Every day, tons of food near expiration, or that’s simply deemed “surplus,” get cast aside as waste. Not because it’s unsafe or inedible, but because the systems around food distribution weren’t designed to value what doesn’t sell fast enough.
Fortunately, a growing movement of entrepreneurs is proving that there’s wealth hidden in what we once called waste, not just economic wealth, but also environmental, social, and systemic – these are all reasons to bet on the circular economy.
These entrepreneurs aren’t working in isolation. Through the Reshaping Food Systems in Latin America program, led by Village Capital in partnership with Posner Foundation, eight startups across the region are receiving tailored support to reduce food waste and strengthen food security. The program zeroes in on zero-waste solutions, meaning the startups in the cohort have scalable solutions to empower consumers, improve the efficiency of food centers, and minimize losses in the production and distribution chain.
Support for local innovation is updating how food systems operate, promoting circular models. Here’s how it’s happening.
Restin: Short-Dated Protein and Its Second Chance
In Brazil, nutritionist-turned-founder Luciano Almeida saw the issue up close. Years working in nutrition exposed him to just how much edible food goes to waste in industrial systems, and the personal frustration this caused eventually evolved into a commitment to act. Inspired by social initiatives that tackled waste head-on, he founded Restin, a circular economy agent redirecting near-expiry animal protein to small restaurants.
This niche focus didn’t happen immediately. It evolved a couple of years into its development. Almeida explains, “During a startup acceleration program, we had to pivot to reach product-market fit. Through research and market analysis, we saw a major opportunity in short-dated protein – and that insight gave Restin its new direction.”
This wasn’t a case of narrowing for the sake of efficiency; it was the recognition that overlooked categories like meat and dairy hold immense potential when logistics and trust are thoughtfully managed.
Almeida isn’t risking Restin’s reputation by failing any quality assessments. Its products come directly from the food industry, where they pass through strict quality control. Once at Restin’s distribution center, the team uses FEFO (First Expired, First Out) protocols to ensure freshness is preserved and that restaurant clients understand the shelf life of each product. “In the rare event that a product presents any non-conformity upon delivery,” he adds, “the issue is resolved immediately to preserve the customer experience and maintain full trust.”
That trust is already translating into business impact. Flávio, who runs a small company called Sabor Gelado, said working with Restin has transformed their operations. Since they provide staff meals on-site, protein purchases were always a major expense, and variety was hard to come by. “Now, thanks to the savings from working with Restin, we’re not only spending less, we’re also offering a more diverse menu.” In a context where food inflation affects both businesses and workers, this kind of access matters.
Still, scaling isn’t easy. Brazil’s size alone creates logistical hurdles, with long distances increasing cost and delivery times. The bigger issue, however, lies within the food industry itself. “There is still a significant stigma surrounding the resale of short-dated items,” Almeida notes. “Building trust and fostering long-term relationships with industry partners has become essential to overcoming this cultural barrier.”
What’s clear is that Restin isn’t just a logistics company. It’s pushing for a behavioral and material shift in how Brazil handles protein waste. “We see ourselves becoming the first-choice source of protein for our clients, proving how products that were once discarded can have a rightful place in their purchasing decisions.” It’s a bold vision, one grounded in the belief that circular models offer savings, sustainability, and dignity for suppliers, for restaurants, and for the planet. Through circular thinking, Restin might just redefine the value of protein.
SaveAdd: Creating Value from Surplus
A similar principle drives SaveAdd, another Brazil-based startup tackling food surplus from a different angle. SaveAdd’s platform equips suppliers with data and options. Unlike traditional donation models, this circular model offers full traceability, multiple destination pathways, and real-time metrics. That means suppliers can see both the impact and the economic value of their actions. “We use decision algorithms that prioritize the best use per context, whether social or commercial, based on perishability, location, and timing,” Iglesias says.
Co-Founder Salvador Iglesias focuses on the end of the supply chain, where supermarkets, distributors, and cooperatives often discard large quantities due to forecasting errors or short shelf lives. “More than 50% of wasted inventory has recoverable financial value,” he explains. “With better decision-making and early actions, that financial and physical loss can be avoided.”
SaveAdd’s solution combines AI-driven planning and blockchain security to transform how companies manage short-dated inventory. The platform uses artificial intelligence to analyze SKUs (Stock Keeping Units) nearing expiration and generates tailored action plans – whether that's selling, donating, or reallocating stock – based on perishability, location, and buyer profiles. It also provides traceability and risk management across industries, distributors, and retailers, enabling reliable tracking from warehouse to final destination.
