The Canadian start-up is set to unveil its proprietary modular processing unit, BioTrim, this summer, creating a circular economy for the food waste diversion industry
Vancouver, BC, CANADA, June 9, 2022 – TrendiTech Inc. (Trendi), Canada’s robotics start-up dedicated to rescuing and upcycling food waste into valuable products, today announced it has raised additional seed funding of $6.2 million CAD for its agri-food technology, bringing its accumulative seed round total to $8.45 million CAD. The funding was led by current investors WGG Capital Canada and Florida’s Vestech Partners.
“Trendi continues to impress and excite me with their forethought for the future, in solving a huge global problem, food waste,” says Herbert Madan of WGG Capital Canada. “My conviction is that the problem has only gotten worse. At the same time, parts of the world are going through dire food supply issues. Not only does Trendi’s BioTrim solve the problem of food waste, but they are also helping to build solutions and sustainability in food security.”
Trendi was founded in 2019 and just last spring was named a semi-finalist in the Government of Canada’s Food Waste Reduction Challenge. It has since built a substantial team of talented technologists, scientists, engineers, innovators, marketers, and food waste heroes to spearhead several projects and initiatives for the company, including The Pledge to Stop Food Waste. At its core is its robotics technology, which currently includes The Smoothie Machine and BioTrim.
Trendi BioTrim units rescue misfit fruits and vegetables before they’re wasted and convert them into shelf-stable products. Each model uses various end-to-end processing technologies, such as UV and ozone cleaning, dicing, pureeing, and drying techniques to create nutrient-rich material, either in fragment or powder form called BioFlakes. Both are about 1/10th the original weight and size and retain up to 97 percent of their original nutrients, flavours and colour.
Trendi currently has three BioTrim models in development, servicing a variety of industries, from farms and manufacturers to distributors. These include the BT80, a modular mobile unit that can drive directly to the source and access many remote sites; the BT2500, a micro processing plant built directly on-site at the source, such as a farm, with variable sizing options; and the BT25000, a standalone macro processing plant that can process food waste from a variety of sources on a large scale and designed to service a community of farms or facilities.
“Every year, billions of tonnes of edible food are needlessly thrown away – enough food to feed every hungry person on the planet several times over,” explains Carissa Campeotto, co-founder and CMO of Trendi. “According to the WWF, on farms, this accounts for 1.2 billion tonnes globally per year, and about 931 million tonnes from households, food service, and retail sectors. Our goal is to spearhead change with our BioTrim technology and galvanize the community to join the fight.”
Trendi expects to give the community a first look at its BioTrim mobile unit this summer. Those interested can keep up-to-date at www.trendi.com and via its online channels.
