This monthly column highlights the most interesting acquisitions, financings and partnerships within the Food Tech & Media ecosystem – digital content, social, local, mobile, grocery, e-commerce, delivery, ordering, payments, marketing and analytics – to give you insights into the latest funding and growth trends.

The first half of 2014 rounded out with over $3.9 billion invested into private food tech and media companies through equity raises ($1.2b) and acquisitions ($2.7b disclosed). In June, eight acquisitions and seventeen notable financings funneled $237 million into the ecosystem (excluding $7.9 billion between the Micros and OpenTable acquisitions). Delivery and brand marketing were both dominant themes, and earlier-stage companies were prominent with nine of the funding rounds at the seed or series A stage.

The big news in June was of course the acquisition announcements of two significant food tech incumbents: OpenTable and Micros Systems (by Priceline and Oracle, respectively). Both acquirors are outside of what anyone would define as the food tech ecosystem, which is relevant because it signals that the sector is further evolving towards increased institutionalization and consolidation as heavyweights in the tech industry look to the food system to increase market share and layer in new revenue streams. This is why it is important to be in tune with the industry dynamics and strategy of the tech and media players on the periphery of food, because if they don’t already have a strategy around food tech, it’s very likely that many will develop one.

On that note, last month both Jawbone and Fitbit announced updates to incorporate food in a deeper way, and we learned that Jawbone quietly acquired a food and nutrition app last summer. Google threw down the gauntlet to beat Amazon in the same-day delivery war, and Amazon rolled out a food takeout service to directly compete with the likes of GrubHub, Seamless and DeliveryHero. The Street speculated that Yahoo may be considering a food tech acquisition, and Go Daddy filed to raise up to $100m in an IPO. Also on the IPO front, China’s Yelp-Like Dianping has more than 100 million active users for its reviews and discounts for food and entertainment, and is reportedly working with Goldman Sachs to prepare for a U.S. IPO.

M&A

Delivery Hero Acquires Controlling Stake in PedidosYa. The Uruguay-based online food ordering platform currently operates a network of 12,000 partner restaurants in nine countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Uruguay) and will bolster Delivery Hero’s expansion in Latin America,  as well as it its mobile app capabilities. PedidosYa will remain an independent brand, and the acquisition is expected to increase Delivery Hero’s representation to 20 countries spanning four continents.

Announced: 6/26/14  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $2m Series C, $3m Series B, $2m Series A, $500k Seed  Founded: October 2009

FoodPanda Acquires Delivery Club. The Moscow-based online food delivery service aggregator was acquired by FoodPanda, a competitor which is planning aggressive international expansion, expecting to reach 50 countries by 2015.  The combined companies will provide access to over 2,500 restaurants in Russia, and Delivery Club will continue to operate under its own brand. Like other Rocket Internet properties, TechCrunch notes that foodpanda “has focused on emerging markets in Eastern Europe, Asia, Latin America, and parts of Africa, where launching a new business is not only relatively inexpensive, but also gives them a chance to build a customer service and logistics network that can help Rocket Internet’s businesses in other verticals.”

Announced: 6/18/14  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $8m Series C, $4m Series B, $1m Series A, $400k Seed  Founded: September 2009

Priceline Announces Acquisition of Opentable. The San Francisco-based online restaurant reservation company will add 15 million users to the Priceline platform while diversifying the travel giant’s offerings to include restaurant marketing and local business services, and the adding potential for new local e-commerce offerings as well. In turn, Priceline plans to utilize its sophisticated ecommerce infrastructure to help fuel OpenTable’s global expansion and cross-market it with its existing booking customers.

OpenTable will continue to operate as an independent business, based in San Francisco, led by its current management team within Priceline. Given OpenTable’s recent prominence as a strategic acquirer in its own right, it will be interesting to see if the reservation platform will be maintain some control over the purse strings in terms of future acquisitions.

For a deep behind-the-scenes look into the bidding process and acquisition, I’d recommend reading Skift’s solid coverage of OpenTable’s courtship of Priceline, as well as the additional disclosure around the bidding process that surfaced afterwards in satisfying the settlement of a shareholder lawsuit. Other thoughtful reads on the broader trends surrounding deal are at Street Fight Mag and PandoDaily.

Announced: 6/13/14  Terms: $2.6b (Cash, $103/share)  Stock Premium: 53% (over previous average stock price in the prior 20 days)  Founded: 1998

NGB Markets Acquires Local Food Systems. Local Food Systems developed an electronic platform that allows wholesale food buyers to indicate the type, number of units, and required timeframe of products they need and indicate a preferred price. The wholesale food order management software will expand the NGB Markets platform to include locally-sourced food, and deliver end-to-end online price quotes, ordering data, and market data through integration with NGB’s QuoteMatrix platform, an online service that aggregates vendor price quotes for buyers as well as electronic purchase order submission.

Announced: 6/18/14  Terms: Not Disclosed (Cash and Stock)  Previous Investment: $425k Seed  Founded: February 2011

Oracle Announces Acquisition of Micros Systems. The publicly-traded Columbia, MD-based restaurant and retail point-of-sale hardware and software company provides enterprise applications, services and hardware in 180 countries worldwide, and is expected to position Oracle as a leader in retail POS software. The combined companies are estimated to account for 19% of the retail POS software installation base. Micros is expected to help boost Oracle’s slowing growth in the application software market, and reflects the growing market size for restaurant technology as businesses adapt to new demands around services offerings, efficiency and security compliance. Despite the increased market share in the space, there are mixed opinions on whether the deal will impact the POS market for smaller restaurants and retailers. The deal is subject to approval by antitrust regulators, which is expected on August 29.

Announced: 6/23/14  Terms: $5.3b (Cash, $68/share)  Stock Premium: 27% (over previous average stock price in the prior 20 days from unofficial announcement on 6/16/14)  Founded: 1977

InfoScout Acquires Capigami (Out Of Milk). The San Francisco-based developer of the Out of Milk mobile shopping and productivity app allows consumers to build and collaborate on shopping lists as well as manage to-do lists. Users also receive location-based mobile coupons and other promotional offers. As AdAge notes, previously InfoScout relied on consumers who use two shopping apps, Receipt Hog and Shoparoo to scan their grocery receipts in exchange for cash back and other rewards like donations to a school of their choice. Now InfoScout will be able to utilize Out of Milk to bolster its access to supermarket purchase data.

Announced:  6/20/14  Terms: Not Disclosed (Cash)  Previous Investment: Undisclosed Seed  Founded: 2010

Groupon Acquires SnapSaves. The Toronto-based grocery coupon app allows shoppers to snap a picture of their grocery receipt and receive money back on selected items through a check in the mail. SnapSaves also offers shoppers instant cash back if they’ve paid more at the store for a grocery item than the price shown in the daily deal. As BetaKit points out, “the real value comes from the data that’s being collected. Once a photo of the grocery receipt is uploaded, SnapSaves receives an insight into the shopping habits of thousands of users, such as what store the user shopped at, day of the week, time of day, basket size and type of payment.” It appears the app will continue to operate under its own brand, however the Groupon acquisition will expand the types of offers, and open up the service to Groupon’s 52 million active customers.

Announced: 6/16/14  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Launched: August 2013

Apple Acquires Spotsetter. The San Francisco-based social map app and search engine platform combines location data from sources like Yelp and Zagat with user content across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Foursquare to help people discover and decide on new local places to go. As TechCrunch points out, the app will be shutting down, but “the technology, which involves layering social data on top of a maps interface could be used to beef up Apple Maps with features competitor Google lacks.”

Announced: 6/06/14  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $1.3m Seed  Founded: 2011

FUNDING

TechCafe Raises $450k. The New York, NY-based hospitality tech platform and marketplace is built around helping restaurants to discover and integrate restaurant technologies. The platform includes over 500 technology vendors listed in the online marketplace, which allows restaurants to compare and evaluate the most relevant software to their business. For tech vendors that are encumbered by the high cost of user acquisition, TechCafe serves as a targeted marketing channel that provides high quality leads in a cost effective manner.

Announced: 6/30/14  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $300k Angel Round  Founded: 2013

Crowdtwist Raises $9m. The New York-based SaaS intelligence data platform provides omnichannel loyalty and analytics solutions which are used by brands including Pepsi, Nestlé Purina and others. The white label loyalty program enables brands to gain a deeper understanding of how customers engage across various channels in order to build more targeted and active relationships with customers. The company intends to use the funds to scale and grow the business.

Announced: 6/26/14  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: StarVest Partners (lead), Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments, TechStars, KBS+P Ventures, SoftBank Capital, Fairhaven Capital Partners  Previous Investment: $6m Series A, $750k Seed  Founded: August 2009

Tastemade Raises $25m. The Santa Monica, CA-based digital media company provides food-focused video content through the Tastemade technology platform and community. Tastemade will use the new capital to continue developing its platform and community, as well as expanding content partnerships with leading brands to reach millennial consumers interested in exploring new ways to share and celebrate food. Strategic lead investor Scripps was particularly interested in Tastemade’s younger audience, international presence (specifically in Latin America and Europe), and mobile initiatives, such as their restaurant review app launched last year.

Announced: 6/26/14  Stage: Series C  Participating Institutional Investors: Scripps Networks Interactive (lead), Comcast Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Liberty Media, Raine Ventures  Previous Investment: $10m Series B, $5.3m Series A, Undisclosed Amount from YouTube  Founded: 2012

Deliveroo Raises £2.7m. The UK-based restaurant delivery service focuses on marketing, selling and delivering meals from premium restaurants that do not usually offer takeout. The company intends to use the funds to further strengthen its logistics technologies and delivery platform.

Announced: 6/26/14  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Index Ventures (lead), Hoxton Ventures, JamJar Investments  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: February 2013

InfoScout Raises $16m. The San Francisco-based shopper-research firm provides real-time analytics derived from mobile shopping apps that gives brands a comprehensive view of customer behavior, by item, across all retailers. Leading consumer goods companies such as Procter & Gamble, Anheuser-Busch, PepsiCo & Unilever leverage InfoScout’s data and analytics to monitor changes in shopper behavior and better understand the ‘why behind the buy.’ The company will use the infusion of capital to grow its consumer panel to one-million participants and expand into key international markets through the acquisition of the shopping list app, Out of Milk (see M&A section above).

Announced: 6/19/14  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: MHS Capital, Horizon Partners, Bain Capital Ventures  Previous Investment: $5m Series A, $400k Seed  Founded: October 2011

Hellofresh Raises $50m. NYC and Berlin-Germany-based subscription meal kit company provides a weekly delivery box containing three to five “ready-to-make meals” with recipes and pre-portioned ingredients. The company also announced expansion to seven new states: Texas, North Dakota, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Nebraska, Louisiana, and reported it ships over a million meals per month in the U.S. The company intends to use funds to continue to increase its marketing presence in the US, as well as expand globally.

Announced: 6/18/14  Stage: Series D  Participating Institutional Investors: Insight Venture Partners (lead), Phenomen VC  Previous Investment: $7.5m Series C, $10m Series B, Undisclosed Series A  Founded: January 2012

Instacart Raises $44m. The San Francisco-based on-demand grocery delivery service connects customers with crowd-sourced personal shoppers who buy their groceries in order to earn a commission (based on the number of items and the number of orders they deliver). Currently offering delivery in 10 U.S. cities, the company essentially serves as a third party home delivery fleet for grocery stores, with relationships and partnerships varying between retailers. The financing round will be used to fuel aggressive expansion to new cities (up to a total of 17 by the end of 2014), continued improvements to the customer experience and the proprietary technology, as well as experimentation around new and innovative models for delivery.

Announced: 6/16/14  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: Andreessen Horowitz (lead), Canaan Partners, Sequoia Capital, Khosla Ventures  Previous Investment: $8.5 Series A, $2.3m Venture Round  Founded: July 2012

GatheredTable Raises $2m. The Seattle-based weekly customized menu planning service. In an interview from earlier this year with the Seattle Times, the company stated that it may receive commissions from grocery sales made through the site, a service it plans to launch in the fall, but it doesn’t plan to sell advertising or get sponsorships from food manufacturers. Instead it’s counting on subscriptions to provide most of its revenue. The company expects to use the new funds for a national launch of its consumer software service.

Announced: 6/10/14  Stage: Seed  Participating Investors: Geoff Entress (Voyager Capital), Howard Schultz (Starbucks)  Previous Investment: $1.8m  Founded: 2013

Ibotta Raises $20m. The Denver-CO-based mobile couponing and loyalty app allows users to earn rebates and cash rewards for interacting with brands by responding to polls, watching videos, reading about new products, and other game-like activities within the app. The rebates are then sent directly to users’ PayPal account after verifying their purchases by taking a picture of their receipts. For brands and retailers, Ibotta positions itself as “a pay-per-sale” advertising platform, which only charges if their ads end in a sale. According to TechCrunch, Ibotta plans to use the funding to scale its business and engineering teams, grown its user base, and expand its saving and offers into the offline affiliate market.

Announced: 6/11/14  Stage: Venture Round  Participating Investors: Jim Clark, Tom Jermoluk  Previous Investment: Undisclosed Series A   Launched: 2012

Love with Food Raises $1.4m. The Foster City, CA-based monthly snack discovery service and food marketing data platform helps brands connect with “foodies” who pay a monthly fee to discover new, organic, all-natural products and submit product feedback. Clients include General Mills, Nestle, Green and Blacks Organic Chocolate, SoyJoy, and Lindt Chocolates. The company plans to use the funds to attract more customers and expand the team to further improve its consumer insight offerings.

Announced: 6/11/14  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: 500 Startups, Angel List, El Dorado Ventures, Ironfire Capital, Kapor Capital, Scrum Ventures, TEEC Angel Fund, Juvo Capital Previous Investment: $695k Seed  Founded: 2012

Kitchfix Raises $300k. The Chicago-based healthy meal delivery service targets busy professionals and families by creating and delivering “chef-crafted” ready-to-eat meals using locally sourced, organic, gluten, soy and dairy-free ingredients. The company intends to use the funds to move into a new commercial kitchen, expand its team and operations and accelerate growth.

Announced: 6/11/14  Stage: Seed  Participating Investor: Ken Leonard  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded:2012

Yext raises $50m. The New York-based cloud-based geomarketing software company provides online-marketing tool for SMB brick-and-mortar businesses. Yext’s product allows marketers to manage their local content, listings, store pages, social pages, campaigns and more through its integrated GeoMarketing Cloud. Listings on multiple sites can be edited at one time, social pages can be synced simultaneously, and Web pages can be built without support. As the company moves closer to a likely IPO in 2015, this new funding will support global expansion and new product development.

Announced: 6/04/14  Valuation: $525m  Stage: Series F  Participating Institutional Investors: Insight Venture Partners (lead), Institutional Venture Partners, Marker, Sutter Hill Ventures  Previous Investment: $27m Series E, $10m Series D, $25m Series B/C, $3.5m Series A, $250k Seed  Founded: 2006

Siftit Raises $4m. The Atlanta-based mobile ordering platform makes it easier for restaurants and wholesale suppliers to connect more efficiently, and offers more control of the ordering and spend-management process. The company intends to use the funds to grow in current markets.

Announced: 6/04/14  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investor: TechOperators  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: January 2013

Urban Remedy Raises $5m. The San Rafael, CA-based nutrition delivery service sells certified-organic, vegan, raw and ready-to-eat meals, snacks and premium juices direct to consumers via online/mobile and a limited number of Urban Remedy branded storefronts. The company will use the new capital to open a new manufacturing facility, hire more e-commerce and food talent, and accelerate marketing efforts. According to the Wall Street Journal, the marketing initiatives could include direct-response campaigns on television and new branded storefronts, along with possible pop-up shops, and store-in-store retail efforts at gyms, universities or airports.

Announced: 6/04/14  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Venture51  Previous Investment: $1m Seed  Founded: 2010

Fresh Nation Raises $1m. The Stamford, CT-based online marketplace for farmers markets enables consumers to order food directly from their local markets and have it delivered to their home by personal shoppers. The Fresh Nation marketplace digitizes the product offerings across a broad network of neighboring farmers markets, allowing for the purchase, sale and delivery of fresh products from different locales through a single platform. Furthermore, as PandoDaily explains, “unlike other food delivery businesses, Fresh Nation is actually incredibly capital efficient. The company doesn’t need to invest in storage or purchase product in advance.” In conjunction with the funding, the company announced it had just launched in its first West Coast metro, the Los Angeles area, and will use the cash infusion to expand to other locations in California.

Announced: 6/03/14  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Lerer Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Launched: June 2013

Dinner Lab Raises $2.1m. The New Orleans-based membership-based supper club produces pop-up dining events and gathers customer feedback from those sessions to inform ideas for new restaurants. According to TechCrunch, Dinner Lab helps local chefs better understand how well their food and concept resonated with guest via an online dashboard that tells them things like how they scored in different areas, how they compare with other chefs in the area, how well they did with the different demographics. Since launching in New Orleans, Dinner Lab has expanded to nine other cities, including San Francisco, L.A., New York, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., Miami, Chicago, Nashville and Austin. According to The Times Picayune, the company will use the funds to help it expand its operation into more cities and grow the data team to gather more market data for the food industry.

Announced: 6/03/14  Stage: Seed  Participating Investors: Dr. John B. Elstrott (Chairman of Whole Foods), angels  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2011

Brightfarms Raises Additional $2.4m. The New York-based urban agriculture company develops hydroponic greenhouse farms at urban supermarkets and grocery retailers. In addition to growing local produce nationwide, the company also finances, builds and operates local greenhouse farms, eliminating time, distance and costs from the food supply chain. The company signs long-term purchase agreements with supermarkets that feature fixed prices and minimum volume commitments. The round, which now amounts to $7.4m, will enable the company to build commercial-scale greenhouses to meet the increasing demand from the supermarket industry for locally grown produce. As part of the financing, Gregory Oberholtzer will join the Board of Directors at BrightFarms.

Announced: 6/03/14  Stage: Series B extension  Participating Institutional Investors: WP Global Partners, Emil Capital, NGEN Partners  Previous Investment: $4.9m Series B, $4.3m Series A Founded: January 2011

PARTNERSHIPS

Ibotta partners with Constellation Brands, Mike’s Hard Lemonade Co. and VEEV to drive sales using cash rebates. Customers will be able to use the Ibotta app to purchase both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks from a range of retail outlets including BevMo, Specs, and even select local liquor stores. The partnership will help the brands drive customer engagement, reward loyal customers, and increase sales via mobile cash rebates.

EatStreet Partners with Yelp to bring online ordering to more of Yelp’s restaurants and their customers. Customers can now order food directly from many more restaurant pages on Yelp, through EatStreet’s integration into the Yelp platform.

Time Inc.’s online food portal MyRecipes.com utilizing Roku partnership to launch a streaming channel. The MyRecipes channel on Roku is the first in a new distribution partnership between Time Inc. and Roku that was announced in May, and will feature 250+ videos across 12 categories.

aisle411 and Google partner to launch 3D-mapped shopping solution. Through a partnership with Google’s Project Tango, the in-store mobile marketing firm is prepping to launch an in-store solution that enhances the shopping experience through fully interactive 3D maps. A device will be able to determine what section a consumer is shopping in, even what side of the aisle and which products a shopper is browsing at any given time.

INDUSTRY LANDSCAPE

As The Food Tech & Media ecosystem continues to see rapid change, Rosenheim Advisors created The Food Tech & Media Industry Map to help entrepreneurs, participants and investors understand this quickly evolving landscape.

Let us know about your recent or upcoming funding, partnerships or acquisitions here.

Check out the 2013 Annual Report and last month’s round-up.

Would you be interested in a round-up of agriculture-related funding, partnerships and acquisitions? Let us know in the comments below.

The post Food Tech Media Startup Funding, M&A and Partnerships: June 2014 appeared first on Food + Tech Connect.

This monthly column highlights the most interesting acquisitions, financings and partnerships within the Food Tech & Media ecosystem – digital content, social, local, mobile, grocery, e-commerce, delivery, ordering, payments, marketing and analytics – to give you insights into the latest funding and growth trends.

With six acquisitions and eight financings, August was slightly less active than the previous month, bringing almost $510 million into the food tech & media ecosystem (versus $740m in July). There was a strong international presence in August with over half of the deals coming from companies headquartered outside the U.S., and a prominence of both restaurant-related technologies as well as subscription commerce companies.

Mobile payments have bubbled up to become a hot topic of discussion again (especially with the anticipated launch of Apple Pay). A common criticism of mobile payments is that they are solving a problem that consumers don’t have, as pulling out your credit card isn’t actually considered much of a hassle. However the restaurant industry is unique in that mobile payments have the ability to actually speed up the experience (whether for takeout, dine in or delivery), thus creating perceivable value to consumers.

Thus, in addition to restaurant industry incumbents, the broader industry has taken notice, and is flocking to restaurants as the first frontier of changing the mobile consumer’s payment behavior. Amazon.com has been working on a tablet-based checkout and card-reading system that could be used in restaurants, and even McDonald’s is getting in the game, with a new NFC-enabled mobile payment and ordering app. Paypal, Square, Groupon, Apple, OpenTable… the list goes on, and that doesn’t count the dozens of startups in this space. Mobile in general is still in a nascent stage as it relates to the restaurant industry, but 2015 will likely be a formative year in establishing a new level of traction, especially among the mobile-first millennial.

M&A

Zomato Acquires Two European Food Guides. After its first acquisition last month, the India-based restaurant search and review site acquired Czech Republic’s Lunchtime.cz and Slovakia’s Obedovat.sk. According to Tech in Asia, Europe will be one of Zomato’s key focus areas in the coming 12 months, and the company will expand further in the region.

Announced: 08/22/14 Terms: $3.25m (for both companies) Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: Lunchtime: 2008; Obedovat: 2004

Innovative Food Holdings Acquires The Fresh Diet. The Miami-based daily meal delivery service utilizes its same-day and next-day last mile food delivery capabilities to deliver freshly prepared specialty meals nationwide. The acquisition will allow Innovative Food Holdings (OTCQB: IVFH), which is a nationwide provider and distributor of specialty foods to the professional foodservice market, to expand its direct-to-consumer platform and market presence. The combined platform will create a unique network of both B2C and B2B (restaurant/hospitality) distribution for specialty food producers and farmers, positioning Innovative Food Holdings as leading on-demand delivery player with significant cost-efficient last-mile capabilities.

Announced: 08/20/14 Terms: Approx $13m, plus assumed debt (10m shares, using trailing 20 day average stock price of $1.30) Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: November 2005

Delivery Hero buys rival Pizza.de. Germany-based Delivery Hero has acquired Pizza.de, a Germany-based online food ordering platform and former longstanding competitor of Delivery Hero. The acquisition enables the company consolidate its position in its home market before turning its sights abroad, with an expected focus on expanding to Asia and Latin America. According to TechCrunch, Delivery Hero aims to be IPO-ready within the next year.

Announced: 08/14/14 Terms: Approx $400m Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2007

OpenTable Acquires Copilot. The San Francisco-based restaurant sales analytics company utilizes historical POS data to help restaurants track the effectiveness of promotions, business relative to other restaurants, the cost of an empty seat, and other performance analyses. The service, which was in beta in Los Angeles and San Francisco, will continue to operate under the OpenTable umbrella, and in the announcement it was noted that OpenTable will begin offering the free service to its restaurant customers in other markets in the near future.

Announced: 08/01/14 Terms: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: $2.9m Founded: 2010

Swagbucks Acquires SodaHead. The Encino, CA-based web polling company includes its website and native mobile apps, as well as its Pollware distributed native polling ad product, will help Swagbucks, a consumer rewards platform, gather deeper consumer data points and increase user acquisition. PandoDaily reports that the acquisition began initially as a business development discussion, but as the discussions progressed, “it became obvious to all involved that the best outcome for both parties was for the two companies to join forces permanently.” According to the release, this roll-up is the “first of a series of competitive market initiatives Prodege (the parent company of Swagbucks) plans to pursue in the coming months”, so perhaps there will be more acquisitions on the horizon.

Announced: 07/31/14 Terms: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: $12.7m Founded: March 2007

FUNDING

TinyOwl raises $3m. Mumbai-based Location-based food ordering startup asserts that its app can detect the users’ locations and show restaurants in their vicinity, suggest exclusive orders and deals to customers, and saves their address and card details securely so that they can save time while placing orders again.

Announced: 08/22/14 Stage: Series A Participating Institutional Investors: Sequoia Capital, Nexus Venture Partners Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2012

OrderUp Raisse $7m. The Baltimore, MD-based online and mobile food ordering and delivery service is currently available in 35 markets throughout the U.S., and provides franchising opportunities in select towns. The company, which specifically focuses on serving smaller urban centers, intends to use the funds for national growth and development of its delivery technology and services, and will also open two offices in New York City and Boulder, CO to build out their development and marketing teams.

Announced: 08/20/14 Stage: Series A Participating Institutional Investors: Revolution Ventures Previous Investment: $1.0 million Founded: September 2009

Try the World Raises $700k.The New York-based global specialty food subscription box has shipped boxes with FDA-approved packaged products from France, Japan, Brazil, Italy, Turkey, India, and more. The boxes can be purchased via subscription for every other month, or individually. According to Fortune, the company works with foreign brands to get deep discounts on the items included in the boxes, since many foreign food brands are seeking to grow in the U.S. Fortune also reports the funding will be used to expand its offerings, invest in marketing, and build an online marketplace, where customers can directly purchase items from the monthly boxes.

Announced: 08/20/14 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: Angels, Eugene Lang Entrepreneurship Fund Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: May 2013

foodpanda Raises $60m. Six months after raising $20m, and two months after acquiring Delivery Club, The Berlin-based food delivery company which was created by Berlin-based Rocket Internet forges ahead in the global race to dominate the restaurant ordering and delivery market. Its largest coverage area is India, where it partners with 3,500 restaurants across 30 cities, but it is also present in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. The company intends to use the funds to strengthen and expand its position in existing countries.

Announced: 08/11/14 Stage: Series D Participating Institutional Investors: Rocket Internet, Falcon Edge Capital Previous Investment: $48m Founded: 2012

Pact Coffee Raises $3.3m. The London-based subscription-based coffee company delivers whole or freshly ground hand roasted coffee beans which are matched to each customer’s brew method. According to TechCrunch, the new investment will be used to accelerate growth, as well as growing the startup’s team from 30 to 50 in the UK.

Announced: 08/11/14 Stage: Series A Participating Institutional Investors: MMC Ventures (lead), Connect Ventures Previous Investment: $0.8 million Founded: September 2012

Plated Raises $15m. The New York-based subscription service for ready-to-cook meal ingredients and recipes. Plated positionis itself as offering its customers greater variety on the menu and greater ordering flexibility than its competitors. Of note, according to the Wall Street Journal the company was careful not to take on too much capital, stating “We made a conscious decision after seeing some other New York-based e-commerce companies raise too much money early in their life cycles, to be more conservative.” During the month, the company also announced a partnership with Time Inc. to serve recipes created by Real Simple, Cooking Light.

Announced: 08/08/14 Stage: Venture Round Participating Institutional Investors: Greycroft (lead), Slow Ventures, Kite Ventures, Great Oaks Venture Capital, Lerer Ventures, ff Venture Capital, Formation 8, Previous Investment: $6.4 million Founded: January 2012

Provender Raises $800K. The Montreal-based online marketplace allows chefs and grocers to buy directly from local farms. Provender aggregates products into a calendar for restaurateurs to browse and buy from. They use structured data-driven updates from their farmers to facilitate in-ground inventory management. According to BetaKit Provender is preparing for an entrance to the Boston market, while this fall or winter it will likely launch in either Vancouver or San Francisco.

Announced: 08/07/14 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: Real Ventures, Business Development Bank of Canada, Freshii Previous Investment: $300k Founded: April 2013

Settle Raises $1.5. The Ukraine-based mobile payment service for restaurant-goers. The app, which launched in August, lets restaurant/bar customers order, settle the tab, and tip from their phone. It connects with the user’s bank card but doesn’t store that information, and charges a commission on each bill.

Announced: 08/01/14 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: Life.SREDA Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: July 2014

PARTNERSHIPS

Time Inc. Partners with Plated to serve recipes created by Real Simple, Cooking Light. Real Simple will kick off a test run with Plated based on the “Month of Dinners” feature in its September issue, just in time for the back-to-school season. And In December, Plated will begin offering meal kits based on recipes from the “Start Your Year Off Light” feature in Cooking Light’s January/February 2015 issue.

Uber Partners with Starbucks, OpenTable and More as it Opens API to All Developers. Partners each introduced updated versions of their mobile apps, each with a button to hail an Uber ride. The moves are part of Uber’s strategy to become more ubiquitous in the software on people’s smartphones and geographically.

Kitchensurfing Partnered with Uber to offer On-Demand Chefs in the Hamptons. The partnership, called UberCHEF, provided on-demand professional chefs who were dropped at customer’s homes to prepare a gourmet meal inspired by grilled summer favorites.

Epicurious Partners with Swirl Networks to Bring Beacon-Powered Mobile Experiences to In-Store Shoppers. Rather than food or grocery locations like the partnership epicurious formed with inMarket, Swirl beacons installed in retail shopping locations will be used to trigger delivery of value-added lifestyle content and personalized offers to Epicurious mobile app users.

Foodily Partners with FreshDirect to Launch Popcart, which Allows Customers to Order Ingredients of Recipes. Using a bookmarklet, users can highlight any online recipe and access a pop-up window with the ingredients required, which can then be bundled together and delivered by FreshDirect. Foodily will operate exclusively with FreshDirect for an undisclosed time period.

Tastemade Partners with Factual to tag Videos with Location Data. Using Factual’s Geopulse Geotag, Tastemade users can tag videos with location data, helping build a global database of restaurants. The partnership will allow consumers to have a curated and geo-specific video guide to restaurants near them.

Urbanspoon Partners with Chefs Feed to Add Top Chef Recommendations to Bolster Mobile Restaurant Search. The integration with Chefs Feed, a dining guide powered by the recommendations of the world’s top chefs, was intended to fortify mobile’s role, and specifically UrbanSpoon’s role, in restaurant searches as an influential path-to-purchase catalyst.

INDUSTRY LANDSCAPE

As The Food Tech & Media ecosystem continues to see rapid change, Rosenheim Advisors created The Food Tech & Media Industry Map to help entrepreneurs, participants and investors understand this quickly evolving landscape. Let us know about your recent or upcoming funding, partnerships or acquisitions here.

Check out the 2013 Annual Report and last month’s round-up.

The post Food Tech Media Startup Funding, M&A and Partnerships: August 2014 appeared first on Food + Tech Connect.

This monthly column highlights the most interesting acquisitions, financings and partnerships within the Food Tech & Media ecosystem – digital content, social, local, mobile, grocery, e-commerce, delivery, ordering, payments, marketing and analytics – to give you insights into the latest funding and growth trends.

Over $800m poured into the food tech ecosystem in September ($517m in eleven equity fundings, and $300m via two acquisitions, with four acquisitions of undisclosed size). As with recent months, there has been a steady increase of later-stage rounds, with close to half of the deals series B or above. The industry has begun to shift, with institutional investors participating more frequently, in larger and later-stage rounds, due to the strongest companies beginning to move beyond simply establishing a scalable model, and pushing further towards expansion and growth.

A noticeable theme, in both the deal activity as well as headlines over the past month, has been centered around the digital grocery experience. From digital coupons and deals, to loyalty and mobile rewards through beacons, to new ordering and delivery formats, there has been a surge in innovation and partnerships aimed at transforming (and further monetizing) the grocery consumer’s experience. Even the USPS has gotten in the game by partnering with AmazonFresh, launching a two-year market test of what it calls “Customized Delivery” to deliver groceries between 3 a.m. and 7 a.m in San Francisco. Over the years, many companies attempting to digitize the weekly grocery ritual have come and gone, however as we have seen in wider tech sector, timing is everything. And perhaps the time is now.

M&A

SK planet (SK Telecom) Acquires Shopkick. The Redwood City, CA beacon-based loyalty app gives users points, or kicks, for entering a store or scanning a barcode while using the app. The app has 8 million active users along with deals with 20 retailers and 200 brands, including a number of CPG brands such as Procter & Gamble, Mondelez, Unilever, and Pepsi. SK Telecom (South Korea’s largest mobile carrier), and its subsidiary SK planet (a multinational mobile platform and shopper rewards program) will use the acquisition to capture a larger piece of the growing U.S. mobile commerce and location-based shopping market.

Announced: 09/27/14 Terms: $200m (cash) Previous Investment: $20.1m Founded: June 2009

Zomato Acquires Gastronauci. In its fourth acquisition in three months, Zomato continued to expand its foothold in the multilingual European market with the acquisition of the Poland-based restaurant discovery website and mobile app, which helps users look for places to dine out or order in from a database of over 26,000 restaurants across Poland. Zomato has been aggressively expanding its global presence through acquisitions over the past two quarters, as the company stated it prefers to “acquire and partner with a dominant local player” rather than competing with them. Zomato and Gastronauci will work on rolling out an integrated product in the coming months.

Announced: 9/23/14 Terms: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2007

PAR Technology Acquires Brink Software. The San Diego-based cloud-based restaurant POS software provider will enable Par (NYSE: PAR), a provider of integrated technology solutions to the hospitality industry, to expand market reach and invest in further solutions for the restaurant market. With the acquisition, Brink’s offerings, which include integrated features such as loyalty, mobile online ordering, kitchen video system, guest surveys, enterprise reporting, and a mobile dashboard, will now be backed by PAR’s hardware, services, worldwide infrastructure and resources.

Announced: 09/19/14 Terms: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: January 2008

Just Eat Creates Joint Venture to Merge its Brazil operations with iFood. Just Eat, a publically traded UK-based online food ordering company, said that it would transfer 100% of the shares of Just Eat Brazil Servicos Online, which trades as RestauranteWeb, to iFood (owned by the mobile company Movile in São Paulo). Just Eat will also provide $5.7 million to help finance the joint venture, which will operate under the iFood brand. After the transaction, Movile will own 50% of the joint venture, Just Eat will own 25%, and iFood’s original founders will own the remaining portion. According to the release, the value of the gross assets of RestauranteWeb as at 30 June 2014 was $2.1m.

Announced: 09/19/14 Terms: Not Disclosed

Catalina Acquires Cellfire. The San Jose, CA-based provider of load-to-card digital coupons will expand Catalina’s brand offerings and help build out its mobile loyalty programs. Cellfire is a website and mobile app that helps companies deliver CPG coupons and other offers to consumers, automatically loading customers’ loyalty savings cards, while driving and measuring in-store purchases. With the acquisition, Catalina expects to have the largest pool of load-to-card content, or coupons that are stored to loyalty cards. “For Catalina, it’s an omni-channel offering that brings value to retailers, brands and consumers,” Todd Morris, president of Catalina’s U.S. business, told Progressive Grocer. “It’s a robust solution at scale that meets where the consumer is going, is a mobile and online solution for retailers, and gives CPGs the ability to reach the mobile shopper.” Cellfire will operate under the Catalina umbrella, retaining its name, all full-time employees and its Silicon Valley headquarters.

Announced: 09/5/14 Terms: $100.0m (cash and debt) Previous Investment: $26.0m Founded: 2005

Inmar Acquires Millennium Process Coupon. The New Brunswick, Canada-based coupon clearing and redemption firm will position Inmar to “extend its digital and traditional coupon, data analytics and shopper engagement solutions to MPC’s promotion clients and the Canadian marketplace.” The acquisition brings together two firms that are leaders in retail technology. According to its website, Millennium is involved in the redemption of about $100 million of coupons annually and has processed more than 65 million coupons, as well as handling high volumes of rebates. It’s responsible for handling 80% of all coupon redemptions in Canada.

Announced: 09/03/14 Terms: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: Leveraged buyout by Gores Group (purchase amount not disclosed) Founded: January 2013 (assets acquired to form new company)

FUNDING

Food52 Raises $6m. The New York-based crowd-sourced cooking site plans to use the funds to expand operations and hires. According to AlleyWatch, the team plans to focus efforts on a new mobile experience for Food52 users, increased video and home-related content, and more events, and according to Crain’s even branching out into new areas of coverage, like design and travel. Currently two-thirds of Food52’s revenue comes from e-commerce sales, and the other third from advertising.

Announced: 9/30/14 Stage: Series A-1 Participating Institutional Investors: 14W (lead), BDMI, Walden Venture Capital, Scripps Networks Interactive, Vocap Investment Partners, Vayner RSE Previous Investment: $2.8 million Founded: January 2009

Favor Raises $2m. The Austin-based on-demand food delivery app allows users to get products delivered from local stores or restaurants. According to the company, proprietary algorithms forecast supply and demand, prevent delivery errors and dispatch deliveries to the best available assistant, taking into account variables such as food preparation time and different types of deliveries. The company intends to use the funds to continue to expand nationwide.

Announced: 09/23/14 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: Silverton Partners, Tim Draper Previous Investment: $1.9 million Founded: April 2012

FiveStars Raises $26m. The San Francisco-based loyalty company provides an app for users to gain rewards from their favorite restaurants, while also providing a platform for those businesses to track their customers’ behavior and learn about their clientele. The company intends to use the funds to expand its team and add new features to its platform. According to the CEO, the raise was “less that we needed to raise a lot of cash and more that we were able to.” In terms of growth and new features he further explains to TechCrunch, “There’s a lot we have earmarked for expansion so that we can build a critical mass network so you can be identified and treated personally everywhere you go.”

