Winnow Solutions, a UK-based smart kitchen technology developer backed by advertising firm R/GA, closed a $7.4m funding round on Monday.
D-Ax, the digital business arm of investment firm Axel Johnson, co-led the round with private equity firm Circularity Capital and venture capital firm Mustard Seed.
Founded in 2013, Winnow has developed the Winnow Waste Monitor, a set of smart scales with an accompanying app that lets kitchen staff monitor what gets thrown away. The company claims that it can reduce food waste in commercial kitchens by half.
The device is used in more than 600 kitchens worldwide by hospitality brands including Ikea, Compass Group, AccorHotels and Costa Cruises.
Winnow graduated from IoT Venture Studio UK, an accelerator jointly run by R/GA’s venture capital arm, R/GA Ventures, and Innovate UK in May 2017. The R/GA Ventures website lists Winnow as a portfolio company.
The startup secured $3.3m in series A funding from Mustard Seed, D-Ax and assorted private investors in June 2016, after raising $900,000 in a 2015 seed round backed by Mustard Seed.
Marc Zornes, CEO of Winnow, said: “This fundraising announcement is a key milestone in our journey and validation that our technology is driving real value for our clients. The hospitality sector is quickly waking up to the opportunity that food waste presents.
“We are encouraged by some of our biggest clients now having the confidence to make public commitments to reduce food waste and we expect the rest of the industry to follow suit doing the right thing for their businesses and for the planet.”