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Publié le February 17, 2022

CONNECTING FOOD RAISES 3.2M€ TO CONTINUE IMPROVING FOOD TRANSPARENCY, USING BLOCKCHAIN

CONNECTING FOOD, a French Foodtech start-up specialized in food transparency, raised more than €3M this quarter from IDIA Capital Investissement (Crédit Agricole), Leadblock Partners, and its business angels.
CONNECTING FOOD, a French Foodtech start-up specialized in food transparency, raised more than €3M this quarter from IDIA Capital Investissement (Crédit Agricole), Leadblock Partners, and its business angels. This operation brings the total amount raised by Connecting Food to €5 million since its creation in 2016. This new round of funding will allow Connecting Food to accelerate its technological and commercial development and continue asserting itself as a market leader in food transparency.
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INVESTOR CONFIDENCE IN CONNECTING FOOD STRONG, DESPITE THE CURRENT CONTEXT

Transparency is a strategic issue today for both brands and retailers. Connecting Food’s technology has been designed to fit all actors of the food chain, from small producers to multinational companies, positioning Connecting Food as the trusted third party between food brands and their consumers. Today, Connecting Food’s solution is deployed and active on an industrial scale across more than 10 food verticals in both Europe and North America. This funding round takes place amid the Covid19 crisis, which prompted several major groups to put their investment operations on standby. However, IDIA Capital Investissement (Crédit Agricole) did not waver in its decision to invest, confirming their confidence in Connecting Food and their long-term commitment to making the agri-food industry more efficient, creating value for all. The investment was made through the CA Transitions Fund, the first banking fund specifically for the agricultural, agri-food and energy transition sectors. Manuel Léal, Associate Director, and Thomas Rossille, Chargé d’affaires, explain: « Our willingness to move forward despite the current context demonstrates our conviction in Connecting Food’s solution. In addition to enhancing the value of the entire food chain and promoting transparency, it helps to re-create a link between end-users and producers by showcasing their work. » Catherine Grizel, Connecting Food's COO, with Fabrice Maumy from Terres Du Sud (Duck meat producer) and Julien Destres from Connecting Food. Catherine Grizel, Connecting Food’s COO, with Fabrice Maumy from Terres Du Sud (Duck meat producer) and Julien Destres from Connecting Food. Recently, Connecting Food made public partnerships with multiple industry leaders, including Mondelez, Herta (Nestlé) and Axéréal. Their clients also include Coop Italia, Soufflet, Ingredia, Delmond Foie Gras et Canard, Terre du Sud, Les Fermes Larrère, Bionade, Invivo, etc. At the Paris International Agricultural Fair, Connecting Food presented 10 food products that had been scaled on their blockchain platform, across multiple food verticals such as biscuits, ham, milk, flour, lemonade, vegetables, eggs, meat, etc. Connecting Food is considered Europe’s #1 Food Blockchain, and on the world stage, they were ranked by Foodtech 500 as both first in the “Food Safety and Traceability” category, as well as the first blockchain start-up in the ranking (January 2020). For this funding round, Connecting Food was advised by Tahar & Associates, Shakeup Factory and Bryan Garnier & Co. Connecting Food Official Logo Connecting Food Official Logo About Connecting Food Connecting Food was created in 2016 by Maxine Roper and Stefano Volpi, after over a combined 40 years’ in the agri-food sector working for international groups such as Nestlé, Mars, Danone, Sara Lee, Andros, Avril, in the UK, Italy and France. Connecting Food restores consumer confidence in the food industry by not only implementing end-to-end supply chain traceability, but by also digitally auditing products in real-time, enabling food brands and manufacturers to ensure product promises and reconnect consumers with product origins. Connecting Food’s digital platform uses blockchain technology to trace products batch by batch and audit them in real time as they move through the food chain. Their game changing LiveAudit® module allows clients to audit over 30 audit criteria digitally, with no human intervention, for the entire line of production. The benefits for the agri-food industry are numerous: facilitating product recalls (reducing recall time from several days to a few seconds) and reduction of food waste, while also allowing producers, brands and retailers to prove to their customers that each product truly respects its promises. Logo CA IDIA capital Investissement Logo CA IDIA capital Investissement About IDIA Capital Investissement IDIA Capital Investissement groups together the French minor private equity activities of the Crédit Agricole Group in support of midcaps and small businesses in all sectors of activity, with a focus in the agri-food, wine and energy transition. The total funds managed by IDIA Capital Investissement amount to €1.8 billion. The CA Transitions Fund is the first bank fund dedicated to agricultural, agri-food and energy transition. Raised in 2019 and endowed with 160 million euros, it aims to invest in agri-food companies transition to more sustainable production methods, in energy transition companies, and in younger companies offering innovative solutions to accelerate the transition of the agricultural and agri-food sectors. IDIA is a Portfolio Management Company approved by the AMF under number GP-15000010. IDIA Capital Investissement : Manuel Léal, Thomas Rossille, Martin Mézières, Jean Lebreton IDIA is advised by VS&A (F. Veverka, L. Chaïb) Logo LeadBlock Partners Logo LeadBlock Partners About LeadBlock Partners Leadblock Partners is a venture capital fund based in London and Paris, focused on the enterprise blockchain sector in Europe. The fund invests in B2B start-ups that use blockchain to solve operational problems and create new markets. The fund was created in early 2019 by a team of three professionals combining investor experience and sector expertise, including two former Goldman Sachs employees. The team decided to launch an enterprise blockchain fund after 1) having identified a lack of funding for non-crypto blockchain start-ups and 2) noting the strong interest of manufacturers for DLT & blockchain solutions. The fund has three founding partners, Jean-Marc Puel, David Chreng and Baptiste Cota. LBP is advised by Gide Loirette & Associates (P. Karpik…)

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