stakeholders in our supply chains to pursue deep and substantive change, starting with the social and economic issues that underlie how we grow, make, distribute and sell food. Errol Schweizer, host of The Checkout Radio and former VP of grocery for Whole Foods Market, shares 5 actions food retailers, brands and supply chain stakeholders must take to create a more fair, just and sane food system.

7. Israel: Anti-Allergy Startup Ukko Scores $40M in Bayer-Led Series B – AgFunder

Funding will be used to accelerate the development of its celiac-friendly proteins and enable clinical trials for its peanut allergy treatment.

8. Tevel’s Flying Fruit Bots Raise $20M from Asian Ag Giants, AgFunder – AgFunder

Investors included Kubota, Forbon, Maverick Ventures Israel and others. Funding will go towards completing product validation, commence production and launch its commercial service.

9. Robert Downey Jr Launches ESG-Focused Venture Capital Funds – Fortune

The FootPrint Coalition Ventures’ rolling VC funds aim to persuade investors to get behind his vision for fighting climate change through bioplastics, aquaculture, AI and more. It has already invested in Ÿnsect, Cloud Paper, Arcadia and others.

10. Instacart Will Lay Off All of Its Unionized Workers – Vice

The termination of the only unionized Instacart workers in the US is part of larger layoffs at the company. Instacart is firing nearly 2k of its 10k workers and offering as little as $250 as severance.

11. How America’s Food System Could Change Under Biden – New York Times

New school meal standards? Help for small farmers? Maybe, but first the new administration has to deal with hunger, food safety and a diminished USDA.

12. Local Food Movements Won’t Save the World – A Growing Culture

As long as local food movements are predominantly guided by the privileged, rather than holding space for those who have been the most exploited, they will not be in the service of justice.

13. Cooks Turned Instagram Into the World’s Greatest Takeout Menu – New York Times

During the pandemic, entrepreneurial chefs have reshaped food culture across the country with tiny, homegrown pop-ups that thrive on social media.

14. Organic Produce Sales Growth Tops 14% in 2020 – Food Dive

Sales of organic produce rose from $1b to $8.5b, while conventional produce sales rose 10.7%. Challenges still loom for the category, from unsteady consumer income to uncertain supply chains.

15. Food & Ag Anti-Racism Resources + Black Food & Farm Businesses to Support

Check out our list of resources to learn about systemic racism in the food and agriculture industries. We also highlight Black food and farm businesses and organizations to support.

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