Victorian startup Great Wrap has been recognised for its commitment to end household plastic waste at the 2021 FoodBytes! Pitch competition, receiving top honours in the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) category.
Great Wrap manufactures home-compostable products, including cling wrap made from food waste, at the business’s solar powered factory in the Mornington Peninsula.
Great Wrap says that, unlike biodegradeable products, its cling wrap is free of microplastics and is certified to break down into carbon and water in just 180 days, leaving no residual toxins.
The company claims that, as the wrap is home compostable, it does not require the high temperatures needed to break down industrial compostable packaging.
Great Wrap beat four other finalists, including Australia’s Fable Foods, to claim the coveted CPG crown at the 2021 FoodBytes! by Rabobank Pitch competition – a global program designed to discover the best and brightest emerging companies addressing the world’s food challenges, and showcase food and agri startup companies.
Co-founders of Great Wrap Jordy and Julia Kay said they were honoured to be among this year’s elite CPG FoodBytes! cohort.
Great Wrap, and fellow Australian startups Fable Foods, SBM-Transpirational and AgriDigital, were among 15 finalists selected across three sectors – FoodTech, AgTech and CPG – to contest FoodBytes! live virtual pitch competition on November 10.
“It’s been a steep learning curve and we’ve benefited from FoodBytes! mentorship and leadership,” said Jordy Kay. “This experience helped introduce us to great potential partners who we are looking forward to working with in the future, and it’s also been helpful to meet other founders – some of the industry’s smartest – working in a similar space globally.”
Chamidu Karunathilake, head of innovation at global food and agriculture bank Rabobank Australia, said: “Great Wrap is answering the global consumer demand to find solutions for waste management and sustainability, two areas where we see significant interest from corporates and investors. Their FoodBytes! Pitch success, following Swan Systems last year, is validation of the entrepreneurship we’re seeing in the Asia Pacific region, and its dominance on the global stage.”
Karunathilake said FoodBytes! corporate membership represented some of the most influential global food and ag companies, investors and service providers in the industry.
“Members play a pivotal role throughout the entire process – from scoring initial applications and helping to select the finalists,” he said.
Membership enrolment and startup scouting for 2022 is already underway.Corporates or investors interested in food and agri innovation, or startups looking to get involved in the FoodBytes! community, can click here for further details.
