OLIO nabs $43 million to tackle food waste
OLIO, a UK-based mobile app for sharing food and other items, closed a $43 million series B funding round led by VNV Global and Lugard Road Capital/Luxor.
The investment will be used to expand its Food Waste Hero programme and product development.
Founded in 2015 by Tessa Clarke and Saasha Celestial-One, OLIO has amassed a user base of five million people. The app is used to give away unwanted food and other household items to neighbours, for free, with the aim of reducing waste in the home and helping people to consume more locally and sustainably.
“The pandemic coupled with the accelerating climate crisis has made it clearer than ever, that it’s no longer acceptable for businesses to throw away perfectly good food,” Olio co-founder Tessa Clarke said.
“Clients such as Tesco, Pret a Manger, and Compass Catering recognise that working with us is inevitable if they are to achieve zero food waste locations.”
“That’s because internal initiatives and working with discounting apps and charities alone just won’t get them there. We have an incredibly strong pipeline and now need to staff up fast to unlock this.”
Clarke believes that the Tesco-backed venture had to beat the odds as it was a female founded, tech for good, early revenue business.
The aim of the app is to reduce food wastage and reduce the effects of climate change.
OLIO picked up $6 million in Series A funding back in 2018. Earlier in the month, Tesco announced a new partnership with OLIO to prevent more than five million meals from going to waste.
