Rockstart is an early stage investor that empowers purpose-driven founders across three domains: Energy, AgriFood and Emerging Technologies. Rockstart invests in early-stage startups and provides access to capital, market, and expertise by connecting founders with co-investors, mentors, partners, and the wider Rockstart network.   Rockstart has invested in more than 260 startups and its alumni value to date is more than $1bn. Rockstart is an international team of 40+ professionals dedicated to empowering purpose-driven founders to become scalable and drive positive change on a global scale. Rockstart has notable exits such as Wercker, Bouw7, iClinic, and in 2021, 3D Hubs and Brincr. The company has offices in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Copenhagen, Denmark and Bogota, Colombia.

Rockstart

Vaekstfonden – The Danish Growth Fund – is the Danish state's investment fund. We strive to improve access to risk capital to enable Danish businesses to innovate, and to generate growth and new jobs. In close collaboration with banks and domestic and international private investors, we finance companies from all sectors nation-wide. We can accompany you for the entire journey – from your company’s infancy through growth phases to expansion abroad and even to an initial public offering.

Vaekstfonden

VÅR Ventures help founders create sustainable impact.

VÅR Ventures

Pollen Street Capital is an independent alternative investment management company, focused on investing in businesses in the financial and business services sectors to drive business transformation and investment performance. It was founded in 2013 by Lindsey McMurray, and now operates across private equity and credit strategies on behalf of investors, which include major pension funds, asset managers, banks, and family offices from across the globe. Pollen Street Capital has offices in London and New York, with a team of 70+ professionals working across both locations. Pollen Street Capital seeks to invest in high quality businesses operating in specialist markets, particularly working with entrepreneurial and driven management teams who share their values and philosophy, namely to build businesses that deliver market-leading products and services to their customers in order to create long-term sustainable success. The firm utilises its vast experience across its team to assist its partner companies take full advantage of opportunities to build high-growth, sustainable businesses that deliver profoundly to their customers within specified markets. The company invests in sectors which have the ambition and aspiration to be at the leading edge of change and maximise opportunities within the ever-growing landscape of its field. Pollen Street Capital works alongside partners with strong core attributes and a sound foundation, supporting them and their management teams with valuable expertise and capital to propel growth. Pollen Street has a proven skill to identify trends and changing customer behaviours and to target investments with a clear distinguished approach in specialist areas. They look in particular at high growth lending, insurance, wealth, payments, technologies, as well as various other financial service areas. They are also committed to responsible investing, particularly ensuring that investments today will have a positive effect on people and the planet for many years to come.  Pollen Street are a progressive partner, who are capable of pushing boundaries to deliver on sustainable business. The Pollen Street Capital team sets the bar high, bringing specialist knowledge and best practice to the complex and changing environment of the financial and businesses service sector. They offer a broad skillset that covers analytical, technical, strategic, and operational capabilities. In a world where business transformation and digital development is fundamental, Pollen Street can anticipate this kind of change and drive growth. The firm’s system of transformation accelerates change and amplifies success.

Pollen Street Capital

Novo Holdings is a holding company specializing in life science investors with a focus on creating long-term value.

Novo Holdings

Einar Willumsen is a manufacturer and supplier of flavour solutions for national and international beverage and food producing industries.

Einar Willumsen

Denmark's Export and Investment Fund (EIFO) serves as a single point of contact for Danish firms seeking risk-tolerant government finance. We aspire to help successful enterprises that can expand the Danish economy and green the world on a daily basis, guided by professionalism and an international perspective.

Export and Investment Fund

European Circular Bioeconomy Fund invest and partner with entrepreneurs to accelerate late-stage circular bioeconomy companies.

European Circular Bioeconomy Fund

Reduced

Reduced develops natural flavor enhancers from upcycled produce.

Based in Denmark, Reduced uses fermentation technology to develop natural flavor enhancers from rejected produce. Founded in 2020, the company was able to take four products to market—vegetable, veal, chicken, and shellfish stock—within its first year of operations. Reduced has collaborated with Danish food and agriculture companies including DANAEG, Kannegaarden, Himmerlandskod, Blue Lobster, Balkan Berries, Tvilling Fisk, Nordisk Tang, and Convi Foods to source excess produce.

