Pod Foods operates an online B2B ordering platform for retailers and brands. It provides services like real-time analytics, data solutions, inventory management, and fulfillment. Pod Foods generates revenue through commission fees based on sales volume. It has raised over $100 million to date to grow its digital marketplace connecting buyers and sellers in the food supply chain.

1. Field Study:
Food Supply Chain Tech
By Aubrie Pagano

2. Food Supply Chain Tech is service, information and infrastructure technology that is
used to allocate food resources in a safe, efficient, reliable and sustainable manner.
1. The food supply chain facilitates the distribution of $1.77 trillion worth of food in US. (usda.gov 2019)
2. In the US, median deal size in Food Tech increased by 50% from $2M in 2019 to $3M in 2020. Total
capital raised increased from $9.3M in 2018 to $13.4M in 2019.
3. Food Supply Chain (total 389 companies): 42 deals in 2018 and 33 deals in 2019 with over $3B
capital raised in each year. Significantly more than capital investments in 2017.
4. Supply chain (total 6334 companies): $15B total capital raised in 2019, 23% increase compared to
2018, and 300% increased compared to 2017. 2020 median deal size increased by 39% from 2019.
Why Food Supply Chain?
What is Food Supply Chain Tech?

3. Food Supply Chain is an enormous market.
Opportunity
• Global food system accounts for 10% of the world’s GDP and employs as many as 1.5 billion people.
• Global food logistics market reached a value of $100B (2018), projected to reach around $162B by 2024 (CAGR over 8%).
• Trading margins of agriculture commodities dropped from 15% in 1998 to 9% in 2018.1 Lower returns command the ability
to be cost competitive—which today is largely achieved through technology adoption.
• Less than one-quarter of executives feel that they’ve made significant progress in developing a playbook for the future.
What’s ahead?
• Changing consumer preferences will continue to boost organic and healthier food markets.
• Food safety regulation will lead to product/menu expansion, higher standards, and a more intense focus on traceability.
• Increased appetite for convenience will catalyze innovation in packaging, and operational challenges and cost
pressures (including rising labor costs) among equipment users are set to accelerate automation.
• COVID changed 85% of consumer’s food habits. The lasting effect of the pandemic, as well as a potential economic
downturn, urge food supply chain actors to pursue robust and resilient strategies.
Source: McKinsey Corporate Performance Analytics; Bayer “Feeding the World in a Pandemic”

4. The Food Value Chain
The number of actors in the food chain varies greatly at each level. In the US, around 2 million farms produce agricultural products for
processing via about 36,000 plants in the food and beverage industry. The food processors sell their products through approximately
16,500 companies within the food distribution industry. In 2019, $1.77 trillion was spent on total food expenditures by consumers,
businesses and government entities. (USDA)
Actors Producers Processors Distributors Consumers Gov/Regulators
Key
Responsibilities
Farming, ranching,
research and
development
Butchering, processing
& manufacturing,
marketing and sales
Distributing and
retailing
Shopping and
consuming
Public health and
safety, policy
Challenges Market strategy and
implementation,
regulatory compliance,
access to capital
Supply chain strategy,
achieving economy of
scale
Food safety and
traceability, supply
chain management
Food availability and
safety, health and
wellness, quality and
sustainability
Food availability and
safety, health and
wellness, quality and
sustainability

