Participated · Seed · Jan 2018

Ulula provides a mobile software and analytics platform that enables organizations to engage workers directly, in real time, across global supply chains and monitor human rights risks. Led by CEO Antoine Heuty, the platform delivers continuous, worker‑driven insights on working conditions and can be configured on almost any communication channel in any language. The company leverages more than 800 telecom partnerships and local partners to reach rural and vulnerable populations via mobile technology. Its client list includes large organizations in the food and beverage, garment manufacturing, mining, agriculture, and sustainable certification sectors. Ulula raised $1M in seed funding and intends to use the proceeds to expand its mobile platform.

Participated · Series A · Mar 2017

HowGood offers Latis, a SaaS sustainability intelligence platform that delivers ingredient- and product-level impact analysis for food companies. The platform draws from over 550 independent data sources and certifications to provide UPC-level impact data on more than two million products and instant analysis for over 33,000 ingredients, chemicals and materials. Customers can view metrics across environmental impact, labor risk and animal welfare, track portfolio-level footprints such as annual carbon and water usage, and benchmark against industry standards. HowGood was founded in 2007 and initially focused on rating grocery products before expanding to business units and building Latis. The company says annual revenue doubled in the past year and counts five of the 10 largest CPGs, including Danone North America, among its customers. HowGood plans to expand industry partnerships in the U.S. and Europe, grow its team, add supplier-specific data and new metrics (including regenerative agriculture metrics and EU Eco-Score/Nutri-Score), and venture beyond the food vertical. HowGood is an NYC-based SaaS data platform that maintains a sustainability database for the food and personal care industries. Its core product, Latis, is a sustainability intelligence platform that delivers instant, ingredient-level sustainability insights to CPGs, restaurants and retailers. Latis lets brands assess impacts across environmental and social metrics such as greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity, labor risk and animal welfare, and accelerates product innovation. The company is led by founder and CEO Alexander Gillett. Customers include the majority of brands within Danone North America. HowGood plans to use new funding to accelerate platform development and expand the product into new verticals such as health & beauty and textiles. HowGood provides ratings on food, personal care and other household products, assessing environmental, health and trade impacts and presenting scores via in-store signage, its website and mobile apps. Shoppers can scan a product barcode in the mobile app to obtain a rating. The company has analyzed roughly 200,000 products using proprietary data plus a wide range of government and third-party sources to evaluate sourcing, chemicals, processing, packaging, shipping and labor practices. Retailers and brands license HowGood’s data to display scores in stores or to benchmark their merchandise privately. HowGood plans to expand coverage to a wider range of products (cosmetics and grooming are underway), sign on more retailers and grocers, and invest in technical R&D. It is also exploring new delivery channels such as wearables, health apps, enhanced in-store displays and voice platforms like Google Home and Amazon Echo. HowGood develops a multi‑indicator rating system and mobile apps that help shoppers evaluate foods for sustainability, humane treatment, fair wages, local production and other social and environmental factors. The company has rated over 100,000 products and uses a simple one-to-three globe score to communicate goodness to consumers. It licenses its data to smaller grocers in 21 U.S. states and says stores that promote top-rated products have seen a 27% sales lift for those items. HowGood’s rating framework covers more than 60 benchmark indicators, including ingredients, manufacturing, worker treatment, carbon emissions and hazardous waste. The company declined to provide specifics about its own sales or revenue, and its 16-person team is now growing following new financing. HowGood plans to expand its in-store ratings system to larger grocery chains while promoting its newly released iOS and Android apps.