Structure Capital help passionate teams build great companies by investing seed-stage capital, time, experience and relationships. Building a valuable company is hard—They've done it—they can help you do it too. They love helping entrepreneurs reach their dreams. They focus on companies that create a new market or new set of buyers by exploiting, capitalizing and profiting on under-utilized assets and excess capacity. Assets might include cars, houses, planes, airports, time, skills, knowledge, storage, transport, office space, hotel rooms, event space, personal property, and much, much more. they also like service and solutions companies that support these types of companies. As a team, they've invested at the early stage of many Unicorns, including Salesforce.com, Uber, Tesla, Facebook, Google and more. They're proud to be first round investors in Uber which is a Structure Capital portfolio company. 10 of their current portfolio have raised next round financing within 12 months of their round.

Structure Capital

Y Combinator is a startup accelerator that provides funding and mentorship to early-stage companies. It offers a program where startups receive guidance from experienced entrepreneurs and investors. The organization helps founders in their business models and develop their products. Y Combinator serves industries such as technology, healthcare, and finance.

Y Combinator

Riggs Capital Partners is out of business. The firm is a principal investment firm specializing in early venture investments. It seeks to invest in telecommunications, Internet infrastructure, life sciences, and health care sectors. The firm prefers to invest in the Mid-Atlantic area of the United States. It generally invests between $1 million and $3million. Riggs Capital Partners was founded in 1998 and is based in Washington, District of Columbia.

Riggs Capital Partners

The Chivas Venture is a venture capital firm.

Chivas Venture

Emerson Collective is an organization dedicated to removing barriers to opportunity so people can live to their full potential. Established and led by Laurene Powell Jobs, we center our work on education, immigration reform, the environment, and other social justice initiatives. We use a wide range of tools and strategies—partnering with entrepreneurs and experts, parents and policymakers, advocates and administrators—to develop and execute innovative solutions that will spur change and promote equality.

Emerson Collective

Moment Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm investing in the future of work. The firm invests in early-stage institutional rounds of companies in the future of work and prefers to invest in the logistics, food, oil and gas, education, transportation, and construction sectors. Moment Ventures was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.

Moment Ventures

Toyota is an automotive company. They produce cars and trucks. They specialize in design, research, and development. They provide design, research, development, engineering, manufacturing, sales, marketing, dealers, and financial services.

Toyota

8VC enables industry transformation. In a wave of creative destruction, they believe emerging platforms will replace the decades-old technology infrastructure behind many industries, promoting greater innovation and prosperity.

Lynett Capital is an early stage investment firm dedicated to the empowering technology companies.

Lynett Capital

Maples Burlingame LLC

Eucalyptus Burlingame LLC

Lutetilla LLC

Alps Investing Holdings LLC

West is a venture studio that specializes in the end-to-end process of designing, building, and launching purpose-driven brands. It enables companies to define and defend their market opportunity with a brand people love. The company's brand studio creates work to deliver results for startups for a combination of fees and equity and its venture fund selectively invests in our studio clients. West Ventures was established in 2011 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

West

Bossa Invest manages investment portfolios and provides asset management services to clients. It analyzes market trends to inform investment decisions. Bossa Invest serves multiple sectors, including finance, technology, and real estate.

Bossa Invest

For Good Ventures is an investment firm that supports innovative, disruptive technologies changing the world for good. The firm invests in for-profit, positive-impact businesses, and funds in private markets positioned for scalable, positive change. It specifically invests in companies that fundamentally benefit humanity or the environment as a core focus of their business model.

For Good Ventures

Seed round investment in frontier markets and clean energy

Ground Squirrel Ventures

EA Global Consulting LLC

Branded Hospitality Ventures (BHV) is an investment & advisory company, founded by Hospitality Operators, that leverages its 25 years of industry expertise, deep relationships and capital to influence, accelerate and deliver value to hospitality-centric and F&B innovation companies.

Branded Hospitality Ventures

Eleos invest in and partner with social entrepreneurs who effectively implement high impact, early stage, pioneering market based solutions.

The Eleos Foundation

Copia

Every day in America, they waste 3X more food than there are mouths to feed. It is not a lack of food that is the issue, but rather an ineffective distribution of that food. Hunger is not a scarcity problem, it's a logistics problem. For the first time ever, they can effectively donate prepared and highly perishable food to those who need it when they need it most.  Copia is a for-profit company that has built technology allowing food donors (e.g., food management companies like corporate cafeterias, universities, hospitals, grocers, caterers etc.) to easily request pickups of their surplus food, have it matched, and safely delivered to non-profits in need. With Copia, partnering businesses can now seamlessly access significant tax savings, dramatically reduce food waste through data and analytics on surplus, and remove CO2 from the atmosphere, all while feeding the neediest in their community.

Copia offers an on-demand app that allows users to schedule pickups of surplus food from restaurants, hotels, hospitals, corporate cafeterias, and other businesses which are re-distributed to local non-profit recipients. The app also enables tracking of surplus food, access to real-time data to prevent over-purchasing and overproduction.

Tech solutions for achieving global anti-wastage targets

Food Waste

In brief: Northern Trust AM’s former president registers Copia Credit Impact Fund I

Copia offers an on-demand app that allows users to schedule pickups of surplus food from restaurants, hotels, hospitals, corporate cafeterias, and other businesses which are re-distributed to local non-profit recipients. The app also enables tracking of surplus food, access to real-time data to prevent over-purchasing and overproduction.As of&nbsp;2024, the company claimed that it had recovered 3.4 million&nbsp;lbs of food and has served 3.2 million meals. Copia also offers its Copia Connect platform to help nonprofits request food donation deliveries.Key customers and partnershipsAs of&nbsp;2024, Copia’s technology&nbsp;was reported to be used by companies such as The Cheesecake Factory, the Arizona Cardinals, Bloomberg, and the Compass Group.In April 2019, Copia partnered with SailGP, the international sailing league, for a program to redistribute excess food during the league’s inaugural US event in the Bay Area in May 2019.In March 2024, Copia teamed up with Rite Aid, the US pharmacy chain, to receive donations from Rite Aid to Copia’s redistribution platform, which would then be matched with local nonprofit organizations combating food insecurity. In April 2024, Copia partnered with ParTech, Inc. (PAR) to offer surplus food donation solutions to PAR’s network of restaurants.&nbsp;

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

Copia

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