Conscious Venture Lab is an early stage business accelerator focused on creating purpose-driven companies. Their help entrepreneurs who want to use capitalism to create a more just, joyful and equitable society. Created to honor the work and memory of Conscious Venture Lab friend and mentor the late David B. Wolfe, CVLab is creating the most comprehensive program for the creation of ''Companies that Matter''.  The CVLab was founded by Jeff Cherry, serial entrepreneur and one of the co-founders of Concinnity Advisors, the first Investment Advisory firm focused solely on investing in ''Conscious'' companies.  Conscious Venture Lab curriculum was developed in conjunction with some of the international thought leaders on the concept of ''Conscious Capitalism'' including Darden professor Ed Freeman and Babson professor and Author of Firms of Endearment and Conscious Capitalism, Raj Sisodia.

Conscious Venture Lab

Creadev is an evergreen investment company believe that shareholders' timing should match with the entrepreneur's vision, up to an unlimited amount of time. Creadev invest in and support companies able to scale-up and become worldwide best players in their sector.

Creadev

Desert Bloom is an investment banking that specializes in matchmaking between Israeli startups. It focuses on clean-tech, agri-tech, and investments. The company was founded in 2016.

Desert Bloom

Maywic Select Investments is an early stage and growth stage investor in consumer products and retail that promote healthy lifestyles, wellness, and wellbeing.  Founded by Fred Mayerson and Chad Wick, the firm is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Maywic Select Investments

Quadia is a regulated investment manager specialized in social and environmental finance. With more than CHF 70 million invested in over 20 companies, Quadia is a leading and pioneering impact investor. Our core investment thesis centers on sustainability as a pillar of risk management and economic valuation. It targets significantly impactful companies which have positioned their products and services to meet a growing demand which is influenced by an irreversible paradigm shift. This paradigm shift is driven by worldwide interdependent social, environmental and economic stakes.

Quadia

Danone Manifesto Ventures brings health through food to as many people as possible by partnering with entrepreneurs in the food revolution. Danone Manifesto Ventures, Their name says it all. They are a venture group located in New York City that is part of a global food and beverage company with world–class expertise and a mission to bring health through food to as many people as possible. They employ a carefully selected team that is driven, passionate and eager to team up with exceptional entrepreneurs.

Danone Manifesto Venture

Hungry Harvest

Hungry Harvest is a food and beverage company that features an online-based platform that offers surplus products, food, and beverages.

Based in Baltimore, Hungry Harvest accumulates excess and irregular produce from farmers and wholesalers at a low price to sell to consumers in customizable harvest boxes. The company gets its supplies from farmers, produce packers, wholesalers, and retail distribution centers. Since launching in 2015 the company has expanded to DC, Virginia, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Delaware, Florida, North Carolina, and Detroit. The company expands to new locations based on the volume of survey responses and social media requests.

Tech solutions for achieving global anti-wastage targets

Food Waste

Produce Delivery Services Market Analysis and Revenue Prediction | FreshDirect, Amazon Fresh, Hungry Harvest

Based in Baltimore, Hungry Harvest accumulates excess and irregular produce from farmers and wholesalers at a low price to sell to consumers in customizable harvest boxes. The company gets its supplies from farmers, produce packers, wholesalers, and retail distribution centers. Since launching in 2015 the company has expanded to DC, Virginia, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Delaware, Florida, North Carolina, and Detroit. The company expands to new locations based on the volume of survey responses and social media requests.Hungry Harvest claims that every harvest delivery saves ~10 lbs of farm produce being wasted and every 1 lb of that produce reduces water waste, greenhouse gas emissions, and oil consumption. Furthermore, as of October 2024, the company had saved over 27 million lbs of produce and redistributed over 1.7 million lbs to those in need since 2014.Key customers and partnershipsHungry Harvest has also partnered with companies like Quaker, Wholesome Wave, Misfit Foods, to expand their business.

