SUNT, an Amsterdam-based startup that makes food products from discarded bananas, announced that it has secured €1.1M in funding from Brave New Food (BNF) Investments, DOEN Participaties, and Rabobank.
The latest funding will enable SUNT to set up a banana factory to save millions of discarded bananas in European ports. The company also aims to become a supplier of this high-quality raw material and achieve international growth.
SUNT: What you need to know
Founded by Laura Hoogland in 2019, SUNT’s products currently use bananas rejected in Ecuador.
Of the 100 billion tons of bananas cultivated, around 50 billion kilos are wasted worldwide throughout the chain because they don’t meet cosmetic standards.
“We’re not just talking about bananas that are too small, too crooked, or too large. Even green, yellow and loose bananas are unnecessarily wasted,” says the Dutch company.
From Q2, 2022, SUNT’s banana factory will primarily focus on rescuing bananas in European ports. In the Benelux ports alone, about 20M kilos of bananas are thrown away every year. In addition, they are currently being destroyed at great cost.
“The bananas that are rejected here no longer make it to the supermarket green, but are still perfect for consumption,” says Laura Hoogland, founder of SUNT. “Sunt offers banana importers significant cost savings by opting for processing in our banana factory instead of destruction.”
And the company decided to make a new breakfast and snack from these bananas – Banana bread. As per the company, it is gluten-free, lactose-free, and without added sugars.
The Amsterdam-based company has finalised its collaboration with international banana importer Fyffes, a Japanese-owned fruit and fresh produce company headquartered in Dublin. The banana waste from the Fyffes will now directly go to SUNT’s banana factory.
The company’s banana bread is available at Albert Heijn, Picnic, COOP & Gorillas, among others.
About the investors
Based out of Amsterdam, DOEN Participaties invests in innovative, early-stage companies whose mission is to make an environmental and social impact.
“Combating food waste is an important solution in the fight against climate change. Bananas are the most traded fruit and the most wasted food item in the world. SUNT’s solution, to make their banana bread no longer from banana puree from South America (as happens everywhere in Europe), but from wasted bananas in the Benelux, is extremely innovative and has a lot of potentials,” says Mirjam Niessen, impact investment manager at DOEN Participaties.
Brave New Food Investments offers smart capital for next-generation food ventures and is directly connected to Brave New Food, a European food innovation platform.
Brave New Food connects a vibrant community of innovative startups and scale-ups with 30+ valuable partners ranging from food corporations to investors and knowledge partners.
“SUNT is a great addition to our portfolio of sustainable companies that is focused on accelerating food solutions for the future. We have great confidence in Laura’s team and we will support her where we can,” says Jesse ‘t Lam, co-founder of Brave New Food Investments.
