Kit Codik

According to Crunchbase, global food tech funding in 2024 hit just $6B—down from over $20B in 2021. But the real story? M&A is surging. From PepsiCo’s $1.95B acquisition of poppi to David’s purchase of Epogee , strategic buyers are back at the table, hungry for innovation with clear revenue paths. Consolidation is the name of the game as valuations normalize and capital tightens. This is a shift worth watching: visionary tech is no longer enough—now it’s about viability, profitability, and execution. Startups that can deliver are becoming prime acquisition targets. What do you think—is this the golden window for M&A in food tech? Read More: https://lnkd.in/ebgTwSxb #FoodTech #MergersAndAcquisitions #CPG #VentureCapital #SustainableFood #Protein #Innovation #Hospitality #EmergingBrands #FoodInnovation Hospitality Headline Newsletter Branded Hospitality Peter Rahal Mary Ann Azevedo Nathan Cooper Sam Polk, CFA Allison Ellsworth

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Consolidation is proving to be a viable alternative for some companies in the once-hot food tech space. David 🤝 Epogee PepsiCo 🤝 poppi Flowers Foods & Subsidiaries 🤝 Simple Mills The Hershey Company 🤝 LesserEvil Brand Snack Co. FoodYoung 🤝 MeliBio Big Idea Ventures 🤝 Vevolution Venture funding for food tech has fallen sharply in recent years, but M&A activity in the space appears to be on the rise. The funding and dealmaking trends indicate that in the face of declining investor interest, consolidation is proving to be a viable alternative for some companies in the once-hot food tech space. Nathan Cooper of Barrel Ventures shares, “Many of the companies that were funded were years, if not decades away from commercial viability. They were seeing tech valuations, and required substantial amounts of cap-ex, when at the end of the day what they were selling was a CPG (consumer packaged goods) product and should have been valued as such.” Andrew D Ive of Big Idea Ventures commented, “Valuations have normalized compared to two years ago, creating an attractive window for strategic buyers to acquire de-risked, well-funded companies with validated technologies — often at reasonable prices.” This is a great article by Crunchbase highlighting the consolidation activity of the foodtech space. My tip to startups who are struggling to fundraise. Start having serious M&A conversations because you might be surprised at the partnerships you may find! https://lnkd.in/gHVJ35nm

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Premium boxed wine is the most important category in the wine industry right now. Here's why: It represents a tectonic shift in consumer behavior; one that EVERYONE in the wine industry needs to take seriously. For decades, boxed wine has been a massive category, but it's largely been relegated to more discount style, lower-end options. The notion that consumers would spend $50 on a box of wine largely felt like a pipe dream. Until a few years ago when a new cohort of players entered the market and began changing the game. Now you have brands like Gratsi , which has exploded to hundreds of thousands of 9L cases a year proving that consumers will indeed spend real dollars on boxed wine. Many of the largest wine producers are struggling with excess inventory and softening sales in their core SKU's. And headlines are (wrongly) claiming that the wine industry faces a systemic crisis. My personal opinion is that the wine business will be just fine in the long run, but the dynamics are changing. Asset-light, hyper-efficient brands likeGratsii Stephen VlahososJULIETTE WINENELauren De Niro Pipherer), @Ami Ami wineWoody Hambrechtht and many others are proving not only that explosive growth is possible, but that it can and will be found in entirely new ways. Consumers have finally realized that boxed wine offers BEAUTIFUL wine with a more sustainable, practical, simple, and (often) enjoyable experience. Expect to see every large wine player make some aggressive moves in the boxed wine space in the years to come. The space is exploding and will only continue to grow. CTop Shelf VentureseJason Shermanan

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The food value chain represents more than $9T of market value, yet much of it still runs on paper and pencil passed from one stakeholder to the next. Every year, I put together my thoughts on what I'm specifically excited about in this space, defining food tech as everything from on-farm robotics through the future of food retail. This crucial part of our lives and economy represents enormous opportunity for technological transformation. We've already made investments in several of these specific areas and are on the lookout for more. Three key areas we're particularly focused on: 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗹𝘆 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 & 𝗢𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 - It's not just what's in a truck — we're looking at the entire ecosystem, from product origin & compliance to infrastructure intelligence. The real investment opportunities lie in platforms that connect production capabilities and delivery commitments while modernizing ownership and payment transfers that still operate on antiquated technology. 𝗗𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 & 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 - The most promising solutions aren't just about selling more product — they're about fundamental improvements in efficiency. We're looking for innovations that maximize resource utilization, create faster feedback loops, and deliver cost-effective customer acquisition while addressing persistent labor shortages. 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 & 𝗥𝗼𝗯𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 - Labor has always been a challenge for the food system, an issue that is currently intensifying. Rather than pursuing complete automation, we prioritize targeted solutions that excel at specific, high-value steps with clear ROI. We seek AI-driven robotics with superior unit economics, computer vision quality assurance, and intelligent distribution systems that solve concrete labor challenges. Food Tech is tough. But here at Bread and Butter Ventures we love it. If you're working on innovations that address any of these challenges, we're always eager to connect and learn more about your vision for the future of food. #LIPostingDayApril

