Food supply chain decarbonisation startup Mondra closes out £3.6 million pre-Series A funding round

Mondra, a product footprinting and supply chain decarbonisation AI driven SaaS platform, has raised £3.6 million in pre-Series A funding. 

Investors include 7 Generation Ventures, AlbionVC, GC Foodtech Ventures, Foodsparks by Peakbridge, Ponderosa Ventures, and Vala Capital. 

The cash will be used to expedite Mondra’s roll-out to UK grocers, of whom, the company claims, 85% are signed up to use the platform.

The aim is to position Mondra for expansion beyond the UK, and beyond the private label food space into other retail and CPG segments. It will also enable the delivery of new retailer insight tools, enhanced agricultural data and carbon insetting.

Founded by Jason Barrett, the company’s platform enables organisations across the supply chain to record, share and monitor environmental data using a set of common tools, allowing the measurement and management of Scope 3 emissions.

It also lets users run Lifetime Cycle Assessments on thousands of products in a matter of hours, so, according to a press release, “brands and retailers can prioritise action, engage their suppliers in a meaningful way to reduce impacts and facilitate a commercially prosperous Net Zero food system”.  

Against a backdrop of the British Retail Cosnortium’s 2040 Net Zero ambition, Mondra has recently spearheaded the launch of the BRC Mondra Coalition, which has brought together Industry, government and NGOs, to establish a unified industry standard for measuring product level environmental performance.

Participating businesses include retailers Tesco, M&S, Co-op, Ocado Retail, Asda, Lidl and Sainsbury’s, brands like Starbucks and Nando’s and suppliers like Avara, Samworth Brothers, Greencore, Pilgrims UK, Dunbia, Cranswick and Bakkavor.

Barrett comments: “We’ve developed a technology platform to tackle one of the biggest environmental issues in the food supply chain, GHG emissions, of which food is estimated at around 30% globally.”

“If the industry is going to achieve its net zero targets, they need to be able to consistently measure, reduce and report with accuracy their scope three emissions and decarbonise their supply chains.”

“Following three years of R&D, we formally launched the platform in 2023. It's been a great start to our journey but there’s so much to achieve and this investment will super charge our UK growth and support our entry into Europe.”    

Chloë Payne, Investor at Ponderosa Ventures, says: "We believe that Mondra's footprinting solution can not only assist companies in meeting their Scope 3 emissions reductions targets but can also support product development teams in improving products to meet the demands of end-consumers.”

“In this way, we expect Mondra to help customers drive both impact and commercial outcomes."  

Adam Chirkowski, Investment Director AlbionVC comments: “Mondra is building the market standard in scope 3 emissions and Lifetime Cycle Assessment for the food supply chain.”

“Their digital hyper-modelling approach allows companies to accurately understand their supply chain impacts instead of relying on high level assumptions, enabling actionable insights to drive real change both environmentally and to the bottom line.”

“Led by an experienced team and with the majority of leading UK grocery retailers already signed up, the opportunity to expand both horizontally and geographically and to build a generational company that supports transition to a more sustainable economy is extremely exciting.”

Martina Pace, PeakBridge COO, comments: “Reforming our global food system requires us to face - and tackle - the outsized role food has in climate change.”

“From retailers to CPGs, businesses have a huge part to play in changing that, and Mondra gives them a powerful tool to do it, with consistent measurement across the supply chain. At PeakBridge we’re proud to be part of their next chapter."