• Food loss and wastage is a global problem that worsens hunger, undermines the sustainability of food systems, and increases greenhouse gas emissions
• Measuring food waste is a challenge for many commercial kitchens, with up to 20% of food purchased going to waste
• Winnow develops Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools that help large hospitality businesses operate more profitable and sustainable kitchens by cutting food waste in half
• ABC Impact will work with Winnow to further expand in Asia and increase adoption of its cutting-edge technology across the food service and hospitality sector

Impact private equity fund ABC Impact announced today that it has invested in Winnow (“Company”), the global leader in AI-driven food waste reduction solutions. Winnow’s advanced technology and comprehensive analytics are trusted by large hospitality businesses such as hotels, contract caterers and cruise ships operating in over 2000 sites and more than 70 countries worldwide. The Company is headquartered in London with offices in Singapore, Chicago, Dubai, and Cluj-Napoca.

Sugandhi Matta, Chief Impact Officer at ABC Impact, said, “Food loss and wastage has a vast economic, social, and environmental impact – depleting resources, worsening global hunger, and increasing greenhouse gas emissions. The innovative AI-driven food waste management solution developed by Winnow has been successfully deployed globally and we are excited to support Winnow’s growth by reaching more commercial kitchens in Asia in the coming years. When we reduce food loss and waste, we can mitigate the pressure on climate, water, and land resources – and ultimately contribute towards a more sustainable future.”

Winnow’s AI-enabled solutions are trained to recognise waste as it is thrown in the bin, whether during preparation or from a customer’s plate. The automated recording process captures 100% of the waste stream and analytics identify and track where wastage occurs. This approach enables users to optimise efficiency, change behaviours, and drive significant waste reductions in their kitchens. On average, customers achieve a 50% reduction in food waste and cut costs by 2-8%. Winnow already has a proven track record in Asia with the likes of hotel operators such as Accor, Four Seasons, and Hilton. The Hilton Tokyo Bay cut food waste by 30% in the first four weeks of implementing Winnow’s tools. Winnow is also a Certified B Corporation.

“We are pleased to welcome ABC Impact as an investor and on our mission to help the global hospitality community cut food waste in half,” said Marc Zornes, CEO and co-founder of Winnow. He added, “Asia is a key market for our solutions and has vast potential to further reduce its food waste, with Singapore, Japan, and Indonesia a particular focus for us. We look forward to working with ABC Impact to further enhance our world-leading AI capabilities and to bring greater profitability and sustainability to Asia’s kitchens.”

Globally, the push for food waste reduction efforts has gained momentum – creating more growth drivers and amplifying the need for food waste solutions providers like Winnow. The 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference agenda featured food and agricultural systems as a distinctive theme for the first time. According to the United Nations, around 13% of food produced is lost between harvest and sale, while about 17% of global food production is wasted in total across households and commercial food services. With the scale of food loss and waste exacerbating the emission of greenhouse gases, the food and hospitality sector that Winnow specialises in plays an important role in global food waste reduction.

In Singapore, the National Environment Agency has mandated that all large commercial and industrial food waste generators must segregate their food waste for treatment from this year onwards, with further food waste segregation and reporting requirements expected to be implemented.

About ABC Impact

ABC Impact is an Asia-focused private equity fund dedicated to impact investing. We invest in companies that drive positive change by addressing the world’s most pressing challenges such as climate change, resource scarcity, and deepening inequality. Our investment themes include financial and digital inclusion, better health and education, climate and water solutions, and sustainable food and agriculture.

A division of Singapore-based global asset management firm Temasek Trust Asset Management Pte Ltd., ABC Impact’s founding investors are Temasek Trust, Temasek, Pavilion Capital, Mapletree Investments, Seatown Holdings, SP Group, and Sembcorp Industries. We are a signatory of the Operating Principles for Impact Management and the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment.

About Winnow

Winnow is a registered B corporation and pioneering technology company committed to reducing food waste in the hospitality sector. Founded in 2013, Winnow’s mission is to help clients save money while improving their environmental footprint through the implementation of AI-driven solutions. Winnow’s cutting-edge technology has been adopted by leading hospitality brands worldwide, enabling them to reduce food waste and operate more efficiently.

Funding will enable ViAqua to bring its first product to market, invest in R&D for future products, and prove the platform’s ability to deliver RNA-based solutions at scale.

 ViAqua Therapeutics, a biotechnology company and developer of an orally administered RNA-particle platform to promote and improve animal health in aquaculture, announced it has completed a US$8.25M round led by S2G Ventures with participation from Rabo Ventures, The Trendlines Group Ltd., Agriline Limited, Nutreco, I-Lab Angels and Circle Investments LLC.

Aquaculture is essential for improving food security, providing a healthy and sustainable food source, and protecting wild fish stocks in the face of growing demand for marine protein. But disease management is currently the biggest issue facing the aquaculture industry, resulting in more than $8.5 billion in economic impact for the shrimp industry alone, according to an analysis from Kontali.

To address this problem, ViAqua has developed a biotechnology-based oral delivery platform for the targeted administration of RNA-based solutions to improve disease resistance in aquaculture.

“Oral delivery is the holy grail of aquaculture health development due to both the impossibility of vaccinating individual shrimp and its ability to substantially bring down the operational costs of disease management while improving outcomes,” said Shai Ufaz, chief executive officer of ViAqua. “We are excited to bring this technology to market to address the need for affordable disease solutions in aquaculture.”

Shrimp, one of the most widely consumed seafood products globally, in particular, are very susceptible to disease due to their lack of adaptive immune systems, and there are currently no products available that address shrimp disease today. The company’s first product is a feed supplement to enhance resistance to viral infections in shrimp, with the initial application targeting White Spot Virus (WSSV), which causes an annual loss of around $3 billion and a 15 percent reduction in global shrimp production. This solution will provide much-needed production stability for farmers while also creating the opportunity to increase production per farm without increasing disease risk.

