FoodCloud Goes from Strength to Strength
Posted on: 28 November 2014
Trinity Launchbox spinout, FoodCloud continued its great run of success in November with two new awards and a TIME Magazine Next Generation Leaders listing for co-founder Iseult Ward.
Early in the month, FoodCloud won a Social Entrepreneurship Ireland Impact Award. This award worth €140,000 goes to social entrepreneur projects which are already delivering an effective solution to some of Ireland’s greatest social and environmental challenges, but have yet to scale that impact effectively. With this award, which provides funding over a two to three year period, Foodcloud will be able to develop and implement its plans for growth.
Following this, Trinity graduate and FoodCloud Co-Founder, Iseult Ward was named in TIME Magazine's list of Next Generation Leaders, which features seven young people from around the world who have not just succeeded in their fields but have also persuaded others to share their vision. Watch video of Time Magazine interview with Iseult Ward here.
Rounding off the month’s highlight for the company, it was announced that FoodCloud was awarded €10,000 in investment when named Ireland’s top young social entrepreneurs by Ben & Jerry’s ‘Join Our Core’ competition, which rewards young people who are creating new models for sustainable business to help make a difference in communities. Along with the investment FoodCloud will receive mentoring from social entrepreneurs network Ashoka and will see its business logo featured on an exclusive Ben & Jerry’s ice cream tub in 2015. They will also compete in the global Join Our Core competition, which will be held across London, Singapore and Tokyo.
FoodCloud is the brainchild of Trinity graduates Aoibheann O’Brien and Iseult Ward and a spinout of Trinity’s unique Launcbox incubator programme, which provides students with coaching, expert advice, seed funding and access to space and facilities needed to test out and launch new ideas.
FoodCloud brings food businesses and charities together to reduce both food waste and food poverty. They do this by connecting food businesses that have surplus food to nearby charities that need it, through a smart phone app and website. FoodCloud has rapidly expanded since its foundation in 2012 and in that time has facilitated the redistribution of 123 tonnes of surplus food to a growing network of charities right around the country. In July this year the organisation also signed a partnership agreement with retailer Tesco, allowing for the rollout of the FoodCloud app to over 145 stores nationwide.