Elevate Foods raises $525K in a pre-seed round led by Singapore's Wavemaker Impact

Elevate Foods today announced that it has raised $525,000 in a pre-seed funding round led by Singapore-based climate-focused investors Wavemaker Impact (WMi). 

The startup claims to be South Asia's first startup dedicated to uplifting Indian farm-gate processors and facilitating access to global markets. 

"This investment marks a significant step towards our mission of empowering Indian farm-gate processors to bring our produce to the world while fostering a more sustainable and resilient food ecosystem," said Gayatri Bhatia, CEO and Founder of Elevate Foods.

What does Elevate Foods do?

India's vibrant agricultural landscape is home to more than 2.5 million small-scale farm-gate processors. However, many of these processors struggle to access overseas markets due to limited resources and stringent quality standards abroad.

Elevate Foods said it aims to bridge this gap, enabling Indian processors to tap into the vast potential of global markets, as per the government's push to increase processed food exports. 

Promoting farm-gate food processing

The startup said that one-third of all food produced globally is lost or wasted annually, leading to economic losses amounting to a staggering US$1 trillion.

Addressing food loss at its source is paramount to meeting India's—and the world's—food security goals.

Elevate Foods said that its innovative approach intervenes at the source of the produce. It promotes farm-gate food processing to bolster sustainability and reduce waste while providing processors with the tools and support needed to meet quality standards for accessing international markets.

What did the investors say about Elevate Foods?

"We see immense potential in Elevate Foods' creative approach, which focuses on uplifting Indian farm-gate processors to tackle the trillion-dollar food waste issue. Today, this issue is the source of more than 4.5 Gigatonnes of Carbon Dioxide Emissions Equivalent (GtCO2e)," said Quentin Vaquette, Founding Partner at Wavemaker Impact.

"By addressing the challenges faced by processors through greater profit-purpose alignment, Elevate Foods is poised to unlock new opportunities that will drive meaningful change in both the agricultural and food processing sectors."