UK-based food waste-management technology developer Winnow has secured $12m in a series B round featuring Ingka, a franchisee for home furnishings retailer Ikea, TechCrunch has reported.
D-Ax, a corporate venturing vehicle for trading group Axel Johnson, also participated in the round along with Mustard Seed, Circularity Capital and The Ingenious Group. It was announced along with $8m in debt financing from the multilateral European Investment Bank.
Founded in 2013, Winnow has created a software product that tracks food use in commercial kitchens in order to help chefs make clearer decisions about food use and ensure less food is wasted.
Krister Mattsson, managing director of Ingka subsidiary Ingka Investments, said: “Winnow has been a strong partner on our journey to reducing food waste in our Ikea stores by 50% by 2020.
“This investment supports growth and creates new opportunities to further accelerate the positive impact of food waste prevention. We are focused to increase the use of digital tools and analytics to both create the Ikea store of tomorrow and to deliver on Ikea’s sustainability ambition.’
D-Ax, Circularity Capital and Mustard Seed led a $7.4m round for Winnow in late 2017 that came after $900,000 from investors including Mustard Seed in 2015 and $3.3m from D-Ax, Mustard Seed and various angel investors the following year.
