Fast Risers: Top 12 Deals of the Season, as advanced bio investment sizzles

Just on the bubble of the top 12

Memphis Meats raises $17 million to make meat without the cattle. Four weeks ago, we reported that Memphis Meats raised $17 million from a group of investors including Bill Gates, Richard Branson and Cargill to continue developing delicious products, to accelerate its work in scaling up clean meat production, and to reduce production costs to levels comparable to – and ultimately below – conventional meat costs.

“We’re going to bring meat to the plate in a more sustainable, affordable and delicious way,” explains Uma Valeti, M.D., co-founder and CEO of Memphis Meats. “The world loves to eat meat, and it is core to many of our cultures and traditions. Meat demand is growing rapidly around the world.  We want the world to keep eating what it loves.”

Memphis Meats has already produced beef, chicken and duck directly from animal cells, without the need to raise and slaughter animals. The round was led by DFJ, a leading venture capital firm that has previously backed Tesla, SpaceX and Skype.

Agrible. The Anderson’s Maumee Ventures led what has been a $9.7M first close in what is projected to be a $15M Series B round. The first close was three weeks ago. The company’s signature product is the Morning Farm report, a dashboard of agriculture software to help growers detect disease threats earlier, improve logistics planning, monitor crops on all fields, and improve quality.

Agrible also created and supports mobile apps such as Pocket Rain Gauge, Pocket Spray Smart, and Pocket Drone Control. These iOS and Android apps provide real-time and future insights for a farmer’s fields, as well as their current location. The company last week announced a partnership with Anheuser-Busch InBev to enhance AB InBev’s SmartBarley program. Agrible will provide farmers with access to Morning Farm Report.

Crop Pro Insurance. Crop Pro Insurance, an Iowa-based insurance and technology firm dedicated to helping farmers manage risk and maximize profitability, closed an $8 million Series A round of financing co-led by top agriculture investors Finistere Ventures and Seed 2 Growth Ventures (S2G). Established insurance provider GuideOne Insurance also joined the round. Crop Pro also announced that it is the first Ag venture-funded insurance provider to earn approval from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to offer Federal crop insurance products to farmers.

Crop Pro will offer risk management solutions for emerging and traditional agriculture markets for the 2018 crop season. More than 290 million acres of U.S. farmland are protected through the Federal Crop Insurance Program according to the USDA; with RMA estimating 85 percent of major crops and 73 percent of specialty crops planted acreage are covered.

Amyris, DSM hook up. It was a huge deal, but the May timing was a little early for Top 12 consideration. But, still. As we reported back in May, Amyris closed of the first tranche of up to $95 million in planned equity financing. The first tranche was approximately $47 million and was led by Koninklijke DSM N.V. (Royal DSM) with participation by qualified institutional buyers and accredited investors, including some which have previously engaged in equity and/or debt investments in Amyris. Subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions and approval by DSM’s Managing Board, DSM may invest an additional $25 million in Amyris within 90 days of the closing of the first tranche. Amyris has commitments from current, long term investors that exceeds the remaining $23 million to meet the company’s $95 million objective.