Announced: 09/25/14 Stage: Series B Participating Institutional Investors: Menlo Ventures, Rogers Communications Inc., DCM, Lightspeed Venture Partners Previous Investment: $16.7 million Founded: January 2011

E la Carte Raises $35m. The Redwood City-based developer of Presto tableside tablets for restaurants, allows diners to split checks, peruse menus, place orders, make payments and play games from their seats. According to TechCrunch, the company also opened its application programming interface to outside developers earlier this year, and has an ecosystem of companies designing apps for its tablets. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate continued growth and to expand hiring for product development and sales.

Announced: 09/24/14 Stage: Series C Participating Institutional Investors: TriplePoint Capital, Sam Altman, Romulus Capital, Intel Capital Previous Investment: $17.5 million Founded: January 2009

ClubW Raises $9.5m. The Los Angeles-based online wine seller offers exclusive bottles of wine directly to consumers, who choose three or more bottles a month via Club W’s recommendation engine a la carte. The company’s wine inventory is created by noteworthy winemakers who develop blends for Club W exclusively, resulting in a private label-type offering. The company intends to use the funds for product development, further integration of its supply chain and expansion of marketing initiatives.

Announced: 09/22/14 Stage: Series A Participating Institutional Investors: Bessemer Venture Partners Previous Investment: $3.6 million Founded: August 2011

EatWith Raises $8m. The San Francisco-based social dining network offers local dining experiences in people’s homes. The service enables travelers all over the world (more than 30 countries and 160 cities worldwide) to meet locals, experience their culture firsthand and try homemade food. With the funding, EatWith will focus on growth, building on its presence in major metros around the world (e.g. Barcelona, Rome, Paris, New York) and fueling expansion in San Francisco.

Announced: 09/18/14 Stage: Series A Participating Institutional Investors: Greylock Partners (lead), Genesis Partners Previous Investment: $1.2 million Founded: February 2012

HowGood Raises $2m. The New York-based in-store grocery rating system identifies industry leaders in the food system. As an independent research organization, the company determines the overall quality of food based on criteria ranging from ingredient sourcing to labor practices and awards ratings to the best products, enabling consumers to make informed purchasing decisions. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate the growth of its products into retail markets across the U.S., and fund additional innovations.

Announced: 09/17/14 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: FirstMark Capital, Highline Ventures, Serious Change, Great Oaks Venture Capital Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2006

Gousto Raises $8.3m. The London-based subscription meal kit delivery service provides chef-developed recipes and organic ingredients in exact proportions. The company intends to use the funds for product development and innovation, and further improve the customer experience.

Announced: 09/17/14 Stage: Series A Participating Institutional Investors: MMC Ventures, Unilever Ventures Previous Investment: $3.4 million Founded: June 2012

Daojia raises $50m. The Shanghai, China-based online food ordering and delivery service provider plans to put the funds toward its target of operating in 20 to 30 cities in China by next year, and to upgrade its core restaurant delivery services. The company, which primarily focuses on restaurant food delivery, has nearly one million registered customers in eight major cities in China who make orders takes through apps, website and call centers. Notably, strategic investor JD (Jingdong, NASDAQ:JD) is an ecommerce firm that’s Alibaba’s biggest rival in China.

Announced: 09/16/14 Stage: Series D Participating Institutional Investors: Jingdong, CDH Investments, Morningside Group, MacQuarie Capital Funds Previous Investment: $17.0 million Founded: April 2010

Good Eggs Raises $21m. The San Francisco-based local grocery delivery startup partners with farmers and foodmakers to create an online marketplace where people can buy high-quality, sustainable food from producers in their community. Currently available in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, New Orleans and Brooklyn, Good Eggs will reportedly use the funds to aid its expansion into new markets.

Announced: 09/08/14 Stage: Series B Participating Institutional Investors: Index Ventures Previous Investment: $10.5 million Founded: July 2011

Delivery Hero Raises $350m. Two weeks after reaching a $1 billion valuation, upon announcing that it had acquired local rival Pizza.de, the Berlin-based online food ordering and delivery site took in a significant cash infusion. As TechCrunch notes, the new funding will also help Delivery Hero stave off any immediate need to raise money through the public markets right away, however the company still aims to be IPO-ready within the next year. The company intends to use the funds to grow in its existing markets, including the UK and Germany, and to further accelerate international expansion.

Announced: 09/03/14 Stage: Series G Participating Institutional Investors: Vostok Nafta Investment, Kite Ventures, Insight Venture Partners Previous Investment: $306.7 million Founded: September 2010

PARTNERSHIPS

Apple partners with health and wellness apps to connect to HealthKit. Apple’s HealthKit platform, which feeds health and wellness data from third party devices and apps into its consumer-facing app, called Health partnered with a number of leading health and fitness apps including Jawbone, MyFitnessPal, WebMD and Yummly, which allows users to send nutrition information from recipes that they made or consumed directly to the app.

AmazonFresh partners with USPS to deliver groceries in San Francisco. Amazon.com and the U.S. Postal Service, already partners in Sunday deliveries, launched a trial to shuttle insulated containers of meat, dairy, produce, and other groceries to San Francisco customers’ doorsteps. The test could presage a broader national rollout, giving Amazon’s grocery drop-off service a much wider reach.

AgLocal Partners With AmazonFresh To Provide On-Demand Meat Delivery. The new partnership will expand AgLocal’s delivery options from monthly subscription to on-demand.

Instacart partners with Whole Foods to add same day delivery. The partnership will add new dedicated Instacart shoppers within the Whole Foods’ stores, which will speed up delivery, and also allow for a pick-up model, in which customers can come to the store to get their groceries after an Instacart worker completes their shopping. The service will start in Boston and Austin before rolling out to other participating cities.

Instacart partners with FarmsReach to delivers from farmer’s markets. Instacart is introducing delivery from farmer’s markets in San Francisco’s East Bay through a partnership with FarmsReach, an organization that connects small farms with restaurants and distributors.

Ibotta and Roximity partner to transform the U.S. shopping experience through iBeacon technology. The partnership will enhance Ibotta’s ability to engage millions of shoppers, through ROXIMITY’s detailed and relevant information about leading consumer products and rebates available to them in their favorite stores, while they shop.

Beanstalk Data announces strategic partnership with Olo. The partnership will integrate Beanstalk’s CRM Marketing Master with Olo’s digital ordering platform.

GrubHub partners with YP to integrate ordering into restaurant listings. The partnership will allow consumers to order food through the YP search directory on mobile and desktop.

INDUSTRY LANDSCAPE

As The Food Tech & Media ecosystem continues to see rapid change, Rosenheim Advisors created The Food Tech & Media Industry Map to help entrepreneurs, participants and investors understand this quickly evolving landscape. Let us know about your recent or upcoming funding, partnerships or acquisitions here.

Check out the 2013 Annual Report and last month’s round-up.

The post Food Tech Media Startup Funding, M&A and Partnerships: September 2014 appeared first on Food + Tech Connect.

Every week we curate and deliver the latest food tech news, trends and startup resources to our readers’ inboxes. Tracking the top technology and innovation happenings across agriculture, CPG, retail, restaurants, cooking and health, our newsletter is the absolute easiest way to stay on top of the emerging sector.

From Kitchit’s 3 rules for building a successful food startup to an inside look at the supermarket of the future, these are last week’s top food tech news and innovation stories. Like what you read? Feast your eyes on the full roundup here. Or better yet, sign up for Food+Tech Bytes and get the latest and greatest in food tech delivered to your inbox every week.

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1. 2015 Food Trends: Grocery Delivery Explodes, Gadgets Enable Transparency + More

On-demand grocery, Gen Z foodies, health-focused hardware & much more. Here’s what to expect from food next year.

2. Kitchit’s 3 Rules for Building a Successful Food Startup

From working smarter to never compromising your vision even while fundraising, Kitchit co-founder Brendan Marshall shares his greatest food startup lessons.

3. Did a Major New Investor Just Find the Future of Food Startups? – Eater

The inaugural class of the FOOD-X business accelerator program include websites, apps, and delivery services.

4. How We Will Buy Food in 2065 – Edible Brooklyn

Edible Brooklyn talks with Mike Lee of Studio Industries about its new project The Future Market, the grocery store of the future.

5. Hampton Creek Plans For World Food Tech Domination With $90 Million In Series C Funding – TechCrunch

The funding came from Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, Braintree founder Bryan Johnson and more. It will put the funds towards building out its plant database, a new office space and R&D.

6. In a Surprising Move, This Major Fast-Food Chain Will Start Selling Grass-Fed Burgers – TakePart

Carl’s Jr. will roll out the menu item at 1,150 locations on Dec. 17, but it might be too good to be true.

7. FarmLogs Lands $10M Series B to Help Manage Farms – AgFunder

Investors in this round included Y-Combinator Chief Sam Altman and previous investors Hyde Park, Huron River, and Drive Capital. FarmLogs plans to use the proceeds to invest in product development and expand its team.

8. Sean Parker Gives $24 Million to Stanford to Study Food Allergies – re/code

Researches are looking for new ways to treat severe food allergies in children and adults with the goal of developing a cure.

The post 2015 Food Trends, Hampton Creek Raises $90M + More appeared first on Food + Tech Connect.

This monthly column highlights the most interesting acquisitions, financings and partnerships within the Food Tech & Media ecosystem – digital content, social, local, mobile, grocery, e-commerce, delivery, ordering, payments, marketing and analytics – to give you insights into the latest funding and growth trends.

November saw a lot of international investment into the food tech space with almost half of the funding flowing to other continents (both in terms of deal and dollar volume) and ten of the twelve M&A deals occurring abroad (albeit nine of those deals were concentrated between two acquirers). Overall, more than $260 million was invested into the food tech and media ecosystem in November, with a heavy leaning towards ordering and delivery (particularly in the restaurant space).

The trend of traditional food brands and companies expanding their technology footprint continued to make headlines throughout the month, with Walmart adding product search to the in-store experience (with real-time inventory location and availability) and Domino’s announcing that company’s biggest single department is IT (beyond ordering and tracking pizzas, customers can now order a pizza from inside the control panel of the Ford Sync in-car entertainment system). Brands (even non-food brands) are increasingly using food imagery on Instagram as part of their marketing endeavors, and inMarket says its beacon platform now reaches 18% Of US mobile shoppers in brick & mortar stores – with many of them in food and grocery establishments.

On the other side of that coin is Amazon, which is attempting to disrupt a number of established food-related sectors, including private label food and private label ethical lifestyle products (putting pressure on traditional CPG players), a new food takeout and delivery service (a la GrubHub), and even testing new distribution models to explore alternative delivery providers like taxis.

While Amazon appears to have a significant number of irons in the fire in terms of food-related initiatives, out of all these areas it is currently seeing most of its new competition on the grocery front, with even peripheral players like Uber deciding to expand its grocery pilot (renaming it UberEssentials). I expect the convenience economy will experience some significant consolidation over the next couple of years, however the rise in incumbents – both traditional and digital – focusing on this space will perhaps create additional exit paths for the variety of startups that will ultimately require a larger platform to survive.

M&A

Love With Food Acquires G-Free Foodie. The Fresno, CA-based gluten free subscription box company will add a new focus for Love With Food as it can now cater to gluten-free and gluten intolerant consumers. Additionally, the company will now provide cooking lessons and tips on Love With Food’s YouTube Channel and host Twitter parties to answer G-Free questions.

Announced: 11/21/14 Terms: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: January 2010

Merkle Acquires 500friends. The San Francisco-based startup’s cloud-based loyalty platform allows businesses to run customer loyalty programs in stores, online, and on mobile while also identifying the most valuable customers. Customers include internet retailers and brands, including Omaha Steaks. As 500friends’ largest channel partner, Merkle, a customer relationship marketing (CRM) firm, was approached as a strategic investor for the startup’s Series C round, however those talks instead led to acquisition discussions. The entire team will be joining Merkle, which will now have the leeway to focus more deeply on building out product features.

Announced: 11/18/14 Terms: “Tens of millions” Previous Investment: $12.9m Founded: 2010

Foodpanda/hellofood Acquires TastyKhana, PedidosYa, SeMeAntoja and Superantojo from Delivery Hero. Delivery Hero Acquires hellofood businesses in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. The global online food delivery marketplaces foodpanda/hellofood and Delivery Hero announced a series of separate acquisition deals which enable both companies to optimize their international growth strategy. As TechCrunch points out, this indicates that although the two companies are expanding rapidly, they are maintaining friendly competition as they focus on consolidation in different markets rather than competing in the same ones. For Delivery Hero, the company asserts that Latin America holds a central role in their long-term strategy, while foodpanda/hellofood is looking to extend its leadership in India and Mexico as it continues to concentrate on its core markets in Southeast Asia, Russia, and Brazil.

Announced: 11/17/14 Terms: Not Disclosed

DineIn.co.uk Acquires MyDeliveryCab. The acquisition of the London-based specialty delivery service expands DineIn.co.uk’s delivery driver base, as well as delivery service to include 60 new restaurants across eight new boroughs within SW London. Similar to Caviar, or Fluc, the company powers its own logistic tech and fleet of drivers.

Announced: 11/13/14 Terms: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2012

FUNDING

Baedal Minjok (Woowa Brothers Corp) Raises $36m. The Seoul, South Korea-based online restaurant ordering and delivery app processed about 4 million food-delivery orders from 145,000 registered restaurants in October 2014, with about 99% of all transactions in South Korea on a mobile phone, according to the Wall Street Journal. The new funds will help the company expand internationally and develop new technology.

Announced: 11/26/14 Stage: Series D Participating Institutional Investors: Goldman Sachs (lead), undisclosed investors Previous Investment: $14.1 million Founded: June 2010

Qraved Raises $1.3m. The Indonesia-based restaurant booking platform offers discounts for reservations made on its online platform, and provides back-end technology for restaurant partners to manage bookings and build guest profiles online. Previous investors include 500 Startups, and the new funding will go towards accelerating expansion, with a launch in Bali next, as well as product development.

Announced: 11/26/14 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: M & Y Growth Partners, Convergence Accel Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: January 2013

Applause Raises $765K. The Palo Alto-based food and activity tracking app combines standard tracker tools with virtual support groups that offer feedback and encouragement. According to TechCrunch, a future update will include a meal finder feature that leverages menu data from Locu (acquired by GoDaddy in 2013) to help track favorite meals and their nutritional impact from local restaurants.

Announced: 11/26/14 Stage: Seed Participating Investors: Marc Benioff Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: July 2014

Feastly Raises $1.25m. The San Francisco-based marketplace for dining experiences connects home cooks and cooking professionals to users looking for in-home meals, catered parties and cooking classes. According to TechCrunch, Feastly recently hired Leigh Goldstein as its chief operating officer, who was most recently CEO at sports startup Exiles, and was previously director of product at StubHub and director of global shipping at eBay.

Announced: 11/25/14 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: The Westly Group Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2012

Fluc Raises $2.3m. The Los Altos, CA-based delivery startup offers restaurant delivery via its curated restaurant marketplace (which includes a markup on menu items) and third-party delivery team. According to TechCrunch, the company’s key differentiator “isn’t in the restaurants it signs up or the food it delivers, necessarily, but in the routing that it’s built on the back end, which makes more efficient use of its drivers.” The new funding will be used to expand Fluc into new markets.

Announced: 11/24/14 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: Sherpa Ventures, WI Harper Group Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: July 2013

Marley Spoon Raises $4.8m. The Berlin-based curated recipe kit service offers meals developed by professional chefs, and is currently available in the U.K., the Netherlands and Germany. The company intends to use the funds to continue to grow internationally.

Announced: 11/19/14 Stage: Series A Participating Institutional Investors: Point Nine Capital, Global Founders Capital Previous Investment: $1.5 million Founded: April 2014

Zomato Raises $60m. The India-based restaurant search and discovery app lets users see detailed restaurant info, scan menus, follow food critics and create personal food diaries, and is available in 121 cities across 15 countries. Zomato recently acquired MenuMania in New Zealand, Lunchtime in Czech Republic and Obedovat in Slovakia and Gastronauci in Poland. The financing will be used to “go after some key strategic acquisitions which will help strengthen market share across various countries,” according to TechCrunch.

Announced: 11/18/14 Stage: Series E Valuation: $660 million Participating Institutional Investors: Info Edge (lead), VY Capital (lead), Sequoia Capital Previous Investment: $53.8 million Founded: August 2008

Alfred Raises $2m. The New York-based convenience economy startup provides errands and household services such as grocery shopping, laundry, home cleaning, and more. The service – which is not related to the local recommendation service named Alfred, which was acquired by, then shut down by, Google – is currently available in Boston and Manhattan on an invite-only basis. Capital from its funding will be used for hiring, expansion to new cities and the on-boarding of people on its wait list.

Announced: 11/17/14 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: Spark Capital, CrunchFund, SV Angel Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: September 2013

Revel Systems Raises (up to) $100m. The San Francisco-based iPad-based point-of-sale system for grocery, retail and restaurant establishments includes front-end order entry, cash register and payment processing, plus a full suite of back-end products. Revel will use the funds to support partnerships (including the recently announced partnership with Intuit), as well as grow operations, expand overseas, and according to Bloomberg, will be targeting an eventual initial public offering. Dan Primack at Fortune reported that part of the raise was used to cash out venture firm DCM, as CEO Lisa Falzone stated they “just had different points of view of where to take the business.” The round includes an upfront $65 million investment from WCAS, plus $10 million from unnamed strategic investors and another $25 million equity line from WCAS. Also according to Fortune, Revel opted for the additional equity line, rather than the full $25 million as part of the initial raise, in order to maintain dilution flexibility.

Announced: 11/11/14 Stage: Series C Valuation: $450 million Participating Institutional Investors: Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe Previous Investment: $13.8 million Founded: September 2010

Yes, I Deliver Raises $13.1m. The Shanghai-based food delivery app provides food delivery services via its mobile apps and online platforms. It claims to have over 200,000 users, and more than 5,000 cooperating restaurants.

Announced: 11/11/14 Stage: Series A Participating Institutional Investors: Xiaomi Inc., Shenzhen Capital Group Co. (SCGC) Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: December 2013

Door to Door Organics Raises $25.5m. Lafayette, CO-based provider of home and office delivery of organic foods currently operates in 30 cities in 11 regional markets, and has more than 200 local farming partners. The company will use the funding to continue to grow and accelerate its expansion into additional markets.

Announced: 11/10/14 Stage: Series B Participating Institutional Investors: Arlon Group (lead), Greenmont Capital Previous Investment: $3.25 million Founded: January 2007

Cortilia Raises $1.9m. The Milan, Italy-based online agricultural marketplace that provides a subscription service for customers to receive fresh local produce. According to Silicon Republic, the company has annual revenues of more than €2m, and is planning to further develop its web platform to seize opportunities linked to food e-commerce and mobile commerce. The funding will be used to expand its market presence in Italy, invest in R&D, hire new talent and extend its product range.

Announced: 11/05/14 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: Programma 101 Previous Investment: $1.3 million Founded: January 2011

Maple raises $4m. The New York-based delivery service of chef-inspired meals aims to sell meals for less than $15, including taxes and delivery fees, and hopes to be able to get meals to customers in fewer than 15 minutes. With chef David Chang as the chief culinary officer of the venture (as well as an investor), the food and recipes will be proprietary to Maple. The company plans to launch in 2015.

Announced: 11/05/14 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: Thrive Capital (lead), 14W, Bessemer Venture Partners, High Peaks Venture Partners, Aspiration Growth Fund Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2014

Thanx Raises $4.7m. The San Francisco-based loyalty solution provider for restaurants and retailers provides software that enables merchants to identify, engage and retain their best customers. Through its platform, customers automatically receive personalized rewards via real-time notifications to their mobile devices, eliminating hassles brought on by loyalty cards or check-ins. Along with the fundraise, the company also announced direct relationships with MasterCard and Visa. The company intends to use the new capital to expand its suite of automated retention marketing tools, and grow its engineering and sales teams.

Announced: 11/04/14 Stage: Series A Participating Institutional Investors: Sequoia Capital Previous Investment: $1.3 million Founded: January 2012

CheckoutSmart Raises $2.4m. The London-based grocery coupon app delivers cashback offers for groceries that can then be redeemed once the user purchases the product, and takes a photo of the receipt (similar to Ibotta and Snap). Currently the CheckoutSmart apps are available only for UK consumers. The investor roster is noteworthy, given their experience in the retail/rewards space.

Announced: 11/04/14 Stage: Seed Participating Investors: Paul Nikkel (Quidco), Chris Whitcombe (Reward Gateway), Glenn Elliott (Reward Gateway), Duncan Jennings (vouchercodes.co.uk) Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: November 2012

PARTNERSHIPS

ChowNow partners with Yelp for online ordering. The online ordering and marketing platform ChowNow now integrates with the Yelp Transaction Platform to allow restaurants to take orders directly from their Yelp business page.

Meals to Heal, The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, and Celgene partner to address nutritional needs faced by pancreatic cancer patients and caregivers. As part of the partnership, Celgene is launching the educational program called “Cooking. Comfort. Care. Nourishment for the Pancreatic Cancer Fight” to provide tips, recipes with variety and flavor provided by Meals to Heal, and resources for people with pancreatic cancer and their caregivers.

HomeAway integrates with Uber, Instacart and Gogobot. HomeAway’s new integrations are intended to to simplify the vacation rental experience by making it easy to find transportation, stock up on groceries, plan local activities and choose restaurants based on recommendations.

Mowingo and Star Micronics partner on mobile solution for legacy POS systems. The partnership creates a mobile analytics solution for merchants and restaurateurs held back by outdated point-of-sale systems.

Google Maps app adds OpenTable restaurant reservations. In addition to providing turn-by-turn directions, business reviews, and photos, the new Maps lets users book a table for dinner without leaving the app. Previously the app offered a link to Open Table, but the new version saves users the step of clicking through to OpenTable’s mobile web site.

Coupons.com partners with Samsung on mobile coupons. The partnership allows Samsung Wallet users to automatically redeem the site’s coupons in brick-and-mortar stores.

Citi, Scripps Networks Interactive and Hearst Magazines partner to create cross-platform marketing relationship. The partnership presents seasonal cooking, entertaining and gifting ideas across Food Network and HGTV digital and magazine properties to support the launch of the Citi Double Cash Card.

INDUSTRY LANDSCAPE

As The Food Tech & Media ecosystem continues to see rapid change, Rosenheim Advisors created The Food Tech & Media Industry Map to help entrepreneurs, participants and investors understand this quickly evolving landscape. Let us know about your recent or upcoming funding, partnerships or acquisitions here.

Check out the 2013 Annual Report and last month’s round-up.

The post Food Tech Media Startup Funding, M&A and Partnerships: November 2014 appeared first on Food + Tech Connect.

This annual report looks at the financing and acquisition trends in the Food Tech & Media ecosystem, which encompasses digital content, social, local, mobile, grocery, e-commerce, delivery, ordering, payments, marketing and analytics.

Over $5.3 Billion of Private Capital Invested from 2012 to 2014

The U.S. food tech and food media industry continued to grow in 2014 with a total of $2.4 billion of private capital invested into the ecosystem – 42% greater than 2013’s $1.7 billion, and twice as much as 2012’s influx of $1.2 billion. Additionally, four food tech and media companies – Grubhub, Coupons.com, Just Eat (LSE), and Everyday Health – entered the public markets in 2014, representing a combined $6.1 billion of market capitalization (at offerings).

Excluding fund raising by the more broadly-focused internet companies Pinterest, Square and Evernote, in 2014 there were 103 U.S. private company investments in this adjusted group, which funneled $1.9 billion into the space, almost doubling the investments of the adjusted group in 2013 (see Footnote (1) in the chart below for further details on the “Adjusted Group”). The Catering Marketplaces and Meal Delivery category was most active, with 13% of the total number of funding events, while the Online Grocery category brought in the most cash with $313.5 million in private funding (excluding the CPG Coupon category, which was boosted by ABRY Partners’ significant investment into Inmar).

Overall, the year rounded out with 43 U.S M&A deals in the sector, versus 46 deals in 2013. Although there were slightly fewer acquisitions in 2014, the acquired companies were better capitalized than their 2013 counterparts, pointing to less straight “acqui-hire” deals in 2014. The average amount of funding before exit increased to $14.2 million in 2014, from $12.7 million in 2013, and median amount of funding before exit increased to $6.3 million, from $3.9 million in 2013.

Source: Rosenheim Advisors.
(1) Adjusted; excludes investment data for: Evernote, Fab.com, Instagram, LivingSocial and Pinterest.
(2) Does not include M&A deals.
Note: Data for U.S.-based companies only, and reflects the sectors found in the Food Tech and Media Industry Map. Investment data does not include any M&A data or public market offerings. Due to new company and funding updates, the 2012 and 2013 data reflected in this chart does not equal the data provided in the 2013 Food Tech Media Funding & Acquisition Trends Report.

Growing Capitalization as the Industry Continues to Evolve

Noticeably, there was a sharp decline in the number of fundraising deals in 2014, dropping from 168 deals in 2013 to 106 deals in 2014. This is in part due to food tech companies (and their business plans) continuing to evolve from thesis-testing and market validation to building a scalable model and expansion, thus attracting a wider variety of institutional firms which are participating more frequently, in larger and later-stage investment rounds. Case in point, in 2014, 39% of private investment deal sizes in this space were $10 million or larger, versus 20%, 18%, and 19% in 2013, 2012, and 2011, respectively.

Source: Rosenheim Advisors.
Note: Data for U.S.-based companies only, and reflects the sectors found in the Food Tech and Media Industry Map. Investment data does not include any M&A data or public market offerings.

This trend was also seen on the M&A front, with a broad set of technology and media incumbents looking to the food vertical to bolster business, ranging from existing industry players (including Kroger, Open Table, Scripps, Trip Advisor, and Yelp) to strategics that previously had little exposure to the food ecosystem. Significant examples of the later include Oracle’s acquisition of Micros Systems and Datalogix, as well as Priceline’s acquisition of OpenTable.

As the sector evolves towards increased institutionalization and consolidation, heavyweights in the tech industry will continue look to food innovators in order to increase market share and layer in new revenue streams and services. This impacts early stage companies as well, as I think the rise in incumbents – both traditional and digital – focusing on this space will likely create additional exit paths for the variety of startups that will ultimately require a larger platform to survive.

Further, while some consolidation has already begun, I think 2015 will be a year of opportunity for established companies looking to expand their geographic empires in this space (as seen by the tremendous international acquisition activity in the restaurant delivery/discovery vertical). For additional thoughts on the upcoming year, check out Street Fight‘s take on the likely priorities of potential acquirers, as well as Food + Tech Connect’s 2015 Food Trends piece.

INDUSTRY LANDSCAPE

As The Food Tech & Media ecosystem continues to see rapid change, Rosenheim Advisors created The Food Tech & Media Industry Map to help entrepreneurs, participants and investors understand this quickly evolving landscape. Let us know about your recent or upcoming funding, partnerships or acquisitions here.

Check out last month’s round-up.

The post 2014 Food Tech Media Funding & Acquisition Trends Report appeared first on Food + Tech Connect.

This monthly column highlights the most interesting acquisitions, financings and partnerships within the Food Tech & Media ecosystem – digital content, social, local, mobile, grocery, e-commerce, delivery, ordering, payments, marketing and analytics – to give you insights into the latest funding and growth trends.

February was an exceptionally lucrative month for the food tech and media industry, with a reported $1.8 billion invested into the sector through 19 acquisitions and thirteen private capital raises. Impressively, this figure doesn’t even include thirteen deals which had undisclosed terms.

Rocket Internet and its newly formed “Global Online Takeaway Group” dominated the activity with an acquisition tear (twelve acquisitions were related to Rocket Internet), representing an aggregate of $856 million invested (still less than half of the total reported influx). But in fact, platform plays were reflected in many of the M&A deals in February. Consolidation was seen both through newly created platforms such as Under Armour’s UA Record, or the merging of older legacy businesses into new platforms, such as Grubhub’s two delivery acquisitions and Heartland’s two POS acquisitions.

Of the many significant developments in the online ordering and delivery sector this month, I’ll begin with Rocket Internet’s substantial strategic move to “create the biggest Internet-based food-ordering service outside of China.” The publicly-traded Berlin-based e-commerce and investment group has been funding the rapid global consolidation of the food delivery sector over the years through its numerous holdings, and now has made a significant move to consolidate its own investments in the sector (now including foodpanda, Delivery Hero, Talabat, La Nevera Roja, Pizzabo and Yemeksepeti) to form the “Global Online Takeaway Group.”

There were a series of transactions that accomplished this feat (this press release goes into further depth), however two of the cornerstone transactions involved the 30% minority acquisition of Delivery Hero (in March it was further increased to approx. 40%), and the increased direct ownership in foodpanda to 52% (as a result of primary and secondary transactions in a new fundraise announced in March). Further acquisitions and funding details are detailed in the M&A and Funding sections below.

I definitely recommend spending some time with Rocket Internet’s presentation discussing its investment thesis in the food sector to gain a clearer understanding of the vision behind the consolidation – some great industry stats in there as well. Notably, although HelloFresh is key to Rocket Internet’s thesis on investing in the food and grocery sector, HelloFresh is not part of the newly created “Global Online Takeaway Group.”

As mentioned above, Grubhub also made some news in February with its foray into food delivery through the acquisition of two 25+ year old companies who provide restaurant delivery and corporate catering services. Grubhub said the move was intended to expand the total addressable market from restaurants that already offer delivery, and would create both economic and service advantages for a Grubhub over a third-party logistics strategy.

This could be a game changer for Grubhub, and Dan Primack at Fortune notes it may make it an attractive acquisition target in its own right if Grubhub can own the restaurant delivery business, but Street Fight also points out that it’s “unclear whether Grubhub’s scale between markets actually improves the economics or quality of a delivery network in a given market.” Street Fight goes on to discuss the potential liabilities that come with operating its own proprietary network through a contract labor model, and further notes, “If delivery is [purely] a commodity… then the company would be better suited to maximize reach and reduce liability by leaving the operations to third parties. If not, then the move will help Grubhub enter a potentially massive market.”

On that note, it is interesting that Yelp, which previously developed its online ordering network through partnerships with third party companies as part of its Platform initiative, made a move in stark contrast to this strategy by acquiring Eat24 to now operate its own proprietary ordering platform. While a Yelp spokesman told Street Fight that the company expects its “online booking and ordering partners to continue as Platform partners,” it’s fair to assume that partners’ revenue streams will be impacted, as Eat24 will now likely hold precedent over other companies. Read below for additional details and thoughts on the acquisitions.

M&A

JustEat Acquires SinDelantal.Mx. The Mexico-based online ordering platform will add 3,000 restaurants in Mexico, and a Latin American presence to the London-based, publically traded JustEat. TechCrunch reports that the acquisition is “thought to be one of the largest, if not the largest, online company exits in Mexico.”

Announced: 02/16/15 Terms: Estimated to be “north of $20 million” Previous Investment: $3.2m  Founded: January 2012

Heartland Acquires Dinerware and pcAmerica. The payments processor and a provider of merchant business solutions continued it shopping spree in the hospitality and retail POS markets through the acquisition of both Dinerware and pcAmerica, two leading point-of-sale companies focused on the restaurant, hospitality and retail sectors. The company reported that these two cloud-based POS systems will overlap with what is being developed by Leaf (which Heartland acquired in August 2014), and consequently it will stop POS development and write down related POS assets at Leaf, though “certain elements of Leaf’s capabilities will become part of Heartland Commerce.”

Announced: 02/13/15 Terms: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: Dineware – 2000; pcAmerica – 1985

Yelp Acquires Eat24. The San Bruno, CA-based food delivery platform will expand Yelp’s services to include food ordering. As Street Fight points out, Yelp has spent the past 18 months developing partnerships with online ordering and booking services as part of its Platform initiative, which included Eat24 as well as other delivery partners like Delivery.com, in order to allow integration within Yelp’s listing pages so that users can book and order food without leaving the search page. In terms of the larger industry implications, Street Fight comments that Yelp has now essentially become Grubhub’s largest competitor other than Google, and “reflects an ongoing verticalization of the search industry driven by a mobile consumer who increasingly expects to find and buy in the same app.” This may be the case on the consumer-facing side of the business, however Grubhub’s deeper integration via its new delivery network may create stronger ties to infrastructure and margin improvements for restaurants that Yelp can’t provide.

Announced: 02/10/15 Terms: $134m ($75m stock, $59m cash) Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: March 2008

Rocket Internet’s “Global Online Takeaway Group” Acquires Talabat. The Kuwait-based food delivery portal operates in Middle Eastern countries including Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates with over 1,300 partner restaurants, and will be part of the newly created Global Online Takeaway Group.

Announced: 02/11/15 Terms: $169.9m Previous Investment: Not Disclosed (but this article discusses the company’s growth and investors through the years)  Founded: January 2004

Foodpanda Acquires Six Companies in Asia, One Company in the Middle East. Shortly after a series of acquisitions in Europe, Latin America and India, the foodpanda group (now a part of Rocket Internet’s “Global Online Takeaway Group” – see above) continues to acquire market share through the addition of six more companies in seven countries across Asia, including the takeover of JustEat’s India operations, which complements the recent TastyKhana acquisition. According to The Economic Times, JustEat had relinquished its majority stake to 49.9% in its India entity in November 2013, when Axon Partners Group and Forum Synergies India invested an undisclosed amount. The other acquired companies and countries include: Room Service, a brand of Food Runner, in Malaysia and Singapore; City Delivery, also a brand of Food Runner, in the Philippines; EatOye in Pakistan; Koziness in Hong Kong, and in Thailand, foodpanda entered into a partnership with Food By Phone. Separately, foodpanda acquired 24h.ae, an online food ordering marketplace in the United Arab Emirates founded in 2011.

Announced: 02/06/15 and 02/11/15 Terms: Not Disclosed

Rocket Internet’s “Global Online Takeaway Group” Acquires La Nevera Roja and Pizzabo. The two ordering and delivery startups, La Nevera Roja, an online food ordering platform providing delivery and takeaway service, and Pizzabo, a Bologna, Italy-based delivery platform for takeaway pizzas and other food, will be part of the newly created Global Online Takeaway Group.

Announced: 02/06/15 Terms: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: La Nevera Roja – $14.3m; Pizzabo – Not Disclosed Founded: La Nevera Roja – January 2011; Pizzabo – 2009

Grubhub Acquires DiningIn and Restaurants on the Run. In an effort to build its own delivery network and preempt on-demand delivery aspirants, Grubhub acquired Brighton, MA-based DiningIn and Aliso Viejo, CA-based Restaurants on the Run – both of which focus on restaurant delivery and corporate catering services. As Street Fight notes, the move marks “a transition in the company’s strategy from a focus on moving an existing delivery market online to using the web to expand the delivery market as a whole.” The company said the deals will give the company a combined relationship with over 3,000 restaurants over 15 markets in the U.S. Street Fight also reports that the company said it plans to essentially break even on the delivery service, and use additional cost savings to reduce delivery fees paid by customers, while merchants will also pay a nominally higher commission rate for deliveries operated by Grubhub. Dan Primak at Fortune further discusses the competitive implications and dynamics of the acquisitions, it is worth a read.

Announced: 02/05/15 Terms: Approximately $80m for the two deals combined Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: DiningIn – 1988; ROTR – January 1993

Under Armour Acquires MyFitnessPal and Endomondo. With the goal of creating a global digital health and fitness community, the sports performance company acquired MyFitnessPal, a San Francisco-based service for letting users track and share calorie intake and other health and wellness data, and Endomondo, a Denmark-based social fitness network and activity tracker. The two acquisitions complement the 2013 acquisition of MapMyFitness, and will provide Under Armour with additional technology for its recently launched UA Record fitness tracking app and website, which will be connected with 120 million unique global consumers. Notably, as Mobile Health News reports, Under Armour’s strategy no longer includes the plan to build its own wearable tech or digital tech platform (Apple HealthKit, Google Fit, etc.), rather, the company is focused on building the community to integrate with all the active players in the space.

MyFitnessPal Announced: 02/04/15 Terms: $475.0m Previous Investment: $18.0m (at a valuation of $108m) Founded: 2005

Endomondo Announced: 02/04/15 Terms: $85.0m Previous Investment: $8.2m Founded: 2007

TripAdvisor Acquires ZeTrip. The San Mateo, CA-based mobile app company is the creator of Rove, a travel inspiration-themed personal journal app, which provides a travelogue of users’ movements based on their GPS coordinates and other data. ZeTrip’s three-person team will be integrated into TripAdvisor’s mobile team, and it is unclear if the Rove product will continue to operate as a standalone offering. TechCrunch notes that TripAdvisor has been focused on acquiring businesses that help pick up data about how consumers travel, which allows it to extend its lifecycle with its customers by serving a more relevant role during and after the trip, and ultimately, potentially feeding TripAdvisor’s bigger business by leveraging strategies for advertising and other marketing services.

Announced: 02/02/15 Terms: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: November 2011

FUNDING

Grofers Raises $10m. The Gurgaon, India-based online mobile delivery app delivers produce and other goods from local stores on-demand. Grofers currently works with vendors from Mumbai and Delhi, and processes over 30,000 deliveries every month. According to TechCrunch Grofers will use the capital to expand into more cities and improve technology so that stores can more easily manage orders, track inventory, and upload new products by themselves.

Announced: 02/26/15 Stage: Series A Participating Institutional Investors: Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global Previous Investment: $0.5 million Founded: December 2013

Chefs Feed Raises $4m. The San Francisco-based food media and technology platform showcases restaurant recommendations by chefs, and considers itself the antithesis of Yelp for restaurants and food discovery. The company aims to help chefs and their restaurants regain the ability to shape the narrative supporting their brand and food. As an example, in order to help chefs build their personal followings, Chefs Feed generates specialized content, including behind-the-scenes videos of restaurants, which are then featured on sites like Foursquare, Food & Wine and Urbanspoon. The company will use the new funding to expand its development team, execute new outreach campaigns, extend to more cities, and debut new products.

