Funding & Business
Funding To Food Tech Startups Reaches New Peak
The US food tech scene shows no sign of slowing down as food startups raise over $750M year-to-date.
VCs have not slowed down their funding to food technology companies, even after more than $1B in investments and 200% year-over-year growth in 2014.
The food tech category covers companies across a range of food-related industries, including food delivery (companies like Instacart or Postmates), food replacements (Hampton Creek Foods, Soylent), and restaurant tech (E La Carte, Reserve), among others.
US-based, VC-backed food tech companies pulled in over $750M in equity funding in the first half of 2015. Specifically, Q2’15 reached a 10-quarter high in funding, with $549M raised across 20 deals, including large rounds to Blue Apron ($135M Series D), Munchery ($85M Series C), and Postmates ($80M Series D).
While the bulk of the funding has gone to mid- and late-stage companies, multiple early-stage companies have also been funded in 2014 and 2015 year-to-date.
With this in mind, we used CB Insights Company Mosaic to track the US-based early-stage companies with the most momentum.
CB Insights algorithmically assesses the health of private companies and gives them a Mosaic score, which has several components, including a Momentum score. Momentum measures a company’s traction, based on factors including web traffic, social mentions, and hiring pace.
No food tech company had a higher Momentum score than Favor, at 820. Favor is an Austin-based delivery platform (similar to Postmates) with a sizeable portion of their business focused on food delivery. The company recently raised $13M in Series A financing from S3 Ventures and Silverton Partners, among others. Favor’s overall Mosaic score, 880, also ranks them among the top 5% of all private tech companies.
Drizly, a developer of an alcohol delivery application, ranked second with a 770 momentum score. The company most recently raised $13M in Series A financing from First Beverage Group, Polaris Partners, and Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America. Drizly has seen growth across news mentions, social media, as well as job listings.
Home Chef — a Blue Apron and Plated competitor — ranked third with a 670 momentum score. The company has seen steady growth in web traffic as well as job listings in recent months.
Company | Total Funding ($M) | Momentum | Overall Mosaic | Select Investors |
---|---|---|---|---|
Favor | $15.1 | 820 | 880 | S3 Ventures, Silverton Partners, Tim Draper |
Drizly | $17.8 | 770 | 870 | Abundance Partners, Atlas Venture, Fairhaven Capital, Polaris Partners, Vayner RSE |
Home Chef | N/A | 670 | 660 | Guild Capital |
Bento | $1.9 | 610 | 750 | 500 Startups, FundersClub, Launch Fund, Slow Ventures |
Maple | $26.0 | 610 | 810 | Bessemer Venture Partners, Primary Venture Partners, Thrive Capital, Trisiras Group |
Gobble | $1.2 | 610 | 700 | Felicis Ventures, Founder Collective, Greylock Partners, SV Angel, Thrive Capital, Y Combinator |
Sourcery | $2.5 | 590 | 720 | BoxGroup |
TouchBistro | $12.0 | 580 | 770 | Difference Capital Financial, Relay Ventures,Walden Venture Capital |
Club W | $12.7 | 540 | 750 | 500 Startups, Amplify L.A., Bessemer Venture Partners, CrossCut Ventures, Guild Capital |
Feastly | $1.32 | 540 | 690 | Boost.vc, Westly Group |
The most active VC in US-based food tech companies since 2013 on a unique company basis has been Khosla Ventures. Khosla has invested in Instacart, which most recently raised $220M at a $2B valuation, as well as DoorDash, Hampton Creek Foods, and Unreal Brands.
500 Startups and Slow Ventures rounded out the top 3 most active VCs. 500 Startups’ recent bets include Platejoy and Bento, while Slow Ventures most recently participated in Postmates’ $80M Series D, which valued the company at $500M.
The full list is below.
Rank | Investor | Rank | Investor |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Khosla Ventures | 6 | BoxGroup |
2 | 500 Startups | 6 | SV Angel |
2 | Slow Ventures | 9 | Sherpa Ventures |
4 | Lerer Hippeau Ventures | 9 | Great Oaks Venture Capital |
4 | Index Ventures | 9 | Spark Capital |
6 | First Round Capital | 9 | Andreessen Horowitz |
Want more data on the food tech space? Login to CB Insights or sign up for free below.
If you aren’t already a client, sign up for a free trial to learn more about our platform.
Funding & Business
Equities Fall Amid Trump's Tariff Salvo | Closing Bell
Comprehensive cross-platform coverage of the U.S. market close on Bloomberg Television, Bloomberg Radio, and YouTube with Romaine Bostick, Sonali Basak, Emily Graffeo and Tim Stenovec. (Source: Bloomberg)
Source link
Funding & Business
Trump Should Stop Attacking the Fed, William Dudley Says
Bloomberg Opinion’s William Dudley, former president of the New York Federal Reserve, says pressuring the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates is counterproductive on “Bloomberg The Close.” Dudley’s opinions are his own. (Source: Bloomberg)
Source link
Funding & Business
East Coast Gasoline Stockpiles Swell as Key Pipeline Adds Volume
The operator of the largest US fuel pipeline system has raised shipments on a key gasoline line, increasing supplies for East Coast drivers in the peak summer travel season.
Source link
-
Funding & Business7 days ago
Kayak and Expedia race to build AI travel agents that turn social posts into itineraries
-
Jobs & Careers7 days ago
Mumbai-based Perplexity Alternative Has 60k+ Users Without Funding
-
Mergers & Acquisitions7 days ago
Donald Trump suggests US government review subsidies to Elon Musk’s companies
-
Funding & Business6 days ago
Rethinking Venture Capital’s Talent Pipeline
-
Jobs & Careers6 days ago
Why Agentic AI Isn’t Pure Hype (And What Skeptics Aren’t Seeing Yet)
-
Funding & Business4 days ago
Sakana AI’s TreeQuest: Deploy multi-model teams that outperform individual LLMs by 30%
-
Jobs & Careers6 days ago
Astrophel Aerospace Raises ₹6.84 Crore to Build Reusable Launch Vehicle
-
Funding & Business1 week ago
From chatbots to collaborators: How AI agents are reshaping enterprise work
-
Tools & Platforms6 days ago
Winning with AI – A Playbook for Pest Control Business Leaders to Drive Growth
-
Jobs & Careers4 days ago
Ilya Sutskever Takes Over as CEO of Safe Superintelligence After Daniel Gross’s Exit