5. Industry Wide Challenges
Challenge Facts
Food Safety and Fraud • CDC estimates about one in six American becomes ill and 3,000 die from foodborne diseases each year.
• Food recalls increased by 54% to 28 million pounds annually on average during 2015-2019 compared to 2010-2014.
• Direct cost to a food company due to a recall is estimated to be $10 million; indirect costs including subsequent litigation,
compliance penalties and damaged reputation can be even greater.
• Food fraud refers to the international deception using food for economic gain. It costs the global food industry $30-40 billion
per year.
Rapid Population Growth
and Urbanization
• Global population growth means that food production needs to increase by 70% by 2050.
• Northern America is the most urbanized region with 82% of its population living in urban areas. Urbanization is associated
with more demands for convenient and “luxury” foods, this implies our dietary shift towards more energy-intensive
production and pre-prepared food.
• Rapid rise in number, size, and diversity of megacities make the food supply chain increasingly complex to manage and move
food from farm to table.
Food Waste • One third of globally produced food is wasted. In the US, food waste is estimated at between 30-40% of the food supply.
• Food waste is responsible for 6% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Production of lost or wasted food generates the
equivalent of 37 million cars' worth of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.
Inflexible Distribution
System
• Just about 50 factories process 98% of the nation’s beef. “Big Four” processors: Tyson Foods, JBS, Cargill, and National Beef,
accounted for 80% of beef market and are currently under antitrust investigation.
• Heavily consolidated system results in bottleneck under the stress of COVID, with 18 processing plants in the US closed in April
2020, affecting more than a third of the country’s beef and pork supply.
Changing Consumer
Behaviors due to COVID
• Consumers, forgoing public venues and eating at home, stocked up on groceries and supplies. Boosting food sales by 29% in
April 2020 over the prior year. However, sales declined at restaurants by 27%.
• E-commerce channel represents 10-15% of total grocery spend, increasing fivefold in April 2020. This created challenges
associated with last-minute delivery. Walmart, for example, has hired 50,000 additional people, and Instacart has hired
300,000, as they navigate new COVID-19-related safety precautions.
• Forecasts are uncertain about the duration of pandemic-related demand shifts and the recovery of the food-service economy.

6. Technology trends driving the industry forward.
AI/ML Analytics SaaS
Enhance supply chain
efficiency and
operational optimization
through data collection
along chain, which
provides valuable insights
and facilitates data
driven-decision making.
Sample:
• Sales and Operation
planning
• Waste Prevention
• Logistic Management
Food Traceability
Systems
Trace the flow of foods
throughout production,
processing and
distribution stages. Help
food companies and
governments more
efficiently identify, isolate
respond to the source of a
food safety issue and food
fraud concerns.
Sample:
• Real-time monitoring
IoT
• Blockchain-enabled
ledger
• Food sensing tech
Food Repurpose
Add value to byproducts
or surplus ingredients
through additional
processing Reduce food
waste and support a more
sustainable food system.
Sample:
• Upcycled food
products
• Novel edible by-
product
Automation &
Robotics
Reduce labor costs,
improve ecommerce
delivery times, and
alleviate labor
constraints. COVID
accelerated automation
technology to assist
human worker, make
warehouses safer, and
ensure continuity of
operations.
Sample:
• Warehouse
automation
• Autonomous delivery
robots
Digital Marketplaces
& E-commerce
Change food wholesaling
and retailing experiences
for stakeholders.
Realize a shorter time to
market and meet buyer
demands while reducing
food waste.
Sample:
• B2B platform
• B2C platform
• Excess redistribution
Mature Less Mature

7. Investible traits of key
technologies for Alpaca VC:
Asset light
• Low upfront investment in hardware
or physical assets
Fast Growth
• Short time to market
• Prepared for rapid scaling in growth
stage; scalability
Agility
• React immediately to market changes
• Constant adjustment to optimize
product market fit
High Adaptability
• User friendly UI and UX for broad
user (non-technical) adoption
• Retrofit solution or minimal upfront
change
• Easy and seamless integration with
other systems
Less Regulated
• Focusing on market that has low
regulatory barriers
We narrowed away from Robotics and Food Traceability as result

8. VC Investment Deal Count
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
2016 2017 2018 2019
DealCount
Supply Chain Tech
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
2016 2017 2018 2019
DealCount
Food Tech
Source: Pitchbook Data

9. Capital Raised
$0
$2
$4
$6
$8
$10
$12
$14
$16
2016 2017 2018 2019
CapitalRaised
Billions
Supply Chain Tech
$0
$2
$4
$6
$8
$10
$12
$14
$16
2016 2017 2018 2019
CapitalRaised
Billions
Food Tech
Source: Pitchbook Data

10. Capital Raised from VC Investments (Food Supply Chain)
$0
$2
$4
$6
$8
$10
$12
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
CapitalRaised
Billions
Investments Over Time
46
Companies
187
Deals
726
Investors
$5.60B
Largest Deal
Source: Pitchbook Data