Apeel Sciences is a California-based food technology company that produces edible coatings made of plant materials that extend the lifetime of fruits by 2x–3x to prevent food wastage in regions where refrigeration is scarce.&nbsp;The coatings are intended for use on fruits and vegetables, with a primary focus on avocados, apples, mangos, cucumbers, and citrus fruits.&nbsp;According to the company, US retailers that used Apeel experienced a 50% reduction in waste alongside a 5%–10% growth in sales on average. As of&nbsp;April 2024, Apeel Sciences reported to have saved&nbsp;over&nbsp;60 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.&nbsp;As of October&nbsp;2024, 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.In May 2020, Apeel announced plans to expand to Sub-Saharan Africa, Central, and South America—all regions where food wastage was increasing.&nbsp;Following this, Apeel expanded to Sub-Saharan Africa in 2022 and began its expansion to South America in 2024.In May 2021, Apeel Sciences acquired&nbsp;the&nbsp;startup Impact Vision for an undisclosed amount. Impact Vision’s technology allows suppliers to see inside their fresh produce and ultimately reduce post-harvest loss and optimize distribution while continuing to extend shelf life.&nbsp;Key customers and partnerships&nbsp;Apeel has partnered with various distributors for the distribution of its avocados, including The Kroger Company in September 2018 for Cincinnati, Calavo Growers in January 2021, and Nature’s Pride for Europe in March 2021.&nbsp;The company also collaborated with Topline Farms in February 2023 for the development of the Apeel-Protected Mini Cucumber and licensed its coating technology to Limoneira in May 2023 for use on lemons.&nbsp;

Apeel Sciences

Shelf Engine provides demand forecasting tools,&nbsp;which leverage AI and machine learning, 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 markup on the product from the vendor to the retailer.As of October 2024, Shelf Engine operated in more than 3,000 grocery stores and claimed to increase profit margins by more than 50% by reducing food waste by as much as 32%.&nbsp;Shelf Engine also reported that it prevented 5.2 million lbs of food wastage, decreased 8,200 tons of CO2, and saved 500 million gallons of water.Key customers and partnershipsIn January 2024, Shelf Engine partnered with Dollar General to implement fully automated AI-powered ordering for produce, aiming to enhance inventory management and reduce food waste across Dollar General's stores. This collaboration would leverage Shelf Engine's technology to optimize ordering processes and improve the freshness of perishable items.Shelf Engine also worked with supermarket and grocery chains Whole Foods, Target, Kroger, Walmart, Ralphs, Harmons, and Bi‑Rite to manage orders and reduce food waste.

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, the 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. In&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/16835">March 2023,</a> the company expanded into fresh departments, including meat, seafood, deli, and food service.As of&nbsp;October 2024, the company’s technology was deployed across 3,000 stores in 40 states in the US and it reported that it was able to triple its customer base in 2021.&nbsp;Afresh also reported that it prevented 44 million lbs of food wastage as of 2024 while reducing 24 million kg of CO2 emissions and saving 886 million gallons of water.Key customers and partnershipsSome 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.&nbsp;&nbsp;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 December 2022, Afresh partnered with SpartanNash to pilot the AI-powered Afresh platform at 10 of SpartanNash’s Family Fare grocery stores.&nbsp;&nbsp;In&nbsp;<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.&nbsp;Afresh also partnered with Albertsons Companies again in October 2024 for the launch of Afresh DC Forecasts, where Albertsons was its first customer.

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.As of October 2024, Winnow Solutions reported that it had annually saved over 50 million meals, reduced 87,000 tons of CO2, and saved USD 70 million for customers.Key customers and partnershipsWinnow’s customers include the catering company&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/5386">ISS</a> and hotels such as Accor, Fairmont, The Westin, Four Seasons, and Hilton Tokyo Bay.&nbsp;In September 2023, Winnow Solutions partnered with Ne’ma, the UAE’s National Food Loss and Waste Initiative, to support Ne’ma with data, benchmarking, and best practices for the hotels, restaurants, and catering (HoReCa) sector.&nbsp; Following this, Winnow was selected as a preferred food waste management vendor by Dayblink GPO in November 2023.

Winnow Solutions

Hazel Technologies is a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)-funded technology company that develops packaging that 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&nbsp;5 billion lbs of produce as of October 2024, saving about 4 billion lbs from going bad. The company has a target to save one billion&nbsp;lbs of produce from going to waste by the end of 2021. Hazel operates in&nbsp;13 countries&nbsp;across the US, South America, and Europe, as of October 2024.&nbsp;Hazel works with around 250 food service and produce companies including the likes of Sysco, Mission Produce, Zespri, Calavo, and Oppy.&nbsp;As of October 2024, the company offers Hazel Endure, its antimicrobial packaging for berries, grapes, and other fruit, which uses an anti-fungal pad to extend the shelf life and quality of fruits and other produce.Key customers and partnershipsHazel Technologies has formed several partnerships to reduce food waste and extend the shelf life of various produce. These included collaborations with Mission Produce for avocados in July 2020, Migiva Group for grape trials in March 2021, Specialty Crop Company for figs and Symms Fruit for apples in May 2021, Oppy and Brar Farms for California-grown table grapes in July 2022, and Kliewer Farms for kiwifruit in November 2022.

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

Hungry Harvest

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