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Retail Business Services, the services company of Ahold Delhaize USA, named start-up Wasteless winner of its supply chain innovation pitch competition. Wasteless and four other start-ups participated in the Supply Chain Seed start-up immersion program hosted by Retail Business Services and Venture Café. Over 10 weeks, start-ups worked with mentors to increase their retail industry IQ and build critical relationships on their way to a successful launch. The program culminated in a pitch competition. Wasteless emerged as the start-up with the most viable technology, according to a panel of retail and venture capital experts.

“We’ve enjoyed working with the five start-ups,” said Dan Covert, director of supply chain research and development for Retail Business Services. “We’re proud of and inspired by each of the companies, which presented compelling technologies for the future of supply chain. We congratulate Wasteless on this well-deserved recognition.”

Wasteless pitched its technology that reduces food waste and increases perishable food revenue by dynamically pricing items with a shorter expiration date at their optimal price point.

"It was extremely valuable for our company to participate in the Supply Chain Seed program as we hone our product offering and work to achieve our mission of reducing food waste in retail,” said Ilan Gluck, founder of Wasteless. “Input from our Retail Business Services partners helped us perfect our product and make the Wasteless solution market ready."  

Judges for the competition included Scott Craig, director of Network Optimization for Retail Business Services, Arun Ram, Head of Strategy, Insights, and Innovation for Giant Food, David Anderson, Managing General Partner for Supply Chain Ventures and Lisa Sebesta, Founder and Managing Partner of Fresh Source Capital.

“We look forward to continuing the Supply Chain Seed program to engage with the start-up community and explore innovation for our business and the grocery retail brands we support,” added Covert.

Other participants in the first Supply Chain Seed program were:

• Cambridge Crops: A natural, edible and cost-effective solution to extend the shelf life of perishable goods.
• Taktile: An Internet of Things (IoT) platform that measures resource use in labor-intensive industrial operations and detects productivity problems in real-time.
• Vinder: An online farmers’ market that connects small producers with neighbors and restaurants to buy and sell homegrown foods.
• Stimulus: A relationship intelligence technology that streamlines vendor and supplier management to empower companies with the data to make better purchasing decisions.