Wisconsin Investment Partners is an Angel Investment Group in Madison, Wisconsin founded in 2000 with 20 members. Membership has grown to 50+ members in recent years, bringing significant knowledge and experience.

Wisconsin Investment Partners

Gener8tor is a nationally ranked accelerator that invests in high-growth startups. Gener8tor supports the growth of these startups through its network of experienced mentors, technologists, corporate partners, angel investors, and venture capitalists. Gener8tor invests in high-growth startups, including software, IT, web, SaaS, life science, MedTech, e-commerce, and hardware. Accepted startups receive $100,000 and 12 weeks of mentorship-driven programming. Gener8tor is a member of the Global Accelerator Network (GAN).

gener8tor

Whitewater Bancorp is an insurance company providing home, car and health insurance.

Whitewater Bancorp

Warhawk Entrepreneurial Fund was founded by a UW-Whitewater Alumni to make investments in Whitewater early stage startups.

Warhawk Entrepreneurial Fund

Nesnah Ventures, LLC is a family-owned, private equity firm located in La Crosse, WI. Our current, actively managed portfolio includes a diverse array of businesses in agriculture, healthcare, energy, manufacturing, restaurants, distribution, and property management. Nesnah believes in a “roll up your sleeves” work ethic. The commitment and outstanding effort of our people has driven our success in the past and will do so in the future.

Nesnah Ventures LLC

Inventure Capital is a boutique investment fund in the Madison Area. It has a portfolio of assets ranging from early-stage investments in tech, biotech, and clean tech startups in the Midwest to multi-family apartment development. The firm seeks attractive risk-reward profiles across asset classes and time horizons, combining a unique blend of tax-efficient, cash-flow generating real estate exposure with long term investments in the technology of tomorrow. Start-up investments include two healthcare technologies, a mobile authentication platform, and a clean water technology company for the oil & gas industry. It also offers consulting and advisory work to include expert financial analysis and due diligence research on an ad hoc basis.

Inventure Capital, Madison

Pinpoint Software

Pinpoint Software, Inc. is the parent company behind Date Check Pro. Founded in 2011 and based in beautiful Madison, WI, Date Check Pro got its start when its founder Andrew Hoeft set out to solve the problem of expired shrink. Today, we help thousands of supermarkets, retailers, and convenience stores around the world eliminate their expired shrink and provide better products and experiences for their shoppers. In addition to Date Check Pro, Pinpoint Software has also expanded to the healthcare industry with Date Check Pro for Healthcare, as well as Taskle, a mobile checklist and audit solution.

<div>Wisconsin-based Pinpoint Software develops and sells: Date Check Pro, Date Check Pro (Healthcare), and Taskle. Date Check Pro, the company’s food waste product, gives retailers a notification when the products are approaching their expiry date and alerts when it’s time to move the products to a discount section. The Date Check Pro app and dashboard kick in when a product or group of items would result in a projected loss of USD 50 or more if expired. Date Check Pro software is provided on a subscription basis starting at USD 2,700 per year.</div>

Tech solutions for achieving global anti-wastage targets

Food Waste

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 Wisconsin-based Pinpoint Software develops and sells: Date Check Pro, Date Check Pro (Healthcare), and Taskle. Date Check Pro, the company’s food waste product, gives retailers a notification when the products are approaching their expiry date and alerts when it’s time to move the products to a discount section. The Date Check Pro app and dashboard kick in when a product or group of items would result in a projected loss of USD 50 or more if expired. Date Check Pro software is provided on a subscription basis starting at USD 2,700 per year. 
 
 
 
 As of June 2021, the company claims that it has deployed its Date Check Pro Software across thousands of retail, grocery, and convenience stores helping them avoid losses from expired products. The company also offers the Date Check Pro software to the healthcare industry to reduce medical waste. 
 
 
 
 In 2019, the company entered into a pilot program with Florida-based Southeastern Grocers (SEG), operators of Fresco y Más, Harveys Supermarket, and Winn-Dixie grocery stores to roll out Date Check Pro at 3 and later 9 SEG stores by 2020. Following the success of this pilot, Date Check Pro was rolled out to all 425 SEG stores, making SEG the largest retail partner for Pinpoint. In November 2020, Pinpoint also partnered with Merchandising Consultants Associates (MCA), to expand the provision of its Date Check Pro software to retailers across the US and Canada. 
 
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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

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 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%.
 
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Shelf Engine

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 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%&ndash;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.&nbsp;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&rsquo;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. &nbsp;The company also collaborated with Bashas&rsquo; 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 &ldquo;Afresh AI-driven software solution&rdquo; 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&rsquo;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.&nbsp; 
 
 
 
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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

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

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.

Pinpoint Software

Food Waste

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