11. VC Deals in 2019 & 2020
Top deals focusing on mature technology trends
Start-up Top Funding
($M)
Latest Round Innovation Trend Challenge
Addressed
Company
Description
Doordash 2935 Series H Marketplace, Last
mile delivery
Urbanization Food delivery
application
Instacart 2270 Series G Marketplace, Last
mile delivery
Urbanization Grocery delivery
application
Sun Basket 140 Series E Meal Delivery
Service
Distribution, food
waste
Subscription meal
delivery service
Fabric 136 Series B Robotic, micro
fulfillment
Distribution Automated logistics
fulfillment solution
GrubMarket 106 Series C Marketplace, SaaS Distribution Farm-to-table food
delivery
Cheetah 72 Series B Marketplace B2B distribution Wholesale B2B food
supplier
Flexe 64 Series B Marketplace Distribution,
Warehouse
Warehousing space
on-demand

12. VC Deals in 2019 & 2020
Top deals focusing on emerging technology trends
Start-up Top Funding
($M)
Latest Round Innovation Trend Challenge
Addressed
Company
Description
Foodlogiq 30 2nd Round SaaS, Blockchain Food safety Supply chain
transparency
software
Crisp 26 Series A Data Analytics Productivity, food
waste
Demand forecasting
platform for the
food industry
Afresh 20 Series A Data Analytics – AI Productivity, food
waste
AI platform for fresh
supply chain
management
Intello Labs 9 Series A Data Analytics –
AI/ML
Food safety, food
waste
Quality assessment
of food commodity
Codify 5 Early State VC Data Analytics – ML Food waste Farm to kitchen
technology solution
Connecting Food 5 Early State VC Food traceability –
Blockchain
Food safety Food tracing
platform
ReGrained 4.5 Early State VC Upcycle Food waste Zero waste snack

13. M&A Overview
Top M&A Activities 2019-2020
• Just Eat Takeaway acquired GrubHub for $7.3B
• Uber acquired Postmates for $2.65B
• Uber acquired Cornershop for $459M
• Target acquired Deliv as the retailer ramps up its
same-day delivery capabilities.
• Workday acquired Scout for $540M
M&A activities in the Food Tech vertical have
dramatically increased over the past 3 years in terms of
deal count, with a median deal size of $107M in 2019.
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
DealCount
Corp/Strategic M&A
Investments Over Time
Source: Pitchbook Data

14. Food Digital Marketplaces
+ E-commerce

15. What is a Food Digital Marketplace & E-commerce?
Digital Marketplace and E-commerce solutions are online platforms designed to sell a selection of products. They can either offer a broad range of
products or specialized type of products that connect B2B or B2C. Other core characteristics of food marketplaces include facilitating direct
transactions among multiple sellers and buyers; often, sellers pay commission fees to gain access to a specific consumer base. Continued development
of tech enablement such as payments and security, as well as a shift in consumer behavior, have fueled the growth of startups in this ecosystem. Food
and beverage, still the least-penetrated category online, is expected to grow 58.5% in online sales in 2020.
Restaurant
Delivery
E-grocery Wholesale
Platforms
E-Procurement
& Supporting
Solutions
Meal Kits Virtual
Farmer’s
Markets
Surplus & “Ugly”
Product
Marketplaces
Description On-demand platforms
connecting restaurants
and customers.
Aggregating
restaurants, brands, and
data in-app and
providing delivery
services to the
customers. In U.S.
online food delivery
penetration could rise
from 6% (~$19bn) in
2018 to 13% (~$60bn) in
2025. (Morgan Stanley)
Online grocers
provides e-
commerce
services for
grocery items to
consumers. The
U.S. online grocery
market was
estimated to
generate sales
worth of about
$28.68B in 2019,
with sales forecast
to reach $59.5B by
2023. (Statista)
Wholesaling
platforms eliminate
legacy intermediary
players in the supply
chain, streamlining
payments and
invoicing processes
and helping
restaurants source
from a vetted
network of producers
to ensure ingredient
quality and
competitive prices.
These enterprise
softwares are
designed for food
industry suppliers
and vendors. They
provide innovative
solutions to meet the
demand of users as
food supply chain
shifts to online and
players participate in
the digital
marketplace.
Meal kit
subscription
models provides
consumers with
pre-made meals or
portioned
ingredients paired
with recipes. By
2022, this
market is
expected to reach
11.6 billion dollars.
(Statista)
Websites or
apps let users
order fresh
produce online
from local
farmers and
artisanal food
producers.
Marketplaces for ugly
and surplus produce.
Bridging the gap by
connecting “imperfect”
products to buyers who
don’t need the
aesthetics. Discounted
pricing is often offered,
and they help solve the
massive food waste
problem .
In the US 10.1 million
tons of food are left
unused on farms and in
packing facilities each
year.
Examples Doordash, Uber Eats,
Grubhub
Thrive Market,
Peapod, Instacart,
Jupiter
Choco, Cheetah, Pod
Foods, Pepper, Dine
Market
Uppler, Gwholesaler,
Mercatus
Blue Apron, Hello
Fresh, Hungryroot,
Freshly
Good Eggs,
OurHarvest
Imperfect Foods, Full
Harvest