Announced: 02/26/15 Stage: Series A Participating Institutional Investors: ARTIS Ventures, Structure Capital, Haas Portman, Subtraction Capital Previous Investment: $3.2 million Founded: 2011

TinyOwl Raises $16m. The Mumbai, India-based food ordering service allows customers to order take-out via its iOS and Android apps. The funding will be used for national level expansion and innovating on the products, focusing on user experience. TinyOwl’s services are currently available only in Mumbai, but the company plans to expand to 50 cities in India.

Announced: 02/26/15 Stage: Series B Participating Institutional Investors: Nexus Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital, Matrix Partners Previous Investment: $3.0 million Founded: 2012

Chewse Raises $700k. The Los Angeles-based B2B group delivery/catering platform focuses on serving offices, and distinguishes itself by presenting only high quality restaurants/dishes that it curates for its corporate clients rather than aggregating all catering options available in the area. In conjunction with the fundraise, Chewse announced it has served 100,000 meals, and plans to use the funding to expand its catering service.

Announced: 02/23/15 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: Rocketship.VC Previous Investment: $1.0 million Founded: July 2011

Main Street Hub Raises $20m. The Austin, TX-based “do-it-for you” local marketing platform offers an integrated social, web, and email marketing solution designed to help local restaurants and merchants drive more customers. The company will use the proceeds to expand the teams in its Austin and New York City offices, especially focusing on the engineering and product teams.

Announced: 02/22/15 Stage: Debt Financing Participating Institutional Investors: Silicon Valley Bank Previous Investment: $20.9 million Founded: June 2009

Pocket Concierge Raises Seed Funding. The Tokyo, Japan-based restaurant booking platform focuses on high end-restaurants, allowing Pocket Concierge users to bookmark popular restaurants with long waiting lists. In the event of an unexpected cancellation, the restaurant will email users with bookmarks to fill vacancies. The undisclosed amount of funding was provided by strategic investor Line, an international messaging app, which had just disclosed its establishment of a $42 million fund for startup investments. Line announced that it aims to integrate services like Line Pay and Line Taxi into Pocket Concierge and its partner restaurants.

Announced: 02/17/15 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: Line Previous Investment: $0.6 million Founded: July 2011

Postmates Raises $35m. The San Francisco-based online delivery service is a developer of consumer-facing logistics software that dispatches and guides couriers through major metropolitan areas to deliver local goods including prepared food, groceries and retail goods. Most recently, Postmates launched its own API, through which third-party sellers and app developers can offer same-day delivery powered by Postmates. As TechCrunch points out, scale is the most important factor in the on-demand delivery industry, in which winners are determined by who has the most surface area and the lowest prices, thus the company intends to use the funds to expand operations.

Announced: 02/20/15 Stage: Series C Participating Institutional Investors: Spark Capital Previous Investment: $23.0 million Founded: 2011

Reserve Raises $15m. The New York-based digital concierge for diners and restaurants aims to address friction in the dining experience by combining reservations, feedback on service, and payment through its app. Reserve is currently partnered with restaurants in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Boston and plans to use the funding to expand operations nationwide. In addition to institutional investors, funding also came from a few celebrities, including Jared Leto, Will.i.am, and Jon Favreau.

Announced: 02/11/15 Stage: Series A Participating Institutional Investors: Expa (lead), Human Ventures Capital (lead), Visionnaire Ventures, Venture51, SV Angel, SherpaVentures, Advancit Capital, Lowercase Capital, First Round Previous Investment: $2.3 million Founded: 2014

Delivery Hero Raises $324m from Rocket Internet; Rocket Internet Invests Additional $236m through Selling Shareholders (Secondary Sale). In creating its new Global Online Takeaway Group, Rocket Internet invested close to $560 million into the massive Berlin, Germany-based aggregator of online ordering/delivery services, and mobile food ordering technology for restaurants. The investment resulted in a minority stake of 30% for Rocket Internet, and values the company at $1.9 billion. As Bloomberg points out, the investment also “marks a departure from Rocket’s usual strategy, which consists of building businesses from the ground up.”

Announced: 02/06/15 Stage: Series H  Valuation: $1.9 billion Participating Institutional Investors: Rocket Internet Previous Investment: $656.7 million Founded: September 2010

HelloFresh Raises $126m. The New York, and Berlin, Germany-based subscription meal kit company delivers boxed “ready-to-make meals” containing with recipes and pre-portioned ingredients on a weekly basis. The company currently serves customers across the United States and aims to become the leading brand in the grocery and meal delivery sector. Outside the US, the company is active in Germany, Austria, the United Kingdom, Netherlands, and Australia. According to TechCrunch, HelloFresh will use the funding towards hiring new staff, expanding facilities, and general improvements of the supply chain and customer experience. Notably, although HelloFresh is key to Rocket Internet’s thesis on investing in the food and grocery sector, HelloFresh is not part of the newly created “Global Online Takeaway Group.”

Announced: 02/06/15 Stage: Series E Participating Institutional Investors: Rocket Internet, Insight Venture Partners Previous Investment: $67.5 million Founded: 2011

YuMist Raises $1m. The Gurgaon, India-based startup offers a logistics and supply-chain-focused technology platform through which customers in the Gurgaon area can order food through a mobile app and receive deliveries in less than 30 minutes. YuMist employs its own chefs and uses a centralized kitchen to make homemade food from a predetermined menu. The company caters to office goers, and will use the proceeds to towards geographical expansion and furthering its production, technology, and delivery infrastructure.

Announced: 02/02/15 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: Orios Venture Partners Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: October 2014

Frsh Raises $518k. The Gurgaon, India-based online meal service startup provides urban professionals access to a healthy food space for meal options. The company manages and operates its own production and supply chain within Gurgaon, and customers can choose meals, snacks, salads, and sandwich options from the Frsh website for delivery. Frsh will use the funding to upgrade its kitchen, launch an android app, update its website, and digitize the supply chain and delivery process.

Announced: 02/03/15 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: Kae Capital, India Quotient Previous Investment: $100k Founded: 2014

Hao Chushi Raises $800k. The Shanghai, China-based home catering app is a platform that connects users to nearby chefs who can be hired to cook in-home. Customers get the benefit of receiving a customizable home-cooked meal, while chefs have the freedom to choose their own work schedule and cook different kinds of cuisines, as opposed to preparing dishes from a set menu. The app currently serves Shanghai, Beijing, and Hangzhou. The funding will be used towards expansion into more cities and improving service quality.

Announced: 02/02/15 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: Angels Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: September 2014

PARTNERSHIPS

JC Penney partners with Epicurious.com to exclusively sell Epicurious brand cookware, Epicurious’ first product line.

Schedule101 partners with COMMLOG to integrate web-based employee scheduling within COMMLOG’s Virtual Manager Log.

Viggle partners with inMarket to deliver mobile advertising capabilities by providing offers and branded engagement to Viggle users based on context and users’ proximity to retail location.

Mars, Incorporated partners with UC Davis to launch Innovation Institute For Food And Health with the aim to advance new discoveries in sustainable food, agriculture and health.

INDUSTRY LANDSCAPE

As The Food Tech & Media ecosystem continues to see rapid change, Rosenheim Advisors created The Food Tech & Media Industry Map to help entrepreneurs, participants and investors understand this quickly evolving landscape. Let us know about your recent or upcoming funding, partnerships or acquisitions here.

Check out the 2014 Annual Report and last month’s round-up.

The post Food Tech Media Startup Funding, M&A and Partnerships: February 2015 appeared first on Food + Tech Connect.

This monthly column highlights the most interesting acquisitions, financings and partnerships within the Food Tech & Media ecosystem – digital content, social, local, mobile, grocery, e-commerce, delivery, ordering, payments, marketing and analytics – to give you insights into the latest funding and growth trends.

With a handful of significant late stage transactions and good mix of earlier-stage deals, March activity rounded out to almost $2.0 billion in investments through fundraising and acquisitions. With four acquisitions ($505.5 million), seventeen private capital raises ($1.47 billion) and one public company private placement ($1.2 million), delivery was still a prominent theme as were a variety of technology platforms for ordering, payment, reservations, reviews and more. About half of the fundraising took place outside of the U.S.

Mirroring the investment trends, much discussion in the media continues to focus on the “1099 Economy” and the overall delivery business model. While delivery foodtech startups like Instacart, Postmates and Caviar are being sued over labor practices, investment is still pouring into the sector as companies race to grow transactions and own each market as they expand their geographic footprint. Although current market conditions are a indeed frothy, there is still room for new specialized market segments to blossom (alcohol delivery is a recent example), where businesses need to layer in new strategies in order to tap into the new generation of smartphone-wielding shoppers.

M&A

ShopKeep Acquires Payment Revolution. The Northbrook, IL-based credit card processing startup will enable ShopKeep, a NYC-based mobile payments startup, to offer payment processing as a part of its point-of-sale platform. As a part of the deal, ShopKeep will operate under the new name, ShopKeep Payments. TechCrunch reports that the two companies were already partnering together, and the deal will allow the ShopKeep to provide a simpler product to better meet the need of merchants.

Announced: 03/25/2015 Terms: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: NA Founded: 2009

Minibar Delivery Acquires Booze Carriage. The New York City-based Booze Carriage, similar to Minibar Delivery, is an alcohol delivery platform that connects users to their local liquor stores to provide delivery. According to the release, Booze Carriage’s user base of 25,000 is expected to increase Minibar’s sales by 20%, and expand Minibar’s beer selection as well as its distribution capabilities. TechCrunch notes that the acquisition of Booze Carriage marks Minibar’s expansion to become the biggest player in the NYC place.

Announced: 03/20/2015 Terms: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2012

Recruit Acquires Quandoo. The Berlin, Germany-based restaurant reservation platform is used by restaurants in Europe, Africa, and Asia to provide restaurant operators with a table and reservation management system, aimed at raising operational productivity and service quality. Recruit, a publically-traded Japanese human resources firm, reports that the acquisition of Quandoo will enable Recruit to expand its service and global reach as part of its goal to become the world’s largest “global matching platform.” Notably, Quandoo took a strategic investment from Recruit — via its RGIP venture capital fund — in late 2014, and now with this acquisition is wholly-owned by the company’s venture group.

Announced: 03/05/2015 Terms: $225.5m Previous Investment: $55.5m Founded: December 2012

PayPal Acquires Paydiant. The Wellesley, MA-based payment service enables large retail chains to create their own branded mobile wallet apps and currently serves 162 million users. Given Paydiant’s popularity among retailers and banks, its acquisition positions PayPal for growth in areas outside of internet payments. As TechCrunch points out, “adding Paydiant will bring more point-of-sale volume on to PayPal’s platform.” The deal gives Paydiant the opportunity to scale its business, and PayPal a path to becoming a stronger business partner for merchants, including restaurants, by providing a payment method in app-based platforms.

Announced: 03/02/2015 Terms: $280m Previous Investment: $34.6m Founded: 2010

FUNDING

MyLorry Raises Undisclosed Amount from Delivery Hero. Berlin-based MyLorry offers delivery for restaurants that don’t have their own logistic service. As Venture Village reports, Delivery Hero invested a “double-digit Euro million amount” for 16% of MyLorry’s shares.

Announced: 03/31/15 Stage: Seed Participating Investors: Delivery Hero Previous Investment: $2.3 million Founded: May 2013

MyCheck Raises $5m. The Tel Aviv, Israel and New York-based mobile payment app for restaurants and merchants allows customers to check in, view, split and pay their bills using mobile devices. The company’s technology platform is built into a number of apps and integrates with 27 different Points-of-Sale systems, allowing MyCheck to reach over 80 million consumers. TechCrunch notes that since its launch, MyCheck has pivoted to a B2B model, with analytics to allow customers to redeem special offers and be rewarded for loyalty. The company will use the new funding to accelerate its international expansion focusing on the US and Western Europe, boost sales and marketing, and augment its business intelligence capabilities. Notably, the investment comes from Santander’s new Innoventures Fund, which adds strategic “expertise and scale,” and the potential to have portfolio company’s marketed to the bank’s 107 million-plus retail and commercial customers across Europe and the Americas.

Announced: 03/29/15 Stage: Series B Participating Institutional Investors: Santander Innoventures Fund Previous Investment: $6.1 million Founded: March 2011

ChowNow Raises $10m. The Venice, California-based online ordering and marketing platform enables restaurants to take orders through their website, Facebook page, and via branded smartphone apps specific for each restaurant. The company has recently expanded its management team as well as its services to integrate with Apple Pay, Yelp, and Google, and plans to introduce a new catering product and other enhancements to its core product. The funding will be used towards growth acceleration and product launch.

Announced: 03/26/15 Stage: Series B Participating Institutional Investors: Upfront Ventures (lead), Steadfast Venture Capital, Daher Capital, Karlin Ventures Previous Investment: $7.7 million Founded: 2012

DoorDash Raises $40m. The Palo Alto-based on-demand restaurant food delivery platform makes it possible for small businesses to provide local delivery services to their customers. DoorDash currently services eight markets across the country. The company claims its on-demand delivery infrastructure enables customers to receive delivered goods in less than 45 minutes and ensures reliable deliveries in times of irregular demand. The company will use the proceeds towards expansion into new markets across the country and further investment in logistics technology to scale its platform beyond food.

Announced: 03/26/2015 Stage: Series B Participating Institutional Investors: Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Charles River Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Sequoia Capital Previous Investment: $19.7 million Founded: January 2013

Teabox Raises $6m. The Darjeeling, India-based online tea-seller distributes tea from the origin directly to a global consumer base. The company is vertically integrated and works directly with tea plantations in India and Nepal. According to TechCrunch, by handling distribution, supply, storage, and logistics itself, Teabox eliminates supply chain inefficiencies and is thus able to sell products at higher profit margins and ensure rapid delivery. Teabox will use the funding towards expansion into newer markets, infrastructure development, talent acquisition, and marketing initiatives.

Announced: 03/24/15 Stage: Series A Participating Institutional Investors: JAFCO Asia, Keystone Group, Dragoneer Investment Group, Accel Partners Previous Investment: $1 million Founded: July 2012

ezCater Raises $11.7m. The Boston-based online catering platform connects people with local caterers and restaurants across the U.S, with a specific focus on business catering. ezCater has partnered with over 40,000 caterers in the country to deliver meals for meetings and events of up to 2,000 people. The new funds will be used to hire employees, focusing on expanding its digital marketing, brand marketing, and software engineering teams.

Announced: 03/23/2015 Stage: Series B Participating Institutional Investors: Insight Venture Partners, Breton Capital Management, Launchpad Venture Group Previous Investment: $6.8 million Founded: August 2007

Kitchenbowl Raises $1m. The Seattle-based startup describes itself as a community in which users can share and discover recipes. The company has both a mobile and web platform, and aims to distinguish itself by offering step-by-step recipes, each with an accompanying GIF to guide clarity. In addition, users can find new content by following other users. Kitchenbowl aims to eventually enable users to purchase ingredients for the recipes through its platform.

Announced: 03/25/2015 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: Sugar Mountain Capital, Chasing Unicorns, Indicator Fund Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2013

Maple Raises $22m. The New York-based startup, with notable involvement by chef David Chang, will launch and operate a delivery-only kitchen that serves restaurant quality meals to subscribers in New York in the coming months. The company is designed to be vertically integrated, distinguishing itself from other meal delivery startups by managing orders, food preparation, and delivery. Maple will use the new funding to develop its product, hire staff, and build out infrastructure and marketing.

Announced: 03/20/2015 Stage: Series A Participating Institutional Investors: Greenoaks Capital, Primary Ventures, Thrive Capital Previous Investment: $4.0 million Founded: 2014

Thirstie Raises $1.1m. The New York-based wine, spirits, and beer delivery app serves as a marketing platform for liquor stores. Through the company’s mobile platform, users can order alcohol from nearby stores that offers delivery services. TechCrunch reports that the company aims to establish a relationship with consumers through alcohol-related content, currently featured via microsites dedicated to the drinking culture of the customer’s region. Thirstie has partnered with over 100 liquor retailers and operates in markets including Austin, Los Angeles, Miami, and New York City, and plans to use the funding to expand into new markets, as well as speed customer acquisition, enhance product development, and increase support provision.

Announced: 03/19/2015 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: Angels Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: February 2013

Pinterest Raises $367m. The San Francisco, CA-based visual discovery platform raised capital at a valuation of $11 billion, more than doubling the valuation from $5 billion last May. As Bloomberg reports, Pinterest has been working to build out its advertising model, through which brands can pay to promote their posts. The company is also investing to expand internationally and improve its product.

Announced: 03/16/15 Stage: Series G Valuation: Approximately $11 billion Participating Institutional Investors: Innovation Department, Bessemer Venture Partners, Andreessen Horowitz Previous Investment: $762.5 million Founded: January 2009

Oddle Raises $718k. The Singapore-based food ordering platform enables smaller restaurants to join the online ordering market by managing the logistics of online deliveries and pick-ups. A subscription service, Oddle allows customers to order food through a branded page customizable by the restaurant, while providing restaurant operators with an order management system. Unlike competing services that charge restaurants per order transaction, Oddle charges a flat fee for every restaurant outlet, which allows restaurants to make a higher profit if their online businesses are successful. Oddle intends to use the fresh injection of capital to focus on regional expansion into major cities, in addition to platform development to allow enable multiple language functions and back-end infrastructure strengthening to support larger capacities.

Announced: 03/16/2015 Stage: Seed Participating Investors: East Ventures, Holly Tan Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: March 2014

Retty Raises $8.2m. The Tokyo, Japan-based social platform enables users to rate and review restaurants and see which spots are popular with their friends. The site presently sees an estimated 8 million monthly visitors. Retty plans to use the funding for international expansion to the United States, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

Announced: 03/16/2015 Stage: Series C Participating Institutional Investors: Fidelity Growth Partners Japan, Gree Ventures, Mizuho Capital Previous Investment: $4.4 million Founded: 2011

Favor Raises $13m. The Austin-based on-demand food delivery app allows users to have products delivered from local grocery stores and restaurants. Through Favor’s mobile app, users can identify their desired food or grocery item along with the store they might want to purchase from. Favor’s delivery people can stay in touch with customers through text message as they seek out the products for delivery. The company currently serves Austin, Boston, Houston, and Dallas, and plans to use to the funding to improve customer services and expand into seven to ten new cities this year.

Announced: 03/13/2015 Stage: Series A Participating Institutional Investors: Silverton Partners, S3 Ventures Previous Investment: $3.9 million Founded: April 2012

FoodPanda Raises $110m. After a major acquisition spree in India, Mexico, Russia, Brazil, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Asia, the Berlin-based food delivery marketplace, which is now part of Rocket Internet’s newly formed “Global Online Takeaway Group”, plans to further invest into product and technology. The company states it will also continue to focus on user experience, customer service and loyalty.

Announced: 03/12/15 Stage: Series E Participating Institutional Investors: Rocket Internet Previous Investment: $108.0 million Founded: April 2012

Dianping Raises $850m. The Shanghai, China- based restaurant review and group buying app, The investment will push the company’s valuation to $4.05 billion, which is above its closest U.S. equivalent – Yelp. Dianping has more than 190 million monthly active users and over 60 million reviews of restaurants and other local businesses.

Announced: 03/12/15 Stage: Series E Valuation: $4.06 billion Participating Institutional Investors: Xiaomi Corp., FountainVest Partners, Temasek Holdings, Tencent Holdings Ltd., Wanda Group, Fosun Group Previous Investment: $162.3 million Founded: April 2003

Groupon India Raises $20m. The U.S.-based business has been exploring strategic options for its holdings in Asia, and Groupon India, which was born out of one of Groupon’s acquisition of SoSasta, has picked up outside investment. According to TechCrunch, the long-term strategy for Groupon India appears to be aimed at further separating itself from its parent company in the U.S. and growing more autonomous.

Announced: 03/10/2015 Stage: Venture Participating Institutional Investors: Sequoia Capital Founded: January 2011 (Date of Groupon’s acquisition of SoSatsa)

Innovative Food Holdings Raises $1.2m. The publicly-traded nationwide provider of specialty foods to the professional foodservice market, and the parent company of The Fresh Diet, a direct-to-consumer freshly prepared meal delivery company, announced it has closed a private placement of restricted shares. According to the release, the company plans to use the proceeds for the growth of The Fresh Diet and expansion opportunities in the Direct-to-Chef business segments.

Announced: 03/09/2015 Stage: Private Placement

PepperTap Raises $1.2m. The Gurgaon, India-based mobile application offers on-demand grocery delivery services. Rather than maintaining its own inventory, PepperTap focuses on facilitating orders and deliveries, and claims to ensure delivery within Gurgaon in less than two hours after customers place their order. The funding will be used to further develop the product, scale up the operations, grow its staff, and enhance offline and online brand visibility.

Announced: 02/25/2015 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: Sequoia Capital Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: November 2014

PARTNERSHIPS

Uber Partners with Chili’s to provide diners who use the Ziosk pay-at-the-table tablet a $20 credit for transportation.

Postmates Partners with Starbucks to deliver Starbucks products to customers who order through the Starbucks mobile app.

Sidecar Partners with Eat24 to offer delivery services using Sidecar’s network of drivers, who are currently engaged in the ride sharing service.

INDUSTRY LANDSCAPE

As The Food Tech & Media ecosystem continues to see rapid change, Rosenheim Advisors created The Food Tech & Media Industry Map to help entrepreneurs, participants and investors understand this quickly evolving landscape. Let us know about your recent or upcoming funding, partnerships or acquisitions here.

Check out the 2014 Annual Report and last month’s round-up.

Find value in this monthly roundup? Help us continue bringing you the news, insights and community you depend on by making a small contribution. Learn more HERE.

The post Food Tech Media Startup Funding, M&A and Partnerships: March 2015 appeared first on Food + Tech Connect.

This monthly column highlights the most interesting acquisitions, financings and partnerships within the Food Tech & Media ecosystem – digital content, social, local, mobile, grocery, e-commerce, delivery, ordering, payments, marketing and analytics – to give you insights into the latest funding and growth trends.

The food tech and media industry was quite active in April, especially as consolidation continued to heat up in the restaurant and food delivery sector; with eight of the eleven acquisitions within that category. With over $250 million invested across 15 private funding deals during the month, there was a solid mix across all stages but a heavier concentration of Series A deals (averaging $9 million in size). Notably, three quarters of the funding deals were international, with a majority of them in India.

While India has been seen as a huge growth market for U.S. companies in the consumer sector, home-grown entrepreneurs are increasingly seizing the opportunity. The food tech industry in particular has seen a recent boom, as the Indian publication Your Story notes, “the rise in consumerism, strong economic background, and relatively better incomes are encouraging Indians to eat out like never before.” In the same article, Kunal Walia from Khetal Advisors says, “Food-tech investments are a perfect follow-through to the recent theme of ‘Habit Forming Companies’ that have been attracting significant rounds of capital in recent times.”

The grocery delivery space in particular is an area of growth in India, with both ecommerce incumbents and startups paving the road. Amazon India recently announced it would be launching an express delivery platform in partnership with mom-and-pop stores, calling it Kirana Now and Snapdeal recently partnered with gourmet food retailer Godrej Nature’s Basket to sell its products online, with orders delivered the next day. Flipkart is now reportedly poised to begin selling groceries from the second half of this year, and is most likely to be launched as an in-house offering rather than through an acquisition, according to The Economic Times.

Kunal Walia further points to “one clear leader” in the Indian food tech space, Zomato, “[which] is pushing all the boundaries to build a high-value business.” Zomato however, despite the Indian headquarters, is increasingly focusing its attention and growth prospects internationally, including in the U.S., as Zomato’s CEO has stated that India represents only 8 % of market for the company. Regardless, with its significant funding, and global aspirations, Zomato will likely continue to be a major consolidator as startups in the sector face scaling challenges in acquiring consumers and business clients/partners. As we are already seeing in the U.S. and selectively abroad, the mass funding in this space will likely lead to consolidation, as happened in the e-commerce and daily deals space.

M&A

Kroger Acquires Assets of DunnhumbyUSA. British grocer Tesco’s customer data science and loyalty division Dunnhumby will transfer many of its US employees and data assets to Tesco’s US-based joint venture partner Kroger. According to Supermarket News, the new venture will be a long-term service license to use Dunnhumby’s technologies under a new business to be known as 84.51°. The agreement will lift restrictions on Dunnhumby pursuing business with additional U.S. retailers, and will no longer restrict Kroger from employing other firms to analyze its data. Stuart Aitken, who previously led DunnhumbyUSA, will become CEO of 84.51°. Dunnhumby itself has reportedly been on the market for several months as its parent company explores “strategic options.” AdExchanger reports that Goldman Sachs will continue the search for outside investment for dunnhumby ltd., now sans Kroger.

Announced: 04/27/15 Terms: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: Joint Venture began in 2003

Zomato Acquires NexTable. The Charlotte, NC-based restaurant reservation and table management platform is Zomato’s second U.S. acquisition, as the company hopes to better monetize Zomato’s listings through reservation services. TechCrunch notes that NexTable, which will be relaunched as “Zomato Book,” may have been looking for an alternative exit path as a lack of outside funding and the headquarters location may have limited its ability to scale. Zomato will be taking NexTable’s technology internationally to India, UAE, and Australia.
Announced: 04/22/15 Terms: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: August 2012

Trimble Agriculture Solutions Acquires HarvestMark. Trimble, an agriculture solutions provider, acquired the assets of HarvestMark, a SaaS provider of food traceability and quality inspection solutions, from YottaMark, Inc. According to the release, the acquisition will help enhance Trimble’s position in agriculture and transportation and logistics within the food supply chain. Additionally, the CEO of YottaMark will join Trimble after the acquisition. Notably, HarvestMark had acquired Shopwell Solutions in 2013, however the Shopwell assets were not included in the sale.

Announced: 04/22/14 Terms: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: $53.0m Founded: January 2005

Rocket Internet Acquires Volo. The Munich, Germany-based food-delivery startup allows customers to order food online from restaurants that don’t offer their own takeout and delivery services. Volo operates in key cities within Germany, and had announced plans to expand into nine other European countries. One would assume Volo will become part of Rocket Internet’s Global Online Takeaway Group, however TechCrunch notes that Rocket Internet’s competitive strategy is unclear given its recent funding of Volo’s competitor, Take It Easy, which operates in similar markets. Nevertheless, the acquisition suggests that Rocket Internet sees food delivery as a growth opportunity.

Announced: 04/16/15 Terms: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: March 2014

Zomato acquires MaplePOS. The Delhi, India-based point-of-sale service for restaurants offers credit and debit card payment solutions, including menu and inventory management. The acquisition of the cloud-based payments platform marks Zomato’s first acquisition of a product outside of the restaurant search space. According to TechCrunch, adding a payments service will enable Zomato to increase its B2B offerings for restaurants. The Economic Times notes that technology has become increasingly integral to the online food services sector, and Zomato’s acquisition will enable the company to be more competitive in the market space. MaplePOS will be integrated with “Zomato Base”, Zomato’s own point-of-sale system.

Announced: 04/14/15 Terms: Undisclosed (cash and equity) Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2011

Grofers Acquires Mygreenbox. The Gurgaon, India-based grocery delivery smartphone app delivers orders to users at their chosen time and location, and will give Grofers access to Mygreenbox’s client base, and also help it “to build technology for backend to further accelerate delivery.”Mygreenbox operates in the Gurgaon area and processes an average of 200 orders per day. Following the acquisition, the Mygreenbox business will shut down and be wholly integrated into to Grofers.

Announced: 04/10/15 Terms: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: April 2014

TripAdvisor Acquires BestTables. The Lisbon, Portugal-based online and mobile restaurant booking platform lets diners browse restaurants based on location, availability, price, cuisine type, and special offers before placing a reservation. BestTables will be integrated with TripAdvisor’s previous acquisition, TheFork (LaFourchette). As BestTables is partnered with 1200 restaurants in Portugal and Brazil, the acquisition will expand TripAdvisor’s European market and strengthen its presence in South America. As tnooz points out, the acquisition comes at a time where the market for restaurant reservations is in a period of consolidation.

Announced: 04/10/15 Terms: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2011

Square Acquires Fastbite. The San Francisco-based food delivery startup partners with restaurants to provide $10 meals that could be delivered in less than 10 minutes. As part of the deal, Fastbite will be integrated with Caviar, a food delivery company previously acquired by Square. The merged business will operate under the new name, Caviar Fastbite. According to Venturebeat, Caviar’s delivery infrastructure is geared towards upscale restaurants, so having Fastbite as a feature of Caviar will allow Caviar to tap into the lunch delivery business, while enabling Fastbite to be a stronger competitor in the industry. Fastbite currently only serves San Francisco, but may soon expand into other cities.
Announced: 04/08/15 Terms: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2014

Reserve Acquires zurvu. The New York-based mobile waitlist startup charges users a fee in exchange for securing reservations at in-demand restaurants. Users can book publicly available or exclusively held tables using the zurvu’s waitlist technology. Reserve plans to incorporate zurvu’s services into its existing service and technology. The acquisition will allow Reserve to expand into Philadelphia as well as increase its restaurant base in NYC.

Announced: 04/07/15 Terms: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: $1.2m Founded: 2012

Reserve Acquires HAIL. The Santa Monica-based payment technology platform offers bill splitting services for users. The app additionally calculates the tip and lets diners electronically hail their servers. According to the release, HAIL’s features will be integrated into the Reserve app and will further streamline Reserve’s payment services.

Announced: 04/07/15 Terms: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2014

Weight Watchers Acquires Weilos. The San Francisco-based mobile platform for fitness and weight loss focuses on introducing social media to users’ weight loss and fitness journeys, which will enhance the social networking and community capabilities of the Weight Watchers program. The acquisition will also “accelerate product and technology development” for the Weight Watchers platform. The startup lets users document and share their weight loss progress through selfies via a picture taking app, discuss weight loss and fitness goals, and track food intake and activity. TechCrunch reports that the average person posting progress pictures on Weilos loses 1.2 pounds per week, whereas the average Weight Watchers user loses .27 pounds per week.

Announced: 04/06/15 Terms: “Single millions” Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2013

FUNDING

Keru Cloud Raises $10.7m. The China-based restaurant management software company aims to be an “all-in-one solution for restaurants and other businesses to go digital.” Restaurant staff can use Keru Cloud’s mobile platform to manage reservations, orders, and customer loyalty programs. Online, Keru Cloud’s mobile app lets client restaurants offer maps, menus, special discounts, and online ordering services from their individualized digital storefronts. Keru Cloud will use the capital injection to enter into more service sectors, invest in product development, and expand its sales and operations teams.

Announced: 04/24/2015 Stage: Series B Participating Institutional Investors: Baidu (lead), Tianxing Capital (lead), Fangjinglin Investment, Kaixing Capital Previous Investment: Series A Amount Not Disclosed Founded: November 2012

EazyDiner Raises Seed Funding. The Delhi, India-based restaurant reservation dining platform offers users reviews, recommendations, insiders’ advice, concierge services, and manages each reservation. EasyDiner currently operates in the Delhi region, where it has over 8,000 listings, and partners with nearly 300 restaurants for online reservation and exclusive deals. The startup plans to launch its services in Mumbai by July, and expand operations into Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune and Chennai within this year.

Announced: 04/23/2015 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2014

Bring! Raises Seed Funding. The Zurich, Switzerland-based grocery shopping list app is focused on user experience, with an icon-based catalogue. Lists can be shared with several people and are automatically synced to ensure efficient planning and shopping. Using icons instead of text, the company aims to offer a similar user experience on both smartphones and smartwatches, including the new Apple Watch.

Announced: 04/21/2015 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2015

Sprig Raises $45m. The San Francisco-based subscription food delivery service makes and delivers locally sourced meals to customers in the area. The company’s goal is to deliver organic and ready-to-eat meals in an average of 20 minutes after ordering. To keep its delivery time short, Sprig uses data technology to predict times of incoming orders and sends out delivery vehicles in advance of orders placed by customers. Sprig intends to use the new capital to expand its service to cities across the country, with the rest of the Bay Area and Chicago as its immediate targets.

Announced: 04/15/2015 Stage: Series B Participating Institutional Investors: Social Capital (lead), Greylock Partners (lead), Accel Partners, Battery Ventures, 500 Startups, Ludlow Ventures, Lumia Capital, IDG Ventures, CAA Ventures, Previous Investment: $11.7 million Founded: April 2013

Grofers Raises $35m. The Gurgaon, India-based online mobile delivery app delivers produce and other goods from local stores on-demand. Grofers does not hold inventory, and currently partners with 400 merchants who list products on the app. According to TechCrunch, orders placed through Grofers’ platform have tripled over March. The company intends to use the capital to increase product offerings and expand into other areas of India.

Announced: 04/14/15 Stage: Series B Participating Institutional Investors: Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global Previous Investment: $10.5 million Founded: December 2013

Hello Alfred Raises $10.5m. The New York-based home management service partners with on-demand services to complete household customers’ chores, including groceries and laundry. Each user is assigned a home manager, called an Alfred, who takes care of chores so that users won’t have to manage multiple services themselves. Customers have the options of signing up for weekly automated chores or texting in requests. Hello Alfred currently operates in New York and Boston. The new funding will be used to scale Hello Alfred’s services and broaden its consumer base.

Announced: 04/14/15 Valuation: $33 million Stage: Series A Participating Institutional Investors: New Enterprise Associates (lead), Spark Capital (lead), Sherpa Ventures, CrunchFund Previous Investment: $2 million Founded: September 2013

PepperTap Raises $10m. Just a month after announcing its Seed round, the Gurgaon, India-based on-demand grocery delivery services app announced a sizable Series A, which will allow the company to expand into 10 more cities in India by the end of the year. Rather than maintaining its own inventory, PepperTap creates online catalogs for stock from local retailers, and claims to ensure delivery within Gurgaon in less than two hours after customers place their order.

Announced: 04/14/2015 Stage: Series A Participating Institutional Investors: Sequoia Capital, SAIF Partners Previous Investment: $1.2 million Founded: November 2014

Take Eat Easy Raises $6.4m. The Brussels, Belgium-based online and mobile platform markets itself as an on-demand food delivery for “trendy” restaurants that do not have traditional delivery services. TechCrunch reports that Take Eat Easy employs bike couriers to make the deliveries, a feature which makes the company both a logistics and a food ordering business. Customers can track their orders in real time, and the estimated time of delivery for each restaurant is continually updated. Take Eat Easy currently operates in France and Belgium, and will use the funding to accelerate its expansion across Europe.

Announced: 04/14/15 Stage: Series A Participating Institutional Investors: Rocket Internet, DN Capital, Piton Capital Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2013

TouchBistro Raises $6m. The Toronto-based startup is a provider of mobile point-of-sale solutions and digital menus for the food and drink industry. Restaurants use TouchBistro’s software for the iPad to take and process orders, split bills, and email receipts. Clients include food trucks, bars, and coffee shops as well as traditional restaurants. TouchBistro reported that it recently surpassed $1 billion in transactions through its point-of-sale system, and was the top grossing food and beverage app in the iTunes store in 33 countries in 2014. The new funding will be used towards hiring staff and global expansion initiatives.

Announced: 4/14/15  Stage: Series A Participating Institutional Investors: Kensington Capital Partners, Relay Ventures, Difference Capital, JUST EAT Previous Investment: $6 million  Founded: 2010

Zomato Raises $50m. The Gurgaon, India-based restaurant search and discovery app allows users to see restaurant information, scan menus, follow food critics, and create personal food diaries. Having used most of its capital raised from the previous round to acquire Urbanspoon, Zomato now seeks to expand into related businesses, and is working on enabling consumers to order food from its website. As seen by its activity in the M&A section of this report, Zomato is attempting to build up the B2B aspect of its business.

Announced: 04/14/15 Valuation: Reportedly between $800 million and $1 billion Stage: Series F Participating Institutional Investors: Info Edge (lead), VY Capital, Sequoia Capital Previous Investment: $113.8 million Founded: August 2008

ZopNow raises $10m. The Bangalore, India-based online delivery portal sells a range of products, including groceries. The company sources its products from the supermarket chain, HyperCity, and claims to be able to deliver goods within 3 hours. Additionally, customers can use ZopNow’s program to track the location of their orders. ZopNow will use the capital for new hires and enhancing the technology platform, as well as expansion into more cities.

Announced: 4/13/15  Stage: Series A Participating Institutional Investors: Dragoneer Investment Group (lead), Times Internet, Qualcomm Ventures, Accel Partners Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: September 2011

Meican Raises $22.6m. The Beijing-based online food ordering service operates in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Chengdu. Unlike some of its competitors, Meican’s target clients are enterprises that cater for employees. Tech In Asia notes that Meican’s funding “comes as China’s online food delivery sector finally heats up after a lukewarm start.” Meican intends to use the funds to expand into 30 more cities.

Announced: 04/08/15 Stage: Series C Participating Institutional Investors: Dianping (lead), Nokia Growth Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Trust Bridge Partners Previous Investment: $13 million Founded: 2010

HotSchedules Raises $20m. The Austin-based hospitality software company (formerly named Red Book Connect) produces mobile, cloud-based technology aimed at improving flexibility and work-life balance for employees in the restaurant, retail, and hospitality industries. Its flagship product of the same name is an employee scheduling and labor management software. HotSchedules also recently expanded its product suite also includes Josabi, a referral-based recruiting tool, and Bodhi, a data integration and delivery tool. The company claims to have a user base of more than 1.8 million in 26 countries. Funding will be used towards product development and sales and marketing initiatives.

