AI food waste reduction firm Winnow raises $10m
Winnow, the company behind AI-driven food waste reduction solutions, has raised $10 million in Series C funding from investors, including IKEA’s investment arm, Ingka Investments, ArcTern Ventures and Novax, to expand product development and boost AI capabilities. Winnow’s technology utilises computer vision to identify wasted food items in real time, allowing its analytics tools to help teams make operational improvements and reduce waste by 50%. The company, a registered B corporation, aims to reduce food waste in the hospitality sector, with ambitions of scaling globally.
According to Winnow, the hospitality sector generates more than $100 billion worth of food waste each year.
Airline and hotel groups Hilton, Marriott, IHG, Accor, Compass Group, ISS, and Iberostar are among the big names to have adopted the technology which helps to reduce food purchasing costs by 2% to 8% and cut 217,000 tonnes of CO2e emissions worldwide. The company’s innovative AI solutions also played a role in IFEA becoming the first major foodservice business to halve food waste and meet the Sustainable Development Goal.
Winnow estimates a commercial kitchen typically wastes between 5% and 15% of the food it buys, with the hospitality sector generating more than $100 billion worth of food waste annually. The AI technology will allow the company to further build on its world-leading AI capabilities and achieve even greater operational efficiency and impact, commented Marc Zornes, CEO and founder of Winnow. ArcTern Ventures managing partner, Marc Faucher, added the company's technology and global reach were "perfectly aligned" with its investment approach of supporting innovative tech solutions aimed at reducing climate change.
They've invested in Winnow
Get to know these Foodtech investors
Click here for a full list of 6,908+ startup investors in the UK