It’s a banner day for food waste startups around the world. Earlier today San Francisco’s Full Harvest and Stockholm, Sweden-based Karma announced major fundraises — now it’s Atlanta’s turn.
A-town’s Goodr just announced that it raised a $1.25 million pre-seed funding round as first reported by Hypepotamus. The raise was led by Precursor Ventures with participation by Trail Mix Ventures, Techstar Ventures, and Halogen Ventures, along with angel investors.
Goodr is an app which coordinates and facilitates the donation of excess food from large enterprises and venues to communities in need through non-profits. Corporate clients post surplus food on the platform and Goodr coordinates a driver to pick it up and take it to its final destination. As of now, they work with clients like the Hartson-Jackfield International Airport, the Georgia World Congress Center, and fancy foodhall Ponce City Market.
Their platform uses blockchain to follow food’s journey from corporate cafeterias to its final destination, so it can tell each client where their surplus food ended up. Through the app, corporations can not only track how much food they’re saving, but also how much they’re saving in tax deductions. So far, the startup has picked up and redistributed close to a million pounds of food.
Across the country in San Francisco, Copia offers a similar service. Their suite of apps help large companies track their food purchasing and consumption, then helps them find non-profits to take their excess food. It also tracks food donations for tax purposes.
Goodr is also working to license out their technology on a SaaS level to big food companies; they’re currently piloting the tech with Campbell’s and are in talks with other food brands. Goodr founder and CEO Jasmine Sparks (see her at the Smart Kitchen Summit in Seattle this October!) said they’re also exploring the potential of using food waste for renewable energy; in fact, one of their recent investors is an alternative energy company.
For now, though, the startup will use their new funds to expand across the country; they’re launching pilots in Chicago, Raleigh and Los Angeles over the next few months. This is the first institutional fundraise for Goodr, which was founded in 2017.
Come see Jasmine Sparks speak more about food waste solutions at the Smart Kitchen Summit on October 8-9th! Spots are limited, so register now.
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