Burnaby’s Trendi Tech scores investment from the Canadian Food Innovation Network

Credit: Trendi Tech

The food waste solutions company is one of four firms to take home cash

For the national nonprofit that is the Canadian Food Innovation Network, recycling food will probably never go out of style. In that sense, Burnaby-based Trendi Tech is quite aptly named. 

The company, which uses robotics to help the farm and food industry upcycle food waste into valuable products, was awarded $85,667 from CFIN for its Smoothie Machine. The automated vending solution will offer fresh fruit smoothies and hot soup options utilizing upcycled fruits and vegetables. 

In June, Trendi raked in $8.45 million in seed funding. 

Three other companies—Calgary’s Nutrimeals and Ontario businesses Henry’s Tempeh and Index Biosystems—will also receive cash from CFIN, for a total of $338,000. The money is supported through the Government of Canada’s Strategic Innovation Fund. 

“The funding from CFIN means we can jump start the design for a hot soup kiosk, which will use our own freeze-dried products. While making it easy for people to get nutritious food on the fly, we will begin to create a circular economy,” said Trendi CEO Craig McIntosh in a release.