In This Issue:
- Food Venture Financing Trends
- CPG Corporate Venture and Private Equity Funds
- Links to Relevant Content and Events
Food Venture Financing Trends
- Flora Ventures, an Israel-based VC firm founded by a former Mondelēz executive, raised $50 million to support early-stage startups in the food security, sustainable agriculture, and food as medicine sectors. The fund plans to raise an aggregate $80 million.
- PepsiCo and Walmart entered into a seven-year strategic partnership to dedicate $120 million to support regenerative agriculture in North America.
- Nestlé announced that it will partner with Grassroots Carbon, a climate tech startup focused on cleantech solutions for ranchers, to promote and adopt regenerative agriculture practices in beef production and other regenerative farmland practices.
- AppHarvest, an indoor farming company that went public earlier this year, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in order to restructure its operations and seek other liquidity solutions.
- Meati Foods, a mushroom-based alternative protein startup, has officially launched in Whole Foods nationwide.
CPG Corporate Venture and Private Equity Fund
This week's featured corporate venture and private equity fund is 7-Ventures.
- 7-Ventures, LLC, is the 7-Eleven® corporate venture arm focused on discovering, partnering and investing in startups that complement 7‑Eleven’s mission of convenience.
- Portfolio companies include:
- Super Coffee
- Adrenaline Shoc
- BellyCard
- KeyMe
- PayNearMe
- 7-Ventures invests in early-stage food and beverage businesses as well as convenient services to anticipate and respond to the ever-changing consumer. Its portfolio companies gain access to the 7-Eleven business system, offering guidance with commercial distribution, operations support, product development, marketing, insights, and analytics.
Links to Relevant Content and Events
ARTICLES
- Oatly Slashes Forecast: ‘What You’re Seeing is a More Muted Performance For Plant-Based in General’
- Grassroots Carbon and Nestlé Join Forces
- Cosucra Investing $210 Million to Reduce Carbon Footprint
- Supply Change Capital Closes in $40 Million Fund
- Seven Sundays Clean-Label Cereal Brand Raises $6 Million
- Ferrara to Acquire Brazilian Sweets and Snacks Company Dori Alimentos
- ZoomAgri Lands $6 Million From GrainCorp and Others to Expand AI-Powered Grain Inspection System
UPCOMING EVENTS
Naturally Bay Area
CEOs & Founders Forum Meeting
(Members Only)
Thursday, August 3 | 3:00 – 4:30 p.m. PT
Location: Coracao Chocolate & CACOCO Drinking Chocolate, 1401 Marina Way South, Suite 300, Richmond, CA
Coracao Founder, Daniel Korson, will take us on a tour of the facility, then we'll meet to discuss challenges and opportunities in manufacturing.
You must be a paid member of Naturally Bay Area, and be a Founder or CEO of a Natural Products CPG brand to participate.
Naturally Los Angeles
Annual Summer Bash
Thursday, August 3 | 6:00 – 9:00 p.m. PT
Location: Barnana, Westwood Boulevard 2272, Los Angeles, CA
Join Naturally LA at their Annual Summer Bash for a sizzling celebration you won't want to miss! It's time to soak up the setting sun, let loose, and have a blast in the heart of Los Angeles.
Naturally San Diego
Beach Cleanup in OB, Volunteer Event
Friday, August 4 | 9:00 – 11:00 a.m. PT
Location: Dog Beach in Ocean Beach - Look for our pop-up tents, 5156 West Point Loma Boulevard, San Diego, California
Join NSD on and the Surfrider Foundation to support their incredible mission.
All proceeds from this event will benefit the Surfrider Foundation, which is dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of the world's ocean, waves and beaches, for all people.
Naturally Boulder
Morning Meetup at Wonderland Lake
Monday, August 7 | 8:30 – 9:30 p.m. MT
Location: Wonderland Lake Trailhead
Join fellow CPG professionals and Naturally Boulder board members on an easy morning hike at Shanahan.
Naturally Minnesota
Future of Food - Regenerative Field Day at A Frame Farm
Tuesday, August 8 | 7:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. CT
Location: A Frame Farm, 3123 230th St., Dawson, MN
Join Lil Bucks and Mad Agriculture on a lush field day visit to their partner farm, A Frame Farm, a Regenerative Organic Certified farm. Experience firsthand regenerative farming's positive impact on A Frame's buzzing ecosystem and the food you eat, first with an educational farm tour, where you'll see how a regenerative farm's soil compares directly to conventionally farmed soil.
The tour will be followed by lunch and a panel with Lil Bucks, Mad Agriculture, and A Frame to discuss how they collaborate to bring regeneratively grown ingredients like buckwheat to grocery CPG, why they do what they do and learn from their journey together.