Clean Crop Technologies bags investment to further reduce food waste

USA – Clean Crop Technologies, a US company developing next generation solutions to combat food loss in global grain and nut sectors, has closed a US$2.75 million seed stage investment to accelerate development of its technology for reduction of food waste and crop loss across the food space.

The investment round was led by Prime Impact Fund with a US$1.6 million investment, and was joined by Factor[e] Ventures, Innova Memphis, the Syndicate Fund, and the Alchemy Fund.

Clean Crop Technologies was co-founded by Dan White and Dan Cavanaugh to provide solutions that combat food waste resulting to contaminations. White and Cavanaugh have over 25 years of combined experience working in agricultural supply chains around the world.

While working directly with maize and groundnut traders in sub-Saharan Africa, the co-founders highlighted that they grew frustrated with the lack of solutions for contaminants that prevented smallholder farmers, traders, and graders from realizing the true value of their crops.

On a global scale, mycotoxins, molds and pathogens lead to an estimated 500 million tons of supply chain food waste, and 600 million cases of food borne illness every year.

This spoilage is more prevalent in regions with less developed agricultural infrastructure and technology, and is a major driver of economic losses around the world.

Food waste due to mycotoxins, molds and pathogens is estimated to cause a loss of nearly US$250 billion, and is responsible for approximately 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

With a clear problem in focus, White and Cavanaugh conducted a thorough landscape of possible solutions and teamed up with Dr. Kevin Keener, a renowned Professor at the University of Guelph.

Through the research partnership, Clean Crop Technologies’s founders and Kevin have developed High Voltage Atmospheric Cold Plasma (HVACP) and ionized air technologies for food safety over the past 20 years.

The company is now building a proprietary ionized air generator, which it says is energy efficient and optimizes treatment effect in the processing environment. 

The company said that the seed funding round will accelerate development of its technology and further expand its technical and product development capacity on the team.

Clean Crop seeks to begin field tests in the US later this year and targets commercial deployments in emerging markets and the U.S starting in 2021. 

“We are excited to be partnering with Prime Impact Fund, Factor[e] Ventures, and the rest of our investors to bring our breakthrough technology to market,” said Dan White, CEO of Clean Crop.

“This investment will enable us to accelerate R&D, and hone in on the best path to market for our tech. We look forward to leveraging our investors’ significant experience and networks in hardware R&D and agricultural markets in this exciting new phase for the company.”