SOSV is a global venture capital firm that operates startup development programmes that are focused on two broad areas: revolutionary technology that promises the betterment of humanity and the planet; and cross-border markets that are ripe for explosive growth. The firm invests in a number of highly promising startups and uses its programmes to advance product development, acquire customers, and scale. SOSV’s programmes include hard-tech-oriented HAX and life-science-driven IndieBio. Both offer deep technical and regulatory expertise on-site, as well as well-equipped lab and fabrication facilities. At Chinaccelerator and MOX, market entry and product development experts help entrepreneurs win cross-border market opportunities across Asia. SOSV’s latest programme, dlab, fosters new players in the blockchain.

SOSV

Over six years, SOSV accelerated 11 cohorts of promising founders and invested in 100 startups via the Food-X accelerator.

Food-X

Formed by the Florida Legislature, the Florida Institute for the Commercialization of Florida Technology is a non-profit organization that works collaboratively with the technology licensing and commercialization offices of Florida's state universities and private research institutions to leverage a $2.5B+ research base and form investable companies that create clean jobs in new industries that are driving the global economy. With funding from the State of Florida through the Department of Economic Opportunity, and through the generosity of mentors, advisors and donors, the Florida Institute provides company building services, and seed funding through the Florida Technology Seed Capital Fund, to promising Florida startups.

Florida Institute for the Commercialization of Florida Technology

FreshSurety

FreshSurety’s Supply Chain Visibility and Event Management IaaS uses proprietary technology to convert any box, carton, or bag into a “Smart Container”, a self-contained chemistry laboratory. Using this data, we apply five proprietary AI algorithms to reveal the current & future Net Present Value, NPV, of perishable foods, and natural/clean label ingredients inventory. Users can now optimize their inventory and reduce waste. Problem - Visually humans can’t determine the condition of perishable products and for Supply Chain managers decisions must be made on huge volumes of products at high velocity. Without our technology perishables are shipped or stored with mismatched timing, the perishables quickly lose value, become unsellable and waste is the result. FreshSurety’s proprietary technology and algorithms answer three questions 1) What is the current value of my inventory? 2) What is the Depreciation tomorrow and the day after? 3) Are there any problem events with my inventory? Unlike our competitors, which only guess what the inventory state is based on inferior mathematical models we measure certain targeted chemical actors to determine the actual freshness state of the product. We are the first to provide in real-time both the current and projected NPV of perishables inventory at either the order batch level or pallet level based on real data. Supply Chain Managers get direct feedback on the current value of their inventory, not a “guess”. In the home our products work inside of refrigerators, measuring stored foods remaining nutrition value so people can make better choices of when to best consume their foods based on its actual measured state. Also, our system alarms if Microbial Contamination is detected. Value Proposition: Making the products' Current Value and Rate of Depreciation visible, we literally take money from the trash and put it back in our customers' pockets. Business Model: Make Freshness Sensors cheap enough to give away and sell freshness IaaS NPV analysis. Our technology allows for automated real-time sampling of high-risk perishable stocks to a customer determined Acceptable Quality Level, AQL, at a 95% quality confidence level. Without FreshSurety technology only a very low confidence level <10%, (meaningless) quality inspection plans are possible. Because these plans have limited value, they are simply not performed, rendering the condition of stocks invisible and dangerous. Our technology has been demonstrated to successfully predict perishable freshness outcomes days in advance. Competing solutions based on time & temperature technology are only right 16% of the time. FreshSurety's algorithms correctly label bad food as bad 99.3% of the time. Our end-to-end system reduces food waste by over 1.5 tons per million dollars of retail value for Supply Chains over 5 days long and allows for automated real-time sampling of perishable stock at a 95% quality confidence level. We have gathered the world’s largest machine learning/AI training sets of perishable foods and have made many food freshness discoveries previously unknown to science. The scientists and engineers of FreshSurety have over 120 years of combined technical and business experience working on programs for defense customers and DARPA. We put our skills to work to create a new food freshness system that doesn’t require a degree in chemistry to use. Working with food economists we built a new end-to-end system that reports the value of perishable foods, working in real-time, automatically, 24 X 7 X 365.

<div>Freshsurety is a provider of smart containers, which are equipped with  sensors and use algorithms to detect the presence of ethylene which may spoil all the produce. The company also develops smart containers focused on Quick Service Restaurants (QSR’s) and grain bin management. </div>

Tech solutions for achieving global anti-wastage targets

Food Waste

Freshsurety

<div>
 
 Freshsurety is a provider of smart containers, which are equipped with  sensors and use algorithms to detect the presence of ethylene which may spoil all the produce. The company also develops smart containers focused on Quick Service Restaurants (QSR’s) and grain bin management. 
 
 
 The company reported conducting early stage trials with Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods in 2017.  In April 2021, the company stated that they expect to reach 100,000 subscribers within 3 months at a revenue of USD 1,300,000 per month. 
 
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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

<div>
 
 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.

Freshsurety

Food Waste

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