Flashfood Feasts on Success With $1.5 Million in Funding

Toronto-based Flashfood has been chomping at the bit to address food security issues in the city.

At the end of last week’s Startupfest in Montreal, Flashfood took home the Best in Fest award and netted $140,000 in the process. The prize was originally $100,000 but had an extra $40,000 added due to the overall quality of pitches. Flashfood also won a ticket to StarUp Fest in Turks and Caicos this August, an event designed for startups to reboot, reflect and recharge.

That wasn’t all for Flashfood though. On Monday, they announced a $1.5 million seed round of funding led by unnamed investors. The money will be used to scale the company’s operations.

Flashfood is a company designed to fight food insecurity and allow restaurants and grocery stores to sell surplus food at a discount while notifying customers about potential food deals in their area.

With the new funding announcement came a few newly annointed board members. Tandem Fund’s Alex Moorhead, BDC managing partner Glenn Ergan and JC Fresh Farms acting manager Jeremy Capussi will all now sit on the Flashfood board. Moorhead will become the chairman of the board.

Flashfood launched in Longos grocery store locations in Toronto but now plans to expand to Farm Boy locations in London, Ontario. Flashfood CEO Josh Domingues stated that the app has been popular, saving over 3000 meals from going into landfills and bringing in a wide demographic of customers – from millennials to grandmothers.

Food security is a major issue across the world as more and more companies and countries try to find ways to cut down on food waste. France recently unveiled a law forbidding grocery stores to waste consumable food, and a movement to adopt similar laws is spreading quickly across Europe.

Flashfood is not a non-profit but realizes that food security is a huge problem that needs to be tackled.