In the US, the food wasted by the retail sector accounts for $37 billion a year in lost value. This is caused by the massive volume of surplus food reaching its best-by date before grocery stores have a chance to sell it to shoppers.
Toronto-based Flashfood is changing this statistic through a digitally-driven solution for grocery retailers to sell surplus food, reduce shrink and their carbon footprint, while also increasing grocers profits.
Flashfood is an app-based marketplace, which strives to eliminate retail food waste by connecting consumers with discounted food nearing its best-by date.
$12.3M funding
In a recent development, Flashfood closed $12.3 million in a Series A funding round led by investor S2G Ventures. The round involved participation from ArcTern Ventures and existing investors including General Catalyst, Food Retail Ventures, Rob Gierkink and Alex Moorhead.
The round will be deployed to support Flashfood’s continued expansion in the U.S. Also, it will enhance the company’s ability to feed more families affordably by working with retailers to sell food that would be discarded.
“This round of funding for Flashfood will allow us to rapidly work toward a more sustainable food system while giving consumers big discounts on groceries, helping them save money and do good for our planet at the same time,” said Josh Domingues, Founder and CEO of Flashfood. “This funding comes at a time when Flashfood is needed more than ever. It will fuel our ability to reach more shoppers and partner with sustainability-minded grocery chains across America. Every stakeholder is winning in this equation!”
Appoints new board member
Besides the funding, S2G Ventures’ managing director and founder of OpenTable, Chuck Templeton, will join the Flashfood board of directors.
“At S2G Ventures, our mission is to back trailblazing entrepreneurs working to build a healthier and more sustainable food system and we’ve seen how Flashfood can help deliver on this vision,” said Chuck Templeton, managing director at S2G. “Through innovation, Flashfood has created a simple way for retailers and consumers to help put a dent in the food waste crisis in a way that creates value for everyone, the retailer, shoppers and the planet. We’re very excited to support the app as they scale their business in the U.S and beyond.”
Reduced retail food waste
The Flashfood app available for both Android and iOS devices connects rconnects shoppers with grocery items that are nearing the end of their shelf life. These products will be available at up to 50% discount.
Using the Flashfood app, shoppers can not only buy items from grocery retailers through the Flashfood app but also pick them up in-store at great prices. This way, they will collectively reduce food waste.
To-date, Flashfood has helped shoppers save over $100 million on groceries and diverted over 33 million pounds of food. It operates in over 1,200 participating partner stores including GIANT, Stop & Shop, Giant Food of Maryland, Meijer, Tops, Martin’s Markets, Family Fare, Loblaw Companies Limited and more.
How does it work?
Firstly, shoppers have to download the Flashfood app on their device. Notably, this app is free to download. From this app, it is possible to quickly and easily find discounted food from wherever they are.
Users can browse deals available at up to 50% off at a grocery store location near them. The complete list of locations can be found from the official website. Now, shoppers have to choose the discounted food item that they want to buy and pay right within the app using any major credit card or Visa debit card.
