Food-X Accelerator Backs Fruit & Veggie Upcycler Nature Preserve To Fight Food Waste

Founded by two PhD’s coming out of Danish Technical University and a Venture Capital veteran, Nature Preserve has been exploring the upcycled fruit and vegetable market since its inception in 2018. Now, this startup has received backing from Food-X, the pioneering and most active food innovation accelerator in the world.

In recent years, Food-X has doubled down on its mission to scale change throughout the food system by investing in early-stage entrepreneurs that aim to solve the biggest global food challenges. “Since Food-X’s inception, we’ve supported the startups that are supporting our food systems – and their importance has been greatly magnified by recent events,” said Peter Bodenheimer, Managing Director and Partner, Food-X.

Food waste occurs in random quantities at random points. Up until now, this decentralized problem had a centralized and inefficient solution, with produce having to be transported hundreds of kilometers to large processing plants. This transport inevitably generates additional waste. Nature Preserve is miniaturizing the processing plant to accelerate and improve its functions along the food supply chain while creating 100% natural, shelf-stable and healthy ingredients. The company is developing its mobile solution to process food surplus worldwide alongside its partners, Danish Technical University and Swedish firm Alfa Laval.

Thanks to its proprietary technology, the resulting ingredients from upcycled fruit and vegetable surplus maintain their healthy properties. “We have been able to gauge market acceptance of upcycled ingredients through our line of LOVI smoothies,” says Anantha Peramuna, CEO of Nature Preserve. “The results have been very encouraging, and we’re looking forward to making our solution global with the help of Food-X.”