food
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The winner of the meal kit market won’t be a meal kit company at all
Now, meal kit companies are facing an onslaught of competition from newcomers and big food brands alike. Turning a profit has proven elusive. And somewhat embarrassingly, it looks like meal kit companies need to emulate the brick-and-mortar groceries and online retailers they once criticized for overwhelming shoppers with choices. To go truly mainstream, they need to diversify their… Read More
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Full Harvest raises $2 million to stop farmers from tossing ‘ugly’ fruit and veggies
Full Harvest, a San Francisco-based startup, has raised $2 million in seed funding to reduce food waste at the farm level. Founded by Christine Moseley, formerly the head of business development for cold-pressed juice makers Organic Avenue, Full Harvest connects farmers with food makers who want to buy the fruit and veggies that grocers deem too ugly to sell in stores. While she was helping… Read More
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Apple Fellow Rich Page on ‘stealing jobs’ and Chowbotics’ salad-making robots
When we first wrote about Chowbotics, their salad-making robot stirred a bit of controversy. The company promises to bring nutritious dining options to offices that don’t have a big cafeteria and budget to employ full-time chefs. But their robot, Sally, threatens to put a number of people out of work. Chowbotics Executive Chairman Rich Page gives us his thoughts. Read More
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Blue Apron could deliver an IPO in 2017, but should it?
Meal kit makers Blue Apron may be preparing to file for a 2017 IPO, according to Reuters. The report says that the food startup has hired bankers from Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup to this end. The whole thing has stirred up quite the conversation over here at TechCrunch, and we’ve been arguing amongst ourselves about the likelihood that the Blue Apron IPO happens soon, or… Read More
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JoyRun, a food delivery app with a twist, raises $8.5 million
A Santa Clara, Calif. startup called JoyRun has raised about $10 million in Series A and seed funding for its peer-to-peer food and drinks delivery app. It may be hard to believe that VCs are still putting money into food delivery concepts that don’t involve self-driving cars, robots or drones. What’s new about JoyRun is not so much technology as business model innovation. Read More
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Arable raises $4.25 million to demystify farming with sensors and data
Believe it or not, farmers in the U.S. have faced a labor shortage for years. U.S. citizens aren’t drawn to agriculture the way they were in previous generations. The labor trend has pushed farmers to automate some of the tasks done by agronomists and field workers in the past, using software, robotics and IoT devices like Arable’s. Read More
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Vinsight gives grape and almond growers a high-tech crystal ball
Farmers know how hard it is to predict yield accurately. High-value crops like grapes or almonds prove particularly challenging. Farmers expect, and settle for, twenty to forty percent uncertainty with these crops. Vinsight founder and CEO, Megan Nunes, who grew up in the farming business, found that unacceptable. After almost a decade-long career in the satellite industry, she turned her… Read More
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PlateIQ cooks up $4 million for restaurant management platform
As any fan of Kitchen Nightmares may know, the restaurant business is not for the faint of heart, nor is it likely to generate fat margins. Now, a startup called PlateIQ has raised $4 million in new funding to help restaurants automate accounts payable, and nail all their other accounting work so they can focus, finally, on the food and front-of-house. Eileses Capital led the round… Read More
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An eBay for grain trading, FarmLead, raises $6.5 million Series A
Farmers work to feed the world. Yet somehow, corn, wheat and rice sales are still happening at a local level through antiquated paperwork and phone negotiations. Now, an Ottawa-based startup called FarmLead has raised $6.5 million in venture funding to connect grain producers and buyers automatically online, and help farmers get fair prices for what they grow. Read More
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NFL’s Drew Brees backs Waitr to make takeout easy in anytown USA
Food delivery startups abound in the U.S., but few of them deliver to customers in “second cities” and smaller towns. From early pioneers like Grubhub to newer services like DoorDash, food delivery businesses have tended to focus on urban areas with a high concentration of restaurants and people who frequently order takeout. Now, New Orleans Saints Quarterback, philanthropist… Read More
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