Yume has raised $2 million to reduce food waste in Australia.
Yume’s online portal, which sells “surplus food” by connecting suppliers to buyers, has transacted A$400,000 since launching last year.
The startup’s A$2.6 million ($2 million) financing included Impact Generation Partners and the Vincent Fairfax, Myer and English family foundations.
“Surplus food is not necessarily close to the use-by date,” Yume founder Katy Barfield said. “More often than not it’s a cancelled order.”
More than nine million metric tons of food is wasted annually in Australia.
Other startups, including Winnow, are developing tech to tackle the $80 billion in food wasted in advanced economies each year (see, “How a 20 Percent Cut in Food Waste Could Yield $100 Billion in Benefits”).
Photo credit: Anthill
