Swedish-startup Karma which is an app that connects restaurants, cafés and grocery stores with users eager to purchase unsold food at a lower price has secured $12 million in Series A funding.
The funding round was led by Kinnevik, a Swedish investment firm. The round also saw the participation of investors like U.S. venture capital firm Bessemer Venture Partners, appliance manufacturer Electrolux, and existing investor VC firm e.ventures.
With this funding, the company plans to expand from 35 people based in Stockholm to over 100 across 5 markets by the end of next year and over 150 by mid of 2020.
Following this funding round, the total funding amount of the company as of now has reached $18 million. Karma was founded by Hjalmar Ståhlberg Nordegren, Ludvig Berling, Mattis Larsson and Elsa Bernadotte in 2015.
“One third of all food produced is wasted,” Ståhlberg Nordegren, Karma CEO said. “We’re reducing food waste by enabling restaurants and grocery stores to sell their surplus food through our app… Consumers like you and me can then buy the food directly through the app and pick it up as take away at the location. We’re helping the seller reduce food waste and increase revenue, consumers get great food at a reduced price, and we help the environment redistributing food instead of wasting it”.
The CEO also claimed that the app’s users are mostly young professionals between the age of 25-40, who work in the city and pick up Karma on their way home. “Students and the elderly also love the app as it’s a great way to discover really good food for less,” he added.
Talking about the details, the company is basically an app-based marketplace that helps restaurants and grocery stores reduce food waste by selling unsold food at a discount direct to consumers.
The users have to register themselves and their location on their devices and then can browse through various food merchants and the food dishes they have put on sale. When the user finds the item of his preference, he pays via Karma app and picks up the food before closing time.