Vancouver Fund Supports Impact Venture Aiming to Eliminate Commercial Food Waste
Pique Fund Invests in Mesh’s Seed Round
Vancouver, BC (May 18, 2017) – According to Refed, a collaboration of business, nonprofit, foundation, and government leaders committed to reducing food waste in the United States, “every year, American consumers, businesses, and farms spend $218 billion a year, growing, processing, transporting, and disposing food that is never eaten.” 25 million tons of food is wasted at the retail level and households waste a further 27 million. Tons of food is sent to landfill annually, while one in seven Americans struggles with food insecurity. Mesh is aiming to dramatically reduce the amount of surplus food that is wasted through their smart, logistics technology.
Pique Fund is pleased to announce that it has made an investment in Mesh Exchange Inc., led by CEO Jessica Pautsch. Mesh is an online food share marketplace and logistics platform. It matches safe and nutritious unsold food to secondary markets in an automated and intelligent way. Mesh is aiming to address the challenges of wasted surplus food and help businesses implement Mesh’s smart, logistics technology to reduce the waste and benefit at the same time.
Pique Fund is an inclusive angel fund focusing on leadership diversity. Founded and managed by Bonnie Foley-Wong, Pique Fund has been investing in BC-based women-led ventures since 2014. “We are excited to support Jessica and the Mesh team is addressing this huge challenge and opportunity,” said Foley-Wong. “Mesh is another great example of how technology and positive social impact intersect to help create a better world.”
Great example of tech + positive social impact = @meshexchange (click to tweet)
Pique Fund has a broad lens when it comes to evaluating what impact is in a venture and applies the decision-making framework for impact investing called Integrated Investing. “Mesh demonstrates the potential to have positive impact directly through its valuation proposition and benefiting sellers and buyers of surplus food, as well as the planet,” shared Foley-Wong.
“We are thrilled to welcome Pique Fund’s investment in Mesh to help us eliminate commercial food waste,” said Mesh co-founder and CEO, Jessica Pautsch. “As a female founder and CEO in an impact venture, having Pique’s ongoing advice and expertise is something we deeply cherish. We look forward to collaborating together and establishing a model for other aspiring female founders in the tech space.”
Pique Fund’s investor community grew to 29 people, of which 24 are women, earlier this year. Mesh brings the fund’s portfolio up to five companies, including Beanworks, ePACT Network, Wearable Therapeutics (makers of Snug Vest), and myBestHelper.
Pique Fund is excited to continue to move the dial and enable greater leadership diversity in the venture community. We are committed to this strategy and believe it is an opportunity for both financial success and positive impact, in particular for women entrepreneurs and investors.
About Pique Fund
Pique Fund enables a diverse community of investors to pursue integrated investing. Founded in 2014, the fund is innovatively structured as a Venture Capital Corporation, enabling BC investors to get a 30% tax credit and investments in Pique Fund are RRSP and TFSA eligible. Visit www.piqueventures.com for more information.
For more information, photos or interview requests, please contact Bonnie Foley-Wong at bonnie@piqueventures.com.
