Imperial graduate launches sustainability matchmaking platform for businesses

Greener, co-founded by Imperial graduate Dan Yates, connects food and drink businesses looking for green solutions with suitable partners.

Greener takes a network-based approach to solving sustainability problems by connecting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the food and drink sector with suitable sustainability partners.

Their marketplace platform mimics a dating app, connecting businesses looking for green solutions with suitable partners providing a range of sustainability products or services.

We had a clear problem, we had a large market, and the solution became apparent: we need to make sustainability simple.Dan Yates Imperial graduate and co-founder of Greener

After raising over £140,000 in pre-seed funding – an early funding round where investors provide a startup business with capital to develop its product, in return for equity in the company – the team launched their platform in April 2021.

Greener aims to make it easy for small food and drink businesses to create genuinely sustainable operations around their businesses without the usual barriers of time and money. The funding allows the team to take their product to market, and to test its core technology, with the aim to launch later in summer 2021.

Making sustainability simple

Greener was co-founded in 2019 by MSc Management graduate Dan Yates and Mehrnaz Tajmir, a PhD candidate at Bath University. Dan said: “Research has shown that the vast majority of small businesses want to incorporate more sustainability into their practices, but we knew that the existing methods and processes were too time consuming, too complicated and too resource intensive for them to implement.

“We also knew that SMEs are the driving force of the economy, especially in the food and drink industry. We had a clear problem, we had a large market, and the solution became apparent: we need to make sustainability simple.”

SMEs that could benefit from Greener’s platform in the food and drink industry include those in farming and agriculture, manufacturing and processing, retail and wholesale, hospitality and waste services.

Sustainability matchmaking

The money raised in pre-seed funding, including funding from the Innovate UK Sustainable Innovation Fund, will be used to take their algorithmic matchmaking platform live and advance their mission of making sustainability accessible and affordable for small business.

Dan added: “The next stage is to start getting more businesses onboard and gaining as much feedback as possible. That is the key to getting the platform performing at the levels we are striving for. We believe this is a hugely important moment for green innovation in the UK and based on our early interactions with users we know we are not alone.”