The foodtech o food technology is a sector that is completely changing the food business and is providing new opportunities for the food industry. opportunities for investors and large corporations that venture into it.
Food waste is a problem that has always been present, but it is only in the last few years that it has started to be talked about on a global level. One third of the food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted worldwide, which is equivalent to approximately 1.3 billion tonnes per year.
In addition, food waste emits almost as much greenhouse gas in a year as the entire United States. As a result of this, many startups and new technologies have emerged that seek to ameliorate this huge problem. This time we are going to focus on two of them because of the great acceptance they have had in the global foodtech market: Apeel Sciences and Full Harvest.
Apeel Sciences: a revolution against food waste
Apeel Sciences is a startup a California-based foodtech company that has discovered a way to preserve fresh fruit and vegetables for much longer. An edible coating created from plant-based actives helps extend the life of vegetables by up to five times.
Apeel Sciences aroused the curiosity of investors from the very beginning because of the innovative idea and its great potential for success. One of the first investors in the startup was US billionaire businessman Bill Gates, who financed the start-up of the startup 100 million.
Later, in July 2018, when the company was already operating with some success and had seen a 60% increase in margins, it launched a funding round led by US fund Viking Global InvestorsThe company has raised $70 million to fund the company's growth and expansion globally.
Full Harvest offers a second chance to the "ugly vegetable".
Another company in the foodtech sector that we would like to talk about is Full Harvest. Broadly speaking, it consists of a platform to help farmers sell crops that do not meet the commercial qualities required by export markets or supermarkets. In other words, to sell fruit and vegetables that, despite being healthy and in excellent health and organoleptic conditions, are not harvested because they do not have the size, shape or appearance required by large buyers.
This startup was created in 2015 and despite being considerably smaller than its predecessor, it is a company with great potential and continues to grow at extraordinary levels. In 2018 it launched its latest Series A round of funding in Early Stageraising $8 million. This operation was led by Spark Capital.