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Invafresh acquires Swedish tech company Whywaste
The Whywaste tech platform will provide food waste solutions for grocery and convenience store retailers.
2 Min Read
Invafresh noted that more than a third of global food production, valued at $1 trillion, goes to waste annually. That amounts to 1.3 billion tons. / Image courtesy: Invafresh
Grocery tech company Invafresh has acquired Swedish food tech company Whywaste, which manages markdowns and food waste for grocery retail, the company announced this week.
The Whywaste tech platform will provide end-of-life product solutions for grocery and convenience-store retailers, the Mississauga, Ontario, Canada-based tech company said in a statement.
More than a third of global food production, valued at $1 trillion, goes to waste annually, Invafresh noted. That amounts to 1.3 billion tons, the company added, a number that is expected to grow by 70% by 2050.
“We estimate that U.S. food waste totaled more than $650 billion in 2022, based on $1.25 trillion of food and beverages purchased for off-premises consumption combined with an estimate that 35% of food goes unsold or uneaten,” said John Harmon, senior technology analyst at Coresight Research, in a statement. "Sixty-three percent of grocery retailers view food waste reduction as very important in meeting corporate sustainability goals. The addition of Whywaste’s suite of waste reduction tools to Invafresh’s AI-enhanced demand forecasting capabilities could help retailers achieve those goals.”
The Whywaste platform saves its customers an average 30% on food waste and increases their revenue by an average 17% by optimizing discount pricing, Invafresh said, adding that the team-up of the two companies will also reduce shrink and help retailers reach their sustainability goals.
“I’m excited to welcome Whywaste as part of the Invafresh team and look forward to working with them to expand the global footprint of our combined Fresh Retail platform offering,” Invafresh CEO Tim Spencer said in a statement. “Throughout the due diligence process, I was impressed by both the caliber of talent at Whywaste and the quality of their products. That talent and product quality has allowed Whywaste to establish themselves at the forefront of the rapidly growing sustainability movement by enabling grocery retailers to profitably reduce food waste.”
The company said the acquisition positions Invafresh for global growth and “extends the functionality of their AI/ML enhanced Fresh Retail Platform with Whywaste’s end-of-life solutions including advanced date checking, markdown price optimization, and donation platform capabilities."
“With the innovation Invafresh brings to the grocery retail market with their Fresh Retail Platform, partnering with them is the natural evolution for Whywaste,” said Whywaste CEO Kristoffer Hagstedt in a statement. “Food waste is a global challenge, and our combined solution gives grocery retailers a proven approach to reducing shrink and helping them achieve their sustainability goals.”
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