16. Three areas that interest us most
Why:
• Centralized, stagnant and
antiquated wholesaling and
distribution systems
• B2B platforms reduce operation cost,
markups and hidden fees, and pass
on the costs to end consumers
• Industry is ripe to be disrupted and
repeat the B2C playbook
Value Add:
• Convenience and reliability of the
ordering, invoicing and fulfilment
process
• Recommendation algorithm based
on demand and market data
• vertical integration from farm to
table, B2B2C marketplaces, ability to
pass on cost saving to users
Why:
• Offline to Online evolution, growth in
adjacent industries (ie., Apparel)
• The need and demand from
incumbent companies to adapt and
cope with the digital ecosystem
• Competing for time and lack of
internal capacity and talent
Value Add:
• Accelerate and complement the
digital supply chain revolution
• Improve operational efficiency under
time constraints
• Solutions include: B2B marketplace
development solutions, Enterprise
software platforms-- financial,
inventory management, CRM
Why:
• 40% of the food wasted by weight
occurs at consumer-facing
businesses (e.g., restaurants,
grocery and supermarket stores)
• The food industry spends $1.3 billion
a year to dispose of unsold food
• Tech and data enable matching
and price adjustments to help solve
the food waste problem
Value Add:
• Real-time information about
available food
• Food quality control and
assurance, customization at scale,
end-of-life product management
• Ability to deploy route planning
and recurring order fulfillment to
minimize last mile delivery costs
and time
1. Wholesale Platforms 2. E-Procurement, Supporting Solution 3. Surplus Redistribution

17. Food Digital Marketplace Startup Examples
Value Prop Business Model Capital Raised to date
Pod Foods Online B2B ordering platform for
retailers and brands, providing real-time
analytics, data solution, inventory and
fulfillment management.
Sales volume based commission fee.
Two-tier fee structure: full-service
distribution or direct ordering solution,
ranging from 8%-25%.
$7.27M
Uppler B2B marketplace software solution
provider, offering all-in-one solution,
creating private and custom
marketplaces and e-procurement
platforms.
SaaS model with fixed monthly fee. Privately Held (no-backing)
Cheetah Wholesale groceries and restaurant
supplies marketplace offers businesses
an affordable solution for the
procurement of their daily supplies. It
expanded into direct-to-consumer
during COVID.
Facilitate the transaction between
merchants and buyers. Service fee is
charged based on the order placed by
restaurant (buyer).
$72.72M
Handshake Developer of multi-channel B2B
ecommerce platform (food and
beverage is one of its focus areas) for
wholesalers and B2B sales reps to
facilitate order management, product
and pricing updates, and other
customization features.
SaaS model. Handshake Rep pricing
starting from $39.95. Customized pricing
for Handshake Direct (B2B optimized
web storefront/buyer app).
$23.5M, acquired by Shopify in 2019
(under $100M)
Imperfect Foods Online food market, sourcing ”ugly” and
surplus food from farmers and selling at
discounted price directly to customers,
hence reducing food waste by matching
supply and demand.
Subscription model. Weekly grocery
staples and pantry items delivery to the
door, box pricing starts from $16-$24.
$145.2M

