Meagan McGinnes

Led by Temasek Holdings, a Singapore state-investment firm, the round also included repeat investors such as Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Khosla Ventures and Horizons Ventures and new investor Open Philanthropy Project, from Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz.

A new study in Trends in Food Science & Technology suggests that while consumers want “natural,” the varying definitions could potentially confuse consumers regarding how new technologies play a role in the natural space.

ProYo has seen major distribution gains this summer. The protein-focused frozen yogurt and ice cream brand has more than doubled its store count since launching its pint-like formats in the spring.

Pete Speranza, a new business development principal for 301, sat down with Project NOSH Editor Carol Ortenberg and Senior Brand Specialist Jon Landis to talk about the nature of the group’s partnerships with its brands and how the venture-arm will evolve in years to come.

During Amazon’s earning call Thursday, SVP and CFO Brian Olsavsky said the e-commerce leader’s Q2 year-over-year earning differences were ”driven by investments.” Its biggest–and most costly– pending investment is Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods Market, who also shared quarterly earning results earlier this week.

In a talk at NOSH Live in New York last month, Maura Mottolese, the CEO of Tate’s Bake Shop who joined the Long Island-based company in 2014, discussed how companies can best transform consumer awareness and momentum into rapid growth.

Newshounds are sniffing around the food industry for stories about everything from regulations, to mergers and acquisitions, to snortable chocolate. Here’s what is making headlines in food news.

Andrew Whitman, managing partner at 2X Consumer Products Growth Partners, talked about the process of what he called – and trademarked as – “Brand Platformation,” and the benefits and challenges that come with creating that kind of broad product suite.

Packaging company TemperPack, which focuses on products that need to stay cold while shipping, wants to better match a package’s lifecycle to the product that it’s shipping– and it’s a sustainable mission investors are starting to get behind.