US VC-backed Food Tech companies raised $1.07B in 2014 up 272% YoY. Food Tech covers companies across a range of food-related industries, including food delivery (cos like Instacart or Postmates), food replacements (Hampton Creek Foods, Soylent), and restaurant tech companies (E La Carte, Reserve), among others. Q4’14 was the largest quarter in the past two years driven by Instacart’s $220M Series C, as well as Hampton Creek Foods’ $90M Series C.
The most active VC in US Food Tech companies in the past two years has been Khosla Ventures. Khosla has invested in food and grocery Unicorn Instacart, as well as food brands Hampton Creek Foods and Unreal Brands, among others. First Round Capital and 500 Startups both tied for second. First Round counts investments in subscription cooking experience startup Blue Apron as well as Reserve while 500 Startups concentrated the bulk of their investments in the food & grocery space, including Platejoy, Chewse, and LoveWithFood.
The full rankings below.
| Rank | Investor | Rank | Investor |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Khosla Ventures | 9 | SV Angel |
| 2 | First Round Capital | 9 | Sequoia Capital |
| 2 | 500 Startups | 9 | Google Ventures |
| 4 | Emil Capital Partners | 9 | Collaborative Fund |
| 5 | BoxGroup | 9 | Spark Capital |
| 5 | Lerer Hippeau Ventures | 9 | Andreessen Horowitz |
| 5 | Index Ventures | 9 | General Catalyst Partners |
| 5 | Great Oaks Venture Capital | 9 | Bessemer Venture Partners |
To track the media buzz around Food Tech startups, we looked at CB Insights data around press mentions for all US-based VC-backed Food Tech companies. As the chart below shows, press mentions peaked around April 2014, the month in which multiple startups including Caviar, Munchery, and NatureBox all raised funding. This peak of press mentions also correlates with deal activity, as Q2’14 saw the highest # of Food Tech deals in 2014 and the second largest funding total in the past two years.
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