Tech solutions for achieving global anti-wastage targets

Food Waste

REDUCED totals €8M funding to bring flavourful upcycled food ingredients to DACH region

Based in Denmark, Reduced uses fermentation technology to develop natural flavor enhancers from rejected produce. Founded in 2020, the company was able to take four products to market—vegetable, veal, chicken, and shellfish stock—within its first year of operations. Reduced has collaborated with Danish food and agriculture companies including DANAEG, Kannegaarden, Himmerlandskod, Blue Lobster, Balkan Berries, Tvilling Fisk, Nordisk Tang, and Convi Foods to source excess produce.Reduced sells to restaurants and food service companies as well as to consumers via Danish grocers. Upon the pre-seed funding round in July 2021, the company reported building a production facility for its new line of natural flavor enhancers and expects to begin mass distribution of its existing upcycled products. As of July 2021, the company’s product is available across 47 Irma grocery stores.In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/11156">June 2022 </a>, Reduced raised EUR 2.9 million (USD 3.1 million) in a funding round led by Vækstfonden and VÅR Ventures.

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 Apeel Sciences produces edible coatings made of plant materials that extend the lifetime of fruits by 2-3x with the goal of preventing food wastages in regions where there is a lack of refrigeration. According to the company, US retailers that use Apeel experience a 50% reduction in waste alongside a 5%-10% growth in sales on average. As of July 2021, Apeel Sciences reported to have saved around 69 million pieces of produce from going to waste at retail stores by partnering with small family-owned farmers, local organic growers, grocery stores, and large food brands. As of August 2021, the company was offering its solution to a network of 30 suppliers and 40 retailers across eight countries, including the US, UK, Spain, Netherlands, and Kenya. The company focuses on expanding its market presence across North America and the EU. 
 
 
 The company&rsquo;s early years were supported by a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grant of USD 100,000 in 2012 and Andreessen Horowitz, which led the company&rsquo;s 2016 Series B funding round. Celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey and Katy Perry have also invested in Apeel.
 
 
 In May 2020, Apeel announced plans to expand to Sub-Saharan Africa, Central, and South America&mdash;all regions where food wastage is increasing. In May 2021, Apeel Sciences acquired startup Impact Vision for an undisclosed amount. Impact vision&rsquo;s technology allows suppliers to see inside their fresh produce and ultimately reduce post-harvest loss, optimize distribution, while continuing to extend shelf-life. 
 
 
 In August 2021, the company raised USD 250 million in a Series E funding round led by Temasek at USD 2 billion valuation. The company expects to use the funds to expand its product distribution across the US, UK, and Europe by accelerating deployment of its product across its existing supplier network and by partnering with 10 new suppliers by the end of 2021. The company also plans to use the funds to strengthen its data and insights offering and support its future acquisition plans.
 
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Apeel Sciences

Shelf Engine provides demand forecasting tools for perishable food items to reduce inefficiencies in the ordering system and minimize overall costs. According to Shelf Engine, more than 30% of highly perishable foods in grocery stores such as meat and vegetables expire before the sell-by date. Shelf Engine’s scan-based trade (SBT) technology guarantees sales and pays for any items that remain unsold. Via the SBT, Shelf Engine manages orders, pays vendors, and only charges the retailer for what sells while still paying suppliers for their full order and increasing its accuracy over time. Shelf generates revenue by charging a mark-up on the product from the vendor to the retailer.The pandemic benefited Shelf Engine as grocers found it difficult to manage orders during lockdown. In March 2021, Shelf Engine raised USD 41 million in a Series B funding round led by General Catalyst to further invest in its growing team of engineers, data scientists, and supply chain automation experts. As of March 2021, Shelf Engine operated in more than 2,000 grocery stores and claimed to increase profit margins by more than 50% by reducing food waste by as much as 32%.

