San Francisco Firm Aims to be Alibaba of Food Waste : High Tech Food Waste Market Place Firm Secures $2m Funding
Farm level food waste technology firm, Full Harvest, has closed a $2 million seed round of financing led by Wireframe Ventures.
The company claimed to offer the first business-to-business marketplace for the purchase and sale of surplus and imperfectly shaped produce. Investors include BBG Ventures, Early Impact Ventures, Impact Engine, Radicle and a collection of high-profile angel investors including Astia and Joanne Wilson also joined the round.
The San Francisco based firm said it will use the investment to substantially grow its team and enhance its technology platform.
According tot he firm to feed 9 billion people by 2050, up to 50% more food will need to be produced globally. However, the Environmental Protection Agency estimates that more food reaches US landfills and waste to energy plants than any other waste, and 40% of all food in the country goes to waste according to the NRDC.
To help address the situation Full Harvest said that it aims to turn the 20 billion pounds (9 million tonnes) of produce that goes to waste each year due to surplus or cosmetic reasons into a new profit centre for the industry – helping growers recapture the estimated $10 billion market of lost produce sales while lowering costs for food and beverage companies, as well as consumers.
"Thier mission is exactly what our world needs – minimising food waste and resources, supporting our farmers, and making organic food more affordable,“ commented Jessica Baxter, produce buyer, purchasing manager and production coordinator at Juice Served Here.
"The produce we’ve purchased from Full Harvest has been absolutely beautiful in appearance and taste – it’s hard to believe this is the product that doesn’t make it to retail shelves and gets thrown out because it doesn’t meet appearance standards,“ she continued.
Christine Moseley, founder and CEO of Full Harvest added: “We want to turn the fruits and vegetables that would traditionally be wasted into a win-win for every player in the food supply chain. Our goal is to be the Alibaba of produce – a universal, easy-to-use platform that allows growers, food and beverage companies, and retailers to all benefit from excess farm produce.”
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