Full Harvest, a B2B marketplace specialising in surplus and imperfect produce, has announced multiple milestones as it successfully scales its operations to help solve the $2.6 trillion global food waste problem.
“In just a few short months, we’ve been able to make incredible progress toward our mission to solve the produce distribution efficiency problem and reduce on-farm waste. Our new B2B marketplace tools improve the online produce buying/selling process even further, and even more products are using our Verified Rescued Produce on store shelves,” Full Harvest founder and CEO Christine Moseley said.
“However, I consider our greatest recent achievements to be attracting top talent given the current hiring crunch, as well as bringing on additional stellar investment partners – Rabobank and Translink Capital / Japan Airlines (as JAL Innovation Fund) – to set us up for continued success. I’m looking forward to all that our team will achieve in the months ahead as we disrupt the produce supply chain and make 2022 our breakout year.”
Leadership team expansion
Full Harvest deepened its bench of proven industry experts, appointing seasoned online marketplace executives Nicolas Genest as chief technology officer and Brenton Keath as chief financial officer. Rounding out the Full Harvest leadership team, Genest will lead the company’s continued marketplace expansion efforts, while Keath will guide its financial strategy.
Both will help support Full Harvest’s push to break into new markets, strengthen industry partnerships and enhance its distribution channels.
Full Harvest also appointed product expert, Omar Chaudhry, to VP of Product. Dedicated to helping ecommerce companies meet evolving market needs, he will support the company’s continued product strategy and help ensure an intuitive user experience.
Strategic funding
Due to an oversubscribed round, Full Harvest closed another $5 million in growth financing from Rabobank’s Food & Agri Innovation Fund (RFAIF) and JAL Innovation Fund, increasing their total Series B to $28 million.
With the backing of Rabobank as well as JAL Innovation Fund, Full Harvest has widened its access to a larger network of connections that will be integral to the next phase of its rapid growth.
“Too much food ends up being wasted while it is still perfectly edible. With our investment into Full Harvest, we support Christine and her team in tackling the very real problem of food waste at the farm level, by allowing farmers to sell all their fresh produce to commercial food producers, including imperfect or surplus produce,” Rabobank Managing Board member Berry Marttin said.
“Innovations like these are essential to guarantee a safe and sustainable food supply for a growing global population, and are good for people, nature and to tackle climate change.”