Announced: 04/06/15 Stage: Growth Equity Participating Institutional Investors: Bridge Capital Holdings Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 1999

Swiggy Raises $2m. The Bangalore, India-based food delivery mobile app accepts orders from users and employs personnel to pick up and deliver food from restaurants to the customers’ doorsteps. The company claims its routing algorithm can ensure delivery in less than 35 minutes, and has made 30,000 deliveries in the Bangalore area. Swiggy will use the capital injection to expand into Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai.

Announced: 04/03/15 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: Accel Partners, SAIF Partners Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: August 2014

Tapingo Raises $22m. The San Francisco-based mobile food ordering platform enables location-aware discovery for consumers and immediate order fulfillment through operational integration for merchants. Currently, the service is live on 84 college campuses. Tapingo’s partner institutions provide hubs where students can pick up and pay for food using the company’s mobile app. Now the company is looking to expand beyond college campuses into other verticals including hospitals and corporations. Tapingo will use the new funding towards off-campus expansion in addition to product development, operations, and marketing.

Announced: 04/02/15  Stage: Series C Participating Institutional Investors: Qualcomm (lead), Carmel Ventures, DCM Ventures, Kinzon Capital, Khosla Ventures Previous Investment: $14 million  Founded: January 2012

PARTNERSHIPS

AmEx partners with Jawbone to offer mobile payments services through users’ fitness trackers.

Chipotle Partners with Postmates to launch delivery services in 67 cities in the U.S.

Zomato Partners with Uber to enable customers to book cabs to the restaurants at which they plan to dine.

INDUSTRY LANDSCAPE

As The Food Tech & Media ecosystem continues to see rapid change, Rosenheim Advisors created The Food Tech & Media Industry Map to help entrepreneurs, participants and investors understand this quickly evolving landscape. Let us know about your recent or upcoming funding, partnerships or acquisitions here.

Check out the 2014 Annual Report and last month’s round-up.

Love this monthly roundup? Help us continue bringing you the news, insights and community you depend on by making a small contribution. Learn more HERE.

The post Food Tech Media Startup Funding, M&A and Partnerships: April 2015 appeared first on Food + Tech Connect.

This monthly column highlights the most interesting acquisitions, financings and partnerships within the Food Tech & Media ecosystem – digital content, social, local, mobile, grocery, e-commerce, delivery, ordering, payments, marketing and analytics – to give you insights into the latest funding and growth trends.

There were a ton deals in June, with eleven acquisitions (mainly small) and sixteen fundraises (all shapes and sizes), rounding out to over $460 million of global investment into the food tech and media space. As we have been seeing for a while now, delivery and online ordering were represented in spades, but we also saw an influx of digital content deals – ranging from recipes to restaurants – which hasn’t been the case in a while. The average size between the Series A and Series B rounds was $9.4 million, and, signaling that sectors within this industry are increasingly crossing the threshold into the growth equity category, there were five deals sized over $20 million.

While we are far from IPO-mania, the industry is very rapidly accumulating well-capitalized players, and new talk of IPOs among pure-play food tech companies has begun to surface (vs. tech incumbents with a wider focus like Yelp, Coupons.com, Groupon, etc.).

As Delivery Hero padded up with $110 million from “leading public market investors” in June, some have speculated it may be the company’s last private round ahead of going public. Also from the Rocket Internet portfolio, it has been reported that HelloFresh may be considering an initial public offering this year and is in dialogue with Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs about advising. On the (much) smaller side of the spectrum, the Wall Street Journal noted that TabbedOut’s recent funding in June would “be its final funding round before going public,” however it is unclear if that would be a near-term event (I would be surprised if that is the case). And while not a pure play food tech company, Square has reportedly filed confidentially for an IPO, which could provide additional acquisition currency to layer in additional services within the local SMB market, many of which are restaurants and food retailers.

In the beginning of 2014 I framed the expansion into the public markets as a “rising tide” phenomenon for startups, in that investors will continue to increase their stake into this sector as the opportunity for successful exits (via acquisition) are more prominent.  However now that the industry has begun to mature, there is substantially more buy-in from investors, consumers and businesses on the food tech space.

And as we are now witnessing, great success is no longer necessarily tied to riding on a larger tech company’s coattails – which is quite a shift in dynamics from even 18 months ago. Acquisitions will still be a critical component to a thriving ecosystem however, as many of the current products and technologies – especially those focused on fragmented markets – may find they can create the most impact by joining a larger platform with more substantial resources.

M&A

Love With Food Acquires Taste Guru. The Denver-based gluten-free subscription box service delivers to customers a monthly box of gluten free snacks, and will enable Love With Food to expand its customers and offerings in the growing market. Taste Guru is the second gluten-free themed acquisition in the past year by Love With Food, a snack discovery service focusing on organic, all-natural products.

Announced: 06/24/15 Terms: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: $120k Founded: July 2012

Deliv Acquires WeDeliver. The Chicago-based same day delivery platform, which provides delivery local services for over 100 Chicago-area companies, will help Deliv compete in the same-day delivery space as it continues towards national expansion. Following the acquisition, WeDeliver’s brand will be discontinued as its merchants – including grocery and food retailers – and “delivery specialists” transition to Deliv’s platform. As I have discussed a number of times, The Chicago Tribune notes that as the same-day delivery space continues to heat up with both small and large participants (including Amazon, Google and Postmates), consolidation appears to be an obvious next step.

Announced: 06/24/15 Terms: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: $800k Founded: January 2013

Hello Curry Acquires Fire42. The Hyderabad, India-based restaurant management platform provides restaurants with inventory management, order management, trend tracking, loyalty and billing services, among other tools, and will allow Hello Curry to introduce real-time analytics and point of sale (POS) services to Hello Curry’s technology as it gears towards expansion. Medianama reports that it is unclear whether Fire42 will continue to offer its services independently.

Announced: 06/22/15 Terms: Stock and cash Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2012

Farmhouse Delivery Acquires Bento Picnic. The Austin-based startup prepares lunchbox meal kits modeled after the bento tradition of Japanese homemakers and will enable Farmhouse Delivery, which provides in-state groceries, to expand its brand beyond grocery delivery and cater to customers such as local office workers.

Announced: 06/19/15 Terms: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2015

Groupon acquires Venuelabs. The Seattle-based provider of location-based monitoring, measurement and engagement solutions allows local retailers to examine aggregated social media chatter about their businesses across dozens of platforms, including Foursquare, Twitter or Instagram. With the acquisition, Groupon will integrate Venuelab’s technology into its “Pages” service, where customers visiting Groupon can find information about the merchant.

Announced: 06/18/15 Terms: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: $2.6 million Founded: March 2009

Cookpad acquires Cucumbertown. The Mountain View, CA and Bangalore-based recipes blog publishing network enables users to host their own food blogs, engage with fans, build an identity and, with the acquisition, hopes to help them monetize their recipes. The acquisition by the Tokyo-based recipe network Cookpad will enable Cucumbertown to expand to international markets and monetize the business through a “Tumbler model” of personalized themes and domains. The Economic Times further reports that Cucumbertown and Cookpad will work together on building a global culinary map.

Announced: 06/16/15 Terms: “Multi-millions” Previous Investment: $300k Founded: October 2012

Tasting Table Acquires Flavour. The New York-based restaurant discovery app which mines social graph data to find noteworthy restaurants in addition to collecting reviews from critics, bloggers, and industry experts, will help Tasting Table provide restaurant recommendations that are more personalized and curated. Users can search by city, by collection, or by dish, and make reservations through a connection with OpenTable. Flavour is available in eight cities, and Tasting Table plans to collaborate with Flavour’s team of developers, engineers, and designers to enrich user experience through expanding the app’s services.

Announced: 06/16/15 Terms: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: $1.1 million Founded: 2014

BigBasket Acquires Delyver. The Bangalore-based hyper local ecommerce platform. which uses its own logistics technology to connect offline retailers to customers in the neighborhood, will manage BigBasket’s new launch of one-hour delivery service in Bangalore. Delyver will retain its brand name and function as an independent entity. In addition, BigBasket will provide funds for Delyver to expand into eight major cities and 50 tier-II cities, and increase team size in existing cities.

Announced: 06/12/15 Terms: cash and stock Previous Investment: $1 million Founded: March 2010

Brit + Co Acquires Snapguide. The San Francisco-based publishing system lets people create step-by-step mobile guides, and will be renamed as “Snapguide by Brit + Co.” Brit + Co, an online lifestyle and e-commerce platform focusing on DIY, plans to use content from the acquisition to build out its platform. TechCrunch reports the acquisition is an asset sale, covering the Snapguide’s website and app, its user network, DIY guides, and technology platform.

Announced: 06/09/15 Terms: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: $10 million Founded: 2011

Fexy Media Acquires Roadfood.com and SeriousEats. According to the New York Times, Fexy Media launched in 2014 and is making acquisitions as part of its broader strategy to become a force in the digital food media space. Fexy has plans to re-energize the Roadfood.com, which features regional and small town highway eateries across America, to boost its appeal to the younger generation. The core offering of Serious Eats won’t be changed beyond increasing its video content, as the acquisition will provide Serious Eats with new technology to bolster its digital video offering and opportunities for partnership with Fexy’s other portfolio companies.

Announced: 06/02/15 Terms: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: Roadfood.com: 2000; Serious Eats: 2006

FUNDING

MangoPlate raises $6.1m. The Seoul-based mobile application for personalized dining recommendations features restaurant reviews and pictures crowdsourced from real users. Using algorithms and location data, MangoPlate generates customized restaurant recommendations and restaurant deals based on a user’s whereabouts and cuisine preference. The company aims to double the restaurants it captures in Korea from 40 percent to 80 percent and roll out money making features, such as enabling restaurant owners to provide targeted deals to consumers who have shown interest in their restaurants. Funding will also be used to test overseas markets.

Announced: 06/30/2015 Stage: Series A Participating Institutional Investors: Qualcomm Ventures (lead), SoftBank Ventures Korea, YJ Capital Previous Investment: $900k Founded: April 2013

Bento Raises $1.5m. The San Francisco-based on-demand food delivery service specializes in delivering Asian food. Customers can choose from a menu of meals and have the option of specifying low-carb or gluten-free selections. To ensure quick delivery, Bento delivers curbside only. TechCrunch notes that Bento has seen 15 percent growth per week, and plans to expand its service into East Bay.

Announced: 06/25/2015 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: LAUNCH Fund (lead), Slow Ventures, 500 Startups Mobile Collective fund, FundersClub Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: March 2015

Postmates Raises $80m. The San Francisco-based online delivery service is a developer of consumer-facing logistics software that dispatches and guides couriers through major metropolitan areas to deliver local goods including prepared food, groceries, and retail goods. The company currently operates across 28 different markets and has reportedly surpassed 2.5 million deliveries. TechCrunch reports that while one weakness of Postmates has been its high delivery costs, which ranges from $5 to $20, the company has addressed the problem somewhat through its newly launched Postmates Merchant Program, which charges a flat $4.99 delivery fee for over a thousand partner restaurants. To further undercut its rivals, Postmates plans to roll out a new service in August that will charge customers around $1 for deliveries of food and other goods to high-density zip codes at peak times. The company will also use the funding to move into a range of other areas of delivery, including groceries and healthcare and beauty products.

Announced: 06/25/2015 Valuation: $400 million to $500 million Stage: Series D Participating Institutional Investors: Tiger Global Management (lead), Slow Ventures, Spark Capital Previous Investment: $58.0 million Founded: May 2011

VenueNext Raises $9m. The Palo Alto-based app for venues is designed to help attendees and operators at live events by connecting to the venue’s food and retail POS systems, e-ticketing solution, and parking pass validation systems, to offer live, in-app content for fans at the stadium. The VenueNext technology is available for licensing and provides both a customized guest-facing app and a backend platform for the venue to use. The company has had its first rollout at Levi’s Stadium, which sold $1.25 million of snacks and merchandise and experienced a 30 percent app adoption rate. VenueNext is expected to expand in 30 venues by the end of the year, going beyond sports stadiums to other venues, such as hotels.

Announced: 06/24/2015 Stage: Series A Participating Institutional Investors: Causeway Media Partners (lead), Live Nation Labs, Twitter Ventures Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2013

Kitchenbowl Raises $1.3m. The Seattle-based startup describes itself as a community in which users can share and discover recipes. The platform aims to reinvent the recipe format to make it accessible to millennial users, emphasizing the use of photos in teaching users to cook. GeekWire reports that the average recipe contributor has uploaded about five recipes with six to nine photos. The capital injection will be used to help Kitchenbowl grow its team and platform.

Announced: 06/22/2015 Stage: Angel Participating Angel Investors: Jon Staenberg, Kurt Dammeier, Bill Moore, Scott Svenson Previous Investment: $1.0 million Founded: 2013

Offpeak Raises $800k. The Selangor, Malaysia based-restaurant booking and discovery platform startup focuses on helping restaurants get reservations during off peak hours. Available as iOS and Android apps, Offpeak offers recommendations based on a user’s location, and enables users to book tables at discount with as little as 10 minutes advanced notice. The capital will be used for expansion into other Southeast markets starting with Bangkok, establishment of local teams, and strengthening its marketing signal.

Announced: 06/22/2015 Stage: Series A Participating Institutional Investors: Gobi Partners Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2014

HolaChef Raises $3.1m. The Mumbai-based web and mobile app for food delivery offers users a different menu from which to choose food every day. Professional and amateur chefs can sell meals once approved by the company, which will then package and deliver the food. HolaChef is currently serving 1000 orders a day, and plans to use the funds to set up a central kitchen and invest in modern infrastructure, technology and delivery.

Announced: 06/20/2015 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: Kalaari Capital (Lead), India Quotient Previous Investment: $320k Founded: 2014

La Ruche qui dit Oui Raises $9m. The Paris-based startup makes it possible for consumers to buy directly from local farmers and foodmakers at nearby “ruches.” The company employs independent contractors as ruche managers to facilitate the local marketplace. TechCrunch notes that because vendors set their own prices and receive 80 percent of the proceeds from sales, prices are competitive without being a “race to the bottom.” There are currently over 600 ruches in France, and the company additionally operates in France, Spain, Germany, Italy, and the UK. Funding will be used to solidify existing markets.

Announced: 06/16/2015 Stage: Series B Participating Institutional Investors: Felix Capital (Lead), Union Square Ventures (Lead), Quadia, XAnge Private Equity Previous Investment: $4.1 million Founded: 2011

FoodAbhi Raises Seed Funding. The Mumbai-based online tiffin marketplace aims to distinguish itself by catering to both daily and on-demand meals. The company currently partners with over 30 vendors, which are listed free of charge on the company website, and has delivered over 15,000 meals. To ensure quality, FoodAbhi packages meals itself and organizes surprise audits to check on hygiene, ingredients used. The company will use the funding to expand its technology and its scale, with plans to build apps that track deliveries and vendor activities. FoodAbhi additionally plans to expand into Pune, Bangalore, and eventually Delhi.

Announced: 06/15/2015 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2013

Lavu Raises $15m. The Albuquerque-based provider of point of sales systems for restaurants is currently being used by over 4,000 restaurants in 86 countries. Lavu’s system can track sales and is customizable for coffee shops, food trucks, bars, and nightclubs. As with other next generation POS services, Lavu asserts that its services are less expensive than those of traditional POS systems, which can charge tens of thousands of dollars up front. The capital will be used towards sales and marketing.

Announced: 06/15/2015 Stage: Series A Participating Institutional Investors: Aldrich Capital Partners Previous Investment: Not Disclosed million Founded: 2010

Blue Apron Raises $135m. The New York-based meal delivery service company packages a recipe and pre-portioned ingredients that are delivered to customers’ homes on a weekly basis. In the past six months, Blue Apron has tripled its volume and is selling 3 million meals per month. Blue Apron will use the funding to scale its growing network of farms, suppliers, and fulfillment capabilities throughout the country, and has plans to invest in automation and add custom fulfillment software tools, enabling the company to reach home chefs in over 99% of the continental United States.

Announced: 06/09/2015 Valuation: $2 billion Stage: Series D Participating Institutional Investors: Fidelity Investments (Lead), Bessemer Venture Partners, BoxGroup, Stripes Group Previous Investment: $58 million Founded: 2012

Swiggy Raises $16.5m. The Bangalore, India-based food delivery mobile app accepts orders from users and employs personnel to pick up and deliver food from restaurants to customers’ doorsteps. After a recent close of $2 million in April, the current funding will be used towards expansion into other cities in India and strengthening of its brand platform. By employing its own delivery fleet, Swiggy does not have an order minimum and offers users with multiple payment options. TechCrunch notes that, as one of 14 grocery delivery startups based in India, Swiggy has seen 10x growth in order numbers in recent months and distinguishes itself with its provision of a curated list of restaurants and ensured delivery time.

Announced: 06/09/2015 Stage: Series B Participating Institutional Investors: Norwest Venture Partners (lead), Accel Partners, SAIF Partners Previous Investment: $2.0 million Founded: August 2014

Delivery Hero Raises $110m. The Berlin-based network of online food ordering sites now features a network of 200,000 restaurants across 34 countries. Over 10 million orders each month are processed by Delivery Hero, which generates $165 million in monthly sales. The capital infusion will be used “for selective acquisitions and intensive product innovation.” TechCrunch reports that this could suggest further expansion into other countries, as well as other food product markets, such as meal kits, grocery delivery, or high end restaurant delivery.

Announced: 06/07/2015 Valuation: $3.1 billion Stage: Private Equity  Participating Institutional Investors: Not Disclosed (“leading public market investors”) Previous Investment: $1.3 billion  Founded: September 2010

TabbedOut Raises $21.5m. The Austin-based mobile payment app is currently installed in over 10,000 venues in the U.S. and allows patrons to open, review, and securely pay their tab. Restaurants and bars can use TabbedOut to track and use customer baskets and behavior to create comprehensive consumer databases that offer actionable insights into their customer’s spending habits. Proceeds from the round will be used to accelerate user acquisition through the implementation of automated loyalty and rewards programs, integration with other mobile consumer services, and expansion into 20 new U.S. markets.

Announced: 06/04/2015 Valuation: $78 million Stage: Series C Participating Institutional Investors: Wellington Management Company (lead), New Enterprise Associates, Morgan Creek Capital Management Previous Investment: $17.5 million Founded: June 2009

EatTreat Raises $350k. The New Delhi-based social media platform for food lovers started out as a Facebook group focused on recipes, restaurant reviews, articles on cookbooks, and other food related content. With seed funding to build the website and make key hires to bolster company infrastructure, EatTreat will soon launch its independent web and mobile platforms which connect end users with service providers. EatTreat will feature new innovations in food, and aims to generate dialogue among foodies and revenues through advertisement.

Announced: 06/01/2015 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: Divitas Capital Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2015

iFood Raises $50m. The São Paulo-based food delivery company enables users to order food through its website and mobile apps. Through iFood’s platform, users can consult restaurant menus and prices and select the desired delivery location to make their purchase. TechCrunch notes that Brazil is experiencing 21% year over year growth, making it the leader in the burgeoning space of Latin American e-commerce services. iFood captures 80 percent of the online restaurant delivery market and expects to hit one million deliveries per month by the end of 2015. Funding will be used towards growth in new cities and continued development of its team and infrastructure.

Announced: 06/01/2015 Stage: Series E Participating Institutional Investors: Just Eat, Movile Previous Investment: $11.9 million Founded: May 2011

PARTNERSHIPS

Jawbone Partners with Yummly to help users to be informed about their daily food intake via UP devices.

Men’s Health Partners with Chef’d to bring Men’s Health branded meals to consumers’ homes.

DoorDash Partners with Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s to deliver prepared foods, including sandwiches and wraps.

INDUSTRY LANDSCAPE

As The Food Tech & Media ecosystem continues to see rapid change, Rosenheim Advisors created The Food Tech & Media Industry Map to help entrepreneurs, participants and investors understand this quickly evolving landscape. Let us know about your recent or upcoming funding, partnerships or acquisitions here.

Check out the 2014 Annual Report and last month’s round-up.

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The post Food Tech Media Startup Funding, M&A and Partnerships: June 2015 appeared first on Food + Tech Connect.

This is a monthly guest post, by consulting firm Rosenheim Advisors, which highlights the most interesting acquisitions, financings and partnerships within the Food Tech & Media ecosystem – digital content, social, local, mobile, grocery, e-commerce, delivery, ordering, payments, marketing and analytics – to give you insights into the latest funding and growth trends.

July was exceptionally active on the fundraising front compared to last year, with 23 deals totaling $318 million* in 2015 compared to just $75 million over 10 deals last year during the same month. This cash influx continued to fuel the progression towards a maturing industry, with about a third of all the deals (globally), and half of U.S. deals, sized at least $20 million.

On the other end of the spectrum, three of the ten seed stage deals were based in the U.S., averaging $2.1 million per deal, while the remaining international seed deals were primarily based in India, averaging $300k per deal.

M&A activity for the month included four acquisitions of undisclosed value, which is less substantial than last year due to a remarkable month in 2014 (six transaction totaling over $660 million in July 2014). I don’t think this signals any major shift in the strategic market. Quite the contrary in fact, as I have mentioned a number of times, I believe we are in store for some significant consolidation in the coming year.

As has been the case seemingly every month, delivery was dominant, with 61% of deals (and 66% of cash) invested into on-demand or convenience-economy concepts, mainly around the meal and restaurant category. The remaining majority of deals were also focused on the restaurant category, ranging from reviews to loyalty and marketing to payment.

*Excludes CircleUp’s new $22 million growth fund, as those funds did not go towards the company.

M&A

Benseron IT acquires Restajet.com. Benseron IT, a developer of POS systems, will integrate the Naples, Florida-based provider of custom Android and iOS apps for restaurants with its Bevo POS system in order to futher streamline the order process. RestaJet’s apps offer reservation services, customer feedback, and push notification features, as well as online ordering capabilities for franchises.

Announced: 07/23/15 Terms: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2014

Groupon Acquires OrderUp. The Baltimore, MD-based online and mobile food ordering and delivery service will bring expertise in food ordering and delivery to Groupon, and significantly boost its presence in the $70 billion sector by creating “an online and mobile food ordering marketplace of significant size and scale” while also providing opportunities for inventory cross-promotion, according to the Company. As TechCrunch notes, Groupon’s reach and ability to meet demand at large scales will enable OrderUp to grow at an accelerated pace and further expand in targeted markets. OrderUp is currently available in 40 markets throughout the U.S., focusing on those with high student populations.

Announced: 07/16/15 Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $10.0m  Founded: September 2009

Private Investors Acquire Yeti. The Los Angeles-based local discovery app fosters conversation with a local focus. Nicknamed the “Tinder for places,” Yeti presents users with a series of photo cards with topics based on their location, giving users the option to swipe left to pass on a topic or swipe right to join in on a conversation. According to LA Business Journal, Yeti faced the choice to try to raise a large funding round to acquire more users or seek acquisition. The company stated that is decided to sell to a small group of private investors (JA Partners and Edgewater Ventures) so that it can continue to develop and retain the original mission of the app versus likely sunsetting the app if it were acquired by a larger tech company. Yeti will operate under a new CEO following the acquisition, and may develop more curated local recommendations.

Announced: 07/16/15 Terms: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: $875k Founded: June 2014

Meredith Acquires Grocery Server (Qponix). The Bainbridge Island, WA-based search and shopping engine, which targets customers using hyperlocal digital advertising for consumer packaged goods and grocery retail outlets, is part of Meredith’s strategy to drive digital and cross-platform growth, particularly withing the AllRecipes platform. Grocery Server, which has been a client of Meredith’s for some time, developed its technology in response to the shifting behaviors of mobile-equipped, value-minded shoppers and delivers product offers using shoppers’ recent mobile activity. The women’s interest publisher Meredith has used Grocery Server’s services in the past year, and as part of the acquisition, Grocery Server will supply Meredith with grocery data as well as nearly 150,000 monthly localized advertising specials in every residential zip code in the US.

Announced: 07/13/15 Terms: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: August 2010 (as joint venture between Qponix and MyGroceryDeals.com)

FUNDING

Noodle Play raises $160k. The Mumbai-based online ordering startup serves delivery-only Chinese food made in its own kitchens and guarantees delivery within 29 minutes. The brand is owned by Lollypop Foods Pvt Ltd and currently operates in five locations in Mumbai. Noodle Play will use the capital injection to expand its delivery service and has plans to open delivery outposts in over 50 locations in Mumbai by 2016. Eventually, the company plans to expand its services into other metropolitan areas.

Announced: 07/31/2015 Stage: Angel Participating Angel Investors: Gautam Sinha, Elliot Stechman, Ambarish Ray Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2012

GoButler Raises $8m. The New York-based on-demand startup offers a free, SMS-based personal concierge. Users can text the company to request a variety of services including food delivery, travel bookings and restaurant reservations. Customers’ ordering history and preferences are attached to their profile so that GoButler personal assistants, called Heroes, can see their preferences and use existing on-demand apps and e-commerce sites to provide its service. The company, founded by former Rocket Internet executives, believes its free service differentiates it from competitors and plans to make a profit by building an advertising network around customer data. The service is currently available in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The capital injection will be used towards to fund a marketing campaign.

Announced: 07/30/2015 Stage: Series A Participating Institutional Investors: General Catalyst Partners (lead), BoxGroup, Cherry Ventures, Lakestar, Global Founders Capital, Slow Ventures, Sound Ventures Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: February 2015

Thrive Market Raises $30m. The Los Angeles-based wholesale buying club for health-conscious products operates like a hybrid of Whole Foods and Costco. For a $60 annual membership fee, users can access natural or organic products across a variety of verticals, such as food, home goods, and baby supplies at or below the price of the conventional equivalent. In the first eight months from launch, the company gained over 100,000 active members, 1,000,000 registered users, and generated $5mm in monthly sales. The company has also partnered with a number of non-profits to offer free memberships to families in need for every paid membership on the platform. Thrive Market will use the funding to expand its operations, with the opening of a new distribution center on the East Coast and developing its mobile app.

Announced: 07/30/2015 Stage: Series A Participating Institutional Investors: Greycroft (lead), Scripps Network, CAVU, Powerplant Ventures Previous Investment: $9 million Founded: 2013

Delight Foods Raises $156k. The Bangalore-based food startup enables users to purchase famous Indian food brands from across the country. The venture works with over 60 brands sourced from 11 cities, allowing customers have delicacies particular to a city delivered to their homes. The venture is logistics heavy, and has packing centers in all the cities in which it operates. Funding will be used to make new hires, enter into new food categories, expand its location, and launch a marketing campaign in Bangalore.

Announced: 07/27/2015 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: MAPE Advisory Group, Fireside Ventures Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: December 2014

ShopKeep Raises $60m. The New York-based point-of-sale solution builds point-of-sale software for mobile devices and tablets. The company’s platform additionally offers customer marketing, inventory and staff management, back-end reporting and detailed analytics. The Wall Street Journal attributes the traction tablet-based point-of-sales systems are gaining to the proliferation of broadband internet that makes cloud software available at merchant locations. ShopKeep will use the funding towards growing its overall customer base in the US, strengthening industry partnerships, and launch international operations, starting with the UK.

Announced: 07/28/15 Stage: Series D Participating Institutional Investors: Activant Capital Previous Investment: $37.5 million Founded: October 2008

Deliveroo Raises $70m. The London-based restaurant delivery service focuses on marketing, selling and delivering meals from premium restaurants that do not usually offer takeout. Deliveroo targets affluent cities with high population density and an abundance of restaurants, currently serving 18 cities and towns across the UK as well as Paris, Berlin, and Dublin. Funding will be used towards expansion into new cities in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, marketing on the internet, billboard, and TV, in addition to hiring managing and product engineering staff.

Announced: 07/27/15 Stage: Series B Participating Institutional Investors: Greenoaks Capital (Lead), Index Ventures (Lead), Accel Partners, Hoxton Ventures Previous Investment: $29.6 million Founded: February 2013

Homer Logistics Raises $2m. The New York-based food delivery service for restaurants combines orders that originate in the same area and that head in the same direction to eliminate empty-handed return trips and make delivery more efficient. Additionally, Homer Logistics provides software to restaurants to receive and analyze incoming orders from a variety of platforms. The company reports that is has completed over 6,000 orders in Manhattan in June 2015.

Announced: 07/21/15 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: Brooklyn Bridge Ventures, Two Sigma Ventures, Vayner RSE, Rugged VC, Haystack Fund II Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2014

Flypay raises $10.7m. The London-based mobile payment startup allows users to check, split and pay their restaurant bill from their smartphones by scanning an on-table QR code/NFC tag to pull up the bill. Since its launch, Flypay has added other solutions catering to the hospitality industry, including order and collect, order at table, pay at bar, and customer loyalty features. Notably, TimeOut – a media brand – appears to be positioning itself as a strategic investor, calling itself a “global multimedia discovery platform”, with plans to help enable global deployment of Flypay’s solution.

Announced: 07/16/15 Stage: Series A Participating Institutional Investors: TimeOut Previous Investment: $1.9m Founded: February 2013

Plated Raises $35m. The New York-based subscription service for ready-to-cook meal ingredients and recipes markets itself as a premium meal kit delivery service. Plated distinguishes itself by offering sustainably sourced goods, with a slightly higher price-point per meal than competitors. To that end, Plated has invested in farming and transportation to ensure that its products are sustainably produced and shipped in sustainable packaging as well as mobile technology. Funding will be used to develop a low-waste supply chain and new regional fulfillment centers.

Announced: 07/16/15 Stage: Series B Participating Institutional Investors: Greycroft Partners, Formation 8 Previous Investment: $21.4 million Founded: January 2012

Main Street Hub Raises $25. The Austin, TX-based marketing platform for small-businesses uses data and analytics to help merchants acquire and maintain customers. The company’s “do-it-for you” local marketing platform offers an integrated social, web, and email marketing solution designed to help local restaurants and merchants drive more customers. The funding will provide the company with resources to grow, and facilitate the introduction of new products and addition of 300 employees in its Austin, TX, and New York offices by the end of 2015.

Announced: 07/16/15 Valuation: $216 million Stage: Series C Participating Institutional Investors: Vista Equity Partners Previous Investment: $40.9 million Founded: June 2009

Freshly Raises $7m. The New York-based meal delivery service offers meals inspired by the paleo diet. The meals are prepared by chefs employed by Freshly and then packaged and delivered to customers. The company primarily delivers in Arizona and California, and has shipped over 200,000 in its first five months of operation. Funding will be used for expansion to cover 80% of the country with new production and logistics facilities.

Announced: 07/15/15 Stage: Series A Participating Institutional Investors Highland Capital Partners (lead), White Star Capital Previous Investment: $2.0 million Founded: 2012

Spoon University Raises $2m. The New York based food network for millennials offers localized and more general stories about food, wellness, and lifestyle. Content on the website is produced by college students, who volunteer to share recipes, health and lifestyle stories, restaurant reviews, BuzzFeed-esque quizzes, and other food-related content. The website has a national page as well as individualized verticals for participating college campuses. Spoon University is different from similar platforms in that members who want to contribute content receive training in writing headlines, using Facebook to promote their content, and managing analytics tools to see how well their contributions are performing. Funding will be used towards expanding its network of contributors and creating more video content.

Announced: 07/14/15 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: BBG Ventures, BoxGroup Partners, Lerer Hippeau Ventures, Math Venture Partners, SoftTech VC, Vayner/RSE Previous Investment: $500k Founded: September 2013

Satvacart Raises Seed Funding. The Gurgaon-based grocery delivery startup offers over 4,000 curated products across grocery, fruits and vegetables, personal care, household essentials, and baby care through its online platform. Satvacart plans to use the funding to scale up its operations and expand into six new cities by the end of the fiscal year.

Announced: 07/14/15 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors Palaash Ventures Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2014

Zesty Raises $17m. The San Francisco-based office catering service differentiates itself by delivering meals from local restaurants cooked in a more health conscious way or created off-menu. Meals come with ingredients and nutrition facts, and Zesty works with restaurants to ensure that meals do not contain added sugar or MSG. In return for handling all the logistics of delivery and scheduling for the restaurants, and Zesty receives a fraction of the catering revenue. Zesty will use the investment to fund expansion into new markets.

Announced: 07/14/15 Stage: Series A Participating Institutional Investors: Index Ventures (lead), Founders Fund, Forerunner Ventures Previous Investment: $3.7 million Founded: November 2013

CircleUp Raises $22m Growth Fund. The San Francisco-based equity-based crowdfunding platform helps accredited investors find free access to private consumer-focused (mainly within consumer products and retail) investments, making it easier for investors to identify, diligence, and back companies they understand. Funding will be used to launch its Consumer Growth Fund, which will be used to match investments in consumer brands made through its crowdfunding platform. Whereas CircleUp’s traditional business model charges 5 percent commission tied to funds raised, the new Consumer Growth Fund will charge investors and also take both performance and management fees between 2 and 20 percent. According to TechCrunch, the average company funded through CircleUp has witnessed 90 percent growth per year after raising funds, but so far there have been no exits through sales or other liquidity events.

Announced: 07/13/15 CircleUp’s Investment To-Date (excluding this investment fund): $23.0m Founded: October 2011

Grofers Raises $36m. The Gurgaon, India-based online mobile delivery app delivers produce and other goods from local stores on-demand. Customers can choose from a selection of over 20,000 items, including essentials like diapers and personal grooming items and have purchases delivered within 90 minutes. The Economic Times notes that the deal increased the company’s valuation threefold. Funding will be used towards marketing and expanding its offerings in more categories and geographies.

Announced: 07/11/15 Valuation: $115 million Stage: Series C Participating Institutional Investors: Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global Previous Investment: $45.5 million Founded: December 2013

Eatlo Raises Angel Funding (“under $1m”). The Bangalore-based mobile platform allows users to order food and have it delivered within 20 minutes. The company currently delivers food from across seven locations in the city and operates with a network of seven chefs and 10 fulfillment centers, claiming to serve 1,200 orders daily. Funding will be used to scale up the business by increasing its delivery locations to 20, hiring 100 employees, and improving its back-end technology.

Announced: 07/07/2015 Stage: Angel Participating Institutional Investors: Globevestor, Powai Lake Ventures Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2014

Foody Raises Undisclosed Series B and Series C. The Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam-based startup initially launched as a gourmet search and user review media platform has since diversified its services to include table booking and food delivery. TechinAsia reports that Foody aims to become to top platform in Vietnam and is interested in expanding into other countries in Southeast Asia using a hyperlocal strategy.  Stunningly, the company announced both a Series B and Series C in the same month! Foody will use to funding to accelerate growth in user number, content, and expand its booking and delivery services as well as into new markets in Southeast Asia, beginning with Indonesia.

Announced: 07/07/15 and 7/28/15  Stage: Series B Participating Institutional Investors: Garena (Series B), Tiger Global (Series C)  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: June 2012

Quinto Raises Seed Funding. The Pune, India-based personalized recommendation app lets users discover dishes using crowdsourced ratings. Quinto differentiates itself from similar services by emphasizing ratings of particular dishes instead of the restaurant as a whole. Funding will be used to build up Quinto’ engineering and marketing teams, in addition to improving and expanding the recommendation engine.

Announced: 07/05/15 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2012

Berry Kitchen Raises $1.25m. The Jakarta, Indonesia-based meal delivery service employs a ‘bento model,’ allowing users to create their own lunch or dinner menus by combining different food options. Berry Kitchen claims that since its launch, it has served more than 245,000 boxes to 7,000 customers, who purchase credits in advance which can be redeemed for meals. The new capital will be used towards marketing, expanding its operational and technology team, improving its tech platform, and building two kitchens to serve orders in the Jakarta area.

Announced: 07/05/15 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: Sovereign’s Capital (lead), East Ventures Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2012

1to1Fitness Raises Seed Funding. The Noida, India-based lifestyle startup aims to optimize healthy nutrition and lifestyle needs of the modern day professional. The company’s online platform features diet plans, work outs, health assessment, online lifestyle coaching, and live yoga classes. As part of the investment 1to1Fitness will receive consulting from investor SeedSphere.

Announced: 07/09/15 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: SeedSphere Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: Not Disclosed

Adored Raises $2.3m. The Manchester, New Hampshire-based loyalty experience platform beams personalized offers to customers in restaurants, cafes, and resorts by employing iBeacon transmitter technologies. Adored’s app is available on iOS and Android platforms and tracks customer preferences from phones behavior, without requiring information such as names and emails that may provoke privacy concerns. For merchants, Adore’s customer analytics could provide insight for increasing sales and promoting engagement. The company intends to use the funds to double its team, in particular the engineering and sales teams.

Announced: 07/08/15 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: Borealis Ventures, Boston Seed Capital, Kepha Partners, Matrix Partners Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: September 2014

Chope Raises $8m. The Singapore-based restaurant reservation platform sends users instant reservation confirmation emails after users log on to the service to place a reservation at their desired restaurant. The company recently expanded to become a restaurant management and marketing platform and derives its revenues equally between a monthly fee for its operations management features and booking fees from its reservation service. Funding will enable Chope to add new features, including the development of an app for the Apple Watch and “What’s Happening,” a feature to enable diners to track the restaurants at which their friends have dined.

Announced: 06/30/15 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: F&H Fund Management (Lead), NSI Ventures (Lead), DSG Consumer Partners, Frontier Ventures, Singapore Press Holdings Previous Investment: $3.4 million Founded: June 2011

AAGAAR Raises Angel Funding. The New Delhi-based hyperlocal delivery service provides fresh and daily essentials, including groceries and personal care products, to customers’ doorsteps. The company noted that the current round helped the company set up as well as validated the process and infrastructure for the company’s services. The funding will be used to re-structure AAGARR’s portal, augment warehouse infrastructure, and improve delivery setup.

