In the United States, food waste accounts for 30% to 40% of the country’s food supply. This is food that could help families in need or become compost material, but instead, it’s needlessly thrown away in the landfill. Not only is this incredibly wasteful, but the food being thrown out each day could be used to solve another crisis: food insecurity and hunger. The following startups are working to put an end to these pressing issues with their business so that no one has to worry about putting food on the table again.
Startup Companies Tackling World Hunger
When it comes to creating a better world, entrepreneurs have some of the best ideas. The following startups are worth keeping an eye on as they tackle hunger and food waste.
Disclaimer: With so many exciting startups launching and growing worldwide, we aren’t able to cover them all. Furthermore, the startups that are listed below are not officially ranked and are listed in no particular order.
1. Chia Smash
- Location: Brooklyn, New York
- Founder(s): Anna Peck, Steve Ford
- Founded In: 2019
- Funding: Series Unknown, $1 Million
- Investors Include: Branch Venture Group, Dynabrand Ventures, Roya Capital
Chia Smash is a better-for-you food company that creates jam alternatives out of upcycled fruits, chia seeds, and date syrups. The product line is small, consisting of only a handful of jam flavors, but Chia Smash boasts retailers in the United States and the United Kingdom. The company is Upcycled Certified, a program designed to reduce food waste by promoting certified companies utilizing upcycled food products.
2. Full Harvest
- Location: San Francisco, California
- Founder(s): Christine Moseley
- Founded In: 2015
- Funding: Series B, $39.5 Million
- Investors Include: Portfolia Food & AgTech Fund, Stardust Equity, TELUS Ventures
Full Harvest is taking the business-to-business (B2B) approach by offering surplus and imperfect produce to restaurants and other suppliers via their online marketplace. Their mission is to fundamentally change the food system process for the better through their offerings.
Over 2.5 billion tons of food isn’t consumed each year — much of it simply because of the way it looks. Not only does this waste food that could be feeding families in need, it’s also terrible for the environment. Full Harvest takes matters into its own hands by giving these items a second chance.
3. Martie
- Location: Los Angeles, California
- Founder(s): Kari Morris, Louise Fritjofsson
- Founded In: 2021
- Funding: Series A, $10 Million
- Investors Include: Upfront Ventures
Martie is another woman-owned business that’s recycling items grocery stores want to throw away. Many stores often throw items away when there’s a brand change or new box design, even when the items may still be fresh! Martie takes those off their hands and sells them on their online marketplace, so they do not go to waste.
4. Misfits Market
- Location: Hanover, Maryland
- Founder(s): Abhi Ramesh, Edward Lando
- Founded In: 2018
- Funding: Series C-1, $526.5 Million
- Investors Include: SoftBank Vision Fund, Accel, Collide Capital
Misfits Market is an online grocery delivery service that aims to reduce food waste while providing affordable, high-quality produce and groceries to consumers. The company sources “misfit” fruits and vegetables — items that may be oddly shaped, sized, or colored, but are still perfectly edible — directly from farms and producers. It then sells these items, which might otherwise be discarded due to cosmetic imperfections, to customers at discounted prices — often up to 30% less than traditional grocery stores.
5. Goodr
- Location: Atlanta, Georgia
- Founder(s): Jasmine Crowe
- Founded In: 2017
- Funding: Series A, $12.3 Million
- Investors Include: Precursor Ventures, Collab Capital, Tech Square Ventures
Goodr takes local produce and gives it back to the community to directly fight local hunger. Not only do they pick up edible food waste from businesses and donate it to local nonprofits, they also partner with organic waste haulers to ensure that items that can’t be eaten are properly disposed of. Overall, they’ve stopped nearly 3 million pounds of food from being dumped in the landfill.
6. FoodMaven
- Location: Denver, Colorado
- Founder(s): Patrick Bultema, Daniel Lewis
- Founded In: 2015
- Funding: Series B, $44.3 Million
- Investors Include: Trailhead Capital, Tao Capital Partners, Serra Ventures
FoodMaven is an AI-powered platform that tackles food waste in the supply chain by creating a market for oversupplied and imperfect food products. The company connects suppliers who have excess inventory with restaurants, institutional kitchens, and other food service operations.
FoodMaven sources high-quality food that might otherwise go to waste due to oversupply, cosmetic imperfections, or a short shelf life. The company’s digital marketplace allows buyers to access these products at discounted prices while also providing detailed information about the food’s origins and quality.
7. Spoiler Alert
- Location: Boston, Massachusetts
- Founder(s): Emily Malina, Ricky Ashenfelter
- Founded In: 2015
- Funding: Series A, $16.2 Million
- Investors Include: Collaborative Fund, FTW Ventures, Maersk Growth
Spoiler Alert offers an innovative software platform designed to help food businesses manage and monetize their unsold inventory. The company provides a suite of tools that enable food manufacturers, distributors, and retailers to track their surplus food in real time, identify potential buyers, and streamline the process of discounting or donating excess products.
Spoiler Alert’s platform facilitates communication between various stakeholders in the food supply chain, making it easier to redirect food that might otherwise go to waste. By providing data analytics and reporting features, the software also helps businesses understand their waste patterns and make more informed decisions about inventory management.
8. qZense Labs
- Location: Bangalore, India
- Founder(s): Rubal Chib, Srishti Batra
- Founded In: 2019
- Funding: Seed, $966,000
- Investors Include: SOSV, Lumis Partners, 9Unicorns Accelerator Fund
qZense Labs is an India-based startup whose mission is to transform the food supply chain with data. qZense Labs uses a unique technology to assess the quality of food before it’s shipped off to suppliers. This is often another manual task that results in unnecessary food waste, but qZense’s analytic solution is non-destructive.
9. Matriark Foods
- Location: New York, New York
- Founder(s): Anna Hammond
- Founded In: 2018
- Funding: Seed, $455,000
- Investors Include: 1st Course Capital, Kroger Co. Hunger | Zero Waste Foundation
Matriark is a woman-owned startup that collects surplus and misshapen produce for resale. Their upcycled products are available on their website and includes the first upcycled chicken broth. Users can also find delicious recipes available using Matriark products. They bring new meaning to taking something imperfect and creating something new.
10. Olio
- Location: London, England
- Founder(s): Saasha Celestial-One, Tessa Clarke
- Founded In: 2015
- Funding: Series B, $57.6 Million
- Investors Include: Octopus Ventures, Accel, VNV Global
Olio takes a similar spin on preserving surplus food in their online marketplace with one twist: their offerings aren’t limited to just produce. OLIO takes any items from grocery stores that they’re about to throw out (which are typically things nearing their sell-by date/shelf life), and even groceries from your own fridge when you’re about to go out of town!
OLIO’s founders, Tessa Clarke and Saasha Celestial-One, have a vision of creating a more sustainable world by working together — and it’s as easy as downloading an app. Neighbors and grocers alike can create less waste with this amazing idea.