Shelf Engine

Afresh began as a research project in 2017 to develop AI-powered software that optimizes the entire food supply chain. Specifically, the company offers an in-store solution for grocery stores that applies artificial intelligence to manage the freshness of food. According to the company, implementation of its technology has led to a 25%–45% reduction of in-store food waste and increased gross margin of fresh produce sales by 4 percentage points. The company generates revenue under a SaaS model. I n <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/16835">March 2023, </a>the company expanded into fresh departments, including meat, seafood, deli, and food service.Some of Afresh's key customers include Fresh Thyme Market, WinCo Foods, and Heinen’s. In 2019, the company also reported that it had established partnerships with three US grocery chains, each with more than 100 stores in operation. The company also collaborated with Bashas’ Supermarkets Inc. (a chain of grocery stores based in North America with over 100 stores) in September 2021 and New Season Market (a chain of 19 privately owned grocery stores) in October 2021 to pilot the “Afresh AI-driven software solution” at selected stores. In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/15786">January 2023 </a>, Afresh and Albertsons Companies announced the completion of an enterprise rollout of the Afresh predictive ordering and inventory management platform. As of January 2023, the company’s technology was deployed across 3,000 stores in 40 states in the US, and it also reported that it was able to triple its customer base in 2021. Afresh notes that it is on track to help retailers save 34 million pounds of food waste by the end of 2022.In August 2022, AFresh raised USD 115 million in a <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/12187">Series B </a>funding round led by Spark Capital. Following the USD 13 million funding round in November 2020, the company was valued at USD 100 million.

AFresh

UK-based Winnow Solutions identifies and measures waste in commercial kitchens. The company records the reason for the waste, calculates the value of the wasted food, and keeps track of this data in the cloud. The company’s self-titled product shares technology with autonomous vehicles, using cameras to record and learn about food being wasted and calculate the financial and environmental cost of this discarded food. Winnow Vision also provides a Waste Monitor solution to help kitchen staff track how and what food is wasted to adjust their spending on food ingredients and eliminate overproduction.Key customers and partnershipsWinnow’s customers include the catering company <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/5386">ISS</a> and hotels such as Accor, Fairmont, The Westin, Four Seasons, and Hilton Tokyo Bay. As of June 2023, Winnow claims that its AI solution has so far saved customers USD 174 million and cut 217,000 tons of CO2 emissions worldwide, equivalent to taking nearly 50,000 cars off the road for a year.Funding and financials<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/27315">In March 2024</a>, the company raised an undisclosed amount from ABC Impact to accelerate its expansion into the Asian market. Previously, In June 2023, the company raised USD 10 million in a Series C funding round led by ArcTern Ventures.

Winnow Solutions

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 Hazel Technologies is a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)-funded technology company that develops a packaging which releases vapors that slow the aging process and prevent fungus or decay. Its solution is claimed to double the shelf-life of produce. Hazel operates a B2B business that targets large enterprises. The company has reported treating 700 million pounds of produce as of 2019, saving about 60 million pounds from going bad in 2019 alone. The company has a target to save one billion pounds of produce from going to waste by the end of 2021. Hazel operates in 12 countries including the US and Chile (entered in October 2020). 
 
 
 Hazel works with around 250 foodservice providers and produce companies including the likes of Sysco, Mission Produce, Zespri, Calavo, and Oppy. The company reported in 2019 that it plans to develop new products such as antimicrobial packaging for berries, grapes, and other fruit, and also expects to launch its shelf-life extension technology for meat products.
 
 
 Since 2016, the company has received a total of USD 1.5 million from the USDA to develop its technology. Hazel received the USDA funding in December 2020 for solving the problem of unwanted sprouting in potatoes. In April 2021, the company announced that it had closed a USD 70 million Series C financing round led by Pontifax Global Food and Agriculture Technology Fund (Pontifax AgTech), and Temasek, to expand operations across Southeast Asia, Africa, and the EU. 
 
 
 
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Hazel technologies

Startups that prevent food wastage by prolonging the lifetime of food or better managing food production through the supply chain. Companies that develop products such as sanitizers, containers, and machines that allow food to stay fresh longer are included here. Startups that develop algorithms to determine food preservation strategies are also included.

These startups ensure work to reroute surplus food to different sets of end-users including charity organizations and consumers seeking discounted items. This segment mainly consists of on-demand online platforms that connect producers, retailers, and restaurants with consumers via mobile app.

Startups that recycle food waste for industrial uses such as soil enrichment.

Startups that recycle food waste into edible food and beverages.

Solutions that keep food waste out of landfills

Recycling and upcycling food waste to keep them out of landfills

IoT-enabled waste prevention techniques for purposes such as longer shelf-life and inventory management

Waste prevention analysis platforms use AI/ML

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 Reduced, a Danish startup that creates natural flavor enhancers from upcycled food, has obtained EUR 6 million (~USD 6.5 million) in funding. The lead investors were Novo Holdings and Einar Willumsen, and they were accompanied by existing investors EIFO and Rockstart Agrifood.
 With this funding, the company intends to enhance its technology platform, expand its savory ingredient range, boost production capacity, and improve sales and marketing initiatives.

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Reduced

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