Hazel Technologies Raises $70M to Help Extend Fresh Produce’s Shelf Life

by Gordon Gottsegen
April 13, 2021
Hazel sachet with mangoes
Photo: Hazel Technologies

We all know what it’s like to buy a hearty head of lettuce, pristine banana or other piece of gorgeous produce at the grocery store, and then accidentally let it rot on our counter or in our fridge. Fruits and vegetables degrade quickly, which means there’s only a limited amount of time to eat them.

But that degradation starts way before produce makes it to your kitchen. It starts as soon as that produce is picked, plucked or harvested from the earth. This creates a problem for agricultural supply chain companies, which are often racing against the clock to get produce to grocery stores as quickly as possible. If they aren’t fast enough, they can end up wasting tons of food and money.

Hazel Technologies was founded in 2015 to solve this problem by developing ways to extend the shelf life of produce. Today the Chicago company is taking a step in that direction, thanks to a newly announced $70 million Series C funding round.

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The company’s flagship products are its sachets, which are tiny packaging inserts that go into bulk containers of produce — similar to the silica gel packets you’ll find packaged with certain products. Once inserted, these sachets slowly release a vapor that reduces aging and decay. Hazel says that its sachets can extend the shelf life of produce by up to three times.

For agricultural companies that are constantly losing profits to food waste, this is an extremely attractive prospect. Perhaps that’s why Hazel is used by some of the largest produce distributors in the world. Over 160 companies across 12 countries use Hazel. This includes Mission Avocado, the world’s largest fresh avocado distributor; Zespri, the world’s largest kiwifruit distributor; and Oppy, Canada’s largest produce distributor.

With such large customers, Hazel is able to make a significant dent in supply chain food waste. Hazel projects that its product will be used to help preserve over 6.3 billion pounds of fresh produce in 2021, and prevent more than 500 million pounds from being thrown out.

While this is good news for the bottom lines of these produce distributors, it’s also good news for the planet.

“If food waste were a country, it would be the third-largest greenhouse gas contributor on the planet, behind the U.S. and China,” CEO Aidan Mouat said in a statement. “Since the very beginning at Hazel Tech, we have focused on developing technologies that easily integrate with the existing supply chain to reduce waste. We believe this financing will allow us to commercialize our successful solutions holistically from producers to consumers on a global scale.”

Hazel’s Series C funding will be used to build the company’s global operations. The company says that it’s looking to expand into parts of Africa, Europe and Southeast Asia.

So far, Hazel has raised more than $87 million in total financing.

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Jobs at Hazel Technologies

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