Reshaping Consumer Behavior 2024: Food Waste
Introduction
Global food waste – valued at USD 940 billion annually – harms farmers and raises consumer prices. This waste doubles greenhouse gas emissions, impacting sustainability across land, energy, labor, and capital. Moreover, in 2022, 60.6% of the population in Latin America and the Caribbean experienced food insecurity due to poor infrastructure and logistics, leading to an annual average of 223 kg of food waste per person. Our accelerator program aims to support startups addressing these issues in Latin America.
This program, in partnership with Posner Foundation, will support ten startups in Latin America to decrease food waste, by focusing on empowering and informing consumers, improving food center processes, and reducing loss risk in production.
Who can apply?
We are looking for startups that:
Empower and inform consumers – We are seeking innovations for consumers to reduce food waste with tools like shopping assistance, kitchen tech, shelf-life extension, and smart home devices.
Enable proactivity while improving processes at food centers – We are looking for solutions that provide food centers with tools to prevent food waste, such as Waste Tracking, Demand Planning, and Inventory Traceability and Management.
Work to reduce loss risks in production and distribution – We are looking for startups working on solutions around detecting and preventing food loss in the production and distribution phases, such as ambient and freshness monitoring technologies and sustainable biotechnology to protect food and crops from climate and disease.
Efficientize food waste diversion processes – We want to support startups that efficiently utilize food scraps, leftovers, or still edible food and gear it away from traditional disposable methods.
Eligibility requirements include:
Have legal incorporation and operations as a for-profit entity in at least one Latin American country.
Have a market-based solution that tackles food loss and/or food waste challenges in Latin America.
Have at least one full-time founder based in Latin America.
Be in compliance under local fiscal and business law.
Have a minimum viable product (MVP), and raised less than USD 1M in equity.
Have meaningful customer or business validation (not limited to revenue, it can also be successful pilot studies, number of users, and/or strategic partnerships).
Awards or Benefits
- Mentorship – Ability to meet with and receive mentorship from potential strategic partners, investors, potential customers, and other founders from prominent Latin American and US investors.
- Connections & Exposure – Access to a diverse and inclusive network of mentors and founders within the agtech and foodtech sectors. Exposure on Village Capital’s program website and other communications collateral.
- Advice – Access to an investment analyst who will coach them 1:1 on building a financial model, identifying unit economics, and using financial metrics to drive both the business and investor diligence.
- Events – Access to an in-person program summit in Mexico City focused on networking with relevant stakeholders in the impact ecosystem, including potential clients and investors.
- Continued Learning – Access to live and asynchronous sessions tailored to a virtual learning environment to help their companies identify early milestones and prepare for their next round of capital (if relevant) or big expansion. Participate in mock board meetings with representatives from financial institutions, corporates, experienced entrepreneurs, and investors that can help their company scale.
- Funding – Milestone-based funding (USD 4K per organization).