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We’re seeing a flight to quality in California wine right now. Oversupply and collapsing demand in the under-$15 segment is pushing wineries to shed low-margin acreage and focus investment on premium AVAs, varietals, and direct-to-consumer channels. The recent moves Constellation has made are a prime example. Napa and Sonoma are holding their ground and Paso Robles is seeing premium growth, while regions like Lodi and the broader Central Valley face tough choices between removal and experimentation with higher-value varieties. What’s most relevant to the work we do at Lumo is that precision irrigation and premiumization go hand-in-hand.From our 2024 data we know that 1 in 10 irrigation miss their target volume by 50% or more and 3 in 4 miss by 10% or more. It’s hard to grow high quality grapes when your irrigation isn’t dialed in. Too much can go wrong. And you might not catch the issues until it’s too late. That’s why having block-level data on every irrigation you run is crucial. That’s how you quantify the gap between your plan and what’s actually happening in the field. And it’s how you go about ensuring your vines get exactly the right amounts at exactly the right times. You can’t pursue a premiumization strategy while continuing to fly blind on your irrigation. The growers who close their execution gap first are going to own the premium market while everyone else is still guessing how much water they actually delivered last week.

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Redesign processed foods for metabolism first H/T Robert Lustig Consumer tools are turning nutrition from guesswork into data. Yuka’s latest impact survey reports 94% of users put back red‑rated items and 92% buy fewer ultra‑processed foods. In France, Intermarché reformulated 900 products and removed 142 additives to improve scores. Consumers are forming their decision before they enter the store. Yuka is sealing the deal in-store. Your front-of-package label is becoming irrelevant. The takeaway for operators and investors is simple. Measure nutrition. Publish it. Formulate for human metabolism with real data. Evolution gave whole food the market advantage. We’re investors in Edacious (See attached). We backed them because verified nutrient testing and software unlock consumer demand. That signal drives reformulation, rewards value‑added agriculture, and challenges the old healthcare model that monetized chronic disease. The biggest willingness to pay for better shows up in baby food, meat and meat alternatives, dairy and plant‑based yogurts and milks. It’s weaker in sodas and energy drinks. Reformulate where it counts. This won’t flip in months. System shifts take decades to touch the whole market. But returns show up in years for teams that align with nutrition, transparency, and measured quality, while the commodity markets race to the bottom. That’s how food moves from DIY Longevity to an integrated food‑is‑health stack across healthcare, pharma, wellness, and food, and from a niche to the mass market. https://lnkd.in/gsh2ffrZ

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Series A Investor (2022) - Chipotle and Cava jointly invested $25M in Hyphen, a food #robotics startup. - Hyphen's technology boost speed and accuracy while preserving human roles in fast-casual dining. - Cava plans to deploy the system in its back-of-house "second-make line" for digital orders. - Chipotle previously supported Hyphen through its Cultivate Next fund. - The collaboration reflects a broader industry shift toward automation to address labor challenges, with Cava reporting 20.3% YoY revenue growth and 37% digital sales. https://lnkd.in/e4FQEMvq

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Fellow agtech fund managers - we're competing on metrics that don't matter in agriculture while LPs walk away from agtech entirely. Deal count. Celebrity advisors. Media coverage. None of it correlates with farmer adoption or sustainable returns. Sarah Nolet and I just published a piece on what actually moves the needle: building shared credibility in the asset class instead of fighting over slivers of pie. Let's work together. Agtech's next phase of maturity depends on it. Full article in the comments ⬇️

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Rrestaurant tech M&A activity jumped 45% in the first half of 2025 via Pitchbook. Over the past decade, we have seen an explosion of restaurant tech startups offering point solutions for every imaginable need, including digital ordering, loyalty, labor scheduling, inventory management, and CRM. However, in 2025, many of these tools are running out of road and customer aquisiton is getting expensive as many players are in the space. M&A is becoming more attractive growth. EMERGING

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