20 Things You Didn’t Know About Apeel
Apeel is a food sciences startup that has delivered some of the most significant results in food quality maintenance. The company has developed a coating for fresh fruits and vegetables that helps them maintain their freshness for up to twice as long. The new technology helps to cut down on the amount of waste for businesses and consumers and it could save millions of dollars in lost products in the niche areas of the food industry by preserving the freshness of some foods for longer. If you’re hearing about this company for the first time, its products are applicable to everyone and you might benefit by learning more. Here are 20 things that you probably didn’t know about Apeel.
1. Apeel is a food science company
According to Crunchbase, Apeel specializes in the shelf-life extension of fresh produce. The company uses technology that is plant-based to improve the quality of fresh fruits and vegetables to reduce food waste. Once foods are harvested, the natural coating doubles its lifespan whether the foods are refrigerated or not.
2. Apeel’s technologies offer multiple benefits
In addition to providing longer shelf life for fresh fruits and vegetables, the technologies that Apeel has developed offer other advantages. First, the technologies are nature-based without harmful chemicals. They help to reduce water and energy use. They also help to preserve natural ecosystems. The solution offered by Apeel is good for the health of the planet, and these are technologies that can help us to clean up the Earth so we live in a healthier environment.
3. Apeel has been around a while
Apeel was founded in 2012. The company has been active and in operation for eleven years as of 2021. The headquarters is located in Goleta, California. Apeel is also known as Edipeel, but the legal name of the company is Apeel Technology In.
4. Apeel is led by a 10-member core executive leadership team
The core executive team at Apeel is comprised of 10 members. James Rogers is the founder of Apeel and the chief executive officer. Jordan Hudson is the vice president of strategy. Bill Strong is the chief financial officer. Jenny Du is the vice president of operations. Zakiul Kabir is the vice president of engineering. Louis Perez is the vice president of technology. Brian Sohmers is the vice president of products. Michael Goeninger is the vice president of corporate finance.
5. Apeel has a 5-member board of directors
The board of directors for Apeel is comprised of 5 members. Each member brings significant experience in business and provides the executive leadership team with advice and direction in financial matters and strategic planning. Walter Robb joined the board in 2018. He is a co-founder and co-CEO of Whole Foods Market with 6 portfolio companies. He currently serves on 5 boards of directors in advisory roles. Vijay Pande is a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz. He has founded two organizations and currently serves on 14 boards of directors in advisory roles. Yves Sisteron is a managing partner and co-founder of Upfront Ventures with one portfolio company. He currently serves on 6 boards of directors in advisory roles. Jason Spievak joined the board in December of 2014. He is a co-founder and managing partner of Entrada Ventures with 4 portfolio companies. He currently serves on 8 boards of directors in advisory roles. Ira Ehrenpreis joined the board in October of 2016. He is a founder and managing partner of DBL Partners. He has founded one organization and currently serves on 24 boards of directors in advisory roles.
6. Apeel Sciences uses a complex array of technologies to power its website
Apeel Sciences uses a complicated system of various technology products and services to ensure that visitors to the website have a smooth and seamless experience. It is actively using 27 technologies that are distributed across 19 technology products and services. Some of these products and services include Google Apps for Business, Amazon, SPF, jQuery, Google Analytics, HTML 5, and others.
7. Apeel has secured multiple patents and trademarks
Apeel maintains a uniqueness from other science tech companies. The startup has secured thirty-two registered patents in the Foods or Foodstuffs: Their treatment is not covered by other classes category. In addition, it has also secured twenty-one registered trademarks in the agricultural products: live animals category. These patents and trademarks represent the intellectual property of Apeel and they are the legal owners. This means that rivals in the industry cannot legally use the technologies, processes, or other intellectual properties, copy or imitate them. This helps Apeel to stand out as being different and unique from the rest.
8. Apeel has a high volume of web traffic
The analytics for the Apeel website shows that the number of monthly visits for the website is high. Over the past 30 days, the website has received 20,639 visits. This has resulted in a ranking of number 778,523 of the millions of websites registered on the world wide web.
9. Apeel is the most popular in the United States
Most of the web traffic to the Apeel website comes from people who live in the United States. Ninety percent of the visitors to the site come from this country. Four percent of the web traffic comes from people in Spain. Three percent are from India, two percent are from Switzerland, showing an increase in the number of monthly visits by 3.81 percent, and one percent are from Egypt. This is useful information for key decision-makers at Apeel, for making strategic plans for growth and expansion.
10. Apeel is a venture capital-funded company
Apeel Sciences has participated in nine rounds of venture capital fundraising. So far, the company has raised a total of $640.1 million. The most recent was a Series E round that closed on August 18, 2021. This is a significant amount of funding that is earmarked for helping Apeel to continue its research and development activities and to continue the expansion of its operations throughout the world.