Announced: 06/29/15 Stage: Angel Participating Investors: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: November 2014

PARTNERSHIPS

Drizly Partners with BlueConic to create a more individualized experience across commerce and content when shopping for beer, wine, and liquor.

Revel Systems Partners with Zapper to integrate payment solutions so that restaurants using Revel Systems have an additional payment option for customers.

7-Eleven Partners with Postmates to launch one-hour delivery service.

TripHobo Partners with Zomato to provide users with destination based restaurant suggestions.

Foursquare Partners with Uber to introduce ride ordering services within Foursquare’s app.

USDA Partners with Microsoft to create $60,000 innovation challenge to spur the creation of tech tools for analyzing food supply data.

Crisp Media Partners with Reader’s Digest to connect consumer packaged goods marketers and retailers with consumers.

INDUSTRY LANDSCAPE

As The Food Tech & Media ecosystem continues to see rapid change, Rosenheim Advisors created The Food Tech & Media Industry Map to help entrepreneurs, participants and investors understand this quickly evolving landscape. Let us know about your recent or upcoming funding, partnerships or acquisitions here.

Check out the 2014 Annual Report and last month’s round-up. 

The post Food Tech Media Startup Funding, M&A and Partnerships: July 2015 appeared first on Food + Tech Connect.

This is a monthly guest post, by consulting firm Rosenheim Advisors, which highlights the most interesting acquisitions, financings and partnerships within the Food Tech & Media ecosystem – digital content, social, local, mobile, grocery, e-commerce, delivery, ordering, payments, marketing and analytics – to give you insights into the latest funding and growth trends.

Global food tech investments dominated August, with two thirds of the funded companies based outside of the U.S. (representing 95% of the total capital raised). Total food tech and media funding for the month rounded out to approximately $950 million across 26 global companies, with a subset of eight U.S. companies garnering a combined investment of $44 million. There were four acquisitions with undisclosed values, all based in the U.S. and relatively early stage.

The broad international trends reflect the same hot sectors in the U.S. – food delivery, online ordering, ecommerce, restaurant platforms – and with five of the deals valued at more than $20 million, we are seeing the same shift towards expansion and scalability for the leaders of the pack. In August, the two largest deals were China-based companies, totaling $710 million of investment. In this context, China appears to be a cycle ahead of the U.S. in terms of maturing concepts, with an increasing number of companies scaling beyond U.S. benchmarks of reach and growth.

Meanwhile, as I discussed in May, India has begun to embrace food tech concepts, and entrepreneurs are churning out a steady number of new companies each month. While there are a handful of established brands in India, like BigBasket.com and Zomato (both recently reported to be valued at $1 billion), most players in the Indian food tech space are still in the early stages of market- and thesis-testing modes. As highlighted in the Economic Times, this evolving market is quickly becoming cluttered, and the “real test will come when they plan to scale in other geographies without comprising on quality.”

M&A

Reserve Acquires Set for Service. The New York-based provider of CRM systems for restaurants will allow Reserve to offer restaurants the ability to track customer feedback and details, such as reservation notes, dining habits, or allergies, in order to improve guest experience. Reserve, a provider of restaurant reservation and payment solutions, will continue to offer all Set for Service features to its existing clients while deciding which features to integrate with Reserve. Set for Service’s CEO and founder has joined Reserve as the head of restaurant product and New York General Manager.

Announced: 08/21/15  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2009

InstaCart Acquires Wedding Party. The Palo Alto, CA-based mobile app has been acquihired by InstaCart, which will take on six of Wedding Party’s employees, most of which are engineers. As both companies are data driven, the new hirers are expected to work on the consumer-facing aspects of its technology, the shopper-facing app, as well as preferred partner products including partner interface and catalogs. Reportedly, Wedding Party’s app will continue to exist into the near future.

Announced: 08/04/15  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $1.0m  Founded: August 2012

Vivonet Acquisitions Acquires Syrus Restaurant Information Services. The Columbus, OH-based SaaS back-office and above-store reporting solutions provider focuses on the North American restaurant industry, and will allow Vivonet, which provides omni-channel POS solutions, to offer its clients an integrated solution for labor, inventory, and ordering.  Syrus’s SaaS platform integrates with most point of sale systems in the market, and serves over 2,500 restaurants.

Announced: 08/27/15  Terms: All Cash Transaction  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 1996

Rise Acquires HealthyOut. The New York-based mobile nutrition platform, which gives users recommendations on healthy dishes at local restaurants, will help Rise, a mobile platform that connects users with personal diet coaches, improve its services in helping users create a healthier diet. The company utilizes machine learning technology to process over 140,000 restaurant menus in the country. According to TechCrunch, the acquisition will also help Rise retain its competitive edge without having to invent a similar product.

Announced: 08/19/15  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $1.2m  Founded: 2013

FUNDING

Ele.me Raises $630m. The Shanghai-based food delivery service is an online platform that offers customer-to-customer meal ordering services, and also works as a communication platform between users and restaurants. According to Forbes, the deal has made Ele.me, which translates to “Are you hungry now?,” the fourth largest food ordering platform after Grubhub, Delivery Hero, and Just Eat. The company will use the funds to expand into more cities and build its own delivery network. As part of its investment in Ele.me, retailer Hualian will partner with Ele.me to deliveries from its supermarkets across the country.

Announced: 08/28/15  Valuation: $3 billion  Stage: Series F  Participating Institutional Investors: CITIC Capital Holdings (Lead), Hualian (Lead), JD.com, Sequoia Capital, Tencent Holdings  Previous Investment: $455.0 million  Founded: September 2008

iZettle Raises $67m. The Stockholm, Sweden-based provider of mobile point-of-sale solutions enables small businesses to provide mobile payment services through its card readers for smartphones and tablets. With the raise, the company announced its new project, iZettle Advance, a financing product that will allow iZettle customers to access extra capital as an advance on card sales. Upon approval into the iZettle Advance program, customers will receive funding within days, and paybacks occur automatically as a fraction of card sales. iZettle intends to use the funding towards development and expansion of the iZettle Advance project, as well as continued growth in existing and future markets.

Announced: 08/28/15  Stage: Series D  Participating Institutional Investors: Intel Capital (Lead), Zouk Capital LLP (Lead), 83North, Creandum, Dawn Capital, Index Ventures, Northzone, Santander Innoventures   Previous Investment: $108.8 million  Founded: April 2010

Pronto Raises $1.6m. The London-based meal delivery service offers cooked meals using ingredients sourced from local producers. According to TechCrunch, Pronto differentiates its service from delivery giants by offering healthier versions of traditional British meals. Pronto currently has over 1,000 customers, and reports to have a large number of return customers. The company plans to use the funding to hire more personnel and start a marketing push for the first time.

Announced: 08/27/15  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors:  Playfair Capital,  Seedcamp,  London Co-Investment Fund, Ballpark Ventures  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2014

Food Talk India Raises $500k. The Gurgaon, India-based online food community lets members read and share food experiences through real-time restaurant recommendations. Originally starting out as an invite-only social food forum on Facebook, the company currently has over 400,000 followers across various social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Viber. The company additionally offers in-person events in the form of curated social events. Funding will be used to launch its new product, a mobile app Food Talk Plus geared towards hyper-local dish discovery.

Announced: 08/26/15  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2014

Yogiyo Raises $35m. The Seoul, Korea-based food delivery service app was Korea’s first online food ordering platform, and now through strategic investment, represents a Korean brand of Delivery Hero.  Although Korean competitor Baedaltong, was acquired by Delivery Hero last December, Delivery Hero has no immediate plans of merging YoGiYo and Baedaltong, as they each “have well established their own positions in the market.” With this new capital infusion, Yogiyo will focus on customer satisfaction through continued development and improvement to products and services.

Announced: 08/25/15  Stage: Venture  Participating Investors: Delivery Hero  Previous Investment: $23.6 million  Founded: June 2012

EazyDiner Raises $3m. The Delhi, India-based restaurant reservation platform is offers real-time guaranteed restaurant reservations. The company features over 19,000 restaurant and bars, as well as over 1,000 critic reviews. Users receive deals and discounts with each reservation, and the company has a loyalty rewards program. The company will use the capital injection to expand into 12 cities in India by the end of 2016.

Announced: 08/25/15  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Chrys Capital, DSG Consumer Partners, Saama Capita, Deepak Shahdadpuri, Gulpreet Kohli  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2014

Jolly Food Fellow Raises $300k. The Ahmedabad, India-based mobile app provides food vendors operating through ecommerce platforms with analytics about their customers to apply customer target strategies. The startup currently offers data on customers, including what they eat, and the number of times they visit. The company has plans to add more analytics of customers to identify repetitive clients, which it claims will help food vendors monetize. Jolly Food Fellow has run prototypes across food retail outlets in Ahmedabad, and will use the cash infusion to expand into metro cities of Mumbai and Bengaluru.

Announced: 08/24/15  Stage: Angel  Participating Institutional Investors: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2015

Sampler Raises $1m. The New York, NY and Toronto-based SaaS startup enables consumer packaged goods companies to distribute samples of their products through their own redistribution channels. Using Sampler’s technology platform, companies can offer samples to targeted users, who will then receive information about picking up samples via email and social media. The company states that Sampler’s targeted method of sample distribution to targeted customers guards against “Freebie Hunters,” and provide companies with demographic and feedback data to identify their customer base.

Announced: 08/21/15 Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Business Development Bank of Canada, David B Perkins, MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund   Previous Investment: $0.6 million  Founded: November 2013

RedMart Raises $26.7m. The Singapore-based online grocery retailer site enables users to browse and buy groceries, household essentials and related products. Funding will be used to support international expansion, the growth of its grocery and marketplace business, the launch of its On Demand Marketplace, and investment in its dry and fresh private label offering. TechCrunch notes that RedMart owns its own logistics and warehouse chain, which could facilitate venturing into other product categories.

Announced: 08/20/14  Stage: Series C  Participating Institutional Investors: Far East Ventures, Garena, SoftBank Ventures Korea, Visionnaire Ventures  Previous Investment: $33.0 million  Founded: March 2011

Revel Systems Raises $13.5m. The San Francisco-based iPad-based point-of-sale system for grocery, retail and restaurant establishments includes front-end order entry, cash register and payment processing, plus a full suite of back-end products. Revel’s platform enables small- and medium-sized businesses, franchise operators and enterprises to access a full suite of operations and reporting features designed to help manage and grow their business. The Revel platform can connect to the internet via Ethernet, and is thus accessible to merchants who do not have Wi-Fi. The new funding will be used for global expansion and to support engagements within existing and new verticals.

Announced: 08/18/15  Valuation: Over $500 million Stage: Series C-3  Participating Institutional Investors: ROTH Capital Partners  Previous Investment: $113.8 million  Founded: September 2010

Bright Cellars Raises $1.8m. The Cambridge, MA-based online subscription wine retailer distributes personalized wines using a proprietary matching algorithm. The company develops individual preference profiles for new members through a wine quiz, which has questions including which type of chocolate they prefer, how they prefer their tea, and how adventurous they are with dining. Customers then receive a selection of wines that match their tastes, and can refine their preference profile by rating wines after drinking them. Bright Cellars plans to use the funding to build its platform and hire new team members.

Announced: 08/18/15  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Angels on the Water, BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation, CSA Partners LLC, gener8tor  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2014

Peach Raises $8m. The Seattle-based food delivery startup delivers lunches from local restaurants to office workers in Seattle and San Diego, providing a bulk-order boost to restaurants’ business during what would typically be slow periods. The company sends registered members a daily text with a lunch dish of the day as well as lite and vegetarian alternatives. The company has delivered over 400,000 meals since June 2014, and added catering services. Peach will use the capital injection to expand Boston and Washington D.C.

Announced: 08/18/15  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Madrona Venture Group, Vulcan Capital  Previous Investment: $2.8 million  Founded: June 2014

Shadowfax Raises $300k. The Gurgaon, India-based on-demand hyperlocal delivery service enables delivery from local merchants to their customers. The company’s technological platform incorporates multiple modes of communication, as well as GPS tracking functions and automated algorithms to make its network efficient. Customers are charged on a pay-per-delivery basis depending on distance and level of service quality. Shadowfax plans to use the capital injections to expand into 10 more cities within the next year and grow its staff to more than 35 employees and 350 riders.

Announced: 08/17/15  Stage: Angel  Participating Angel Investors: Kunal Bahl, Prashant Malik, Rohit Bansal, Zishaan Hayath  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2015

MassBlurb Raises Angel Funding. The Mumbai, India-based startup provides social media marketing services to small and medium sized restaurants. The company’s marketing automation tool is a single dashboard for restaurants to manage their online presence and list their businesses on sites like Zomato and FoodPanda. MassBlurb will use the capital infusion to provide more features to its product offerings and expand across India and abroad.

Announced: 08/13/15  Stage: Angel  Participating Angel Investors: Abhimanyu Munjal, Keshav Baljee, Vikram Chachra  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2014

Big Basket Raises $50m. The Bangalore, India-based online grocery store is the largest in India. TechCrunch reports that BigBasket presently offers four daily time slots for delivery, but may launch one hour delivery after its acquisition of hyperlocal delivery startup Delyvr. The company is currently facing competition from other hyperlocal delivery services offering on demand delivery from nearby stores. BigBasket.com will apply the funding towards expansion, and has plans to open 10 new warehouses expand into 50 Tier II cities.

Announced: 08/12/15  Valuation: $1 billion  Stage: Series C  Participating Institutional Investors: Ascent Capital Group, Bessemer Venture Partners, Helion Venture Partners, Zodius Capital  Previous Investment: $35.8 million  Founded: October 2011

Mogl Raises $8m. The San Diego-based rewards and loyalty app allows users to gain cash-back rewards for spending money at partner restaurants and also provides the option to donate rewards to a fundraiser or transfer rewards into points toward airline flights, hotel stays and more.  Offline merchants can create an offer to be displayed on the company’s network of participating websites and apps. Customers who would like to take the offer can link their debit or credit card through the participating website or app, and get rewarded when making a purchase offline. Mogl plans to use the funding to expand and apply its technology foundation to other industries, including gas stations, health-conscious grocery stores, clothing stores, and spas.

Announced: 08/11/15  Stage: Venture Round  Participating Institutional Investors: Aequitas Capital, Avalon Ventures, Correlation Ventures, Monroe Capital, Moore Venture Partners, Sigma Partners  Previous Investment: $26.8 million  Founded: 2010

RainCan Raises $100k. The Pune, India-based provider of dairy, meat, bakery, fruits, and vegetables operates on a subscription-based service. RainCan earns a 10-15% margin on its products, and has partnered with distributors of Nestle, ITC and P&G. The proceeds will be used to help the company grow and increase orders from 100 a day to 500 a day.

Announced: 08/10/15  Stage: Angel  Participating Angel Investors: Ajeet Khurana  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: March 2000

Dinner Lab Raises $7m. The New Orleans-based membership-based dining club connects undiscovered chefs with interested diners by giving members access to pop-up dining events thrown in particular locations. The company hosts multiple dinners a month more than 30 cities. Locations include warehouses and helipads, and the food is prepared by chefs that may not be operating their own kitchen. Dinner Lab currently has over 25,000 members, and charges a yearly membership fee as well as a per meal fee should members decide to attend. The company intends to use the funding to expand operations across U.S. markets and its B2B solutions.

Announced: 08/06/15  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: James River Capital, Innovation Catalyst  Previous Investment: $3.1 million  Founded: August 2011

Green Blender Raises $900k. The New York-based smoothie ingredients subscription service sends customers pre-portioned ingredients to make smoothies at home. The company sends ingredients for ten smoothies, with five recipes, and claims to source ingredients from organic and local farms whenever possible. The funding will be used to support the company’s growth, through hiring, geographic expansion, partnerships, and marketing initiatives.

Announced: 08/06/15  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: FOOD-X, Point Nine Capital, SOSV   Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2014

Beat the Q Posse Group Raises $5m. The Sydney, Australia-based group is newly formed, comprised of three formerly separate companies Posse, Beat the Q, and E-Coffee Card. The company’s app Hey You enables customers to order from cafes en route, gain loyalty benefits, and connect with storeowners. Beat the Q Posse Group plans to use the funding for further product development and operation scaling. According to BRW, new features will include group ordering as well as beacon-enabled table service.

Announced: 08/04/15  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Reinventure  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2011

Meal Box Raises $3.6m. The Istanbul, Turkey-based on-demand meal delivery service offers traditional home-cooked style Turkish food. According to TechCrunch, Meal Box’s offering is in contrast to that of most meal delivery services in Turkey, which serve fast food or street food. Meal Box operates its own centralized kitchen and has a network of delivery centers throughout the cities, enabling the company to ensure delivery within 30 minutes. The company has plans to expand to Ankara and other major cities by the end of the year.

Announced: 08/03/15  Stage: Venture Round  Participating Institutional Investors: Aslanoba Capital  Previous Investment: $3.6 million  Founded: 2014

IOrderFresh Raises $1m. The Delhi, India-based mobile food and grocery retailer caters to customers in and around the National Capital Region. The company does not store inventory for retail, and instead procures products from wholesale retailers the day of delivery. The cash infusion will be used for technology development, increasing the supply chain, and customer acquisition and services.

Announced: 08/01/15  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Best Foodworks (lead)  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2013

Cake Raises $2.2m. The London-based mobile payment platform lets users pay or split the bill to their preference at restaurant and bars. Cake currently has a network of over 20 registered businesses and expects to expand to 100 businesses by the end of 2015. Funding will be used to support growth in London and Los Angeles.

Closed: 08/01/15  Stage: Equity Crowdfunding  Participating Institutional Investors: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $1 million  Founded: February 2014

Jiuxian Raises $80m. The Beijing-based online alcohol retailer is the largest in China. In addition to its core business of alcohol retail, Jiuxian has developed four other business segments, including integrated branding services, on demand delivery service services, creation of customized brands for online sales channels, and online special offers. The funding makes Jiuxian China’s tenth best funded startup, and part of the new funding for Jiuxian will go towards growing a spin-off, on-demand wine and beer delivery service Jiukuaidao, which taps local brick-and-mortar stores to deliver to buyers in their area. Funding will also be used towards expansion of the company’s market share of online retail and line of customized brands.

Announced: 07/31/15  Valuation: $1.05 billion  Stage: Series G  Participating Institutional Investors: Merrysunny Wealth (lead)  Previous Investment: $182.5 million  Founded: 2009

Improvonia Raises $4m. The Washington, DC-based mobile and web-based communication platform connects buyers and sellers to improve communication and streamline the ordering process in the hospitality industry. Restaurants that use the service can place all their orders to all their suppliers at once. The company will apply the funding towards expansion to new cities, hiring more user facing employees, and building out the ordering platform.

Announced: 07/31/15  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: BlueRun Ventures  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: July 2014

Opinio Raises $1.3m. The Bangalore-based last mile delivery service connects customers with restaurants, grocers, laundry services, and pharmacies. The startup is currently processing over 1,000 orders daily, and is available in seven areas within Bangalore. Opinio has plans to expand into more cities, and funding will be used to sustain the company for another 4 to 5 months as it plans to raise another round.

Announced: 07/28/15  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Accel, TraxcnLabs  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: January 2015

PARTNERSHIPS

Focus Brands Partners with Postmates to launch on-demand delivery service for the six foodservice chains in its portfolio, including Auntie Anne’s Pretzels, Carvel, Cinnabon, McAlister’s Deli, Moe’s Southwest Grill, and Schlotzsky’s.

POS on Cloud Partners with Clutch to offer Clutch’s suite of customer intelligence and engagement solutions to its network of merchants.

Google Partners with ASOS and Munchery to promote its music station.

Subway Partners with PayPal to let people pay via PayPal when ordering from its mobile app.

Revel Systems Partners with Zapper to let restaurants activate Zapper as an additional payment option for customers.

Peapod Partners with FarmLogix to launch Pea Pod Local Farm Box, which delivers local seasonal produce to customers.

CircleUp Partners with Amazon Launchpad to enhance consumer discoverability for food entrepreneurs in CircleUp’s portfolio.

INDUSTRY LANDSCAPE

As The Food Tech & Media ecosystem continues to see rapid change, Rosenheim Advisors created The Food Tech & Media Industry Map to help entrepreneurs, participants and investors understand this quickly evolving landscape. Let us know about your recent or upcoming funding, partnerships or acquisitions here.

Check out the 2014 Annual Report and last month’s round-up. 

The post Food Tech Media Startup Funding, M&A and Partnerships: August 2015 appeared first on Food + Tech Connect.

This is a monthly guest post, by consulting firm Rosenheim Advisors, which highlights the most interesting acquisitions, financings and partnerships within the Food Tech & Media ecosystem – digital content, social, local, mobile, grocery, e-commerce, delivery, ordering, payments, marketing and analytics – to give you insights into the latest funding and growth trends.

As has been typical the last couple of years, December funding activity in the U.S. was relatively light, however a bulk of international deals (mainly in Asia) spurred additional momentum in the food tech category. In total, over $125 million was raised globally across sixteen private companies, with $67.1 million of the investment going to six U.S.-based startups.

On the M&A front, while there were some opportunistic acquisitions in the mix, all five targets in December added strategic heft to the acquiring parties, primarily around customer growth and adding to the talent pool.

Overall, restaurant-related tech and delivery concepts continue to make up the bulk of activity, however it was good to see the content sector getting some traction with meaningful capital deployed for Tastemade, Yummly, Panna and Burpple. Stay tuned for the 2015 Annual Report next week, which will take a broader look at the yearly trends and investment breakdown between categories.

M&A

Peppertap Acquires Jiffstore. The Bangalore, India-based grocery delivery service was acqui-hired by Peppertap, the Guragon, India-based on-demand grocery delivery service.  The 40-person Jiffstore team will join Peppertap, aiming to enhance user experience and technology talent. As Inc42 notes, PepperTap will not venture into the same business model as Jiffstore, which collaborated directly with the merchants to fulfill orders and pass on the customers. PepperTap’s approach is to handle everything from taking orders, to procuring supplies and making deliveries. The acquisition comes at the same time as Peppertap closing a $40 million Series B investment.

Announced: 12/21/15  Terms: Not Disclosed (cash and stock)  Previous Investment: $500k  Founded: October 2013

Yummly Acquires The Orange Chef. The San Francisco, CA-based connected kitchen platform was a strong strategic fit for Yummly, as they both are focused on augmenting the food experience through food technology, data and discovery.  Primarily an acqui-hire, over half of the Orange Chef’s team will join the startup’s CEO, Santiago Merea, who was named Chief Revenue Officer of Yummly. Building on Yummly’s 15 million monthly unique users, Merea will lead the company’s effort to drive its revenue streams by working with brands and companies ranging from consumer product goods to kitchenware and to identify new opportunities for growth. Notable, Yummly didn’t acquire the startup’s hardware assets for the Prep Pad, a connected food scale.

Announced: 12/11/15  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $5.4m  Founded: April 2011

Vietnammm Acquires Vietnamese business of Rocket Internet’s Foodpanda. The acquisition will provide Vietnammm, a Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam-based food delivery service, with access to a new customer base as well as a restaurant partner base containing over 1,000 restaurants. Foodpanda shut down operations in Vietnam due to financial issues.

Announced: 12/07/15  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed

GrubHub Acquires Delivered Dish. The Portland, OR-based food delivery and catering service focuses on both corporate and consumer diners, operating in areas including Denver, Las Vegas, San Diego, El Paso and Albuquerque as well as its Portland base. The acquisition will allow Grubhub to expand delivery services and the courier network in the western United States. GrubHub’s delivery service currently serves diners and restaurants in 30 markets and expects to be in more than 40 markets by the end of 2015. According to the Chicago Tribune report, Delivered Dish will maintain current operations and team, with no plans for immediate changes.

Announced: 12/07/15  Terms: Not Disclosed (Estimated at $10-$20m) Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2002

DinnerLab Acquires Dishcrawl. The San Jose, CA-based online culinary community and event finder will expand DinnerLab’s community offerings to include more “food crawl” events. While DinnerLab currently has over 75,000 members (membership allows for early access to events), in an effort to grow its audience, the New Orleans, LA-based social dining event club recently dropped its membership fee, hoping to triple the number of dinners it offers each week (currently hosting between 25 and 30 dinner parties each week across the country).  Separately, as the company continues to refine its business model, DinnerLab also announced layoffs during the month as it shifts to a contract-based model for its events staff, versus full-time. As TechCrunch notes, the company is now centralizing a lot of roles to its main office, such as sourcing ingredients and finding venues, which were traditionally handled by on-the-ground employees.

Announced: 12/02/15  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $150k  Founded: 2010

FUNDING

PepperTap Closed Series B with Additional $4m. The Guragon, India-based grocery delivery service allows consumers to select products from local grocery stores for on-demand delivery. The funding finalizes a $40 million Series B investment, $36 million of which was raised in September from investors including Snapdeal, Sequoia Capital, and SAIF Partners. Along with the investment, PepperTap has acquired Jiffstore, the Bangalore, India-based grocery delivery service.

Announced: 12/21/15  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: InnoVen Capital India  Previous Investment: $47.2 million  Founded: November 2014

Tastemade Raises $40m. The Los Angeles, CA-based digital media company focused on food, travel and lifestyle programming for the “connected generation” has a global audience of 100 million active monthly viewers, with about 60% aged 18 to 34 and its biggest markets in the U.S., Japan and Brazil. With videos available on many social media platforms, including Facebook, Snapchat, Apple TV, Spotify, and YouTube, the company has yet to make a profit and will need to scale up to capture more advertising revenue. According to Entrepreneur, its fastest growing revenue streams come from native advertising. The investment will be used to increase staff and expand the company’s presence on digital platforms.

Announced: 12/17/15  Stage: Series D  Participating Institutional Investors: Goldman Sachs (lead), Comcast Ventures, Liberty Media, Redpoint Ventures, Scripps Network Interactive  Previous Investment: $40.3 million  Founded: 2012

Panna Raises Strategic Investment from A&E Networks. The Westfield, NJ-based digital cooking brand offers consumers premium instructional cooking videos with recipes from award-winning chefs. Panna also recent launched Simmer, described as “Instagram of video recipes,” which enables users to upload their own favorite recipes in step-by-step video format. In conjunction with the undisclosed investment, Panna will partner with A&E to produce recipe videos to be aired as interstitials on A&E’s FYI Network.

Announced: 12/15/15   Participating Institutional Investors: A&E Networks  Previous Investment: $1.4m  Founded: January 2012

Matsmart Raises $3.5m. The Skerike, Sweden-based online grocery store sells “soon-to-be-expired” food products, at up to 90% discount to retail prices. The company aims to reduce the amount of food waste by selling foods that would otherwise be thrown away. The proceeds will be used to expand the company in Sweden and abroad to other European countries.

Announced: 12/15/15  Stage: Venture  Participating Institutional Investors: Northzone, GP Bullhound, Edastra  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: December 2013

TabbedOut Raises $2m. The Austin-based mobile payment app is currently installed in over 10,000 venues in the U.S. and allows patrons to open, review, and securely pay their tab. This investment, which is an extension of the Series C funding announced in June, will be used to expand to 20 planned U.S metro areas and then launch internationally soon thereafter, advance the consumer app, build integrations with other mobile services and extend Periscope’s big data analytics.

Announced: 12/11/15  Stage: Series C (Extension)  Participating Institutional Investors: Aeterna Capital  Previous Investment: $39.0 million  Founded: June 2009

Yumist Raises $2m. The Guragon, India-based meal delivery service provides a low-cost daily meal option for consumers. Yumist cooks and delivers its own meals to consumers, with current operations in Guragon, Bangalore, and South Delhi. The company will use the proceeds to grow operations within these three cities and eventually expand to more cities in India.

Announced: 12/08/15  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Unilazer Ventures (lead), Orios Venture Partners Previous Investment: $1.0 million  Founded: October 2014

Bringg Raises $5m. The New York, NY- and Tel Aviv, Israel-based platform for on-demand delivery provides businesses with an “uber-like experience” delivery option. Consumers can use the mobile platform to monitor delivery status, receive notifications when the driver is on the way, and set up text alerts. The funds will be used to grow Bringg’s team and services in both New York and Tel Aviv locations.

Announced: 12/07/15  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Ituran  Previous Investment: $2.5 million  Founded: June 2013

Gousto Raises £9m. The London-based subscription meal kit delivery service provides chef-developed recipes and organic ingredients in exact proportions. Delivery is free, and meals cost between £3-5. According to the release, with the additional funding, Gousto plans to strengthen its team of chefs and nutritionists, broaden its sales and marketing efforts, and continue to introduce a greater choice of meal and delivery options.

Announced: 12/07/15  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: BGF Ventures, MMC Ventures, Unilever Ventures, Angel Co-Fund  Previous Investment: $11.7 million  Founded: June 2012

Eatigo Raises “Multimillion-dollar” Series A. The Thailand-based online restaurant reservation app  offers discounts according to reservation time slots. The team claims eatigo has seated over one million diners, with 95% of reservations booked during non-peak hours at restaurants. According to e27, the funds will be used to strengthen eatigo’s presence in its current markets of Thailand and Singapore by increasing user and merchant acquisition as well as investing over US$1M into offline brand building in support of its online channels.

Announced: 12/07/15  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: June 2014

Faasos Raises $30m. The Pune, India-based online restaurant chain allows consumers to order food for on-demand delivery. The company currently operates in 15 cities across India, including Pune, Bangalore, Mumbai, and Delhi. According to DealStreetAsia, the company is eyeing revenues of $20 million by end of this fiscal year, and about $100 million in the next financial year as it looks to expand its presence further across India. Faasos currently receives about 350,000 orders per day, however the company aims to receive one million orders per day in the next six months.  The funds are expected to be used to grow the company to more cities throughout India, expand the range of its in-house brands, launch new services including Faasos Daily, a new mobile application for time-slotted food deliveries. The company also expects to utilize the funds for food tech acquisitions.

Announced: 12/07/15  Stage: Series C  Participating Institutional Investors: ru-Net (lead), Lightbox Ventures, Sequoia Capital  Previous Investment: $20.0 million  Founded: 2004

Teforia Raises $5.1m. The Mountain View, CA-based manufacturer of tea-brewing devices offers a brewing machine with a Selective Infusion Profile System as well as technology that allows the consumer to adjust caffeine and antioxidant levels and create personalized tea recipes. The company will use the investment to develop the company and manufacture new batches of brewers.

Announced: 12/04/15  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Upfront Ventures (lead), InnoSpring Seed Fund, Lemnos Labs, Yves Sisteron  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2014

Lozi Raises “Seven-Digit Investment”. The Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam-based mobile app allows consumers to find restaurants and rate dining experience. The app reported 500,000 subscribers at the end of November 2015. The funding will be used to expand the company and develop the app’s technology to better connect restaurants and users.

Announced: 12/04/15  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Golden Gate Ventures, DesignOne Japan Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2013

EatStreet Raises $15m. The Madison, WI-based online platform for food ordering allows users to browse local restaurants and order food for on-demand delivery. EatStreet currently operates in over 15,000 restaurants in over 250 cities in the United States. Founded by college students, the company targets locations with large universities. The company will use the investment to make technological advancements to its core products, hire additional employees and expand to more cities nationwide.

Announced: 12/03/15  Stage: Series C  Participating Institutional Investors: 4490 Ventures (lead), Lumia Capital (lead), GCI Capital Co. Ltd., Math Venture Partners, State of Wisconsin Investment Board  Previous Investment: $12.0 million  Founded: 2010

EasyKhaana Raises $100k. The New Delhi, India-based food delivery service caters meal boxes to corporate and individual customers. The startup’s strategy is to own the complete delivery supply chain – with a combination of food, logistics & technology. The company states that orders can be placed in 30 seconds through their website. The proceeds will be used to strengthen its logistics and technology as well as reach out to more people by expanding its delivery areas.

Announced: 12/03/15  Stage: Angel  Participating Investors: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: September 2015

FOOD LOVES TECH Expo Funded Through Joint Venture. The New York-based event, formed through a joint venture between Edible Holdings and VaynerMedia will hold its inaugural three-day exposition in June 2016 in New York City. The first-of-its-kind event will offer consumers a portal to the future of food through technology by showcasing inventors, startups and platforms that are hacking the food chain. In advance of the event, the team is launching a design competition globally and will host an incubator event in San Francisco, Austin and New York City—in conjunction with the local Edible magazine in these areas—to find designers, hardware specialists, coders, foodies and futurists who are developing products that will disrupt food.

Announced: 12/02/15 Investors: Edible Holdings, VaynerMedia Founded: 2015

Burpple Raises $6m. The Singapore-based food discovery platform assists users with selecting from dining options.  Users act as “tastemakers,” posting photo reviews and guiding each other to the best local restaurant options in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. The funds will be used to expand the company throughout Asia and to develop and add new features to its services. In addition, TechCrunch notes that Burpple has doubled its data science team.

Announced: 12/01/15  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Triumph Capital, SPH Media Fund, Tembusu Partners  Previous Investment: $0.5 million  Founded: December 2011

Bite Club Raises Seed Funding. The Guragon, India-based mobile app offers consumers a daily menu of meals cooked by home, amateur, and professional chefs available for on-demand delivery. Bite Club currently serves approximately 1,000 meals a day and has served over 100,000 meals since beginning operations in November 2014. The investment will be used to expand operations in the national capital region.

Announced: 11/30/15  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: GrowX Venture Management, Powai Lake Ventures  Previous Investment: $0.5 million  Founded: November 2014

PARTNERSHIPS

Yelp and Open Table End Partnership. The two companies quietly ended a long-running partnership (in April) under mounting competition as each are trying to take charge of the entire customer experience.

DoorDash partners with b8ta to offer on-demand delivery of tech gadgets and products.

Drizly and Favor partner for New Years Eve to deliver snacks and beverages for New Year’s celebrants in four cities–Austin, Boston, DC and Denver.

Drizly and Allrecipes partner to make on-demand beer, wine and liquor delivery accessible from Allrecipes’ most popular recipes.

LevelUp partners with GUSTO, enterprise point of sale technology for the fast-casual marketplace, for direct integration to offer seamless payment, promotion and mobile payment solutions.

PlaceIQ partners with IRI to tackle Online-to-Offline (O2O) attribution.

INDUSTRY LANDSCAPE

As The Food Tech & Media ecosystem continues to see rapid change, Rosenheim Advisors created The Food Tech & Media Industry Map to help entrepreneurs, participants and investors understand this quickly evolving landscape. Let us know about your recent or upcoming funding, partnerships or acquisitions here.

Check out the 2014 Annual Report and last month’s round-up. 

The post Food Tech Media Startup Funding, M&A and Partnerships: December 2015 appeared first on Food + Tech Connect.

This annual report, by consulting firm Rosenheim Advisors, looks at the financing and acquisition trends in the Food Tech & Media ecosystem, which encompasses digital content, social, local, mobile, grocery, e-commerce, delivery, ordering, payments, marketing and analytics.

$6.8 Billion of Global Food Tech Investment in 2015

The global food tech and food media ecosystem was piping hot in 2015, with (at least)* $6.8 billion of capital flowing into private companies (including $2.3 billion within the U.S.). Outside of the U.S., a majority of both investment and acquisition activity was driven by China, Germany, India and the U.K.

China appears to be a cycle ahead of the U.S. in terms of market maturity, with an increasing number of companies scaling beyond U.S. benchmarks of reach and growth. Notable deals in 2015 included the merger of China’s competing firms Meituan and Dianping (“akin to a mix of Yelp, GroupOn and food delivery”), reportedly now valued at $18 billion, as well as the massive stockpiling by Ele.me which closed two rounds (Series E and F) totaling $980 million, in addition to an undisclosed strategic investment from Chinese ridesharing leader Didi Kuaidi.

Earlier in the year, Germany’s Rocket Internet made a substantial strategic move to “create the biggest Internet-based food-ordering service outside of China,” and thus formed the “Global Online Takeaway Group.” I definitely recommend spending some time with Rocket Internet’s presentation discussing its investment thesis in the food sector (automatic download of pdf) to gain a clearer understanding of the vision behind the consolidation – some useful industry stats in there as well.

The online ordering and delivery segments represented a significant portion of the global consolidation over the past few years, with Rocket Internet and its portfolio companies (plus others such as Zomato, Just Eat and Grubhub), gobbling up a number of regional players. As with most roll-up M&A plays, now these teams will need to deal with the complexity of their newly acquired networks, and we will likely see some moments of reckoning in 2016 (some have already occurred).

*Given that most small deals are not translated or reported by the international press, the global data represented in this report is not comprehensive, and weighted towards larger/later stage deals.

Over $2.3 Billion Private Capital Invested into the U.S in 2015

The U.S. food tech and food media industry continued to mature in 2015 as investors made their biggest bets yet, with larger and later stage deals increasingly prevalent. We saw a notable shift towards expansion and scalability for the leaders of the pack with 36 percent of all deals sized at $10 million or greater (up from 32 percent in 2014), and 22 percent of deals sized at $20 million and above (up from 17 percent in 2014).

Note: Data for U.S.-based companies only, and reflects the sectors found in the Food Tech and Media Industry Map. Investment data does not include any M&A data or public market offerings.

“On-Demand” + “Convenience” Economy Drove Momentum

With 142 private company fundings totaling over $2.3 billion, 2015 brought in slightly fewer overall deals and dollars than the previous year (there were 157 deals raising $2.6 billion in 2014). That may sound surprising to readers, as the persistent press coverage and stream of high-profile deals seemed to push 2015 into the highest level of food tech mania.

