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Big Idea Ventures launches $125m fund to help fund food & ag startups commercializing ‘groundbreaking’ IP developed at universities By Elaine Watson Recognizing that breakthrough technologies that could transform the global food supply chain often originate in academia, Big Idea Ventures has launched a $125m fund to commercialize IP from some of the nation’s leading universities and fuel economic development in rural communities across the country.
The Generation Food Rural Partners (GFRP) fund – which is teaming up with
North Carolina State University as its inaugural collaborator - will work with multiple universities to identify research with the strongest commercialization potential and then invest in new companies formed around that research, said
AppHarvest an indoor vertical farming ag tech company based in Morehead, Kentucky is shipping out its first harvest of beefsteak tomatoes to national and regional grocery store chains including Kroger, Publix, Walmart, Food City, and Meijer.
Plant-based meat and dairy products dominate our gallery of new launches, coupled with a wave of products highlighting immunity and digestive health, and a high-profile CBD beverage launch from Molson Coors.
Hydroponic vertical farming company Plenty has hired Impossible Foods VP of sales, Dana Worth, as its SVP of sales to lead the company's next phase of commercial growth.
Chobani enters RTD coffee category: ‘It’s a logical adjacency,’ says president Peter McGuinness Chobani is moving into new territory with the launch of a Chobani Coffee, a line of multi-serve ready-to-drink coffees made with single origin cold brew and the company’s new oatmilks and dairy creamers, which might seem like a leap into the unknown, but in fact represents a move into a logical adjacency for the yogurt brand, claims president Peter McGuinness.
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We’ve been actively working on this for about five to six months, but we’ve been thinking about it for a while,” he told FoodNavigator-USA.