South Australian agtech startup Optomni, has raised $200,000 in a Seed spherical led by Skalata Ventures to optimise the contemporary meals provide chain.
Founder and CEO Murad Mekhtiev mentioned round 45% of whole fruit and vegetable manufacturing in Australia is wasted and practically half of that occurs within the provide chain.
Optomni goals to cut back provide chain losses by 25%, saving 500,000 tonnes of meals from landfill yearly, price an estimated worth of $400 million
“There’s a false impression that meals wastage solely occurs in households neglecting their fruit bowls, or in supermarkets,” Mekhtiev mentioned.
“However in actuality, 20% of produce is misplaced earlier than it even hits the cabinets, with a significant factor being provide/demand mismatches.”
Optomni’s AI-driven wholesale buying and selling and optimisation platform helps growers and wholesalers cut back waste by demand prediction and automatic provide matching.
“In agriculture you may’t ever absolutely management the availability aspect, as a result of it’s important to account for disruptors like climate occasions,” Mekhtiev mentioned.
“However with AI, you may extra precisely make predictions round provide – and have a transparent image of demand – to match it up based mostly on the correct specs.”
The startup has already secured early traction, signing a gaggle of growers as early adopters to its OmniOrder platform.
Mekhtiev’s ambition is now to lure the 15,000 Australian growers and 1,500 wholesalers to the platform to profit from decreased wastage, in addition to streamlined stock administration, fulfilment, and ordering processes, saying Optomni is an enabler slightly than a “disruptive revolution”.
“We have to deal with making expertise very easy for main producers to implement, and guarantee it could function effectively within the background slightly than it simply being ‘tech for tech’s sake’,” he mentioned.
Skalata Funding Supervisor Tom Smalley is impressed by Optomni’s ardour to reinvigorate the sector.
“Agriculture is in Australia’s DNA. We’ve got an enormous alternative to grow to be world leaders in greener, extra environment friendly, extra superior farming,” he mentioned.
“The important thing to unlocking that worth will not be producing extra, however losing much less. Optomni will assist us obtain that.”
