Q3 2021 AgTech Venture Capital Investment and Exit Round Up
Last quarter set a record for venture capital investments into AgTech startups, writes Kyle Welborn at CropLife. In total, $4.016B was raised by 171 startups in Q3. To put this in perspective, last year AgTech companies raised a total of $5.15B, so this this a huge haul in just one quarter. In the first three quarters of 2021, 441 AgTech startups have raised over $8.3B.
The pace of exits by venture-backed startups focused on AgTech slowed last quarter compared to that of the first half of the year. There were six announced exits last quarter, four through M&A and two through a public listing. There have been 31 exits so far in 2021, up significantly from 14 last year.
Here is a breakout of how much venture capital was raised in each AgTech sector, as well as some of the startups that raised the largest rounds of financing. Finally, the exits of the last quarter are also listed.
Value Chain & Logistics
There was a total of 57 startups focused on the value chain and logistics sector that raised $1.046B last quarter. Companies that reduce food waste and help deliver local produce continue to attract investor attention. In addition, startups launching robotic harvesters have garnered investor attention. Finally, several climate monitoring startups focused on farms raised capital as well.
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The three largest deals in this category include a $250M round for Apeel Sciences, a company which makes a plant-based coating to extend the shelf life of fruits, a $225M round for Misfits Market, a subscription box service for organically sourced produce, and a $120M round for GrubMarket, an online marketplace that delivers local food direct to consumers. Misfits Market has made this list two quarters in a row. The company raised $200M in April of this year.
Digital Agriculture
There were 20 digital agriculture startups that have raised capital last quarter, representing $226M in investments. Investors here stayed focused on digital agronomy, farm management, and yield prediction software.
The three largest deals announced so far this year include $100M for Semios, a crop management software platform for tree fruit, nuts, and vines, $30M for FieldIn, a farming software platform helps specialty crop growers manage pesticide applications, harvest activities, and field operations, and $23M for Ceres Imaging, an aerial imagery to help farms, orchards, and vineyards optimize irrigation.
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