That is likely due to the mounting prevalence of startups and companies aiming to serve our every need through the “On Demand” + “Convenience” Economy, which drove a significant portion of the activity throughout the year (representing approximately 44 percent of 2015’s total U.S. food tech funding versus 29 percent in 2014). Within the sectors that broadly represent this sizzling subcategory (Online Grocery, Catering Marketplaces, Meal Delivery, Experiential Marketplaces, Online Ordering/Delivery, Food eCommerce), just over $1 billion was raised in 2015, up 34 percent from the $760 million of funding in 2014.

In the latest 2016 Food Tech & Media Industry Landscape (at the top of this report) I have clustered the boxes for the “On Demand” + “Convenience” Economy and outlined them in light blue. Notice the lack of M&A activity in these sectors. This will change in 2016.

The post 2015 Food Tech Media Funding & Acquisition Trends Report appeared first on Food + Tech Connect.

This is a monthly guest post, by consulting firm Rosenheim Advisors, which highlights the most interesting acquisitions, financings and partnerships within the Food Tech & Media ecosystem – digital content, social, local, mobile, grocery, e-commerce, delivery, ordering, payments, marketing and analytics – to give you insights into the latest funding and growth trends.

Despite market trepidation, the new year kicked off strong for the global food tech and media ecosystem with over $500 million invested (through 17 investments and five acquisitions) plus a freshly minted $3.3 billion for China’s Meituan-Dianping, securing the company a place within the top five unicorns at a $18 billion valuation. Within that, U.S.-based companies took in a little over $300 million in private company funding, and represented all but one acquisition.

On the M&A front, notably, three of the five deals were local grocery delivery services based in TX and CA. The largest, and only international, deal was restaurant guidebook publisher Michelin’s acquisition of Bookatable, estimated to be valued at approximately $122 million. As Eater and French startup blog Rude Baguette respectively note, “it’s certainly a major leap into the 21st century for the 127-year-old company” and “represents both a big step into digital for Michelin, as well as a change in the [mergers and acquisitions] mindset in France.”

Restaurant and meal delivery-related tech was overwhelmingly prevalent among the funding sectors both globally and within the U.S. Signaling a maturing industry, while there were a few early stage concepts, more than half of the investments were sized larger than $15 million.

M&A

Farmhouse Delivery Acquires Greenling and Urban Acres. With the acquisitions, the Austin, TX-based online grocery delivery service Farmhouse Delivery, which offers local produce items for weekly or biweekly delivery, will grow the team to approximately 50 workers and offer a subscription service to customers in the Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio and Houston areas. The company doesn’t expect to operate outside of Texas.

Announced: 01/15/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Greenling – $8.2m  Urban Acres – Not Disclosed  Founded: Greenling – 2005; Urban Acres – 2008

Next Glass Merges with Untappd. Untapped, a Los Angeles, CA-based mobile app that allows users to socially share beer with other users will enhance the platform for Next Glass, a Wilmington, NC-based mobile app for personalized wine and beer recommendations. Going forward, both apps will continue operating under their original names, and each have plans for new developments. As part of the merger, the co-founders of Untappd will join the Next Glass leadership team.

Announced: 01/15/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: Untapped – September 2010; Next Glass – December 2012

Michelin Acquires Bookatable. The London, UK-based online booking service and mobile payments platform is used by more than 15 thousand restaurants across Europe, allowing Michelin to become Europe’s leading digital service for restaurant reservations. According to Rude Baguette, Bookatable was seeing increased competition in Europe from TheFork (LaFourchette, acquired by TripAdvisor in May 2014) among others; however, the relationship between Michelin & Bookatable started as early as May 2013, when the two began their partnership, allowing booking of Michelin-rated restaurants via Bookatable.  With the acquisition, Bookatable plans to expand its new service to countries in Scandinavia. In case you are keeping track – Bookatable was previously known as Livebookings, as the two companies appear to have merged in 2007 (and before that, Livebookings was called Profitable.net).

Announced: 01/11/16  Terms: Est €108 m ($122m)  Previous Investment: $56.5m  Founded: 2005

GrubMarket Acquires FarmBox. The Los Angeles, CA-based organic grocery delivery service will expand the business of Grubmarket, a Newark, CA-based online marketplace where consumers can buy products from farmers markets, farms, and restaurants. The company plans to expand nationwide and according to an interview with Forbes, with the acquisition, the company will reach a total of 60 employees, expecting to double headcount, to 100-140 employees, by the year’s end.

Announced: 01/05/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2009

FUNDING

Tinmen Raised Undisclosed Angel Funding. The Hyderabad-India-based food delivery startup sources meals from home cooks and delivers to offices and professionals, “like a virtual cafeteria.” According to Inc42, the capital will be used to serve a larger set of customers in Hyderabad and thereafter expand to other cities.

Announced: 01/29/16  Stage: Angel  Participating Institutional Investors: Lead Angel Network  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: August 2015

Black Garlic Raises Undisclosed Seed. The Jakarta, Indonesia-based meal-kit delivery startup is targeted towards middle class families and takes about 45 minutes to cook. According to Tech In Asia, the funding will be used to scale up the company’s operations in the Jakarta metro area, and to diversify Black Garlic’s offerings.

Announced: 01/25/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Convergence Ventures, Skystar Capital  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2015

SheKnows Media Secures $22m Credit Facility. The New York, NY-based women’s digital media company operates as a platform where experts, bloggers, and social media influencers post content designed to empower women. According to AdExchanger, 75% of total ad revenue is connected one way or another with an influencer marketing campaign. SheKnows acquired BlogHer in November 2014 and had previously acquired a handful of female-focused publishers, giving it 92 million unique visitors. The credit line will be used for further acquisitions (focused on companies “empowering women”), as well as to enhance SheKnows Media’s Momentum Content Management System technology platform.

Announced: 01/26/16  Stage: Debt  Participating Lender: Ally Corporate Finance  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed (Great Hill Partners acquired SheKnows in 2012)  Founded: November 2003

FiveStars Raises $50m. The San Francisco, CA-based platform for customer loyalty rewards provides rewards programs for restaurants and small businesses via mobile app. Programs track customer visits and include rewards such as discounts and coupons. To date, FiveStars has been used by over 10 thousand merchants and 10 thousand consumers. FiveStars will use the investment to continue to build the team, grow their brand and expand within the United States.

Announced: 01/22/16   Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: HarbourVest Partners (Lead), Menlo Ventures, DCM, Lightspeed Venture Partners  Previous Investment: $42.7 million  Founded: 2011

Olo Raises$40m. The New York, NY-based white label SaaS platform for mobile and online ordering and delivery integrates its services with restaurant’s point-of-sale systems to maximize sales and improve the customer experience. The investment will allow Olo to grow enhance its offerings, and expand its on-demand delivery platform, Dispatch. Dispatch facilitates access to a national network of independent Delivery Service Providers, collects real-time price quotes, chooses the best available, and extends the option to the consumer.

Announced: 01/21/16  Stage: Series D Participating Institutional Investors: The Raine Group  Previous Investment: $23.3 million  Founded: 2005

Boxed Raises $100m. The Edison, NJ-based ecommerce startup sells Costco-sized groceries and household goods online and via mobile app. Rather than taking market share form big box stores like Costco, BJ’s, or Sam’s Club, the founder maintains the company is converting a customer base of over 80 percent ages 25 to 44 to changing their habits to bulk buying instead of purchasing one-off. The company will use the capital infusion to expand the team, offerings and customer service operations.

Announced: 01/20/16  Stage: Series C  Participating Institutional Investors: blisce, Huangpu River Ventures Limited, Vaizra Investments, FJ Labs, Jose Marin, Fabrice Grinda, Yuri Milner, GGV Capital, Safa Partners, Light Street Capital Management  Previous Investment: $32.6 million  Founded: June 2013

Gather Raises $2.5m. The Atlanta-based event management software helps restaurants and venues manage and grow their private events business. Gather allows clients to respond to leads, manage their calendar, create and send proposals, collect payments and more. The company states that it is profitable, and will be using the funding for expedited product development, sales and marketing. The company employs about 25 and plans to double its workforce in the next 12 months.

Announced: 01/19/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Storm Ventures (lead), Ludlow Ventures  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: March 2012

Tovala Raises $500k. The Chicago-based smart kitchen startup automates home cooking through a new type of food tech appliance plus the delivery of premade meals. The company’s appliance, also called Tovala, utilizes a combination of dry and wet heat cooking technology instead of microwave technology, so users can cook several different types of foods in the same unit at the same time. Users can create their own recipes (and upload to the app for the potential to earn royalties), or they can subscribe to get fresh, chef-designed meals delivered to them weekly that are specifically developed for the machine.

Announced: 01/19/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Origin Ventures Previous Investment: $70k  Founded: May 2015

ALICE Raises $9.5m. The New York, NY–based hospitality operations platform focuses primarily on hotels, and enables all front of house, back of house and guest communication needs to be handled in one platform. According to Skift, the new strategic investor allows the company to leverage Expedia’s database of hotel partners. The team will use the funding to “continue to build out the technology and significantly expand the team hiring sales, engineering, product, and account management roles.”

Announced: 01/19/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Expedia (lead), 645 Ventures, Laconia Ventures, neuehouse  Previous Investment: $3.5 million  Founded: July 2012

Swiggy Raises $35m. The Bangalore, India-based on-demand delivery and payments platform service allows customers to order meals from restaurants for on-demand delivery. Swiggy currently operates in Bangalore, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata and Chenna, with around 5000 restaurants on its platform. The investment will be used to expand the company, hire engineering talent, and upgrade platform technology.

Announced: 01/18/16  Stage: Series C  Participating Institutional Investors: RB Investments, Harmony Partners, Accel, Northwest Venture Partners, SAIF Partners  Previous Investment: $18.5 million  Founded: August 2014

Meituan-Dianping Raises $3.3b. The Shanghai, China-based mobile app allows consumers to receive group discounts (similar to Groupon), order food from restaurants, and read and write restaurant reviews. The company, which has emerged as the largest player in China’s online-to-offline (O2O) market, was formed last fall after Meituan (backed by Alibaba) merged with Dianping (backed by Tencent). Meituan and Dianping still operate as independent brands.

Announced: 01/18/16  Valuation: $18.0 billion Stage: Series F  Participating Institutional Investors: Capital Today, Baillie Gifford, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, TBP Capital, Temasek Holdings, ST Global, Tencent Holdings  Previous Investment: $2.1 billion (represents combination of Meituan and Dianping investment)  Founded: October 2015 (through merger)

Grain Raises $1.7m. The Singapore-based “Full-Stack” food delivery service manages the process from meal preparation and cooking, to orders and delivery. The company keeps its menu narrow with four different meals available each day on a selection that rotates weekly. According to Tech In Asia, the company plans to use the funding build up infrastructure and the team, including marketing and tech, as well as expansion to Hong Kong and beyond.

Announced: 01/14/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: NSI Ventures (lead), 500 Startups, Digital Media Partners VC, Ivan Lee  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2014

Foursquare Raises $45m. The New York, NY-based mobile platform for local discovery allows users to explore options for dining and shopping in cities via location-based information and reviews written by other users. The investment will be used to build out its enterprise business, including hiring 30 new positions across sales, engineering and other functions. The round is said to value the company at approximately half of the $650 million valuation it garnered with a $77 million Series D raise in February 2014, but in a TechCrunch interview the new CEO, Jeff Glueck, is careful to note that the financing round was oversubscribed.

Announced: 01/14/16  Stage: Series E  Participating Institutional Investors: Union Square Ventures (lead), Andreessen Horowitz, DFJ Growth, Morgan Stanley  Previous Investment: $117.4 million  Founded: March 2009

Vivino Raises $25m. The Copenhagen, Denmark-based wine discovery app uses image scanning technology to identify wines consumers are drinking and offer suggestions based on users’ rating of the scanned wine. Vivino is currently used by 13 million consumers in 228 countries. The company plans to use the funding to further expand within the U.S., Italy, France, Spain, and Germany, and aims to have 25 million users by the end of 2016. Notably, the lead investor is strategic; SCP Neptune International, is the investment arm of Moet Hennessy’s global CEO Christophe Navarre.

Announced: 01/12/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: SCP Neptune International (lead), Balderton Capital, Creandum, SEED Capital Denmark  Previous Investment: $12.4 million  Founded: 2009

FreshMenu Raises $17m. The Bangalore, India-based meal delivery service runs its own kitchen and offers main meals, salads, sides, and desserts cooked by professional chefs for on-demand delivery. FreshMenu currently operates in Bangalore, Mumbai, and Guragon and will use the investment for further expansion in India. The funds will also be used to build the brand and increase staff.

Announced: 01/08/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: Lightspeed Venture Partners, Zodius Capital  Previous Investment: $5.0 million  Founded: 2014

Toast Raises $30m. The Boston, MA-based provider of point-of-sale systems offers Android tablet point-of-sale systems for restaurants, bars, and other food establishments. The systems provided by Toast include customer loyalty information and are used by 1,400 establishments in 43 US states. The funding will be used to hire more employees, as well as for marketing and expansion across the United States. According to a TechCrunch interview, in 2016 the company plans on launching a suite of tools that allow Toast to integrate with other services.

Announced: 01/05/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: Bessemer Venture Partners, Google Ventures  Previous Investment: $3.0 million (debt financing)  Founded: December 2011

Dipjar Raises $2.4m. The New York-based hardware and software startup provides digital tip jars and donation boxes for credit cards. DipJar manages the processing and disbursement of funds, while customers control the dollar amount setting and monitor their intake through the software dashboard. The company intends to use the funds to expand its national hardware presence and continue development of software solutions for customers.

Announced: 12/28/15  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Bolt, Project 11 Ventures, Corazon Capital, Charge Ventures  Previous Investment: $0.4 million  Founded: 2012

PARTNERSHIPS

MyWebGrocer Parters with Mastercard to streamline consumer grocery shopping.

HelloFresh Partners with Jamie Oliver to share healthy recipes with home cooks.

UnderArmour, Inc. Teams Up With IBM incorporate the Watson supercomputer into its newest fitness and health-tracking app.

Restaurant review app OpenRice partners with foodpanda to deliver in Hong Kong.

NutriSavings and FreshDirect Partner to Reward Consumers for Purchasing Healthier Foods.

Chili’s® Grill & Bar partners with Olo to power its online ordering platform.

INDUSTRY LANDSCAPE

As The Food Tech & Media ecosystem continues to see rapid change, Rosenheim Advisors created The Food Tech & Media Industry Map to help entrepreneurs, participants and investors understand this quickly evolving landscape. Let us know about your recent or upcoming funding, partnerships or acquisitions here.

Check out the 2015 Annual Report and last month’s round-up. 

The post Food Tech Media Startup Funding, M&A and Partnerships: January 2016 appeared first on Food + Tech Connect.

This is a monthly guest post, by consulting firm Rosenheim Advisors, which highlights the most interesting acquisitions, financings and partnerships within the Food Tech & Media ecosystem – digital content, social, local, mobile, grocery, e-commerce, delivery, ordering, payments, marketing and analytics – to give you insights into the latest funding and growth trends.

Investment and M&A activity in February was moderate, with over $265 million of reported transaction value during the month. The bulk of the value was driven from Just Eat’s acquisition of five companies from Rocket Internet ($140 million).

On the funding front, sixteen companies raised a little over $105 million during the month (excluding Instacart’s undisclosed Whole Foods investment), with all but four financings sized at less than $10 million. This was a significant shift from January’s activity, as most deals were Series A or earlier and there was an absence of later stage deals. Approximately 65% of funded companies had operations in the U.S.

Noticeably, “health” was a prominent theme across the deals for the month; ranging from One Medical’s acquisition of Rise to multiple fresh or healthy food concepts to nutritional data and analysis. While health is a regular food tech discussion topic, it doesn’t show up quite as regularly in the investment landscape. Beginning of a new trend or we just happened to still be in close proximity to New Year’s resolutions? We shall see.

M&A

Craftsvilla Acquires PlaceofOrigin.  The Bangalore, India-based platform for specialty Indian foods will provide Craftsvilla, a Mumbai, India-based online marketplace for ethnic products, with a diverse regionalized food market and specific experience with the key logistics challenges in this space. As part of the acquisition, the 15 person team of PlaceofOrigin will join the Craftsvilla team. The acquisition follows Craftsvilla’s acquisition of Sendd, the Mumbai, India-based shipping service in January.

Announced: 02/26/16  Terms: Not Disclosed (“all equity deal”) Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: September 2014

Thirstie Acquires DrinkFly. The Chicago, IL-based mobile app for on-demand alcohol delivery will grow the footprint of Thirstie, particularly in Chicago’s metro area, where it will now be the single biggest player in the space. Based in New York, NY, Thirstie is a content-to-commerce marketplace for alcohol delivery, offering both traditional ecommerce and on-demand delivery by partnering with local stores to offer a range of wine, beer, and spirits for delivery within an hour. DrinkFly’s users and retail partners will be transitioned over to the combined entity, which includes Thirstie’s digital magazine, The Craft (the company says 80% of consumers come through their content platform), featuring recipes, news, hosting tips and local stories.

Announced: 02/17/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: April 2014

Just Eat Acquires Rocket Internet’s Delivery Businesses in Spain (La Nevera Roja) and Italy (PizzaBo & hellofood Italy), Brazil (hellofood Brazil) and Mexico (hellofood Mexico). In order to “further reduce complexity of Rocket Internet,” the Berlin, Germany-based incubator has decided to sell “non-core operations that are not market-leading” to the London-based publically traded online ordering and delivery company Just Eat. Interestingly, this comes exactly one year after Rocket Internet announced it formed its “Global Online Takeaway Group” in addition to acquiring La Nevera Roja and Pizzabo. While the exact value of the assets being sold are difficult to pinpoint, Tech Crunch notes that there are clues that Rocket is selling these at a loss; “For example, in Italy, hellofood is understood to have paid €55 million — nearly half the value of the whole deal today — for PizzaBo alone.”

Announced: 02/05/16  Terms: $140 million

One Medical Acquires Rise. The San Francisco, CA-based mobile app for personalized nutrition and diet coaching will allow One Medical, a healthcare company, to connect patients with virtual nutritionists. According to the Wall Street Journal, One Medical sees an opportunity to “offer its patients a wider range of healthcare services via the smartphone that could potentially save them trips to the doctor’s office”. Rise will continue to operate independently, and the company will still be run by its original co-founders within One Medical.

Announced: 02/05/16  Terms: $20.0m  Previous Investment: $4.0m  Founded: 2013

FUNDING

iChef Raises $5.6m. The Taipei, Taiwan-based software developer produces iPad point-of-sale systems for restaurants. The software system includes table management, reservations, ordering, and payment. iChef a will use the funding to expand and to develop data analytics. To date, over a thousand restaurants are using iChef systems, and the company aims to reach 3,000 stores in Asia by the end of 2016.

Announced: 02/25/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: China Development Industrial Bank (CDIB), CDIB Capital, AppWorks Ventures  Previous Investment: $1.5 million  Founded: 2012

Pocketin Raises $150k. The Noida, India-based platform for restaurant deals and events allows consumers to discover, compare, and choose restaurant deals in real time. To date, the company reports it has over eight thousand app downloads and has seated over 6,500 diners. The funds will be used for expansion throughout Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, and Guragon, with additional plans for expansion to Mumbai, Bangalore, and Dubai. In addition, the company says it plans to double its team of 15 and partner with over 1,200 restaurants in the next six months.

Announced: 02/24/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Swastika  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: August 2015

Deliv Raises $28m. The Menlo Park, CA-based crowdsourced delivery service provides customers with same-day delivery of products from local merchants, national and e-commerce retailers. Deliv currently operates in over 100 cities and serves over four thousand businesses. UPS Strategic Enterprise Fund is a notable new investor in the round, stating it intends to gain insights into the market dynamics of same-day delivery. The investment will be used for product development and to broaden the company’s national presence.

Announced: 02/24/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: UPS Strategic Enterprise Fund, Westfield Labs, Taubman Centers Inc, Simon Venture Group, The Macerich Company, General Growth Properties, PivotNorth Capital, RPM Ventures, Upfront Ventures  Previous Investment: $12.4 million  Founded: January 2012

Instacart Raises Undisclosed Strategic Funding from Whole Foods. The San Francisco, CA-based grocery delivery service will receive funding from supermarket chain, Whole Foods. The deal will expand available geographies with Instacart delivery and includes a five-year partnership between the companies, making Instacart the exclusive delivery service for Whole Foods perishable items. Additionally, with the Instacart Deals platform, Whole Foods Market shoppers can take advantage of special deals and discounts on their favorite products. The partnership thus far is reportedly impacting Whole Foods’ bottom line; as TechCrunch points out, “Whole Foods stores with dedicated shoppers are seeing growing Instacart sales – on average, this can be in the 5 to 10 percent range of their total store sales.”

Announced: 02/23/16  Participating Institutional Investors: Whole Foods  Previous Investment: $274.8 million  Founded: July 2012

Fooda Raises $5.9m. The Chicago, IL-based catering platform offers virtual cafeterias to corporate offices by sourcing a rotating daily menu from local restaurants. The company also offers delivery and pop up locations, which extends the reach and brand of local restaurants. As the Chicago Tribune reported, in November the company opened its first mall location at The Shops at North Bridge to expand to more publicly accessible locations.

Announced: 02/23/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: Undisclosed  Previous Investment: $12.8 million  Founded: 2011

RAW Pressery Raises $4.5m. The Mumbai, India-based delivery juice company currently delivers cold-pressed juices to homes in six Indian cities. According to Tech Crunch, the company aspires to be the largest “clean label” lifestyle brand by adding soups, smoothies, and other pre-packaged food without additives. The company will use the money to introduce new flavors, increase production capacity and launch brand-building campaigns

Announced: 02/23/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: Sequoia Capital, Saama Capital, DSG Consumer Partners  Previous Investment: $1.8 million  Founded: 2013

First Eat Raises $200k. The Guragon, India-based mobile app offers subscription and on-demand delivery of healthy meals. The startup allows users to choose meals according to their health requirements, and aims to solve the problem of ‘awareness, availability and affordability’ of necessary healthy meals, by offering healthy organic meal options. The funds will be used to expand throughout the NCR region, deploy targeted marketing and develop the First Eat technology platform. In addition, the company aims to increase service to 400 to 500 meals per day next quarter.

Announced: 02/22/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Investor: “Undisclosed F&B entrepreneur”  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2015

Feasty Raises $800k. The Cincinnati, OH-based local deals app shows users deals at nearby restaurants based on their location. According to the Cincinnati Business Courier, users don’t need to purchase the deals, the app is intended to help encourage users to choose restaurants with small perks, like a free item. The company has partnered with 60 restaurants in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky.

Announced: 02/19/16  Stage: Angel  Participating Investors: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2015

TableHero Raises $1m. The Mountain View, CA- and Bangalore, India-based company provides restaurants and small businesses with intelligent operating systems. The operating systems include a simple website designer, as well as products to manage reservations, bookings, payments, and customer loyalty. The investment will be used for product development and for the engineering and product design team. TableHero plans to launch the product in the U.S. on the west coast in cities like Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, and the Bay Area.

Announced: 02/16/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Globevestor, Powai Lake Ventures, GrowX Venture Management  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: May 2015

Label Insight raises $10m. The St. Louis, MO-based technology and software producer provides consumers and retailers with information about food labels. Label Insight technology allows nutritional information and food product data to be more transparent to retailers, consumers, and manufacturers.  Data includes, but is not limited to, allergen information, whether foods meet “healthy” standards, and if sales of certain types of products are up or down. The strategic investment by KPMG allows its member firms to offer retail food and beverage clients around the globe access to Label Insight’s proprietary technology, which transforms product information into smart attributes, such as nutrients and allergens, providing users with a deep understanding of their product set. The investment will be used to develop new products, broaden custom data views and expand data science capabilities.

Announced: 02/11/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: KPMG Capital (lead), Mercury Fund, Cultivation Capital, Serra Ventures, dunnhumby Ventures, West Capital Advisors  Previous Investment: $3.0 million  Founded: January 2008

Good Uncle Raises $2.2m. The New York, NY-based delivery-only restaurant concept, which expects to launch in the fall, will allow consumers in smaller U.S. cities to order top restaurant food from major cities for on-demand delivery. The company plans to set up kitchens and delivery fleets in those smaller cities and towns, linking local populations to them with a mobile app that features small, carefully curated menus of hits from acclaimed restaurants. The funds will be used to build a team and app and develop restaurant partnerships.

Announced: 02/09/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: First Round, Box Group, Gunderson Dettmer Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: November 2015

IfOnly Raises $10.25m. The San Francisco, CA-based marketplace for “incredible experiences” offers a catalog of experiences with experts in the domains of food, sports, animals, entertainment, technology, and more. The company currently operates in the Bay Area, New York, and Los Angeles and offers over 10 thousand experiences. The company is working to offer more experiences tailored to (and priced for) a broader range of clients.

Announced: 02/08/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: Khosla Ventures, Founders Fund, Advance Newhouse, American Express, Digital Garage Previous Investment: $15.0 million  Founded: 2012

Power Supply Raises $5m.  The Alexandria, VA-based health food delivery service offers healthy meals for one-time or weekly subscription delivery. The company differs from other meal delivery services in that it uses local restaurants and caterers in place of central production kitchens and that it delivers directly to fitness community spots, such as gyms. Power Supply is currently operating in Washington D.C., Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The investment will be used to expand into new markets.

Announced: 02/04/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investor: Upfront Ventures Previous Investment: $0.5 million  Founded: 2010

FarmDrop Raises $4.4m. The London, England-based online farmers market allows consumers to buy local food directly from local farmers. The company’s mission is to “fix the food chain” by making the food industry based on local farms and food production. Customers place orders online and pick up their orders from producers at their local FarmDrop venue. FarmDrop will use the funding to develop its platform.

Announced: 02/03/16  Stage: Venture  Participating Institutional Investors: Jamjar Investments, Atomico  Previous Investment: $1.3 million  Founded: 2012

Food.ee Raises $6m. The Vancouver, Canada-based corporate catering and concierge service provides companies with meal delivery from local high-end restaurants. Food.ee has over 4000 customers and has partnered with over 250 restaurants. After success in its three U.S. pilot cities—Austin, Denver, and Philadelphia, the company will use the funds to launch in Atlanta and Minneapolis in March as well as more U.S. cities throughout 2016.

Announced: 02/03/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: BDC Capital  Previous Investment: $4.0 million  Founded: October 2011

Thrive Market Raises ~$20m. The Los Angeles-based wholesale buying club for health-conscious products has reportedly raised additional capital after an oversubscribed Series A this past summer via a convertible note, according to Bloomberg. The company has stated 2015 revenues of close to $50 million, with about 180,000 members, and recently expanded into private label, releasing its own organic coconut oil and tomato sauce.

Announced: 02/01/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Investors: Henry Kravis, Paul Tudor Jones  Previous Investment: $39.0 million  Founded: 2013

La Belle Assiette Raises $1.5m. The Paris, France-based on-demand private-chef and catering service allows consumers to select a professional chef to cook in their home or at office events. The chosen chef provides all ingredients and equipment to cook the catered menu. Currently, La Belle Assiette employs over 700 professional chefs in six European countries. The investment will be used to launch four new catering services—Buffets, Canapé Receptions, Office Lunches and Cooking Classes—in the next six months.

Announced: 02/01/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Kima Ventures, Cabiedes & Partners Previous Investment: $2.2 million  Founded: February 2012

PARTNERSHIPS

Foursquare Partners with Delivery.com to provide on-demand delivery in 36 cities in the United States.

Peapod Partners with WMATA to allow commuters to pick up grocery delivery orders at their Metro station stop.

Zomato Partners with Quick Delivery  to provide online ordering and on-demand delivery in the Philippines.

Amazon Partners with U.K. Grocer Morrisons to include “hundreds of Morrisons products” within Amazon’s one-hour Prime delivery and Pantry services.

Scanbuy Partners with inMarket to connect with consumers via mobile app while they are shopping.

HotSchedules Partners with PAR Technology Corporation to sync point-of-sale data with HotSchedules mobile platform.

INDUSTRY LANDSCAPE

As The Food Tech & Media ecosystem continues to see rapid change, Rosenheim Advisors created The Food Tech & Media Industry Map to help entrepreneurs, participants and investors understand this quickly evolving landscape. Let us know about your recent or upcoming funding, partnerships or acquisitions here.

Check out the 2015 Annual Report and last month’s round-up. 

The post Food Tech Media Startup Funding, M&A and Partnerships: February 2016 appeared first on Food + Tech Connect.

This monthly column highlights the most interesting acquisitions, financings and partnerships within the Food Tech & Media ecosystem – digital content, social, local, mobile, grocery, e-commerce, delivery, ordering, payments, marketing and analytics – to give you insights into the latest funding and growth trends.

Over $800m poured into the food tech ecosystem in September ($517m in eleven equity fundings, and $300m via two acquisitions, with four acquisitions of undisclosed size). As with recent months, there has been a steady increase of later-stage rounds, with close to half of the deals series B or above. The industry has begun to shift, with institutional investors participating more frequently, in larger and later-stage rounds, due to the strongest companies beginning to move beyond simply establishing a scalable model, and pushing further towards expansion and growth.

A noticeable theme, in both the deal activity as well as headlines over the past month, has been centered around the digital grocery experience. From digital coupons and deals, to loyalty and mobile rewards through beacons, to new ordering and delivery formats, there has been a surge in innovation and partnerships aimed at transforming (and further monetizing) the grocery consumer’s experience. Even the USPS has gotten in the game by partnering with AmazonFresh, launching a two-year market test of what it calls “Customized Delivery” to deliver groceries between 3 a.m. and 7 a.m in San Francisco. Over the years, many companies attempting to digitize the weekly grocery ritual have come and gone, however as we have seen in wider tech sector, timing is everything. And perhaps the time is now.

M&A

SK planet (SK Telecom) Acquires Shopkick. The Redwood City, CA beacon-based loyalty app gives users points, or kicks, for entering a store or scanning a barcode while using the app. The app has 8 million active users along with deals with 20 retailers and 200 brands, including a number of CPG brands such as Procter & Gamble, Mondelez, Unilever, and Pepsi. SK Telecom (South Korea’s largest mobile carrier), and its subsidiary SK planet (a multinational mobile platform and shopper rewards program) will use the acquisition to capture a larger piece of the growing U.S. mobile commerce and location-based shopping market.

Announced: 09/27/14 Terms: $200m (cash) Previous Investment: $20.1m Founded: June 2009

Zomato Acquires Gastronauci. In its fourth acquisition in three months, Zomato continued to expand its foothold in the multilingual European market with the acquisition of the Poland-based restaurant discovery website and mobile app, which helps users look for places to dine out or order in from a database of over 26,000 restaurants across Poland. Zomato has been aggressively expanding its global presence through acquisitions over the past two quarters, as the company stated it prefers to “acquire and partner with a dominant local player” rather than competing with them. Zomato and Gastronauci will work on rolling out an integrated product in the coming months.

Announced: 9/23/14 Terms: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2007

PAR Technology Acquires Brink Software. The San Diego-based cloud-based restaurant POS software provider will enable Par (NYSE: PAR), a provider of integrated technology solutions to the hospitality industry, to expand market reach and invest in further solutions for the restaurant market. With the acquisition, Brink’s offerings, which include integrated features such as loyalty, mobile online ordering, kitchen video system, guest surveys, enterprise reporting, and a mobile dashboard, will now be backed by PAR’s hardware, services, worldwide infrastructure and resources.

Announced: 09/19/14 Terms: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: January 2008

Just Eat Creates Joint Venture to Merge its Brazil operations with iFood. Just Eat, a publically traded UK-based online food ordering company, said that it would transfer 100% of the shares of Just Eat Brazil Servicos Online, which trades as RestauranteWeb, to iFood (owned by the mobile company Movile in São Paulo). Just Eat will also provide $5.7 million to help finance the joint venture, which will operate under the iFood brand. After the transaction, Movile will own 50% of the joint venture, Just Eat will own 25%, and iFood’s original founders will own the remaining portion. According to the release, the value of the gross assets of RestauranteWeb as at 30 June 2014 was $2.1m.

Announced: 09/19/14 Terms: Not Disclosed

Catalina Acquires Cellfire. The San Jose, CA-based provider of load-to-card digital coupons will expand Catalina’s brand offerings and help build out its mobile loyalty programs. Cellfire is a website and mobile app that helps companies deliver CPG coupons and other offers to consumers, automatically loading customers’ loyalty savings cards, while driving and measuring in-store purchases. With the acquisition, Catalina expects to have the largest pool of load-to-card content, or coupons that are stored to loyalty cards. “For Catalina, it’s an omni-channel offering that brings value to retailers, brands and consumers,” Todd Morris, president of Catalina’s U.S. business, told Progressive Grocer. “It’s a robust solution at scale that meets where the consumer is going, is a mobile and online solution for retailers, and gives CPGs the ability to reach the mobile shopper.” Cellfire will operate under the Catalina umbrella, retaining its name, all full-time employees and its Silicon Valley headquarters.

Announced: 09/5/14 Terms: $100.0m (cash and debt) Previous Investment: $26.0m Founded: 2005

Inmar Acquires Millennium Process Coupon. The New Brunswick, Canada-based coupon clearing and redemption firm will position Inmar to “extend its digital and traditional coupon, data analytics and shopper engagement solutions to MPC’s promotion clients and the Canadian marketplace.” The acquisition brings together two firms that are leaders in retail technology. According to its website, Millennium is involved in the redemption of about $100 million of coupons annually and has processed more than 65 million coupons, as well as handling high volumes of rebates. It’s responsible for handling 80% of all coupon redemptions in Canada.

Announced: 09/03/14 Terms: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: Leveraged buyout by Gores Group (purchase amount not disclosed) Founded: January 2013 (assets acquired to form new company)

FUNDING

Food52 Raises $6m. The New York-based crowd-sourced cooking site plans to use the funds to expand operations and hires. According to AlleyWatch, the team plans to focus efforts on a new mobile experience for Food52 users, increased video and home-related content, and more events, and according to Crain’s even branching out into new areas of coverage, like design and travel. Currently two-thirds of Food52’s revenue comes from e-commerce sales, and the other third from advertising.

Announced: 9/30/14 Stage: Series A-1 Participating Institutional Investors: 14W (lead), BDMI, Walden Venture Capital, Scripps Networks Interactive, Vocap Investment Partners, Vayner RSE Previous Investment: $2.8 million Founded: January 2009

Favor Raises $2m. The Austin-based on-demand food delivery app allows users to get products delivered from local stores or restaurants. According to the company, proprietary algorithms forecast supply and demand, prevent delivery errors and dispatch deliveries to the best available assistant, taking into account variables such as food preparation time and different types of deliveries. The company intends to use the funds to continue to expand nationwide.

Announced: 09/23/14 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: Silverton Partners, Tim Draper Previous Investment: $1.9 million Founded: April 2012

FiveStars Raises $26m. The San Francisco-based loyalty company provides an app for users to gain rewards from their favorite restaurants, while also providing a platform for those businesses to track their customers’ behavior and learn about their clientele. The company intends to use the funds to expand its team and add new features to its platform. According to the CEO, the raise was “less that we needed to raise a lot of cash and more that we were able to.” In terms of growth and new features he further explains to TechCrunch, “There’s a lot we have earmarked for expansion so that we can build a critical mass network so you can be identified and treated personally everywhere you go.”

Announced: 09/25/14 Stage: Series B Participating Institutional Investors: Menlo Ventures, Rogers Communications Inc., DCM, Lightspeed Venture Partners Previous Investment: $16.7 million Founded: January 2011

E la Carte Raises $35m. The Redwood City-based developer of Presto tableside tablets for restaurants, allows diners to split checks, peruse menus, place orders, make payments and play games from their seats. According to TechCrunch, the company also opened its application programming interface to outside developers earlier this year, and has an ecosystem of companies designing apps for its tablets. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate continued growth and to expand hiring for product development and sales.

Announced: 09/24/14 Stage: Series C Participating Institutional Investors: TriplePoint Capital, Sam Altman, Romulus Capital, Intel Capital Previous Investment: $17.5 million Founded: January 2009

ClubW Raises $9.5m. The Los Angeles-based online wine seller offers exclusive bottles of wine directly to consumers, who choose three or more bottles a month via Club W’s recommendation engine a la carte. The company’s wine inventory is created by noteworthy winemakers who develop blends for Club W exclusively, resulting in a private label-type offering. The company intends to use the funds for product development, further integration of its supply chain and expansion of marketing initiatives.

Announced: 09/22/14 Stage: Series A Participating Institutional Investors: Bessemer Venture Partners Previous Investment: $3.6 million Founded: August 2011

EatWith Raises $8m. The San Francisco-based social dining network offers local dining experiences in people’s homes. The service enables travelers all over the world (more than 30 countries and 160 cities worldwide) to meet locals, experience their culture firsthand and try homemade food. With the funding, EatWith will focus on growth, building on its presence in major metros around the world (e.g. Barcelona, Rome, Paris, New York) and fueling expansion in San Francisco.

Announced: 09/18/14 Stage: Series A Participating Institutional Investors: Greylock Partners (lead), Genesis Partners Previous Investment: $1.2 million Founded: February 2012

HowGood Raises $2m. The New York-based in-store grocery rating system identifies industry leaders in the food system. As an independent research organization, the company determines the overall quality of food based on criteria ranging from ingredient sourcing to labor practices and awards ratings to the best products, enabling consumers to make informed purchasing decisions. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate the growth of its products into retail markets across the U.S., and fund additional innovations.

Announced: 09/17/14 Stage: Seed Participating Institutional Investors: FirstMark Capital, Highline Ventures, Serious Change, Great Oaks Venture Capital Previous Investment: Not Disclosed Founded: 2006

Gousto Raises $8.3m. The London-based subscription meal kit delivery service provides chef-developed recipes and organic ingredients in exact proportions. The company intends to use the funds for product development and innovation, and further improve the customer experience.

