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.

<div>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.</div>

Tech solutions for achieving global anti-wastage targets

Food Waste

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

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 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 has also partnered with companies like Quaker, Wholesome Wave, Misfit Foods, to expand their business. As of April 2021, the company claimed to have recycled over 25 million pounds of produce.
 
 
 The company closed its USD 13.7 million Series A funding round in September 2020 led by Creadev to expand business reach and increase scalability. The company reported in March 2021 plans to move to a larger distribution center in Landover during the summer to help the company expand capacity for its new line of ready-made food products.
 
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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

Hungry Harvest

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