Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.

This week Kate and Alex were back to dig through a surprising number of fresh rounds and new funds, along with a little breaking news. The traditional VC summer is nowhere to be seen in 2019, so expect the show to stay packed for the foreseeable future.

DoorDash’s decision to buy Caviar from Square upended our agenda. The decacorn’s decision to drop $410 million in cash and stock on an asset that Square had spent around $90 million on was nearly confusing. Square couldn’t offload the damn thing for $100 million back in 2016; Jack’s second company has now shed an unprofitable arm that looked less and less core to its operations as time has gone along. And DoorDash turned cash and stock into a bit of growth.

Next on the docket was Clearbanc. The company, which wants to disrupt venture capital by popularizing the revenue-based financing model, raised a $50 million round and announced a $250 million fund. We’re keeping a close eye on this company, as its fast-growth is relatively unmatched. Plus, Kate’s interviewing Clearbanc co-founder Michele Romanow at TechCrunch Disrupt San Francisco, our annual conference that brings together the leaders of tech today. So that’s fun.

In this week’s edition of SaaS Watch, Monday.com raised $150 million at a $1.9 billion valuation. The corporate task management and productivity company is another firm selling software to help teams work together more efficiently. Slack, Asana, Notion and others are working in related areas.

Our second to last topic was Compass. There wasn’t enough time to go too deep, but here’s the TL;DR: Compass raised a whopping $370 million on a valuation of $6.4 billion.

And finally, PowerPlant Ventures raised a second, larger fund. The new $165 million vehicle will follow the first (a $42 million capital pool, as TechCrunch reported), investing in plant-based food companies. With the epic rise of Beyond Meat on the public markets, plant-based foods are hot and investors want a bite of the results. Also, we dig niche, focused funds.

Reminder, you can connect with us via email at equitypod@techcrunch.com. We’re open to feedback, suggestions and even compliments!

Source: Tech Crunch Startups | Unpacking DoorDash’s 0M Caviar acquisition

Plans to open a new spaceport in Sutherland in Scotland have moved closer to final approval: The real estate companies working on the deal have signed a 75-year lease for the land to be used for Space Hub Sutherland, which will look to launch small satellites via private launch services from companies including startup Orbex, a micro-launch startup founded in 2015, and Lockheed Martin.

The land lease is still dependent on final approval being given for the spaceport to be built, which is in process as the groups behind its development, including the U.K. Space Agency, are in process of working out the designs, funding and environmental impact studies. All of this will contribute to an overall planning application, which the partners are hoping will pave the way for construction to begin in 2020.

Sutherland isn’t the only spaceport the U.K. is looking to open in an effort to open up its commercial launch capabilities: There are also plans in the works to open one in Cornwall, with support and funding from both the UKSA and Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit.

Source: Tech Crunch Startups | Scottish spaceport closer to launch after land lease signed

The agriculture industry faces huge problems of sustainability. The world’s population is increasing, leading to higher food demand, but this then threatens increasing deforestation, pesticide use and some fertilizers that are responsible for greenhouse emissions. Farming can also be a source of carbon sequestration, but how to preserve that? Plus, land quality is being decreased due to over-farming. All this while agriculture has been an underserved industry in terms of technology development compared to others.

So it’s the right time to look at the importance of the “microbiome” in agriculture processes to understand what’s really happening in our crops. The microbiome comprises all of the genetic material within a microbiota (the entire collection of microorganisms in a specific niche, such as in farming). It’s like looking at your gut bacteria, but for a farm.

Soil contains millions of microbes that all play a crucial role in the health of the crop, and this is why microbes in the soil are an important “biomarker.” Thus, understanding the microbes in the soil can lead to important actionable data.

Today Biome Makers, a technology company that uses advanced data analytics and artificial intelligence to analyze a soil’s ecosystem and provide actionable data-driven insights to farmers, has closed a $4 million financing round led by Seaya Ventures and JME Ventures, with participation by London VC LocalGlobe. The financing will be used to keep expanding the company’s footprint across different geographies (U.S., Europe, LatAm) and crop types, as well as an assessment system for agricultural products.

The company was founded by Adrián Ferrero (CEO) and Alberto Acedo (CSO), who have previously co-founded a successful startup in digital healthcare and have a strong scientific background. This is the second financing round for the company, as it has previously raised $2 million from a group of international investors, including Illumina, the global leading manufacturer of DNA sequencing instruments, through the Illumina Accelerator, and Viking Global Investors, a leading U.S.-based investment management firm.

Although other companies such as Indigo Ag, Concentric, Pivot Bio or Marrone Bio Innovations use similar techniques for biome identification, they claim to be the only company providing an open digital service and portal aimed at farmers, in order to democratize the microbiological information that will help them make informed decisions about their agricultural practices.

Biome Makers takes a different approach and looks below the surface. Currently, there are many companies that carry out physical-chemical analysis of the soil, but until now the microbiome dimension has not been taken into account. They say it is a new way of looking at the soil that provides information that had not been taken into account when making decisions in the field.

Source: Tech Crunch Startups | Biome Makers closes M to assess the quality of the ‘gut bacteria’ of a farm’s soil