Evigence, a food technology company that provides first-time freshness data to optimize the freshness of foods, today announced the close of $18M in Series B funding. The round was led by Cleveland Avenue and included previous investor Landa Ventures, as well as Planet Capital, a privately-held partnership in Chicago. They join prior investment partners including Food Retail Ventures.
Evigence’s Freshness Management System combines sensors and data analytics to empower food brands, retailers, and foodservice to measure and manage the freshness of food in real time, at the unit level, from end-to-end across the supply chain. Having visibility into food’s actual remaining freshness has allowed Evigence customers to ensure food quality and safety, extend shelf life, reduce food waste, improve operational efficiency and build consumer trust.
“At Evigence, we aim to redefine the way the world manages fresh food”, said Evigence Founder & CEO Yoav Levy. “Today there is no objective way to measure freshness. Small variations in temperature during transit or storage can lead to waste of perfectly good food on one end of the spectrum, or problems with food safety on the other end. Date codes don’t account for these fluctuations. We want to change the paradigm.”
“Evigence’s technology enables the quantification of freshness and comes at a pivotal moment for our food system”, added Keith Kravcik, Chief Financial and Investment Officer, Cleveland Avenue. “By adding transparency to food supply chains, we can reduce waste and inefficiencies, providing significant cost savings for foodservice companies, retailers and food brands.”
This latest investment will fuel continued development of the Evigence solution, with a focus on advanced data collection and analytics capabilities. The funds will also be used to launch additional commercial partnerships in the US and Europe.
Evigence recently launched its Freshness Management System with meal kit delivery company Marley Spoon by Martha Stewart. Marley Spoon implemented the Evigence solution to ensure 100% compliance with its rigorous food safety standards, as well as provide a freshness guarantee to its customers. The program has seen high consumer engagement and satisfaction, with 85% indicating that they would like to see the program continued.
Other current customer engagements include major US and European grocers, food brands and foodservice providers, who are piloting Evigence’s Freshness Management System for applications ranging from supply chain optimization to freshness-based inventory management. These projects have demonstrated meaningful bottom-line impacts, including 20% shelf life extension, 5% increase in sell-through and 33% reduction in waste.