Enschede-based OneThird announced it has raised €2.75 million in a late-seed funding round which will help scale its tech and enter new markets, supporting fresh food supply chains in Europe and the US.
The round was led by Dutch-based impact investor Pymwymic, with participation from previous investors Halma Ventures Limited, SHIFT Invest and Oost NL.
Since 2019 OneThird's AI-powered, near-infrared scanning technology helps growers, food distributors, retailers and consumers to predict the shelf life of fresh produce, in turn minimising food waste.
“Increasing food security is key to supporting a growing global population,” says Sophie Pickering, Investment Manager at Pymwymic. “We’re excited by the possibilities OneThird’s technology presents in tackling the alarming quantities of global food loss across the supply chain.”
At the minute the tech supports the predicted shelf life of tomatoes, strawberries, blueberries and avocados - OneThird will add more to the list including grapes, bananas, mangoes and raspberries by late 2023.
“Global food waste has an enormous environmental impact; reducing global food waste can help to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and embolden global food security. One-third of global food produced annually is lost or wasted, which is an astronomical volume given the number of people worldwide who go to bed hungry. Global food waste is both inefficient and a major social justice issue — one that is compounded across multiple touch points in the supply chain — from agricultural production all the way to the landfill,” says Marco Snikkers, CEO and founder of OneThird.
“The latest seed funding we’ve received will allow us to accelerate the implementation of OneThird’s technology beyond our initial customer base, expand internationally and increase the impact we can create for our customers to help them generate higher ROI, and also meet their sustainability and ESG goals," he adds.
Would you like to write the first comment?
Login to post comments