An Investment of £100,000 from the new North East venture capital fund will help with a Newcastle company roll out of a revolutionary system for keeping fruit and vegetables fresh for longer.
Newcastle University spin-out business Biofresh says the cash will be used to help commercialise and improve its Smartpallet system for extending the shelf life of fresh produce.
Launched by the company last year the Smartpallet releases ozone onto the produce during transportation preventing the ripening of fruit and vegetables, saving distributors a fortune in spoiled produce.
It is currently capable of performing over periods of four to five days and Biofresh says some of the investment will be used to develop its potential for use over 30 days. It has received £100k from Newcastle-based NEL Investors from its North East Growth Fund, which is one of the funds set up to manage the £125m Finance for Business North East Fund which was launched in January.
Biofresh director Jonathan Caisley said: “The longer ozone treatment times then the longer the shelf life for the produce.
“If we are able to extend the Smartpallet for use over longer times then it could be used for transportation from further afield and open up new markets such as the transport of bananas from South America.”
The company, which was launched in 2003 by Jerry Barnes and Ian Singleton, produced annual revenues of £700,000 last year and these latest developments should propel sales past £1m this year.
Mr Caisley added: “We launched Smartpallet in 2009 and in the last year our trials have demonstrated the potential for the products. There is nothing else like it on the market and it is sparking a lot of interest in both the domestic and overseas markets.”
Biofresh also design systems – costing up to £20,000 – for installation into the cold store of major food retailers which release ozone or ethylene to preserve the freshness of perishable fruit and vegetables, while also not leaving any residues.
In April last year the company received and earlier investment of £300,000 from NEL. Biofresh, which is based at the university currently employs five full-time and 12 part-time staff. It uses regional sub-contractors to manufacture its products.
Chief executive Harry Smart said: “In the food storage business, just a small percentage improvement in the amount of produce making it from the warehouse to the shops makes a massive difference in the revenues that companies can secure, and the systems we’ve developed are helping users to benefit from realising these improvements.
“We’ve built up a strong client base among the major food storage firms in Europe, the US and Japan over the last few years, and are now financially and technologically ready to take the business to the next level.”
Source: The Journal 3 June 2010