Announced: 09/17/14 Stage: Series A Participating Institutional Investors: MMC Ventures, Unilever Ventures Previous Investment: $3.4 million Founded: June 2012

Daojia raises $50m. The Shanghai, China-based online food ordering and delivery service provider plans to put the funds toward its target of operating in 20 to 30 cities in China by next year, and to upgrade its core restaurant delivery services. The company, which primarily focuses on restaurant food delivery, has nearly one million registered customers in eight major cities in China who make orders takes through apps, website and call centers. Notably, strategic investor JD (Jingdong, NASDAQ:JD) is an ecommerce firm that’s Alibaba’s biggest rival in China.

Announced: 09/16/14 Stage: Series D Participating Institutional Investors: Jingdong, CDH Investments, Morningside Group, MacQuarie Capital Funds Previous Investment: $17.0 million Founded: April 2010

Good Eggs Raises $21m. The San Francisco-based local grocery delivery startup partners with farmers and foodmakers to create an online marketplace where people can buy high-quality, sustainable food from producers in their community. Currently available in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, New Orleans and Brooklyn, Good Eggs will reportedly use the funds to aid its expansion into new markets.

Announced: 09/08/14 Stage: Series B Participating Institutional Investors: Index Ventures Previous Investment: $10.5 million Founded: July 2011

Delivery Hero Raises $350m. Two weeks after reaching a $1 billion valuation, upon announcing that it had acquired local rival Pizza.de, the Berlin-based online food ordering and delivery site took in a significant cash infusion. As TechCrunch notes, the new funding will also help Delivery Hero stave off any immediate need to raise money through the public markets right away, however the company still aims to be IPO-ready within the next year. The company intends to use the funds to grow in its existing markets, including the UK and Germany, and to further accelerate international expansion.

Announced: 09/03/14 Stage: Series G Participating Institutional Investors: Vostok Nafta Investment, Kite Ventures, Insight Venture Partners Previous Investment: $306.7 million Founded: September 2010

PARTNERSHIPS

Apple partners with health and wellness apps to connect to HealthKit. Apple’s HealthKit platform, which feeds health and wellness data from third party devices and apps into its consumer-facing app, called Health partnered with a number of leading health and fitness apps including Jawbone, MyFitnessPal, WebMD and Yummly, which allows users to send nutrition information from recipes that they made or consumed directly to the app.

AmazonFresh partners with USPS to deliver groceries in San Francisco. Amazon.com and the U.S. Postal Service, already partners in Sunday deliveries, launched a trial to shuttle insulated containers of meat, dairy, produce, and other groceries to San Francisco customers’ doorsteps. The test could presage a broader national rollout, giving Amazon’s grocery drop-off service a much wider reach.

AgLocal Partners With AmazonFresh To Provide On-Demand Meat Delivery. The new partnership will expand AgLocal’s delivery options from monthly subscription to on-demand.

Instacart partners with Whole Foods to add same day delivery. The partnership will add new dedicated Instacart shoppers within the Whole Foods’ stores, which will speed up delivery, and also allow for a pick-up model, in which customers can come to the store to get their groceries after an Instacart worker completes their shopping. The service will start in Boston and Austin before rolling out to other participating cities.

Instacart partners with FarmsReach to delivers from farmer’s markets. Instacart is introducing delivery from farmer’s markets in San Francisco’s East Bay through a partnership with FarmsReach, an organization that connects small farms with restaurants and distributors.

Ibotta and Roximity partner to transform the U.S. shopping experience through iBeacon technology. The partnership will enhance Ibotta’s ability to engage millions of shoppers, through ROXIMITY’s detailed and relevant information about leading consumer products and rebates available to them in their favorite stores, while they shop.

Beanstalk Data announces strategic partnership with Olo. The partnership will integrate Beanstalk’s CRM Marketing Master with Olo’s digital ordering platform.

GrubHub partners with YP to integrate ordering into restaurant listings. The partnership will allow consumers to order food through the YP search directory on mobile and desktop.

INDUSTRY LANDSCAPE

As The Food Tech & Media ecosystem continues to see rapid change, Rosenheim Advisors created The Food Tech & Media Industry Map to help entrepreneurs, participants and investors understand this quickly evolving landscape. Let us know about your recent or upcoming funding, partnerships or acquisitions here.

Check out the 2013 Annual Report and last month’s round-up.

The post Food Tech Media Startup Funding, M&A and Partnerships: September 2014 appeared first on Food + Tech Connect.

This report is double the fun, with two monthly reports in one. Written by consulting firm Rosenheim Advisors, it highlights the most interesting acquisitions, financings and partnerships within the Food Tech & Media ecosystem – digital content, social, local, mobile, grocery, e-commerce, delivery, ordering, payments, marketing and analytics – to give you insights into the latest funding and growth trends.

Is There a Food Delivery Bubble?

The foodpocalypse has been a prominent theme over the last couple of months, as many opine on the bursting of the food delivery bubble. Just as the “On Demand” and “Convenience” Economies drove a significant portion of 2015’s investment (representing approximately 44 percent of 2015’s total U.S. food tech funding versus 29 percent in 2014), the category will also lead the headlines as the investor community continues to shift from a “grow at any cost” mentality to a higher emphasis on unit economics and operating KPIs.

That said, investment into the delivery category was still prominent in March and April 2016. In fact, the total combined investment in food delivery startups for the two months was actually greater than the same period in 2015. This was largely due to a massive $1.25 billion investment into Ele.me in 2016. If we normalize the data by stripping out the Ele.me investment in April 2016 and an $850 million investment into Dianping in March 2015, then combined investment into the food tech sector during the period in 2016 was down 23 percent versus 2015. M&A activity was generally in line with 2015 levels for both months.

The month of March featured six acquisitions, all of which were in the delivery sector and all except for one involved either an international buyer or target. Investment during the month totaled close to $420 million across ten deals with a similar theme of online ordering and delivery across the board. With only one seed deal, the remaining rounds were Series A or beyond, and 60 percent were international companies.

The month of April included eight acquisitions across a variety of sectors, with most based in the U.S. Investment during the month totaled close to $1.6 billion across fourteen deals, but as mentioned above Ele.me’s funding accounted for a majority of that. Close to $345 million was raised outside of the Ele.me investment. Ecommerce, ordering and delivery were dominant themes across a variety of stages ranging from seed all the way to public debt.

As I discussed in Fortune’s predictions for the year, “The 2016 Fortune Crystal Ball”, (as well as my annual report), consolidation is absolutely on the menu for 2016 and it may fast become the main course. While Kitchit, KitchenSurfing, Spoon Rocket, Chef Nightly and Dinner Lab are some of the more notable food tech startups to recently shutter, there are likely more companies to follow. But while the current narrative is focused on lack of funding and subsequent closures, I do think the private market overhang will give way to a significant number of opportunistic acquisitions as well.

Food Tech Is More Than Delivery

On a related note, due to the significant amount of press around and investment into the food delivery category, the term “food tech” has become almost synonymous with delivery-related startups for the average person (or average investor). As a result, the overall food tech sector is hitting a bit of a rough patch on the PR front.

Many startups outside of the delivery sector I speak with say they feel the implications of the delivery shakeout in their own quest for funding. This is unfortunate, as recent shifts in consumer demand and behavior around food will continue to foster tremendous opportunity through technology – both through direct to consumer solutions, as well as business to business efficiencies and insights. While the delivery category is clouding the food tech narrative, the overall sector is still at the beginning of a long trajectory. The current rightsizing will make it a stronger sector overall.

M&A

EnterWorks Holding Co. Acquires Majority of Digital Foodie. Sterling, VA-based EnterWorks, which offers product information management (PIM) solutions, has acquired a majority stake of Digital Foodie, a Finnish SaaS platform for on-demand groceries. The combined platform will be launched into the U.S. market as an end-to-end, on-demand, omni-commerce solution for the food and grocery industry. Digital Foodie’s cloud platform currently powers the largest Finnish grocer, S-Group, and has been deployed in more than 1,100 stores in Europe, ranging from hyper-markets to grocery stores and convenience stores. According to Progressive Grocer, IGA stores including Wynn’s Market in Florida, will be the first to roll out the Digital Food platform in the U.S. The transaction was led by Black Dragon Capital, a U.S.-based private equity fund that owns EnterWorks.

Announced: 04/27/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2009

Hello Curry acquires The First Meal. The Hyderabad, India-based meal delivery service will allow Hello Curry, an Indian restaurant chain based in Hyderabad, to enter the subscription and meal delivery business, as well as the additional breakfast segment. The First Meal offers subscription breakfast and lunch meal boxes, and reports that it currently sells 10,000 boxes per month with an 89% retention rate. Through First Meal, Hello Curry aims to sell 5,000 meals sold per day in the next 6 months.

Announced: 04/26/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2015

Fexy Media Acquires Simply Recipes. Elise Bauer’s award-winning recipe and food blog, which grew to 6.5 million uniques in November of last year, will be the newest addition within Fexy’s portfolio of diverse digital brands, each appealing to specific food lifestyle needs. As one of six acquisitions since 2014, Simply Recipes will join Serious Eats, Roadfood, The Food Lab, and Relish as part of Fexy Media.

Announced: 04/21/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2003

Homemade Acquires CookNook. The New York, NY- and Washington D.C.-based platforms for home-cooked meals allow consumers to connect with home chefs and purchase homemade meals through online and mobile platforms. Homemade currently operates in New York, Washington D.C., Chicago, Philadelphia, and Toronto. As part of the acquisition, CookNook chefs and customers will join Homemade, and the company intends to expand along the East Coast.

Announced: 04/13/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2014

US Foods Acquires Food Genius.  The Chicago, IL-based data analytics company will provide the Rosamond, IL-based foodservice distributor with data about US Foods, which has been a customer of Food Genius for over a year. As part of the deal, the Food Genius team will join the US Foods team.

Announced: 04/13/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $2.5m  Founded: May 2010

Delivery.com Acquires BrewDrop. The Austin, TX-based mobile app for on-demand alcohol delivery will allow the New York, NY-based online delivery service to increase its alcohol-ordering consumer base. BrewDrop will cease operations and according to Austin Business Journal, BrewDrop’s CEO, will join  Delivery.com as director of market development and will oversee the company’s Texas expansion, with Houston and Dallas targeted next.

Announced: 04/12/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2013

Chope Acquires Restaurant MakanLuar. The Indonesia-based restaurant reservation service will allow the Chope, a Singapore-based reservation service, to expand to Indonesia. Chope currently operates in Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Beijing. At present, MakanLuar will maintain its own name, but will eventually come under Chope’s name.

Announced: 04/05/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: November 2013

Reserve Acquires Dash. The New York-based mobile payments data technology startup will add sophisticated Point of Sale integration capabilities with systems like Micros and Aloha to Reserve’s growing tech platform. Dash, which is Reserve’s fifth acquisition, also brings along an innovative “Venue Vibes” feature which notifies guests of a restaurant’s atmosphere based on real-time data.

Announced: 04/01/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $6.9m  Founded: 2011

Glovo Acquires Foodinho. The Milan, Italy-based on-demand meal delivery service Foodinho will allow Glovo, a Barcelona, Spain-based mobile app for on-demand delivery, to expand internationally. In addition to delivering restaurant and café meals, Glovo delivers any product available at local stores. Glovo currently operates in Madrid, Barcelona, and Valencia, Spain, and with the acquisition will expand its operations to Milan, Italy.

Announced: 03/31/16  Terms: Not Disclosed (all cash) Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: June 2015

Paylo.in Acquires Ruplee. The multi-channel offline payment platform Paylo.in has acquired in-restaurant payment app. According to the company, the transaction will be a “merger of both teams and products, helping Ruplee evolve into an omni-channel payment platform from an app-only play, in addition to expanding its cashless payment experience to more verticals beyond food where it already enjoys a first-mover advantage.”

Announced: 03/21/16  Terms: Not Disclosed Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: October 2014

FoodPanda Acquires Delivery.com’s Hong Kong Operations. The Berlin, Germany-based online meal delivery service will take over the Hong Kong operations of Delivery.com, which it launched in 2014 noting that Hong Kong is “one of the world’s most densely populated places with a cultural and business environment that mirrors New York City” (where Delivery.com is headquartered). Foodpanda entered Hong Kong in 2014 as well, and has pursued an acquisition strategy in the area, with previous acquisitions from Hong Kong including Koziness and Dial a Dinner. The company notes that that the Hong Kong sale will allow Delivery.com to “refocus on its home market, where it is active in dozens of U.S. cities”.

Announced: 03/17/16 Terms: Not Disclosed  Founded: Launched in 2014

iFood Acquires SpoonRocket. Just days after announcing it was shutting down, The Brazil-based on-demand meal delivery provider will use the Berkeley, CA-based meal delivery service’s logistics platform to improve delivery time and order tracking. Spoon Rocket with cease independent operations. Currently iFood is working to expand operations throughout Latin America.

Announced: 03/17/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $13.5m  Founded: June 2013

InnerChef Acquires EatonGo and Flavour Labs. InnerChef, a Guragon, India-based platform for food discovery and delivery will utilize EatonGo’s foothold in Bangalore, while also building a network of kitchens to be closer to customers. In addition, the Flavour Labs acquisition will allow InnerChef to leverage the team’s mobile kitchen know-how and add the company’s custom designed food trucks to its operations. Both acquisitions are acqui-hires.

Announced: 03/09/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: EatonGo – $0.4m; Flavour Labs –  Not Disclosed  Founded: EatonGo – February 2015;  Flavour Labs – 2014

New Fresh LLC Acquires The Fresh Diet. The Miami, Florida-based meal delivery service allows consumers to choose healthy, gourmet meals for delivery. The company was acquired from Innovative Food Holdings by an investment group led by the original founder of The Fresh Diet.

Announced: 03/01/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Founded: November 2005

FUNDING

BoxGreen Raises $335k. The Singapore-based healthy snack delivery service provides consumers with single-serve healthy snacks delivered via subscription box. Since launching in May 2015, the company reports it has delivered over 75,000 snack packs to over 2,000 customers. The investment will be used to grow its food and innovation, customer service, and marketing/sales teams, and to develop new snacks. The company also plans to expand to Malaysia and other areas soon.

Announced: 04/29/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: 500 Startups, Expara IDM Ventures  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2014

Milkbasket Raises $500k. The Guragon, India-based mobile app allows consumers to order groceries from their phone for delivery. Milkbasket originally only sold milk, but it now offers over 3,000 other products. The company currently operates in 15 clusters in Guragon, with about 500 app users in each cluster. The funds will be used to expand the Milkbasket team, enhance technology, and improve the logistics network.

Announced: 04/26/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: EVC (Entrepreneurship & Venture Capital)  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2015

Baedal Minjok (Woowa Brothers Corp) Raises $50m. The Seoul, South Korea-based online restaurant ordering and delivery app will use the investment to expand its business scope toward food logistics as well as enhance apps, Baemin Riders, Baemin Fresh, and Baemin Cook—which deliver drinks, fresh foods, and pre-made foods respectively. According to Deal Street Asia, the company aims to become profitable in 2016.

Announced: 04/25/16  Stage: Series E  Participating Institutional Investors: Hillhouse Capital Group  Previous Investment: $50.1 million  Founded: 2010

Fexy Media Raises $6m. The Seattle-based digital platform for food media is building a portfolio of food-focused brands. According to the Seattle Times, Fexy Media now has 50 employees and in addition to the recently acquired Simply Recipes (see M&A section above), the company operates three other websites and apps for cooks and diners: Roadfood, Serious Eats and Relish. According to the Sacramento Bee article in discussing the Simply Recipes acquisition, in addition to a network, Fexy is able to help its portfolio companies produce and distribute videos in a cost-effective way, and aims to offer data analysis of followers that would otherwise be unaffordable to smaller platforms.

Announced: 04/21/16  Stage: Venture  Participating Institutional Investor: Tritium Partners  Previous Investment: $16.3 million  Founded: 2014

CaterSpot Raises $800k. The Hong Kong-based online platform for catering connects consumers with caterers and restaurants. The company operates in Singapore and Hong Kong with over 200 providers offering over 1,000 catering menus. CaterSpot will use the investment for growth of its current operations, hiring, and product development.

Announced: 04/19/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Triplestar Capital, Swiss Founders Fund  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: January 2016

Yummy Express Raises $10m.  The Beijing, China-based O2O solutions provider offers last mile delivery services to catering merchants and takeout platforms. Rather than many crowd-sourced competitors, Yummy Express differentiates its services through its “well-trained proprietary delivery men” and delivering relatively higher-ticket items. The company says it currently delivers over 200,000 meal orders per day in 18 cities in China, working with companies like Baidu Waimai, Meituan-Dianping, and Tencent-backed Ele.me. The new funding will be invested into company’s expansion module.

Announced: 04/19/16  Stage: Series C  Participating Institutional Investors: ClearVue Partners (lead), SB China Capital (SBCVC)  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2012

Wolt Raises $12.4m. The Helsinki, Finland-based mobile app allows consumers to order meals from restaurants for on-demand delivery by Wolt’s courier network, which arrives within about 30 minutes. To date, the app has over 100,000 users and works with over 400 restaurants. The investment comes with the launch of the company in Stockholm.

Announced: 04/15/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Investors: EQT Ventures (lead), Niklas Zennström (Skype founder), Ilkka Paananen (Supercell CEO), and Risto Siilasmaa (Nokia Chairman) Previous Investment: $2.6 million  Founded: October 2014

TabSquare Raises $2.6m. The Singapore-based restaurant management platform provides restaurants with tablet menus which customers can browse, order and pay for their food from. Restaurants can update the menus in real time via a content management system that includes a cloud-based data warehouse and analytics engine in order to track customer behavior and spending data. TabSquare is currently used by over 60 food and beverage brands and over 150 stores. The investment will be used for expansion and for technological development.

Announced: 04/14/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Walden International (lead), Infocomm Investments, Phillip Private Equity, Raging Bull  Previous Investment: $0.5 million  Founded: May 2012

Ele.me Raises $1.25b. The Shanghai, China-based online food delivery service received a strategic investment from Alibaba but didn’t provide any further details of the transaction. TechCrunch points out that there are synergies in Alibaba’s portfolio including a joint venture called Koubei which helps restaurants offer promotions via mobile. As part of the deal, Alibaba’s executive vice chairman has joined the board of Ele.me. Ele.me will continue operations as an independent company, but may become a target for full acquisition in the near future as Alibaba is reportedly selling its stake in Meituan-Dianping.

Announced: 04/13/16  Stage: Growth Participating Institutional Investors: Alibaba Group (and its arm, Ant Financial Services Group)  Previous Investment: $1.085 billion  Founded: September 2008

Homemade Raises $2.1m. The New York, NY food marketplace offers an app that connects cooks in communities with people looking for homemade food. Users can browse through local cook options and indicate their interest in certain dishes; cooks can then confirm the meal and arrange a meet-up or drop-off. In conjunction with the raise, the company announced the acquisition of CookNook (see M&A section above). According to the Wall Street Journal, the company, which has four employees, will use the funding to hire employees in community building, product development and operations.

Announced: 04/08/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Maven Ventures (lead), Maveron, Rostrum Capital, Scrum Ventures, Slow Ventures, Third Kind Venture Capital, XG Ventures  Previous Investment: $0.1 million  Founded: 2015

Groupon Raises $250m.   The publically-traded Chicago-based local deals marketplace received a strategic investment by Comcast’s (“independent”) investment fund Atairos, via unsecured, senior convertible notes. In addition to the investment, Comcast Corporation will work with Groupon to identify and implement potential strategic partnership opportunities, exploring the opportunity to combine Groupon’s local expertise with Comcast’s subscriber and advertiser network.

Announced: 04/05/16  Stage: Convertible Debt  Participating Investor: Atairos Founded: 2007

Jinn Raises $7.5m. The London, UK-based mobile app allows consumers to place orders for on-demand delivery. Users can order any item that can be purchased in the local area for delivery within an hour. The service operates 24/7 and is currently available in London and Manchester. Jinn will use the funds to expand to more cities in the United Kingdom and Southern Europe.

Announced: 04/05/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Samaipata Ventures (lead), Bull Partners, Elderstreet Investments  Previous Investment: $2.3 million  Founded: 2013

Petoo Raises $1.0m. The Bangalore, India-based meal delivery service offers traditional Indian dishes for online ordering. All dishes are easily accessible and boxed so that they are convenient to eat. Petoo currently operates in 20 locations in Bangalore. The funding will be used for food research and for expansion to more areas in Bangalore as well as Chennai and Hyderabad.

Announced: 04/07/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Axilor Ventures  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded:  2015

Reserve Raises Undisclosed Investment from Diageo Technology Ventures.  The New York, NY-based dining concierge service has growth to allow users to find restaurants, make a reservations and mobile pay the bill or split the check at the end of the meal. The round was funded by global liquor brand Diageo and in conjunction with the funding announcement, the company announced the acquisition of Dash (see above in M&A section). The company intends to use the funds to grow its restaurant presence within the existing seven cities it operates, launch in new cities, expand the userbase and build out more functionality.

Announced: 04/01/16  Stage: Strategic  Participating Investor: Diageo Technology Ventures  Previous Investment: $17.3 million  Founded: 2014

Juicero Raises $70m. The San Francisco, CA-based smart kitchen company produces internet-connected kitchen appliances, beginning with a $700 smart juicer. The appliance cold presses juice from packs (a similar idea to Keurig cups) that customers buy from Juicero that contain a mix of fruits and vegetables. Each pack has a QR code that allows the company to track which flavors are used the most and in what quantity, and allows the app to suggest other pack flavors to the consumer that will provide them a nutritional balance. While much of the world is going crazy about this as an overly-expensive residential product (myself included), it may become more prevalent as a commercial product, as the Verge reports that Le Pain Quotidien has already ordered 21 juicers to be placed in eight of its Los Angeles locations.

Announced: 03/31/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: ARTIS Ventures (lead), Abstract Ventures, Acre Venture Partners, Aspiration Growth, Campbell Soup Company, First Beverage Group, GV, Interplay Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Thrive Capital, Two Sigma Ventures, Vast Ventures  Previous Investment: $20.5 million (or, according to the New York Times, $50 million)  Founded: 2013

Frichti Raises $13.4m. The Paris, France-based meal delivery service allows customers to order lunches, dinners, and weekend brunches for on-demand delivery. Meals are prepared by Frichti chefs in the company’s kitchens and are delivered cold with instructions to reheat at home. Frichti’s plans for the investment include uder acquisition via word of mouth systems and referral programs as well as expansion within and outside of France.

Announced: 03/30/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Alven Capital, Idinvest Partners Previous Investment: $1.1 million  Founded: June 2015

DoorDash Raises $127m. The San Francisco, CA-based delivery service works with local businesses, including restaurants, to deliver items and food to customers for a flat fee. DoorDash currently operates in 22 urban areas in the United States and Canada. The company reports the investment will be used to expand “both across the U.S. and beyond”.

Announced: 03/22/16  Valuation: $717 million Stage: Series C  Participating Institutional Investors: Sequoia Capital (lead), Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Wellcome Trust, Y Combinator  Previous Investment: $59.7 million  Founded: 2013

Big Basket Raises $150m. The Bangalore, India-based online grocery store allows consumers to select and order groceries for delivery. Big Basket currently operates in 8 metros and 10 tier-two cities in India and receives over 1 million orders each month. The investment will be used to expand its express delivery service and launch new specialty stores.

Announced: 03/22/16  Stage: Series D  Participating Institutional Investors: Abraaj Group (lead), Ascent Capital Group, Bessemer Venture Partners, Helion Venture Partners, International Finance Corporation, Sands Capital Management, Zodius Capital  Previous Investment: $85.8 million  Founded: October 2011

Jolly Food Fellow Raises Undisclosed Seed Funding. The Ahmedabad, India-based mobile app provides a platform for food retail vendors. Vendors can use Jolly Food Fellow for branding, managing customer loyalty, and analytics-led engagement. The company will use the funding for expansion and product development. Currently working with over 50 vendors, the company aims to work with over 500 by the end of this year.

Announced: 03/14/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Investor: Janak Parikh  Previous Investment: $300k  Founded: 2015

Marley Spoon Raises $17m. The Berlin, Germany-based ingredient delivery service allows consumers to order cook-at-home recipe box meal kits. The company currently operates in Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Austria, and Australia. The investment will be used for expansion to the west coast of the United States and the east coast of Australia.

Announced: 03/10/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: Luxor Capital Group, Kreos Capital, QD Ventures, Lakestar  Previous Investment: $10.5 million  Founded: April 2014

Nom Raises $4.7m. The San Francisco, CA-based platform for video sharing allows amateur and professional chefs and food lovers to create, post, and watch their own food videos. Videos on Nom.com are both live and interactive and are intended to build an online community centered around a mutual interest in food. Notably, the founders of Nom are YouTube cofounder Steve Chen and former YouTube engineering lead Vijay Karunamurthy. The funding was announced with the company’s public launch.

Announced: 03/09/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Investors: Corey Lee, Jared Leto, Khosla Ventures, Park Jae-sang, SV Angel, WI Harper Group  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: July 2014

NinjaCart Raises $3m.The Bangalore, India-based mobile app provides a platform for farmers and supermarkets/retailers to connect. Currently, NinjaCart supplies over 15 tons of fruits and vegetables to over 120 retailers each month, and is growing at a rate of 30% weekly. The company will use the funds to expand its team and invest in supply chain infrastructure and technology.

Announced: 03/07/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Accel, M&S Partners, Qualcomm Ventures  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: July 2015

Eight Days Raises $30.7m. The China-based online grocery store, also known as 8Dol.com, allows college students to purchase groceries online for delivery to their campuses. The store website also includes a social media platform through which students can share photos. Eight Days currently operates in 50 cities and 1200 universities in China, with 100 convenience stores in addition to campus locations. The funds will be used to expand to over 2000 colleges and 1000 convenience stores.

Announced: 03/03/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: Longliqi Group, Jiangsu Suda Tiangong Venture Capital  Previous Investment: “Tens of Millions of Dollars”  Founded: 2012

Hungryroot Raises $3.7m. The New York, NY-based stovetop-ready meal delivery service allows consumers to purchase healthy meal kits for on-demand delivery. All of the foods and ingredients produced by Hungryroot are gluten free and entirely vegetable based. Currently, products are available on FreshDirect and Amazon in addition to the Hungryroot site. The investment will be used for expansion, developing new products, and hiring.

Announced: 03/01/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Lightspeed Venture Partners (lead), Crosslink Capital, Great Oaks Venture Capital, KarpReilly, Lerer Hippeau Ventures  Previous Investment: $2.0 million  Founded: 2015

PARTNERSHIPS

The New York Times Partners with Chef’d to deliver recipe and meal kits.

Instacart Partners with PlateJoy to deliver groceries based on personal diet and nutrition recommendations.

OpenRice Partners with Foodpanda to bring on-demand delivery to app users in Hong Kong.

Zomato Partners with Snapdeal to simplify online ordering of meals.

Ibotta Partners with Anheuser-Busch to provide cash back on beer purchases.

Kitchen Brains Partners with HotSchedules to connect cooking appliances and platforms and point-of-sale systems with cloud-based technology.

NatureBox Partners with Target to Expand Retail Distribution.

Twitter Integrates with Yelp for Location Tags in the UK and Japan.

Hyatt Centric Partners with GrubHub to Help Reinvent Room Service

TouchBistro and iZettle Partner on Restaurant Payment Services.

Gourmia Partners with Ready for Sky and Freshub to Reinvent the Smart Kitchen

INDUSTRY LANDSCAPE

As The Food Tech & Media ecosystem continues to see rapid change, Rosenheim Advisors created The Food Tech & Media Industry Map to help entrepreneurs, participants and investors understand this quickly evolving landscape. Let us know about your recent or upcoming funding, partnerships or acquisitions here.

Check out the 2015 Annual Report and last month’s round-up. 

The post Food Tech Media Startup Funding, M&A and Partnerships: March and April 2016 appeared first on Food + Tech Connect.

This is a monthly guest post, written by consulting firm Rosenheim Advisors, it highlights the most interesting acquisitions, financings and partnerships within the Food Tech & Media ecosystem – digital content, social, local, mobile, grocery, e-commerce, delivery, ordering, payments, marketing and analytics – to give you insights into the latest funding and growth trends.

Deal volume in May was in line with recent months, with six acquisitions and fifteen fundings, however deal sizes were significantly smaller as the total reported influx into the foodtech sector was just $155 million. In contrast to recent months where larger and later stage rounds represented a least a quarter of fundings, May was filled with a majority of Seed and Series A rounds and featured just one raise over $20 million.

Commerce and delivery were prominent sectors, with restaurant-related technology well-represented among the companies. Close to sixty percent of the capital went to U.S.-based companies, as was the largest acquisition (LAbite’s sale to Grubhub) a U.S.-based deal.

Most international activity was driven by Western Europe which is unusual, and surprisingly there was no activity in China aside from a distressed exit. Given the light representation in May, the surge in shuttering Indian foodtech startups appears to have quelled the funding gold rush (there was only one meaningful fundraise during the month within India).

M&A

Jialebao Acquires Yummly77. The Shanghai, China-based online grocery store sold fresh produce online for delivery and had received a Series B investment of $20 million from Amazon in 2014, but in April  2016, Yummy77.com suspended its operations due to its dire financial situation. The strategic assets will provide Jialebao, a Shanghai, China-based ecommerce group, with a strong brand and consumer base in addition to logistics, storage systems, and operations. With the acquisition, Jialebao aims to become a frontrunner in the market for fresh produce.

Announced: 05/12/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $20.0m  Founded: February 2013

Byte Foods Acquires Pantry. The San Francisco, CA-based smart fridge kiosk will allow the San Rafael, CA-based provider of vending machines and meal delivery for businesses to expand their healthy food options in workplaces. To use a Pantry fridge, customers swipe their credit card to open the fridge and then take whichever item(s) they want. The fridge uses Radio Frequency ID to determine what has been removed and charge the customer.

Announced: 05/12/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $2.3m  Founded: December 2012

ShopWings Merges with Grocery Butler. Grocery Butler, the Australia-based online grocery store and ShopWings, Rocket Internet’s online grocery platform will perform a merger of equals and combine operations under the name ShopWings. By merging, the companies will gain advances in technology and logistics as well as an increased client base. Members of both teams will remain with the merged company—Guillaume Ang, the current COO of ShopWings will become the CEO of the merged company, and Michael Parthenides, the current CEO of Grocery Butler will lead operations in Melbourne. ShopWings will operate in Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne. ShopWings originally launched in Germany, however due to lack of demand and cooperation from local retailers, shut German operations in July 2015.

Announced: 05/12/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Shopwings: €12.0m; Grocery Butler: $0.3m  Founded: ShopWings: 2014; Grocery Butler: July 2013

Roadrunnr Acquires TinyOwl. The Mumbai, India-based mobile app for food delivery will provide the Kormangala, India-based delivery service with technology and data analytics as well as some team members of TinyOwl. For now, TinyOwl will continue operations in only 20 of its Mumbai locations, shutting down elsewhere, and will begin the transition to the merged company, which will be called Runnr when it launches.

Announced: 05/10/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $26.7m  Founded: 2012

Upserve Acquires Breadcrumb from Groupon. The New York, NY-based iPad point-of-sale app for restaurants will enhance Upserve’s (previously called Swipely) smart management assistant for restaurants’ point-of-sale technology. Upserve’s current technology connects point-of-sale, reservations, reviews, and payments for restaurants so that they can monitor staff, guest, and review information from one place. Breadcrumb was previously acquired by Groupon in May 2012 (reportedly for $10-$15 million), but has worked in partnership with Upserve since late 2015.

Announced: 05/09/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2011

GrubHub Acquires LAbite. The Los Angeles, CA-based restaurant delivery service will allow the Chicago, IL-based mobile app for restaurant delivery to expand its delivery network. LAbite diners ordered almost $80 million in gross food sales, with most of the volume coming from the greater Los Angeles area. LAbite previously acquired WaitersonWheels (San Francisco Bay Area) and EatOutIn (Austin, Houston, and San Antonio) in 2015. GrubHub currently works with over 44,000 restaurants in over 1,000 cities in the United States and London.

Announced: 05/03/16  Terms: $65.0m (cash)  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2001

FUNDING

Hooch Raises $950k. The New York, NY-based mobile app for a subscription-based program to receive cocktails at bars provides consumers with a free round of drinks each day at cocktail bars. Membership costs $9.99/month or $99/year and includes specially curated drinks menus at restaurants and bars. Hooch currently operates in New York City, Los Angeles, Austin, Dallas and Miami. The investment will be used to expand the company in the United States and internationally.

Announced: 05/31/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Blue Scorpion Investments  Previous Investment: $1.25 million  Founded: November 2014

Nestor Raises $1m. The Paris, France-based meal delivery service delivers lunches to companies and working professionals. The company offers a starter, entrée, and dessert for €15, and everything is cooked by professional chefs at Nestor. Currently, Nestor delivers 1000 meals per week and is growing by 15% each week. The funds will be used for continued expansion in Paris.

Announced: 05/30/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Anaxago, TheFamily  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2015

Chef’d Raises $12.27m. The El Segundo, CA-based meal and recipe kit delivery service offers over 200 recipes for consumers to choose from, and recently partnered with the NY Times. Customers select meals and kits with recipes and prepared ingredients are delivered to their homes within 48 hours. The investment will be used for expansion.

Announced: 05/17/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $5.2 million  Founded: 2013

7Shifts Raises $900k. The Saskatoon, Canada-based software producer provides restaurants with a platform for employee scheduling. Managers can use an app to evaluate and assign shifts to employees and employees can view their shifts and submit requests to managers. Currently, 7Shifts is used by over 1900 restaurants in North America, Scandinavia, the Middle East, and Australia. 7Shifts plans to use the investment to expand their sales team and to add new features to their app.

Announced: 05/26/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Relay Ventures (lead), Boost VC, Globalive Capital  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2013

ResQ Raises $446k. The Helsinki, Finland-based meal club “rescues” leftover food from restaurants and bakeries that would otherwise be thrown away or not consumed. Customers can buy these foods for 40-70% discounted prices. Currently, ResQ has over 17,000 customers and over 150 provider partners. With the funding, ResQ has announced its expansion to 3 locations in Sweden.

Announced: 05/25/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Cleantech Invest Oyj  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2016

Menu Next Door Raises $2m. The Brussels, Belgium-based platform for home-cooked meals connects local home-cooks with community members who wish to purchase a home-cooked meal, like an “AirBnB for food”. Customers can place a menu order a few days in advance and then pick up their meal from the cook’s home on the day of their order—the company has no delivery option. Menu Next Door currently operates in Brussels and Paris. To date, there are 900 cooks and 110,000 customers using Menu Next Door. With the investment, the company will expand to London.

Announced: 05/24/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: TheFamily, Kima Ventures, LocalGlobe, Index Ventures  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2015

Eatonomist Raises Seed Funding. The Guragon, India-based meal delivery service delivers sandwiches, desserts, and Indian foods to offices. Food preparation and delivery are both controlled by Eatonomist, and all meals produced by the company are “calorie-counted gourmet meals”. The company will use the investment to develop and launch their app.

Announced: 05/23/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: MCube Capital Advisors  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: November 2014

Instabuggy Raises Undisclosed Funds. The Toronto, Canada-based grocery delivery service delivers groceries to consumers in under 1 hour following their order. Customers can pick which items they would like to buy and which stores they are interested in purchasing from. In addition, Instabuggy also delivers meals prepared by in-store chefs. The company plans to expand to the United States within the next year.

Announced: 05/20/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: October 2014

6SensorLabs Raises $9.2m. The San Francisco, CA-based technology company produces portable food sensors that can test food for allergens such as gluten, nuts, and milk. The first sensor tester, Nima, tests food for gluten content. Users put a small piece of their food into a disposable capsule and put the capsule inside the sensor. The sensor then displays results of the test. Funds will be used to further develop and sell sensors to detect peanut and milk content. The company will also change its name to Nima, the name of its first sensor.

Announced: 05/19/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Foundry Group (lead), Lemnos Labs, SK Ventures, SoftTech VC, Upfront Ventures  Previous Investment: $4.0 million  Founded: October 2013

Sun Basket Raises $7.1m. The San Francisco, CA-based healthy meal kit service delivers recipes and USDA-certified organic ingredients packaged and prepared for cooking. Recipes are designed by chef Justine Kelly and include options for those seeking vegetarian, paleo, gluten-free, and omnivore diets. Sun Basket will use the investment for expansion in the United States, an East Coast distribution center, and hiring. The company secured $4.5 million in funding in September 2015 and with this additional funding has closed its Series A round with a total of $11.6 million in capital.

Announced: 05/19/16  Stage: Series A extension Participating Institutional Investors: Vulcan Capital (lead), Filter 14, ROTH Capital Partners, Relevance Capital, Correlation Ventures, Rembrandt Venture Partners, Tyler Florence Group, Baseline Ventures, Robertson Stephens Partners, PivotNorth Capital  Previous Investment: $4.5 million  Founded: April 2014

Orderbird Raises $20m. The Berlin, Germany-based software producer provides restaurants with mobile point-of-sale solutions. The app can take and place orders, simply split bills, and create tax-authority-compliant reports. The investment includes a strategic investment from Metro Group, with the goal of improving digital solutions for restaurants. The funds will be used for expansion in Europe—including France—and for product development.

