Icelandic startup GreenBytes has announced a €1 million pre-seed round led by Crowberry Capital, with participation from Berlin-based APX, and select Angels from Germany.
GreenBytes is a Reykjavík-based green tech company that plans to leverage machine learning to help optimize the food supply chain. The startup’s long-term goal is to allow restaurants to increase their profit margins while minimizing their carbon footprint.
GreenBytes was founded by Renata Bade Barajas and Jillian Verbeurgt, two expats who came to Iceland to study sustainable energy.
Having worked in restaurants in the past, both Jillian and Renata understand the key challenges that come with the job: time constraints, pressure to perform and the need to provide quality service, makes it time-consuming for restaurants to order and maintain their food stock coming from multiple sources.
GreenBytes Co-Founders Renata and Jillian
“Inventory management and order planning are often overlooked because it takes time and effort to do well,” says Renata, GreenBytes CEO.
GreenBytes CTO, Jillian says: “We are building GreenBytes to help restaurants reduce their operational costs, reduce food waste, and allow restaurant workers to focus on providing good service and making delicious food.”
The investment will be used to get the GreenBytes from MVP to MLP (minimum lovable product). The team also plans to expand to the German market.
“We have been following the GreenBytes team since inception and are impressed with their vision and execution skills. We think now is the right time for the restaurant industry to increase efficiency through digitization and AI,” says Helga Valfells, Managing Partner at Crowberry Capital.
Henric Hungerhoff, Managing Director at APX adds: “We are very excited to support Renata, Jillian, and their team on their mission to reduce food waste in an intelligent and impactful way. They’ve successfully served initial customers and built early traction. What convinces us most about this team, though, is their extraordinary drive and energy. This will be key as they build a must-have product for restaurant owners.”
Restaurateurs also understand the importance of moving towards digitalisation and sustainability.
“Our goal is to prevent food waste and with GreenBytes we believe we can do that. We have been working on the development of the system with them and are really excited to put it into use. With the system, we will greatly simplify the ordering process and make our store managers’ work easier and save them time,” says Gurrý Indriðadóttir, restaurant owner.
Read more about GreenBytes in our interview here.
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