18. Food Digital Marketplaces: Key Drivers and Challenges
Drivers
• Consolidated distribution system is ripe for disruption: With physical plants and store closures, COVID highlights the vulnerability.
• Evolving consumer need: Increasing importance placed on convenience, quality and personalized shopping experience.
• Readily available infrastructure and technology: On-demand delivery. online payment capabilities, and e-commerce solutions.
• Ecosystem maturity: Popularity of E-commerce and direct to consumer brands in retail.
• Profitability and Logistics: Lower overhead cost, supply chain efficiency and wider reach.
• Food and Beverage e-commerce sales is the fastest-growing and least penetrated e-commerce category.
Challenges
• Last mile delivery is burdensome to supply chains, as consumer behaviors change and there is increased appetite for on-demand
delivery; additionally, food and cold chain delivery becomes the biggest cost driver in the supply chain.
• Customer loyalty and repeat purchases: B2C marketplaces usually have low switching costs to users and hence low customer loyalty.
• Balance between unit economics and growth: High customer acquisition and retention costs, while at the same time multi-sided
platforms rely on economies of scale to reap the full benefit and generate operation efficiency.
• Disintermediation: Due to the revenue model, which heavily reply on commission/referral fee of GMV traded via digital marketplace,
buyers and sellers are likely to find ways to circumvent the marketplace.

19. Food Digital Marketplaces: Differentiators
Effective Data
• Ability to abstract data and protect business sensitive information
• Efficient usage of platform level data (e.g., purchase history, user behavior) with a customized recommendation
engine
• Tools and analytics to inform user decisions
Competitive Pricing
• Offer tiered pricing or dynamic discount by customer segmentation based on volume or number of transactions
• Pass savings to the customers through scale, and streamline + standardize processes along the supply chain
Product Selection
• Reach the depth and desired product assortment for the target market
• Clear positioning, customer segmentation and cultivation of new supply based on buyer needs
Fulfilment and Delivery Methods
• Identify methods that meet customer requirements (speed, convenience and price) and that are the most
operationally efficient
• Actively invest in long-term solutions to address the largest costs in logistics
Platform-Specific Features
• Meet compliance requirements -- in food trade, sellers are legally bound to display certain features of the product
origin, conservation methods, traceability and freshness
• Identify unique value-add features to improve user capabilities, retention, and user adoption (e.g., B2B marketplace
sellers should be able to select buyers in order to maintain positioning and exclusive distribution)
• APIs and SDKs to allow more integrations and give users permission to create value for themselves.
Source: HBS, The Best Platforms Are More than Matchmakers

20. AI/ML Analytics
SaaS

21. What is big data SaaS in Food Supply Chain?
The application of IoT and advanced robotics to create networks in the food supply chain management, thus enabling analytics to
automate decision making and significantly improve performance and customer satisfaction. In the past 30 years, logistics moved
from a purely operational function to advanced planning processes and operations between customers and producers. Using
predictive and prescriptive analytics solutions to improve areas such as supply chain transparency, demand planning, pricing and
end-of-life product management could bring social, economic and environmental benefits.
Inventory Planning/
Demand Forecasting
Waste Prevention Shipping logistics
management
Description Inventory stock in food industry is
often perishable with heavy
regulations to keep accountability
checked and consumers safe.
Inventory management systems
can generate real-time insights on
product demand and pricing,
balancing stock more efficiently
and reducing waste. Big data and
AI solutions are used to optimize
ordering, forecasting and
operations.
Using IoT and AI to improve data
accuracy and identify food waste.
Sensor based technologies enable
sorting and grading systems to
help food businesses to maximize
yields by replacing damaged
products with new ones or
performing preventive measures.
Uses sensors, processing and data
analysis to monitor product
statuses and environmental
conditions, in order to optimize
transportation for faster delivery
and effective reaction time to
supply chain issues.
Examples Afresh, Shelf Engine, Spoiler Alert Winnow, Tomra, GeniCan Wise Systems, Routific, Descartes

22. AI/ML Analytics SaaS: Key Drivers and Challenges
Drivers
• Complexity of food industry: Regulations and a demand for high quality product just-in-time.
• IoT & Cloud: Data collection and management costs are lower.
• Data availability: With more online business systems and more consumer data provided through social networking, more data
points are available for analysis.
• Proven success: Advanced data science techniques and SaaS adoption continued to be applied across industries, which
creates the ability to achieve operational efficiency and streamline management processes.
• Future of Work: Dashboard accessible from different devices and users.
Challenges
• Scale infrastructure to accommodate the large volumes of data to be analyzed.
• Complex data collection and application integration.
• Opaque ecosystem that results in data silos; big data will not be realized until information is shared and analyzed
throughout the supply chain.
• Privacy concerns.
• Hard to measure financial impact and lack of immediate proven results can foster reluctance from incumbent legacy food
supply chain players, hence preventing widespread adoption.