Announced: 05/11/16  Stage: Series C  Participating Investors: Digital+ Partners, Metro Group, Concardis  Previous Investment: $14.3 million  Founded: March 2011

Swiggy Raises $7m. The Bangalore, India-based online platform for food ordering allows consumers to order meals from over 5500 restaurants for on-demand delivery. Swiggy currently operates in Bangalore, Guragon, Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, and Chennai and makes 38,000 deliveries per day.

Announced: 05/10/16  Valuation: $130 million  Stage: Series D  Participating Institutional Investors: Accel Partners, DST Global, Norwest Venture Parners   Previous Investment: $53.5 million  Founded: August 2014

Purple Carrot Raises $5m. The Needham, MA-based vegan meal kit delivery service offers meal kits with 100% plant-based recipes and ingredients. The funding will be used for marketing research and increasing awareness of the brand and the environmental impact of plant-based eating. In addition, Purple Carrot will be adding a Guest Chef series, which will entail new, plant-based recipes created by well-known chefs specifically for Purple Carrot. Separate from the funding news, it was also announced that Purple Carrot’s chief innovation officer, former New York Times food columnist Mark Bittman, departed the company.

Announced: 05/10/16  Stage: Debt Financing  Participating Institutional Investors: WindSail Capital Group  Previous Investment/debt: $4.8 million  Founded: October 2014

ReserveOut Raises $4.1m. The Amman, Jordan-based software producer provides restaurants with a technological system for reservations, table management, and customer databases. Restaurant customers can make table reservations through the ReserveOut mobile app at over 1000 restaurants in the Middle East. ReserveOut currently operates in Amman, Dubai, Beirut, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Jeddah, and Manama. With the investment, the company will expand operations to Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The investment will also be used to enhance the ReserveOut mobile app.

Announced: 05/08/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Silicon Badia, 500 Startups, iMENA Group  Previous Investment: $1.3 million  Founded: 2012

Winc Raises $17.5m. The Los Angeles, CA-based wine club (formerly known as Club W) offers consumers wines from around the world. Customers can receive personalized recommendations for wine based of their preferences and “palate profile.” Wines can be ordered online and also purchased in-person at restaurants.

Announced: 05/04/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: Bessemer Venture Partners, Shining Capital  Previous Investment: $13.1 million  Founded: August 2011

PARTNERSHIPS

Peapod Partners with Whisk to deliver groceries and ingredients directly from online recipes.

Peapod Partners with ConAgra Foods and Campbell Soup to create new meal kits.

D.C. Taxicab Commission Partners with Delivery.com to deliver restaurant lunch orders.

HungryRoot Partners with Whole Foods to sell healthy “indulgence” foods in stores.

Instacart Partners with PlateJoy to deliver groceries for personal nutrition and health plans.

Punchh Partners with Olo to enhance restaurant sales through loyalty incentives and rewards programs.

Drync Partners with Ebay to create and source ebay Wine, a website exclusively for buying wine.

The New York Times partners with Chef’d to start delivering meal kits to readers

Amazon partners with Tyson Foods to create a meal kit service through Amazon Fresh.

INDUSTRY LANDSCAPE

As The Food Tech & Media ecosystem continues to see rapid change, Rosenheim Advisors created The Food Tech & Media Industry Map to help entrepreneurs, participants and investors understand this quickly evolving landscape. Let us know about your recent or upcoming funding, partnerships or acquisitions here.

Check out the 2015 Annual Report and last month’s round-up. 

The post Food Tech Media Startup Funding, M&A and Partnerships: May 2016 appeared first on .

This is a guest post written by consulting firm Rosenheim Advisors; it highlights the most interesting acquisitions, financings and partnerships within the Food Tech & Media ecosystem – digital content, social, local, mobile, grocery, e-commerce, delivery, ordering, payments, marketing and analytics – to give you insights into the latest funding and growth trends.

While there were a number of interesting deals this summer, overall activity was relatively light. The last three months brought in approximately $758 million in funding for 51 private companies across the global food tech sector, broken down into $165 million, $170 million and $423 million for June, July and August, respectively.

Year-over-year the number of funded companies during this 3-month period was down 21% while total funding dollars were down 56%.  Excluding later-stage deals from the data ($100+ million), the average funding amount per deal during the three month period was ~$8 million versus ~$14 million the previous year.

There was a clear narrative around organic, clean eating and health, with half of the acquisitions in this category and a third of the funding dollars supporting the theme. Building upon that, the online grocery sector dominated the headlines this summer with a variety of cash infusions, consolidation, and rebirth. The delivery category (which includes grocery) continues to maintain momentum representing 80% of the capital and over half of the deals during the three months.

Year to date (tracking the first eight months of the year), overall M&A activity was down by about 18% versus the same period last year, a trend which was definitely reflected this summer as there were no M&A deals in July and only eleven deals in June and August (versus 21 during the same 3-month period last year).

Perhaps reflecting a shift in corporate strategy towards investment over full-on acquisition, there have been a number of strategic investments in recent months.  For example, while Yelp has made five acquisitions to build out its platform, it decided to make its first and only (publicly announced) strategic investment in NoWait this summer.

Among the various global food/restaurant ordering rollups, there were a couple of geographic deals in play as Takeaway.com scooped up Just Eat’s and Netherland/Belgium operations, Foodpanda merged hellofood with Hungerstation in Saudi Arabia, and ifood was further funded by Just Eat and Movile to expand deeper into Mexico. Separately, a new acquirer in the U.S. online grocery space, Direct Eats, made two acquisitions since May, promoting speculation that it may continue to acquire smaller regional players for scale.

M&A

Direct Eats Acquires Wholeshare. The San Francisco, CA-based sustainable and organic foods online marketplace will augment Direct Eats’ customer base. While Wholeshare was able to build a strong offering and loyal customer base, the company struggled to scale. Wholeshare is the second acquisition for Direct Eats this year, as the company acquired Abe’s Market, a similar online marketplace, in May.

Announced: 08/29/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $2.0m  Founded: 2009

Waitr Acquires Requested. The Sacramento, CA-based restaurant booking app will provide Waitr, a Lake Charles, LA-based restaurant management system focused on delivery/takeout service, with in-restaurant dining and booking options. According to Street Fight, Requested’s key innovation is a “dynamic pricing system that allows restaurants to offer deals and negotiate directly with customers on slow day”. Waitr will incorporate these elements into its present, flat-rate restaurant delivery app. Currently, Waitr operates in over 1,000 cities, and will expand to Roseville, CA with the acquisition. In addition, Requested’s team will continue in Sacramento, while co-founder Sonny Mayugba will become Waitr’s chief marketing officer.

Announced: 08/26/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2014

Tripadvisor Acquires CityMaps. The New York, NY-based map app will allow Tripadvisor to enhance its mobile map features and deepen its location-based activities marketing. CityMaps functions as a travel guide within a real-time navigation map app where users are able to view restaurants, attractions, and events around them, and create a personalized map based on their interests. With the acquisition, CityMaps will continue as a standalone business.

Announced: 08/26/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $12.0m  Founded: November 2010

Hooch Acquires Tipsy. The Tempe, AZ based nightlife app offers discounted drinks and other perks to members, with over one third of their premium members being active subscribers for over a year. According to Phoenix Business Journal, in addition the userbase, Tipsy has a venue dashboard Hooch is interested in taking advantage of.

Announced: 08/25/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: None  Founded: 2015

Cooked Chicago Acquires Chefmade. The Chicago, IL-based meal delivery services will join to offer weekly meal delivery. Both companies provide consumers with a menu from which they can select meals for the week. Deliveries are made once a week. Cooked will continue to offer Chefmade meals as menu options along with their own menu items. In addition, half of Chefmade’s team will join Cooked, and co-founder Sarah Arel will become Cooked’s director of creative growth.

Announced: 08/24/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2015

Foodpanda Acquires Hungerstation, Merges it with Hellofood. The Ad Damman, Saudi Arabia-based online platform for meal ordering and delivery will allow FoodPanda, Rocket Internet’s on-demand food delivery company, to expand its current Middle East operations (Hellofood). Foodpanda also operates two other food delivery companies in the region– 24h in the UAE, and Otlob in Egypt. Together, the combined company will reach 2000 restaurants in 30 cities. HungerStation will continue standalone operations.

Announced: 08/09/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: March 2012

Takeaway.com Acquires JustEat’s Netherlands and Belgium operations. The London, UK-based online meal ordering service has sold its Belgium and Netherlands businesses to Takeaway.com. an Amsterdam, Netherlands-based online meal delivery service. The deal was priced at €22.5 million ($25.3 million USD). Just Eat sold the businesses due to less profitability in those countries and will focus on its other operations. This comes as Takeaway.com is gearing up for an IPO in September, potentially valuing the company at over a billion dollars.

Announced: 08/02/16  Terms: $25.3m  Previous Investment: $89.0m  Founded: October 2000

PaidEasy Acquires Happy Any Hour. The New York–based mobile app, which helps bars and restaurants solve excess capacity through time-based, localized happy hours, was acquired by PaidEasy, a New York-based mobile payment app for restaurants. As TechCrunch reports, the new product and technology will add “an element of discovery” to the PaidEasy platform.

Announced: 08/02/16  Terms: Not Disclosed (Cash and Stock)  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: November 2014

Door to Door Organics Merges with Relay Foods. The Louisville, CO-based Door to Door Organics will merge with the Charlottesville, VA-based Relay foods to create an online grocery store delivering to 63 markets in 18 states, focused on natural, organic and locally sourced products. The company will maintain offices in Louisville and Charlottesville and will continue to operate as separate, customer-facing businesses until the integration is complete; the new brand is expected to be announced later this year. The merger also includes a $10 million equity financing deal from The Arlon Group (a previous Door to Door Organics investor).

Announced: 06/08/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Door to Door Organics – $38.8m; Relay Foods – $13.3m  Founded: Door to Door Organics – 1997; Relay Foods – 2007

Jugnoo Acquires SabKuchFresh. The Chandigarh, India-based fresh produce delivery startup will allow Jugnoo, a Chandigarh-based ride hailing app, to expand its grocery delivery options and improve logistics, and quality of the deliveries. SabKuchFresh has a relationship with over 100 farmers and has built a network of B2B and B2C users. Earlier this year Jugnoo relaunched its hyperlocal grocery delivery business ‘Fatafat’ in a bid to strengthen and diversify its delivery business. Jugnoo plans to expand delivery to Guragon in the next month and 30 other cities in the next year.

Announced: 06/01/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2013

Direct Eats Acquires Abe’s Market. The Chicago-based natural foods marketplace will expand the brand offering and userbase for relative newcomer Direct Eats, which is focused on building a leading ecommerce venture featuring better-for-you products in both the food and health and beauty categories. Abe’s Market will be rebranded as Direct Eats, moving the new website and platform. In contrast to competitor Thrive Market, Direct Eats does not charge shipping and does not require a membership fee.

Announced: 05/18/16  Terms: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $19.1 million  Founded: 2009

FUNDING

FoodByUs Raises $2m. The Sydney, Australia-based online platform allows users to buy and sell local, homemade foods. Home cooks can apply to be makers on the platform, which allows them to sell their food products with business and ecommerce support from FoodByUs. Consumers can view items listed by makers on the platform and place orders, which can be picked up or delivered. Since launching in August, the company has 80 makers offering 500 meals. FoodByUs will use the funds for marketing and sales. The company also plans to expand to other cities in Australia.

Announced: 08/31/16  Stage: Venture  Participating Institutional Investors: Kadima Group  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: February 2016

Velocity Raises $22.5m. The London, UK-based digital restaurant booking and payment platform is focused on premium restaurants worldwide. The app can also be used for payment at the restaurants. Velocity currently operates in London, New York, Miami, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The company has made three acquisitions thus far and plans to use the investment to expand to 29 cities by 2020.

Announced: 08/29/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: DIG Investments (lead) Previous Investment: $16.4 million  Founded: April 2014

Runnr Raises $7m. The Bangalore, India-based online delivery platform allows consumers to order restaurant meals for on-demand delivery. The company is the merged product of Roadrunnr and TinyOwl. Runnr currently operates in Bangalore and Mumbai, with plans to open in Delhi.

Announced: 08/29/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Blume Ventures, Nexus Venture Partners   Previous Investment: Not Disclosed (formed via merger)  Founded: February 2015

HappyFresh Raises Undisclosed Funding. The Jakarta Pusat, Indonesia-based online grocery store allows consumers to order groceries for on-demand, under an hour delivery. HappyFresh shoppers shop and make deliveries, while consumers can track the status of their delivery from the HappyFresh app. HappyFresh has closed its operations in Taiwan and the Philippines, but continues to operate in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. The funding amount remains undisclosed, but is larger than HappyFresh’s $12 million Series A funding round from last year.

Announced: 08/29/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: Samena Capital (lead), Sinar Mas Digital Ventures, Vertex Ventures  Previous Investment: $12.0 million    Founded: October 2014

Vivanda Raises Undisclosed Funding. The Baltimore, MD-based technology company, which was founded by group of McCormick employees and partners then spun out in 2014, uses FlavorPrint technology to create personalized flavor profiles based on a person’s preferences for different tastes, flavors, and textures. Companies can use the technology to understand consumers’ preferences and create personalized web content  based on their preferences. Customers such as Serious Eats already use the platform to help analyze recipes.  Notably, this strategic investment comes from software multinational SAP, which states the investment will “further enable food companies using solutions enabled by SAP HANA to leverage the FlavorPrint technology and data collected to engage and connect with consumers in more personalized and relevant ways”. Vivanda will use the investment for growth, including hiring, and aims to double its customers in the next 6 months.

Announced: 08/26/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: SAP  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed (Spun out of McCormick)  Founded: December 2014

Prepd Raises $2.78m. The San Francisco, CA-based company launched a successful Kickstarter campaign to create a lunchbox and mobile app pair which helps consumers eat healthily and track calorie and nutrient intake. Users prepare recipes from the app, which are designed to fit perfectly in the lunchbox. They can then use the app to record their exact intake and use their compiled personal data points to manage their health and weight.

Announced: 08/24/16  Stage: Crowdfunding  Participating Institutional Investors: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2016

Zzungry Raises Undisclosed Funding. The Bangalore, India-based online restaurant allows consumers to order chef-made Indian food for on-demand delivery. Zzungry operates out of 6 kitchens in Bangalore and changes its menu offerings weekly. At present, Zzungry delivers over 150 orders per day. The investment will be used for expansion and new kitchens, building revenue channels, and marketing.

Announced: 08/22/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Madhusudhan Jujare, Satish Vasudeva  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: August 2015

Sample6 Raises $12.7m. The Cambridge, MA-based synthetic biology company uses its technology to detect unwanted and harmful bacteria in food. Their Listeria detector uses light and an illumination box to reveal contaminated bioparticles in food products. The detectors are simple to use and fast-detecting, with results in 6 hours. The investment will be used to expand technology to include detection of Salmonella and E coli. In addition, with the investment, Acre Venture partner Sam Kass will join the Sample6 board of directors.

Announced: 08/22/16  Stage: Series C  Participating Institutional Investors: Acre Venture Partners (lead), Cultivian Sandbox Ventures, Canaan Partners, Valley Oak Investments  Previous Investment: $14.8 million  Founded: March 2013

Announced: 08/18/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Andy Murray  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: January 2014

Zero Cater Raises $4.1m. The San Francisco, CA-based catering service deliver meals to office employee groups. Meals can be ordered from local chefs, restaurants, and food trucks. ZeroCater currently operates in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, Chicago, Washington, DC, and Austin, serving over 1,000 companies tens of thousands of meals each day. The funding will be used to expand product and engineering teams.

Announced: 08/17/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Romulus Capital (lead), Struck Capital  Previous Investment: $1.5 million  Founded: 2009

Glovo Raises $5.6m. The Barcelona, Spain-based mobile app operates similarly to Postmates and Jinn. Consumers can use the app to order any item available in their city for on-demand delivery in under one hour. Users can place their order, track the status of their order, and rate service following delivery. Glovo currently has over 300 partners and 200,000 users. The investment will be used to consolidate the company’s presence in Spain.

Announced: 08/11/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Caixa Capital Risc, Bonsai Venture Capital SCR, Entrée Capital, Seaya Ventures, Antai Venture Builder  Previous Investment: $2.3 million  Founded: March 2015

Nowait Raises $8m. The Pittsburgh, PA-based mobile app allows users to get in line at restaurants before arriving. Users can view wait times and join waitlists from the app; the app notifies them when their table is ready. Nowait operates in 4,000 restaurants in all 50 US States. The strategic investment from Yelp will expand Yelp’s restaurant platform capabilities and make Nowait reservations available directly from restaurants’ Yelp pages.

Announced: 08/11/16 Stage: Growth  Participating Institutional Investors: Yelp  Previous Investment: $14.0 million  Founded: 2010

9KaCha Raises $10m. The China-based mobile app uses label recognition to provide users with information about their wine. Users take a picture of their wine bottle’s label, upload it on the app, and then receive information. The investment from Haier will incorporate 9KaCha’s recognition technology into Haier’s new smart wine cabinet. The cabinet will adapt conditions to the type of wine being stored.

Announced: 08/11/16 Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Haier  Previous Investment: $1.8 million  Founded: 2012

Fruitday Raises $15m. The Shanghai, China-based ecommerce company for produce offers imported fruit for purchase. The company has visions of becoming a broader ecommerce platform for fresh food, and as such, according to Produce Report, in addition to the funding announcement, the company Fruitday declared that it would form a strategic cooperation with Lactalis, which is one of the biggest dairy companies in the world.

Announced: 08/09/16  Stage: Series D  Participating Institutional Investors: Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park Fund  Previous Investment: $80 -$100 million  Founded: 2009

Deliveroo Raises $275m. The London, UK-based meal delivery service allows consumers to order meals from restaurants for on-demand delivery. Deliveroo currently operates in 12 countries in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Its competitors include UberEats, Just Eat, and Delivery Hero. The company will use the investment for expansion and new services, such as alcohol delivery and RooBox—a service that provides delivery-only kitchens for restaurants.

Announced: 08/05/16  Valuation: Over $1 billion Stage: Series E  Participating Institutional Investors: Bridgepoint (lead), DST Global (lead), General Catalyst Partners (lead), Felix Capital, Greenoaks Capital, Nokia Growth Partners  Previous Investment: $199.6 million  Founded: February 2013

GrubMarket Raises $20m. The Newark, CA-based online farmers market allows consumers to order organic, fresh food for delivery. GrubMarket offers meats, fish, and produce directly from farmers. Bulk ordering is also available for offices and restaurants. The investment will be used for marketing and expansion.

Announced: 08/04/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: FJ Labs, Great Oaks Venture Capital, Riverhead Capital, Danhua Capital, GGV Capital, Global Founders Capital, Sound Ventures  Previous Investment: $12.1 million  Founded: February 2014

Drizly Raises $15m. The Boston, MA-based platform for alcohol delivery allows consumers to order beer, wine, and spirits for on-demand delivery. Consumers can also place orders with up to 48 hours for delivery by using Drizly Connect, which launched this summer. Drizly currently operates in 23 cities and has plans to expand to 30 by the end of this year. The funding will be used for marketing and to expand the team. In August it was also noted that spirits producer Diageo indirectly invested in Drizzly’s round last year via First Beverage Group.

Announced: 08/04/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: Polaris Partners   Previous Investment: $17.8 million  Founded: July 2012

City Pantry Raises $1.46m. The London, UK-based catering platform allows users to order food for office groups, events, and meetings. Users can choose from two offerings—a one-time event order or a subscription meal plan for recurring events. Food can be ordered from chefs, restaurants, and street vendors, and is delivered by City Pantry. The investment will be used for expansion in the UK and Europe.

Announced: 08/03/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Angel CoFund, London Co-Investment Fund  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: April 2013

Petoo Raises $500k. The Bangalore, India-based online restaurant delivers prepackaged Indian meals to consumers. The company also does food research to explore their food’s freshness and create methods for keeping food fresh without refrigeration or preservatives. Their food offerings include breakfast foods that stay fresh for 1 month, lunch and dinner products fresh for 3 months, and desserts fresh for 6 months. Petoo will use the funding for food research and implementing its new products.

Announced: 08/03/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: LetsVenture  Previous Investment: $1.0 million  Founded: 2015

Peek Raises $10m. The San Francisco, CA-based online platform allows users to find and book local tastings, activities and tours. The mobile-first platform features listings, reviews, and booking functionality for consumers, as well as Peek Pro, to help tour operators manage their business online and via mobile. The investment will be used to grow the company and team and to increase partnerships. In addition to the funding, Peek will partner with Yelp, so that companies can have consumers book directly from their Yelp pages.

Announced: 07/28/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Investors: Pete Flint, David Bonderman, Ray Lane, Gigi Pritzker, Michael Pucker, Eric Schmidt, Jack Dorsey, Carl Sparks  Previous Investment: $6.9 million  Founded: 2012

Shipt raises $20m. The Birmingham, AL-based online grocery delivery service provides on-demand delivery in under 1 hour. Customers purchase a Shipt membership which allows them to place orders online or through a mobile app. Shipt currently operates in 27 cities in the southern United States, including cities in Florida, Alabama, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee,  Arizona, and Ohio. Shipt will use the funds to expand, develop grocery partnerships, and add alcohol delivery to its offerings.

Announced: 07/27/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Greycroft Partners, e.ventures, Harbert Growth Partners  Previous Investment: $5.2 million  Founded: 2014

Good Eggs Raises $15m. The San Francisco, CA-based online grocery delivery service delivers organic and local meats, dairy products, and produce to consumers. After having to shut down out of state operations and fire 140 employees late last year, Good Eggs has found a second life, currently operating solely in the San Francisco region. The investment will be used to expand Good Eggs in the Bay Area and subsequently expand again throughout the United States.

Announced: 07/27/16  Stage: Series C  Participating Institutional Investors: Index Ventures (lead), Obvious Ventures, S2G Ventures  Previous Investment: $31.5 million  Founded: July 2011

Sun Basket Raises $15m. The San Francisco, CA-based healthy meal kit delivery service offers organic meal kits with options for paleo and gluten-free diets. Kits come with simple recipes and ingredients that have been pre-portioned according to the recipe. Sun Basket aims to make organic products more accessible for consumers. The company currently serves 34 US states. They will use the investment to open a third distribution center, which will allow the company to reach 98% of the US—“more zip codes than the largest grocery store chain in the US.”

Announced: 07/26/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: Accolade partners (lead), Baseline Ventures, Founders Circle Capital, PivotNorth Capital, Relevance Capital, Shea Ventures, Vulcan Capital  Previous Investment: $11.6 million  Founded: April 2014

Innit Raises $18m. The Redwood City, CA-based connected kitchen platform uses technology, nutrition, and food science to make cooking easier. Innit smart kitchen products identify and measure food ingredients and suggests recipes and cooking techniques. The investment will be used to accelerate growth. The company recently announced partnerships with Good Housekeeping, Pirch and Whirlpool Corporation to enable advanced automated cooking on their kitchen appliances.

Announced: 07/21/16  Stage: Venture  Participating Institutional Investors: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $25.0 million  Founded: September 2013

iFood Raises $30m. The Sao Paulo, Brazil-based online platform for food delivery allows consumers to order restaurant food for on-demand delivery. Users can place orders online or via mobile app. At present, iFood makes about 1.7 million deliveries per month. The ongoing strategic investment from Movile and Just Eat will help iFood expand into Mexico through SinDelantal, the largest food delivery service in Mexico, which was acquired by Just Eat in February. As the press release notes, iFood recently acquired Hellofood Brazil from JUST EAT and also acquired US-based SpoonRocket‘s technology, with plans to harness its logistics backend to optimize delivery time and enhance the restaurant-to-consumer experience.

Announced: 07/20/16  Stage: Series F  Participating Institutional Investors: Movile, Just Eat  Previous Investment: $61.9 million  Founded: May 2011

Kiip Raises $12m. The San Francisco-based mobile rewards network, platform and app works with brands such as McDonalds and  Pepsi to engage their audiences by rewarding them with free samples, special offers, virtual currency and other items during in-app events called “moments”. The company will use the funding to expand its sales and marketing efforts.

Announced: 07/19/16  Stage: Series C  Participating Institutional Investors: North Atlantic Capital (lead), U.S. Cellular  Previous Investment: $20.0 million  Founded: July 2010

Zuppler Raises $300k.  The Conshohocken, PA-based software producer provides software for restaurants that can be used to manage ordering and delivery. Currently, Zuppler’s software is used by over 1600 restaurants in the United States, Canada, Ireland, and the UK. The investment will be used to further develop its technology, point of sale and loyalty integrations, sales and marketing initiatives.

Announced: 07/18/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: SRI Capital  Previous Investment: $1.6 million  Founded: November 2008

LifeSum Raises $10m. The Stockholm-based digital health startup tracks what users eat as well as their exercise. The company has 15 million users and according to TechCrunch, is seeking partnerships with organizations in other sectors, including food, fitness, healthcare, DNA and pharmaceuticals. The company will use the funds to build out the team and product development as it expands in Europe and the United States.

Announced: 07/18/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: Nokia Growth Partners (lead), Bauer Media, Draper Esprit, SparkLabs Global Ventures  Previous Investment: $6.7 million  Founded: November 2008

Benchmark Intelligence Raises $500k. The Fresno, CA-based restaurant analytics startup aids restaurant and retail chain owners in understanding why certain locations perform better than others. According to Fresno Business Journal, Benchmark Intelligence collects data from three main sources — voice-of-the-customer SMS text messaging surveys, social media reviews and field study audits. The company will use the funds to build out the team.

Announced: 07/15/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: San Joaquin Capital  Previous Investment: $70k  Founded: August 2014

Twigly Raises $600K. The Guragon, India-based online meal delivery service allows consumers to order fresh meals for on-demand delivery.  The menu is updated weekly and all meals are prepared at Twigly’s own central kitchens. Presently, Twigly operates 2 kitchens in Guragon and delivers 150 orders per day. With the investment, the company plans to expand to Delhi and Bangalore and deliver 1000 orders per day.

Announced: 07/13/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Investors: Tracxn labs (lead), Gaurav Bhalotia, Hyderabad Angels, Kunal Shah  Previous Investment: $0.2 million  Founded: August 2015

Jumbotail Raises $2m. The Bangalore, India-based online food and groceries marketplace provides a platform for wholesalers to sell their products and services online. According to Deal Street Asia, Jumbotail works with wholesalers in India using technology, data science and design and employs approximately 50 people.

Announced: 07/13/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Nexus Venture Partners  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: November 2015

Freshly Raises $21m. The New York, NY–based meal delivery service provides fully prepared healthy meals. Users create a weekly subscription and select meals from Freshly’s menu options. All meals are delivered at the start of the week ready to be reheated. Freshly currently delivers 250,000 meals per month to consumers in 28 states. The funding will be used to expand to all 50 U.S. states and to agressively grow its technology team.

Announced: 07/12/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: Insight Venture Partners (lead), Highland Capital Partners, Slow Ventures, White Star Capital  Previous Investment: $9.0 million  Founded: January 2012

Holachef Raises $1.95m. The Mumbai, India-based mobile and web app allows users to order chef-cooked meals for on-demand delivery. Holachef’s menu is changed daily, offering about 50 choices each day. Currently, the company delivers 100,000 orders per month.

Announced: 07/08/16  Stage: Venture  Participating Institutional Investors: Kalaari Capital (Lead), India Quotient  Previous Investment: $3.4 million  Founded: 2014

Quickli Raises Bridge Funding. The Guragon, India-based mobile app allows consumers to place orders for delivery. Users can order food, groceries, and healthcare/pharmaceutical products. All orders are delivered on the same day they are placed. Quickli currently operates in Delhi and fills 2000 orders per day. The company will use the funding to expand to new locations, including Bangalore.

Announced: 07/07/16  Stage: Venture  Participating Institutional Investors: 500 Startups, AVG Group  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: April 2015

BevSpot Raises $11m.  The Boston, MA-based mobile platform allows businesses to easily manage liquor and alcohol sales and inventory. BevSpot is currently used by over 400 companies in over 40 of the United States. These include restaurants, bars, nightclubs and hotels. The investment will be used for product development and expansion.

Announced: 07/07/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: Bain Capital Ventures  Previous Investment: $6.1 million  Founded: March 2014

Cookoo Raises $300k. The London, England-based meal delivery service offers healthy, home-cooked meals for delivery. All meals come ready-to-eat and microwave re-heatable. The investment will be used to add more cooks and expand Cookoo’s offerings.

Announced: 07/05/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2016

Grab Raises $2m in Debt Financing. The Mumbai, India-based logistics services platform provides delivery services for restaurants, food tech platforms, groceries, ecommerce platforms, and banks. To date, Grab has made over 5 million deliveries for over 12 thousand merchants in 10 cities. The funds will be used to further develop its technology and roll out additional service verticals.

Announced: 07/04/16  Stage: Debt Financing  Strategic  Investor: Aramex Ventures  Previous Investment: $1.0 million  Founded: 2012

ProducePay Raises $2.5m. The Los Angeles, CA-based online platform for payment solutions connects farmers with cash flow earlier in the farming and distributing process than other payment methods. Instead of having to wait for produce to be distributed and sold to receive payment, farmers are able to receive payment the day after produce is shipped. To date, ProducePay has financed $80 million of produce from farmers in the United States, Mexico, Chile, and Honduras.

Announced: 06/29/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Menlo Ventures, Arena Ventures, CoVentures, Red Bear Angels, Social Leverage  Previous Investment: $1.4 million  Founded: December 2014

Ancera Raises $8.9m. The Branford, CT-based food safety technology company develops hardware and software to test food for contaminants such as salmonella and e.coli. Ancera’s product Piper is a small instrument that can detect salmonella a food sample within 1 to 8 hours. This contrasts with tradition testing methods which can take up to 5 days. The funds will be used for hiring, commercial production and distribution of products, and for research to create products to detect other food contaminants like e.coli.

Announced: 06/28/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Glass Capital Management (lead), Bulldog Innovation Group, Metabiota, Packers Sanitation Service  Previous Investment: $1.3 million  Founded: 2012

Farm Hill Raises $3m. The Redwood City, CA-based meal delivery service provides healthy meals to companies and office workers. Customers can order individually or as an office group, with a lower delivery payment rate for group orders. Farm Hill makes and distributes all of its meals, and includes options for all diets (including paleo, vegetarian, vegan options). Farm Hill currently operates in Silicon Valley. The investment will be used for expansion to San Francisco, as well as for new technology to make delivery and kitchen operations more efficient.

Announced: 06/27/16  Stage: Venture  Participating Investors: Eagle Cliff Partners, Liberty City Ventures, Soma Capital, StartX, Zalmi Duchman  Previous Investment: $1.0 million  Founded: June 2013

Thrive Market Raises $111m. The Los Angeles, CA-based online organic grocery store offers wholesale organic foods. Users pay an annual membership fee to purchase from Thrive, while the company offers a free membership to a low-income family for each paid membership on the site. The company plans to use the funding for growth—expanding infrastructure, marketing, and creating new written and video content.

Announced: 06/27/16  Stage: Venture  Participating Institutional Investors: Invus, Cross Culture Ventures, e.ventures, Greycroft Partners  Previous Investment: $58.0 million  Founded: 2013

FareWell Raises $8.5m. The San Francisco, CA-based online program for lifestyle and diet intervention seeks to help people with elevated body mass indexes or chronic weight-related diseases. The 16-week program includes a diet program with video tutorials, meal plans, shopping lists, and plant-based recipes. In addition, participants have access to health coaches, physicians, chefs, behavioral psychologists, and dieticians through the program. The funds will be used to launch the pilot program.

Announced: 06/23/16  Stage: Venture  Participating Investors: David Perry  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: May 2015

Eunoia Raises $800k. The Singapore-based restaurant tech platform, Ordr, allows food and beverage businesses to view information from 3^rd party apps for menus, ordering, and payment in one consolidated layout. The restaurant can easily process orders and update and sync menus. The technology serves both to combat labor shortage in Singapore with the use of automation and to make serving customers more efficient, mobile-friendly, and profitable.

Announced: 06/17/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: Golden Equator Capital  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2015

CaterWings Raises $6.7m. The London, England-based online catering platform connects businesses with caterers. CaterWings currently operates in Amsterdam, Berlin, Hamburg, London, and Munich. The investment will be used to expand to additional cities in Europe as well as to expand CaterWings’ online presence and improve customer service.

Announced: 06/16/16  Stage: Venture  Participating Institutional Investors: Tengelmann Ventures, Rocket Internet, HV Holtzbrinck Ventures  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2015

Qloo Raises $4.5m. The New York, NY-based local and cultural discovery platform provides users with recommendations based on their personal preferences. Recommendations encompass 8 categories, including: dining, nightlife, fashion, books, music, film, television, and travel. The investment will be used to increase Qloo’s database and add clients.

Announced: 06/15/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Investors: Barry Sternlicht, Adriaan Ligtenberg, Leonardo DiCaprio, Pierre Lagrange  Previous Investment: $3.0 million  Founded: April 2011

Ava Raises $3m. The Boston, MA-based mobile nutrition coach app allows consumers to track food consumption and receive personalized nutritional feedback. Users take a picture of the food they eat and text it to Ava to receive health information. Caloric value is calculated using image recognition software. The investment will be used to develop technology and expand Ava’s nutrition science team.

Announced: 06/14/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: DCM Ventures (lead), Innovation Endeavors, Khosla Ventures  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2016

Khanagadi Raises Undisclosed Funding. The Jaipur, India-based mobile app allows train commuters to order food for on-train delivery. Khanagadi currently operates in 200 railway stations in India, and serves 100 to 150 orders per day. Khanagadi will use the funding for expansion, marketing, and hiring.

Announced: 06/11/16  Stage: Seed  Participating Institutional Investors: 50KVentures  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2015

Door to Door Organics / Relay Foods Raises $10m. In connection with the merger, the combined company received additional funding from Door to Door Organic’s previous investor, The Arlon Group.

Announced: 06/08/16  Stage: Growth  Participating Institutional Investor: The Arlon Group

Ordermentum Raises $2.5m. The Sydney, Australia-based B2B order management platform allows food and beverage retailers to manage and place orders with suppliers. Suppliers can also use the platform to receive and manage orders and payment. Currently, Ordermentum is used by over 3000 businesses in Australia. The investment will be used to grow the company.

Announced: 06/07/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Capital Markets Technologies  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: July 2014

SevenFifty Raises $8.5m. The New York City-based online wholesale platform for alcohol distributors is focused on modernizing and streamlining the wholesale alcohol supply chain by connecting the beverage alcohol industry with a platform that helps distributors and buyers interact.

Announced: 06/01/16  Stage: Series A  Participating Institutional Investors: Formation 8, Pritzker Group Venture Capital  Previous Investment: Not Disclosed  Founded: 2012

WISErg Raises $4m. The Issaquah, WA-based technology producer provides restaurants and grocery stores with a simple, sustainable method to recycle food scraps. WISErg’s Harvester machine uses collected scraps of food to make a liquid fertilizer for agricultural farmers. In addition to creating fertilizer, the machine collects and reports data on what foods are thrown away that stores can use to manage their products. The funds will be used to scale operations on the west coast.

Announced: 06/01/16  Stage: Series B  Participating Institutional Investors: Not Disclosed  Previous Investment: $44.6 million  Founded: September 2009

PARTNERSHIPS

Ibotta Partners with Button, Jet, and Doordash to offer in-app purchases.

Toast Partners With Chowly to integrate online ordering systems with restaurant point of sale systems.

Square Partners with TouchBistro and Vend to increase payment and point of sale options for restaurants.

Olo Partners with Conversable to offer online ordering through messaging apps.

Yelp Partners with Nowait (and invests $8m) to add restaurant wait times and waitlists to its offerings.

Square Partners with Upserve to offer loans to small businesses in the restaurant industry.

TouchBistro Partners with 7Shifts to simplify restaurant employee scheduling and management.

Google India Partners with Zomato and Swiggy to allow consumers to order from restaurants directly from their Google search or app.

Instacart Partners with Food Network to deliver groceries and recipe ingredients.

Publix Partners With Instacart to deliver groceries in Miami.

PlateJoy Partners with Instacart to make recipe ingredients available via delivery.

Sprouts Farmers Markets Partners with Amazon Prime to deliver fresh groceries in under one hour.

Marley Spoon Partners with Martha Stewart to deliver meal kits with ingredients and directions for Martha Stewart’s recipes.

RedBrick Partners with Monj to provide information about food and behavioral change for people with prediabetes and chronic conditions.

HookLogic Partners with Instacart, Fresh Direct, and Drugstore.com to increase digital sales and marketing of consumer packaged goods.

Uber Partners with Foursquare to allow users to find locations by name instead of street address.

Retail Control Systems Partners With Toast to provide an all-in-one software for a restaurant management and point-of-sale system.

Chowly and Revel Systems Partner to connect online restaurant orders with restaurant point-of-sale systems.

foodjunky.com Partners with Yelp to provide online ordering and delivery directly from Yelp pages.

Monsanto Partners with Microsoft to fund agricultural technology development in Brazil.

Stuart Partners with Just Eat to offer on-demand delivery services and drivers to restaurants.

Alibaba Partners with Menusifu to begin use of mobile payment app Alipay in the United States.

Zomato Partners with Helpchat to offer in-app online food ordering.

Peek Partners with Yelp to offer booking directly through Yelp platform.

Cisco Partners with H-FARM to launch a food tech accelerator.

INDUSTRY LAANDSCAPE

As the Food Tech & Media ecosystem continues to see rapid change, Rosenheim Advisors created The Food Tech & Media Industry Map to help entrepreneurs, participants and investors understand this quickly evolving landscape. Let us know about your recent or upcoming funding, partnerships or acquisitions here.

Check out the 2015 Annual Report and May’s round-up. 

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