FOOD technology startup Lumitics on Tuesday said it has secured S$750,000 in an oversubscribed seed funding round co-led by ReadyVentures and angel investor Franck Courmont.
Other participating investors include Startup-O and Louise Daley, who is deputy chief executive of Accor Hotels Asia Pacific. Ms Daley invested privately.
Mr Courmont, who is a veteran in the hospitality industry, and Nicholas Cocks from ReadyVentures will join Lumitics as board members to help it grow and expand.
Singapore-based Lumitics’ flagship solution is a food-waste tracker which uses sensors and the startup’s proprietary image recognition technology to weigh and identify what restaurants and kitchens throw away.
Launched in 2019, the device can integrate with any standard rubbish bin used in kitchens, generating data to help hospitality and food and beverage (F&B) businesses reduce their food waste and save costs.
The fresh capital brings Lumitics’ total investment raised to over S$1million, including the grants it had received from Temasek Foundation Ecosperity and Enterprise Singapore.
The startup will use these investments for further product development, to expand its Singapore market share and to bring its flagship product to regional markets.
Lumitics co-founder and chief executive Rayner Loi said the company has worked with some of the world’s largest hotel chains, and that its device has helped customers reduce their food wastage by some 30 to 40 per cent, which in turn lowers food costs by 3 to 8 per cent.
Although Lumitics will initially focus on expanding within the region’s hospitality and F&B industries, Mr Loi also believes the flagship device can provide “significant benefits” to other types of businesses such as airlines, cruise ships, hospitals, schools and fast-food chains.
“We have been partnering industry players and, where relevant, have tweaked our solution to better meet their needs,” he added.
Previously known as Good for Food, Lumitics was founded in 2017 by Mr Loi and Keshav Sivakumar. The company is supported by NUS Enterprise, the enterpreneurial arm of the National University of Singapore, and receives incubation support at BLOCK71 Singapore.
Adapted from: https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/garage/food-waste-tracking-startup-lumitics-raises-s750000-for-regional-expansion
Originally Written by Vivienne Tay