23. AI/ML Analytics being used in Food Supply Chain
Company Shelf Engine Winnow Routific
Value Prop Shelf Engine is a guaranteed sale vendor for
grocery store. Its order forecasting solution
uses machine learning and probabilistic
models to generate accurate orders. This
eliminates inventory loss, minimizes out of
stock, and improves bottom lines.
Winnow reduces food waste in the
hospitality industry through its object
recognition AI technology. By putting a
pulse on food that was thrown away,
Winnow makes it easy to calculate the
monetary value of the food wasted and
cut food costs.
Routific is a route optimization
software platform that helps
delivery businesses plan their
routes more efficiently, saving them
time and delivery cost.
Description The automated prediction engine
recommends what to order everyday for the
specific user, based on analyzing historical
POS data and machine learning based
dependent models.
The pricing strategy is a markup model
ranging from 5%-25%, depending on the shelf
life, gross margin and other aspects related to
the category and SKU.
Shelf Engine generates weekly report to show
savings and increases in gross profit in a
simple way. It has also established
relationships with hundreds of vendors and
distributors and continues to develop new
ones to include grocer’s existing suppliers.
Winnow leverages AI technology to
measure waste in commercial kitchens.
Food waste is thrown away and
captured by cameras. After a short
period of initial training of the model
tailored to the specific food business,
Winnow can recognize and record the
weight of the food, enable data
analytical tools to highlight volume, help
users to make better decisions, and
eliminate manual data entry.
Winnow adopts a SaaS model and is
used by companes such as IKEA; Helps
reduce food waste by 50% and food
costs by 2-8%.
Routific created an algorithm
inspired by the way that bees share
the best routes to their food sources
with other bees. Routes are planned
automatically based on the
proprietary algorithm which has
been in development for more than a
decade and takes into consideration
many real-world factors.
Routific offers a monthly
subscription model from $39/ vehicle
and is used by companies
like DoorDash; Routific can save up
to 40% on driving time and fuel.

24. What qualities do we look for in
AI/ML Analytics companies?
Qualified Team
• Ability to recognize the pain points and relevant regulatory requirements of the food supply chain.
• Focusing on solving high-value use cases for a specific stage of players in the value chain.
• Clear understanding of the risk of AI-powered solutions and the accompanying level of accuracy.
• Ability to explain the value of their unique algorithm.
• Qualification and deep domain knowledge
• Applied AI talent pool
Data Collection + Integrity
• Data Collection: Data is readily available through system integrations or easy to access via cost-
efficient sensors and devices.
• Quality Assurance: Data is well structured, labeled in high quality manner and ready to be analyzed.
Quality assessments are performed on a timely basis.
• Data acquisition strategy to overcome cold start problem.
• Domain-specific, proprietary dataset is a significant source of competitive advantage.
Model Accuracy
• Correctness. Accuracy of the model results using real world data
• Speed. Time to train the initial model and flexibility to run PoC/pilot projects

25. Food
Repurpose

26. What is Food Repurpose?
Food Repurpose use ingredients that otherwise would have not gone to human consumption, are procured and produced using verifiable
supply chains, and have a positive impact on the environment. About 30-40% of all food produced in the United States, worth an
estimated $218 billion (1.3% of GDP), is wasted. Food repurpose addresses the food waste problem directly and is one way to solve the food
urgency problem as the population grows. Upcycled food makes a more sustainable and resilient food system for all players along the supply
chain and can help reduce 70B tons of greenhouse gases from food loss and waste while creating economic opportunity and jobs for people
around the world .
Upcycled Food and Ingredients Process-Focused Tech Solution
Description Upcycled food brands focusing on processing
and production of food products which are
novel in nature or from novel sources for
human consumption. In order to extract value,
the byproduct is dehydrated, then extracted,
followed by alcohol precipitation to clarify
target compounds, before being further
processed to obtain a stable product. The
byproduct then goes through further product
development and processing to be formulated
into finished ingredients and food items.
Proprietary processes and technologies to
increase efficiencies in the dehydration or
extraction process, or to maintain the
nutritional and aesthetic qualities of
byproducts throughout processing. These
technologies can be used for their own
purpose or licensed to food manufacturers.
Example Barnana, Ambrosia, WISErg, Regrained,
Renewal Rise Products
Treasure 8, Planetarians
Source: Ellen MacArthur Foundation