“Aquaculture is critical for the sustainable supply of marine protein,” said Kate Danaher, managing director of S2G Ventures’ Ocean and Seafood fund. “ViAqua’s platform technology will enable the company to move beyond WSSV to address numerous other diseases in aquaculture while similar technologies are still years away from reaching the market.”

ViAqua produces its capsule products using commercial, industrial processes and is scaling production to take its first product to market. With plans to begin production in India at the beginning of 2024, the company has established a commercial partnership through a joint development and marketing agreement with Skretting, a Nutreco company, to bring the product to the market. While ViAqua is currently focused on shrimp production, the delivery technology has numerous applications in aquaculture and beyond, which the company is excited to explore.

“We are truly excited by the potential of ViAqua’s technology because of the value it unlocks for the planet and the farmers. Diseases cause mortality rates of up to 50%, which result in 25-30% of shrimp farms failing annually. This is tremendously unproductive and hurts a lot of livelihoods,” explained Shishir Sinha, investment director at Rabo Ventures. “Our bank’s aquaculture specialists Gorjan Nikolik and Novel Sharma were impressed by the game-changing impact potential of having a solution for an issue that has plagued the sector for decades and can make a meaningful difference in the lives of the smallholder farmers, who represent 80% of supply.”

About ViAqua Therapeutics

ViAqua was established to address the growing need for effective, specific, and affordable health management of diseases in aquaculture. One of the major challenges facing the shift to sustainable aquaculture practice is the prevention and treatment of disease. ViAqua is developing a biotechnology-based, oral delivery platform for administration of nucleic acid-based solutions for promoting health in marine species.

About S2G Ventures:

S2G Ventures, the direct investment team of Builders Vision, partners with entrepreneurs who are working on solutions to some of the world’s greatest challenges across the food, agriculture, oceans, and clean energy markets. We provide capital, mentorship, and value-added resources to companies pursuing innovative market-based solutions that generate positive social, environmental, and financial returns. We provide our partners with flexible capital solutions that can range from seed and venture funding through growth equity to debt and infrastructure financing.

About Rabo Ventures:

Rabo Ventures, part of Rabobank, partners with early stage companies across the value chain to support their growth ambitions and enable the vital transitions needed in global Food & Agriculture. We invest behind stellar management teams building solutions for real problems with a focus on driving innovation and sustainability. With a local presence in 25 countries and over 100 dedicated sector specialists and researchers, Rabobank is the global leader in Food & Agriculture banking. As part of Rabobank’s captive investment franchise, Rabo Investments, we leverage the banks platform, knowledge and network to help sustain and grow your business while accelerating transitions that matter.

Largest fund in the firm’s twenty-three year history will include core and exploratory investments in payments, banking, embedded finance, and more

TTV Capital, an early-stage fintech venture capital firm, today announced that it has closed its sixth fund at $250 million, the largest since the firm was founded over two decades ago. The fundraise, which originally targeted $150 million, saw overwhelming interest and was oversubscribed by $100 million. Fund VI includes both new and existing limited partners comprising institutional and strategic investors, as well as family offices.

“Fund VI represents an inflection point for all of us at TTV Capital,” said Gardiner Garrard, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at TTV Capital. “Twenty-three years ago, we took an early bet on how the technology behind financial services would evolve. Back then, we didn’t call it ‘fintech’ – we just started investing in applications that were being built on the internet. We saw the digital transformation that was happening and we knew we wanted to be part of it. And now, as we look ahead, we’re still committed to finding the next class of enduring businesses that will shape the future of finance.”

In 2022 alone, TTV Capital made 18 investments in early-stage fintech companies across payments, banking, investing, cybersecurity, Web3, and embedded finance, with an average initial check size of $2 million to $7 million. The firm also has an exploratory fund for investments starting at $250,000. To date, TTV Capital counts more than 100 financial technology companies in its portfolio, and seven of those have reached unicorn status.

“Founders often tell us that our relationships, connections, and deep industry knowledge are most helpful to them as they grow their businesses,” said Sean Banks, Partner at TTV Capital. “It’s a privilege to do what we do, and we’re especially proud of the reputation that we’ve built as a founder-friendly firm. We believe our fintech expertise and years of experience in venture capital are the reasons why we’ve been able to drive strong returns for our limited partners amid different economic cycles.”

TTV Capital is one of the first and only early-stage fintech funds focused exclusively investing in companies in the financial services ecosystem. The firm has led early investments in multiple category-creators, including Bill.com, Shopkeep, Green Dot, SmartAsset, and others. TTV Capital is also one of the largest – and longest-running – venture firms in Atlanta, and has backed multiple successful Atlanta-based companies, including Greenlight, Cardlytics, Greenwood, Carputty, Featurespace, and Instant.

About TTV Capital

Founded in 2000, TTV Capital is one of the longest-running venture capital firms investing exclusively in early-stage fintech companies. We create enduring value for our investors, founders, and team by supporting our portfolio companies at every stage of growth. Our distinct approach combines deep industry knowledge with connections, resources, and founder-friendly relationships. TTV’s portfolio includes more than 100 market leaders and emerging pioneers across payments, banking, investing, crypto, and embedded finance. The firm has been named to Inc.’s Founder-Friendly Investors list, the top ten of the Founder’s Choice VC list, and Institutional Investor’s Fintech Finance 40.

TTV Capital is headquartered in Atlanta and has a presence in the Bay Area. For more information, visit www.ttvcapital.com.

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SOURCE TTV Capital