Venture capital investors pumped $51.7 billion into agrifood technologies in 2021; an 85% increase over 2020. The theme of the year: doubling-down (and tripling, and quadrupling-down.) Agrifoodtech sectors that took off in response to the Covid-19 pandemic not only remained the most popular investment categories; they exploded with new deals.

eGrocery registered 188% year-on-year growth, thanks to four 10-figure rounds. Other categories that took off in response to the Covid-19 pandemic continued their acceleration in 2021. Cloud Retail Infrastructure saw its funding grow 97.5% to $4.8 billion, accounting for more than 9% of all investment activity. It tied with Innovative Foods, which grew 103% with more than 430 companies raising funds; familiar names such as Impossible Foods, NotCo, Perfect Day, Future Meat, and Nature’s Fynd were behind the category’s biggest rounds.