June 21, 2021: COVID’s Impact On Food And Agricultural Funding

There’s no doubt the coronavirus pandemic had massive impacts on everyday life and business. However, for all the bad of COVID-19, it helped people prioritize things differently. One such area was in food and agriculture.

On this episode of the Happy Mouth podcast, restaurateur Philip Camino and chef Nyesha Arrington take a look at the coronavirus’ impact on food and agriculture funding. From record-setting numbers to an emphasis on creating more stable and sustainable food supply chains, the pandemic has seen far more eyes on the hospitality, food, and agricultural side of the United States.

Listen to Philip and Nyesha discuss the food and agricultural boom:

Food and agricultural startups garnered $22.3 billion in venture funding over the last year, a record high and twice as much as raised the year before

2020 was the first year since 1994 in which restaurant food consumption fell below in-home consumption

At times during the pandemic, people found empty grocery store shelves due to panic buying and interruptions in the food supply chain

In 2011, only $3 million in venture funding went to agriculture tech over 42 deals while only $1 million went to food tech companies across 22 deals

According to a study by Finistere Ventures, food tech companies raised around $17.3 billion across 631 deals in 2020, with 68% going to e-commerce and delivery businesses

Meal kits alone raised %6.2 billion

E-commerce companies raised $5.3 billion in the food-tech category

Ag-tech companies attracted around $5 billion across 416 deals in 2020

Links:

Happy Mouth Podcast Instagram

CNBC - Covid and ‘peak cow’ created a boom for food and agriculture tech in 2020

Finistere - Finistere Ventures 2020 agrifood tech investment review

CNBC - Beyond Meat Inc.

Revolve Greens - Website

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