Foodsteps secures £3.3m seed funding led by Octopus Ventures to expand its sustainability platform
The financing round was led by Octopus Ventures and will support a major recruitment drive.
Foodsteps provides a technology platform that enables food companies to calculate, label, and reduce the environmental footprint of their products from farm to fork. The firm has rapidly expanded its client base across the restaurant and delivery sectors.
Foodsteps has secured £3.3m in a seed financing round led by Octopus Ventures, with participation from Metaplanet, Ascension, and the Conduit EIS Impact Fund. The capital will be deployed to launch a hiring drive, expand the engineering team, and accelerate the development of the firm's sustainability platform.
The company has experienced significant growth over the past year, doubling its client base as regulatory and consumer pressures for supply chain transparency intensify. Foodsteps works with prominent food businesses including PizzaExpress, Wagamama, and Mindful Chef, providing comprehensive environmental impact assessments and traffic-light labelling for food items.
Founder and chief executive Anya Doherty developed the platform following research at Cambridge University. The fresh funding will enable the enterprise to scale its operations, enhance its ingredient database with metrics such as farm-level biodiversity, and target larger food corporations aiming to achieve net zero targets.
From the founder
"Foodsteps has been helping dozens of the UK’s most ambitious food companies to reduce their environmental footprint through our farm to fork data platform and labels. However we need to do so much more. This funding will help us bring in the brightest minds in data and technology to accelerate our work. We’re also looking for food businesses and partners that are hungry to accelerate change and reduce their environmental impacts. Our commitment is to be a force for transparency, collaboration and ambition in the drive to fix our food system."
Anya Doherty
CEO and Founder at Foodsteps
Investor perspective
"It is an immensely difficult challenge for businesses to understand in detail the impact of their food supply chains from farm to fork, but Foodsteps can make this possible in days and they’ve not only made the process possible, they’ve made it scalable, meaning businesses can take data-driven steps towards reducing emissions and meeting net zero goals before it’s too late. Anya is exactly the type of entrepreneur Octopus wants to back. With her team, she’s building a new category with an idea that can change the world for the better."
Lucy Clarke
Investor, Octopus Ventures
Use of funds
- 01Grow the team
- 02Continue product development
