Seattle's Strella raises $4.25 million to track ripening fruit

Seattle ag-tech company Strella has raised $4.25 million to expand technology that monitors produce and cuts spoilage, GeekWire reported on Friday. The investment extends its Series A and brings total funding to $26.25 million. SilverBlue led the round, with LeVert Ventures, Beta Milouot and PeakBridge.

CEO Katherine Sizov started the company in Philadelphia in 2019 and moved the headquarters to Seattle four years ago to be closer to Washington orchards. Strella uses sensors to measure gases including ethylene and machine vision to watch the fruit. Software reads those signals along with origin, packing date and variety. The 19-person team serves customers in 26 countries and covers apples, pears, avocados, citrus and, newly, kiwifruit. Sizov said the aim is to become the system of record for quality in the food supply chain.

The United Nations estimates about 33 percent of food meant for people is lost or wasted, about $940 billion a year. U.S. waste is about 40 percent of edible food and $218 billion a year, the company noted.