Crucially, SaveAdd leverages smart contracts via blockchain to automate transactions when predefined conditions are met, ensuring trust and operational efficiency even between unfamiliar parties. This dual emphasis on profitability and social impact, where surplus is either monetized or donated securely, illustrates how SaveAdd bridges commercial and ethical goals.
That sense of dual value – economic and ethical – runs through their operations. In a São Paulo pilot involving just two inventory points, SaveAdd prevented over 42 tons of food waste in just three months. The numbers speak for themselves, but they’re backed by years of ecosystem-building. Innovation hubs, accelerators, and public-private partnerships helped develop the technology; nonprofits and logistics firms helped turn it into action.
As Iglesias puts it, “Our algorithms work on a methodology that blends technology and empathy to unlock decisions, proving that doing good can also be good business.” This inspiring statement about recovery is heartwarming and shows that zero waste can be traceable and profitable.
EatCloud: Distributing With AI to Sidestep Waste
If empathy and logistics are at the heart of Restin and SaveAdd, then EatCloud, based in Colombia, adds a third ingredient: artificial intelligence. Founded by Jorge Atuesta, EatCloud’s platform uses AI to match surplus food with nonprofits and food banks in a matter of hours. Built on cutting‑edge automation and traceability, this AI-powered platform rescues surplus food from supermarkets, restaurants, hotels, and agricultural producers by analyzing real-time surplus data and matching it with nonprofits, food banks, and community kitchens, ensuring delivery in under six hours, often even less.
“Thanks to AI, we are able to redirect surplus food from the waste pile to recipient organizations within an average of 5 to 6 hours. In some cases, we can manage it in less than 2 hours.” That speed is crucial for perishable goods and makes a huge difference in both waste reduction and social impact.
Operating across more than 1,750 locations in Colombia (and now expanding into Mexico, Spain, Central America, and Brazil), EatCloud has redistributed the equivalent to around 96 million meals and saved the industry upwards of USD 40M while preventing more than 100,000 tonnes of CO₂ emissions.
Since the platform integrates blockchain to secure traceability and automate the path from donor to recipient, it also ends up offering participating businesses analytical insights on ESG metrics, tax benefits, and carbon impact. Having drawn recognition from Google, Microsoft, the Inter-American Development Bank, and UN‑Habitat, EatCloud now aims to replicate its model in at least ten other countries, proving that technology can transform cost‑saving initiatives into powerful tools against hunger and waste.
Moreover, the technology goes beyond rapid matching. EatCloud’s AI takes into account factors like urgency, need, and geography to ensure that food goes to the right place at the right time – and doesn’t become waste all over again. “One of the main barriers nonprofits face is the lack of technological tools that allow them to respond quickly,” Atuesta says. “EatCloud removes this burden by automating the connection between donors and recipient organizations, allowing social entities to focus on their mission.”
What’s powerful is how inclusive the system is. High-tech retailers can integrate via API with platforms like SAP, while smaller organisations can simply upload Excel files. “We understand that simplicity is key,” Atuesta explains. “We’ve designed an intuitive solution that adapts to the technological capabilities of each actor, from large retailers to nonprofit organizations.” This team and all these founders, are building scalable, secure bridges from surplus to need.
Waste Isn’t the Problem; Disconnection Is
What these three startups have in common is a willingness to see what others overlook – not just food waste, but the systems and assumptions that enable it. They’re not waiting for top-down reforms or sweeping infrastructure changes. They’re building anti-waste, circular models that work now, at scale, in imperfect conditions. Waste, in their view, isn’t a failure of supply. It’s a failure of connection.
These startups, along with five more, joined Village Capital’s Reshaping Food Systems program in Latin America, where they gained access to a broad network, engaged in live workshop sessions with peers in the same industry, and will connect with potential partners and investors during an in-person summit in Mexico City by the end of 2025. All of this is designed to support startups to reach their next big milestone, whether that’s a product launch, a strategic partnership, or expansion into new markets. It’s a hands-on approach to systemic change, built on the belief that local innovation, when properly supported, can create global impact.
Through logistics, AI, and human insight, the startups in the Reshaping Food Systems program are forging new connections between surplus and need, between discarded goods and renewed purpose, for a scalable circular economy. These entrepreneurs are proving that food waste is a system failure we can solve.