11. Apeel has high investor confidence
We can see that Apeel’s investors have high confidence in the company’s ability to continue to grow and to provide them with a good return on the funds invested. Apeel has attracted the attention and support of 30 investors. The most recent investors to join the fundraising effort are Tenere Capital and Anne Wojcicki. Other investors include Katy Perry, Tao Capital Partners, Michael Ovitz, Andreessen Horowitz, K3 Ventures, Sweetwater Capital Partners, Temasek Holdings, and several others. Apeel has four lead investors.
12. Apeel acquired one other company
On May 11, 2021, Apeel made the acquisition of a company called ImpactVision. ImpactVision is headquartered in San Francisco, California. The company is an information technology startup that specializes in food technology, sensors, and machine learning. Before it was acquired by Apeel, ImpactVision received a total of $2.8 million in its own venture capital funding rounds. The acquisition of ImpactVision is a part of the growth and expansion strategies of Apeel. The new company will operate as a subsidiary division of Apeel, providing IT services and new technology development within the food industry.
13. Apeel is a Gates-funded startup
According to Wikipedia, Apeel got its start with a little help from Bill Gates. When it was first established in 2012, the startup was the recipient of a grant in the amount of $100,000 from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The foundation is known for supporting worthy causes. Gates is particularly fond of those that help contribute to the improvement of the ecosystem and the quality of life. The foundation approved of the potential for Apeel to reduce post-harvest waste in developing countries that don’t have the luxury of refrigeration.
14. Apeel’s solutions may help turn around the food supply chain issues
The ongoing Coronavirus pandemic has caused a shortage within the fresh food supply chains. According to Techcrunch, one of the immediate benefits of the Apeel solutions is to helps relieve the effects that the global pandemic has had on the food supply chain, with the lack of workers in harvests and transportation of the fresh foods. The shortage will be somewhat mitigated by lengthening the shelf life of these products.
15. The Apeel solution is versatile
Apeel’s fruit and vegetable coating technology contains nothing toxic because it is plant-based. It is also odorless and colorless. It’s wont’ change the smell, the taste, or the appearance of the fruits and vegetables to which it is applied. It works on the principle of keeping moisture in the foods while allowing the oxygen to escape. These are the factors that promote increased shelf life, freshness, and overall food quality.
16. Apeel has some stiff competition
Apeel is not the only food science company in the industry. It has a lot of large and successful competitors that it is going up against for its market share. Other businesses that are working hard to reduce food waste include Phood Solutions, Mori, Imperfect Foods, Shelf Engine, and some others. These large startups have also received investor funding to continue their mission.
17. Apeel is a unicorn company
Apeel has reached a high level of success. After the most recent round of Series E venture capital fundraising, the proceeds came in at an additional $250 million. After calculations were made, the current valuation of Apeel was set at $2 billion. This is double the required amount to qualify as a unicorn status business. Unicorns are companies that reach a valuation of at least $1 billion or more.
18. Apeel’s statistics are impressive
Apeel has kept records on the number of goods that it has accomplished in the world since 2019. So far, it has prevented approximately 42 million pieces of fruit from going to waste at various retail locations. This keeps more fresh foods of higher quality available for sale to the general public. The estimates include a fifty percent reduction of avocado food waste, which is translated into the growth of sales revenue of this commodity. On top of that, the conservation of fruits has helped to cut down the usage of water by lost 4.7 billion liters of water. this is an astronomical figure which has a positive impact on food availability and water usage across the globe. Apeel is present in eight countries throughout the world with operations across 30 supply networks and 40 retail partners that distribute produce. This year it plans to go in on joint efforts with other businesses to create ten more supply networks.
19. Apeel is a privately owned business
You won’t find shares of stock for Apeel on any of the public stock exchanges. This is because the owner has decided to maintain the company as a private endeavor. Rogers maintains ownership and control of Apeel, with advisement from its investors who are also stakeholders in the company. Although the nature of the agreements under the investment funding has not been shared, it is assumed that Apeel will share profits with some ratio based on the contracts and agreements stated when the investments were made. So far, we’ve seen no indication of plans to take Apeel public. The enterprise is thriving under its private venture capital-backed funding system.
20. Apeel is growing its workforce
According to LinkedIn, there are currently 476 people employed at Apeel worldwide. The company is gearing up to expand its workforce by nearly ten percent. They’ve advertised 39 new job openings. Jobs are open throughout cities in California, Texas, Kentucky, and more. It’s also hiring for its international offices throughout the world. There are also job openings in London, England, The Netherlands, MartÃnez de La Torre, Veracruz, Mexico, Valencia, Spain, and many other areas. Apeel has taken its advances in food science to the world by becoming a global company.
