Spoiler Alert, a software startup that helps large food manufacturers, distributors and distribution centers manage their inventory to reduce food waste, today announced that it received a strategic investment from global shipping company Maersk. The specific amount of the investment, and the terms of the deal, were not disclosed.
As we wrote about the company in January: Spoiler Alert “offers a business intelligence and relationship management platform that lets companies that move large amounts of food better understand their inventory and navigate when unexpected surpluses happen.”
When unexpected surpluses do happen, Spoiler Alert’s platform can help find potential buyers quickly. If that doesn’t work, it can help find non-profits that will accept the extra food as a donation.
According to today’s press announcement, the investment will help Boston-based Spoiler Alert accelerate product development and add headcount.
Maersk says that it’s the “world’s largest transporter of food,” so investments that improve and make those supply chains more efficient make sense. The Spoiler investment is the latest of several recent food supply chain investments for Maersk. In August the shipping giant was part of a $6.5 million investment in TeleSense, an IoT company that deploys sensor to improve the food supply chain. Then in September, Maersk led a $2.4 million round in Ripe.io, which is building the blockchain for food. All of that is in addition to the FoodTrack accelerator it launched in April to tackle food waste.
With roughly 40 percent of the food in the U.S. going to waste, there are a number of startups entering the space to try and shrink that number down. Companies like Goodr, Copia, LeanPath, AgShift and more are all taking unique approaches to solving the food waste problem.
Spoiler Alert has also been busy this year. Last month the company expanded its partnership with HelloFresh to help with all of the company’s U.S. operations. According to a Spoiler Alert rep, since working with HelloFresh in July of 2017, Spoiler Alert has helped the meal kit company decrease landfill-bound organic waste by 65 percent and reduced waste hauling pickups by 44 percent.