27. It’s an exciting time for the
Food Repurpose space.
$46 B Market
Food waste is a booming
business worth $46.7 billion in
2019. Ugly produce alone
accounts for 40% of the food
produced in the U.S. and food
waste costs retailers about $18.2
billion a year. It has an expected
CAGR of 5% for the next 10 years.
27x economic value
increase
Common upcycling byproducts,
including BSG, are mostly sold as
animal feed today, which loses
most of its value. There is ample
opportunity to recapture these
ingredients and maintain a
”negative COGS” environment.
Ethical Values of
Consumers
62% of consumers said they
would be at least somewhat
comfortable eating "ugly
produce.” Consumers nowadays
are becoming aware about
sustainable means of
production and have a high
regard towards food
sustainably.
Food-focused
accelerators
Accelerators such
as FoodBytes! by Rabobank,
Techstars Farm to Fork
Accelerator, AB InBev’s 100+
Accelerator, and Food-X
provide ecosystem for food
upcycling startups to gain
traction and foster early
partnerships with corporations.
Source: Future Market Insights using data published by Food Waste Through Economics and Data

28. Food Repurpose Startup Examples
Regrained Akua Treasure 8
Value Prop Low fat, high fiber snacks made from
upcycled byproduct from beer-making.
Kelp jerky snacks made from ocean-
farmed kelp.
A novel drying technology used on
food waste or food surplus.
Description Regrained uses one of the most common
upcycle products – brewery “spent” grain
(BSG) and processes it with its patent-
pending process, creating two product
lines: Bars and Puffs.
It is a hybrid CPG and B2B ingredient
company. Through CPG sales to
consumers, the company generates
awareness and builds demand, hence
scaling the B2B ingredients sales and
launching co-branded products.
Akua use zero-input crop from the
ocean to make plant-based snacks.
Their products are carried by over 50
retailers throughout the nation and 5
online retailers including Thrive
Market.
Treasure 8 helps recover and reform
food waste through patented
process. The dehydration
technology treats fresh produce,
aspirating water vapor molecules
without losing the micro-nutrients in
food, extending the shelf-life and
capturing the texture.

29. Food Repurpose: Key Drivers and Challenges
Drivers
• Size & Growth: Upcycled Food Industry is worth $46.7 Billion and has an expected compound annual growth rate of 5% for the next
10 years.
• Consumer Acceptance and Willingness to pay premium.
• Awareness for food waste problem and greater public demand for more sustainable goods: A study said that more than half of
consumers want to buy more upcycled foods.
• Greater Clarity and further education: Emerging trade associations and certification programs continue to define upcycling
industry and scale the segment.
Challenges
• Operationally heavy and very product focused.
• “Greenwashing” by rebranding products that won’t mitigate the food waste problem and have been around for years.
• Space is early in its development stage; most startups focused on food waste are in the pre-venture and seed stages.
• High capex investment (i.e., engaging in commercial processing/ manufacturing).
• Requires vertical integration, and strategic partnerships with corporations are essential for scaling.

30. What qualities do we look for in Food
Repurpose companies?
Low Capex
• Technology-driven, first
• Asset-light, efficient operations
• Short time-to-market product timeline
Strategic Partnerships
• B2B contracts with established food
distributors, and/ or CPG companies
• Supplier partnerships
• Sourcing partners
Proprietary Distribution Channels
• Relationship with distributors and retailers
• Clear and achievable distribution strategy
Product Differentiation
• First mover advantage
• Novel food/ingredients
• Quality assurance and testing
• Nutrition value
• Consumer perception, high NPS, brand equity

31. Thank You
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