In order to expand across Africa and provide new solutions that will make it simpler to insure perishable goods on the continent, Gricd, a technology company that creates Internet of Things-powered solutions to support the last-mile delivery of perishable goods, has secured $1.5 million in a seed funding round led by Atlantica Ventures, with participation from Vested World, Jaza Rift, and Katapult.
Additionally, the business changed its name to ‘Figorr’ to reflect its new emphasis on software solutions.
In order to minimise or completely eliminate losses connected with the transportation and storage of temperature-sensitive and perishable goods in Africa, Figorr creates IoT-powered solutions that supplement existing infrastructure and assets.
With the help of the company’s solutions, businesses and other stakeholders in Africa’s agriculture, healthcare, logistics, and other sectors can increase the value of perishable and temperature-sensitive goods like vaccines, insulin, and food. These solutions also provide real-time data on location, humidity, temperature, and other important data points.
Each year, Sub-Saharan Africa loses food worth more than $4 billion owing to insufficient transportation and storage.
At the same time, the World Health Organisation estimates that more than 50 percent of vaccines are wasted globally every year because of temperature control, logistics and shipment-related issues.
As a result, businesses and other stakeholders have to shoulder all the risks which mean the cost is passed on to the end customer, leading to comparatively higher prices than other parts of the world.
In order to facilitate the efficient transportation and storage of food and pharmaceuticals, Figorr already collaborates with some of the top food and pharmaceutical corporations in Nigeria and throughout Africa.
More than 110 million perishable goods have been tracked effectively, and it has helped its clients save more than $200 million.
The organisation has developed a framework throughout the years for comprehending the dangers involved in storing and transporting perishable commodities in Africa.
With the help of the additional funds, a proprietary risk management platform will be launched and data collected to facilitate the insurance of perishable and temperature-sensitive commodities across the continent.