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Toronto, ON based CarbonGraph is a digital platform for tracing the carbon footprint and sustainability of food products from farm to table. It does this with innovative, accessible, and automated life cycle assessment (LCA) software that lets businesses collaborate with their suppliers and their customers to build detailed and shared sustainability models and Scope 1-2-3 carbon footprints. This data helps find ways to become more sustainable and to showcase the sustainability achievements Canadian food companies are already making.
CarbonGraph received $96,358 in funding to develop and pilot new core functionality of their platform to automatically capture supply chain data from grocers and food distributors across thousands of individual products.
We talked to co-founder and CEO Sam Anderson to find out more about the project and the company’s plans.
Q: What is your company’s mission?
A: To make sustainability visible and profitable for every company in the world.
Q: Why did you apply for this funding and how will you use it?
A: We’ve been developing and piloting our tech for the last two years and we’re ready to take it to the next level with small and large food companies across Canada. We are using the funding to subsidize the cost of commercial pilots with Canadian food companies - if you want a better view into your products' sustainability, please reach out!
Q: What excites you most about working in this area of the food industry?
A: The food sector has a big environmental impact but it’s also innovating so much to reduce that impact, and CarbonGraph is a new way to highlight some of those innovations that have gone relatively unnoticed by customers and the public.
Q: Why is collaboration so important for accelerating innovation in the food industry? Is it difficult to find good collaborating partners, and what would make the process easier?
A: The food sector is hard to navigate if you’re bringing new technology or ideas in from the outside. Organizations like CFIN make it so much easier. More open calls for innovation and direct partnerships between food companies and funding agencies to pilot new tech would be a great next step.
Q: Please comment on the importance of public funding to help companies clear innovation hurdles and access leveraged funds.
A: Canada's public funding is critical to startups. We would absolutely not be where we are today without the support of CFIN, the National Research Council, Sustainable Development Technology Canada, Foresight, Accelerator Centre, The DMZ, Ontario Centre of Innovation, League of Innovators, the Centre for Social Innovation, ICTC, EcoCanada, Technation...do you get the idea yet?
Q: Looking ahead, what’s on the horizon for your company?
A: As we start to pilot our platform across the Canadian food sector, we are going to see a positive feedback loop. As it becomes easier to measure product-level sustainability, more businesses and consumers will ask for the data, more sustainable products will receive higher demand, more funding will flow to sustainability innovations, and eventually being sustainable will just be smart business – and that’s good for people and the planet.
Q: What are your passions or hobbies outside of work?
A: I like to hike, camp, and race triathlons.
Q: If you had to pick one person to make you a meal, who would you choose?
A: I'll pick my Mom's Guyanese chicken curry over fine dining any day.
Ready to access funding for your innovative initiative? Click here to find out more about CFIN’s funding programs.
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