Sepura Raises $3.7M Seed Round for Its Submersible Food Disposal Device
While food technology startups have had a tough time lately when it comes to raising funding, it seems investors aren’t shying away from products that help consumers manage excess food waste.
A recent example is a new seed funding round for Victoria BC-based Sepura, a startup making an under-the-counter food separation device. The company announced today that it has acquired a $3.7 million interest led by Blanco, a German manufacturer of faucets, sinks, and household food waste management systems.
Unlike other systems such as Lomi, Sepura does not accelerate the composting of food scraps. Instead, it helps you separate them. The machine goes under the sink and separates the water from the food, then pushes the food into a small bin inside the Sepura device.
You can watch how Sepura works in the video below:
Applying Sepura requires more effort than countertop composts. Standing about 20 inches tall, the device fits under the sink and connects to under-sink plumbing, allowing it to drain water from the sink and dishwasher to gray water pipes.
Sepura works differently from traditional waste disposal using composting methods. Instead, it has a spinner that separates the water from the food and puts it in the trash can below. Users press a button, and the device operates automatically, stopping when the food is separated. Light indicators on the Sepura let users know when the appliance is full, but users don’t have to worry about monitoring the lights as the appliance will not operate when the disposal bin is full.
What Sepura won’t do is take your food waste and turn it into usable food or compost. In this sense, it’s different from Mill (which raised $100 million from the likes of Google Ventures), a system created by former Nest executives that makes leftover chicken feed, or Smartcycle, the popular home composting machine made by Vitamix.
I have two concerns about Sepura. The first is whether enough consumers will pay for a food separator. In many cities like mine, curbside/food waste is available. Our kitchen has a bin under the counter where we dispose of food scraps. It’s not a lot of work, and I’m not sure we’ll need to automate the process with a machine.
My second question is whether consumers will devote that much space to an under sink manager. In our kitchen, we keep our kitchen trash bags, detergent, and other kitchen cleaning supplies under the sink, and I’m not sure there would be enough space for all of these things if we installed the Sepura.
Still, I think there are probably enough buyers looking for smart waste management solutions to make Sepura a market. Blanco, which sells its own kitchen waste management products, can target the same segment of customers it sells its waste management systems to (and potentially) with Sepura’s version of the Blanco brand.
If you’re interested in getting a Sepura, the company is taking deposits for the device, which costs $799. Sepura says it plans to start shipping the device this summer.
