London food waste tech firm raises $20m heading for international success

An artificial intelligence technology provider saving the hospitality industry $33m in food waste has raised $20m in funding to take its platform global.

Winnow, the technology company behind Winnow Vision, the artificial intelligence tool helping chefs cut food waste in half, has completed its Series B round of funding, led by Ingka Group and Mustard seed, raising $12m - the company’s largest raise to date.

Earlier this month, the company received a $8m loan from The European Investment Bank, taking its total raise to $20m. Winnow will use the funding to kick-start its expansion plans within the hospitality industry, with the aim of making its platform available globally.

The series B round included high-profile investment from Ingka Group, a strategic partner to the IKEA franchisee system, Mustard Seed, Circularity Capital, D-Ax and The Ingenious Group.

Winnow co-founder and CEO, Marc Zornes, said: “We are very excited about driving the business forward in our global fight against food waste and we are grateful for the continuous support of our investors.

“This year, we launched our ground-breaking AI product Winnow Vision, and chefs using Winnow around the world are saving $33m worth of food from going to waste annually.

“We have set a target to save our customers $1bn of food waste by 2025, and this investment will accelerate our technology development and business development approach to help achieve this ambition.”

Launched in 2013, Winnow Vision works by taking photos of wasted food as it’s thrown away, using the images to train itself to recognise what has been discarded. Clients using the technology report a 40 to 70 per cent reduction in food waste within 6-12 months.

Winnow has been adopted by more than 1,000 sites globally, and is now operating in 40 countries with offices in London, Dubai, Singapore, Shanghai, Cluj-Napoca and Iowa City.

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