Food Industry News, Insights, and Education for the CPG Community

Walmart broke down its approach to climate change initiatives during an ESG-focused discussion for investors earlier this month, committing to reducing its emissions company-wide to zero by 2040 and actively assisting its suppliers with climate-positive innovations.

Salty snack brand The Good Crisp Company announced last week that it has closed what it described as its largest funding round to-date as it seeks to make the jump from natural retailers into conventional grocery.

As part of its goal to utilize more of its star ingredient, coconut-based product brand Harmless Harvest has announced the launch of a line of coconut puddings.

Isreali food tech company Future Meat announced today it has raised $347 million in Series B funding co-led by ADM Ventures, the investment arm of global food processing company Archer-Daniels-Midland, with participation from Menora Mivtachim, S2G Ventures, Tyson New Ventures, among others.

In this week’s Checkout: OmniFoods partners with nonprofits to support food insecure communities, Kraft Heinz acquires majority stake of Just Spices, Abbot’s Butcher receives the first Whole30 Approved Certification for plant-based meat and tech company Lumi acquired by Navar.

The Campbell’s Soup Company is more focused and a “much stronger company” today than it was three years ago, said President and CEO Mark Clouse during the company’s Investor Day event Tuesday.

Alt-dairy producer Oddlygood wants to be the next alt-dairy dynamo, and now it’s got the cash to do so. The Finnish company announced today that it had raised $28 million from Mandatum Asset Management (MAM) with plans to invest it into a U.S. expansion.

The J.M. Smucker Company continued to cull its CPG brand portfolio today with the announcement of an agreement to sell its natural and organic beverage and grains business to venture group Nexus Capital Management in a cash deal valued at around $110 million.

Plant-based diets are on the rise among multicultural consumers, according to a new study published last week by Danone North America. However, results suggest there is a gap in the market caused by a lack of culturally diverse plant-based food innovation, cultural stigmas and barriers to access including product affordability and education.

The company this week launched a line of coconut-based powder creamers available in three varieties: Think (Cacao Coconut with Lion’s Mane and MCT Oil), Gut Health (Vanilla Coconut with Probiotics and MCT Oil) and Balance (Original Coconut with Ashwagandha and MCT Oil).

Green Circle Capital Partners announced yesterday it has raised $13 million for its first fund in a new venture capital division, Green Circle Foodtech Ventures (GCFV), with an anchor investment from Hormel Foods’ VC arm 199 Ventures.

After receiving Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) status earlier this month, Massachusetts-based food technology company Motif FoodWorks announced last week that its patented heme protein HEMAMI has launched for large-scale commercial distribution.

Alt-meat producer Global Village Fruit, producer of the Jack & Annie’s brand, formally announced today a $23 million funding round that closed this summer.

Maxine Kozler Koven, co-founder of LDR Ventures & Consulting, discussed the venture capital firm’s investment philosophy and portfolio, which includes stakes in Sweetgreen, Thrive Market and Shaka Tea, the importance of nurturing the development of early-stage founders, the relevance of innovation when evaluating new concepts and the historical lack of funding for female-led companies.