5 food waste startups attracting funding
FOOD WASTE
5 food waste startups attracting funding
With investment in food waste startups reaching record highs in 2021 , of US $ 4bn , we spotlight five foodtech startups that landed both capital and kudos in 2021 for their smart approaches to tackling food waste .
1 . Shelf Engine This Seattle-based startup , which secured US $ 41m funding last March followed by more funding and star backing ( talk show host Ellen DeGeneres ) in September , has a product ‘ Shelfbot ’ that uses AI to predict demand for certain foods using a grocery store ’ s data like sales , weather and foot traffic . Customers include Kroger and Amazon-owned Whole Foods .
2 . Olio London-based community surplus food solution Olio , whose app is used to give away unwanted food , for free , nabbed US $ 41m Series B funding last September , as it looks to expand globally in 10 key markets across Latin America , Northern Europe and Asia . Founded in 2015 , OLIO has amassed a user base of five million people and works with big supermarkets to redistribute its surplus food to those who need it .
3 . Flowaste Irish food analytics platform Flowaste , which raised US $ 1.1m seed round last November , uses proprietary image recognition technology to empower food service
providers and industrial food producers to reduce food waste automatically . Using kitchen data , Flowaste helps to optimise meal prep , ingredient combinations , and portion sizing , while reducing labour costs , to maximise profits and minimise excess .
4 . OneThird Named after the amount of food wasted annually and using data-driven prediction of fresh produce to prevent food waste , OneThird raised US $ 1.7m in a round of funding last April . The startup has created a technology through which inspectors can ‘ look inside ’ fresh produce using near-infrared sensors and inspect them in seconds . Combining this data with smartphone images of these products and other relevant environmental data , AI algorithms accurately assess produce quality .
5 . Apeel Sciences US-based biotech unicorn Apeel , which has developed technology to extend the shelflife of fresh produce , secured a US $ 250m Series E round of funding last year doubling its valuation to US $ 2bn with backers including celebrities Katy Perry and Oprah Winfrey and tech sisters Anne and Susan Wojcicki . Apeel has developed an invisible edible coating for fruits and vegetables that slow down the rate of water evaporation and thus degradation
102 February 2022