Two years ago, Marta Pastor became an entrepreneur. A former financier at a prominent company, she decided to launch her own business, Naturpod, with one idea: to bring the ethylene absorption system that extends the freshness of fruits and vegetables closer to the final consumer. She did so with the aim of reducing food waste and promoting the planet's sustainability, complying with point 12.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda.
This SDG aims by 2030 to halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels, as well as reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses.
Thus was born the philosophy and product Naturpod, a manufacturer of natural clay capsules that absorb ethylene gas, which arises with the rapid ripening of fruits and vegetables, and eliminates it from inside the domestic refrigerator drawer intended for vegetables.
"I knew that this technology was used for wholesale preservation, in large cold storage rooms in food warehouses, with the aim of preserving products with their organoleptic qualities, and I decided to develop a system for the final consumer," explains Marta Pastor. Naturpod packs ---which sell for 8.90 euros--- include three capsules, each lasting one month, allowing the preservation state of fruits and vegetables to be two or three times longer than usual in a domestic refrigerator.
Naturpod's system differs from others already existing in that it is totally sustainable and Km 0. On the one hand, the capsules are sustainable (they are made with FSC certified materials) and compostable (the clays of the active ingredient are thrown into the organic waste bin). And, most importantly, "they are not invasive with food because they do not release any type of substance."
On the other hand, the research and development (R&D) laboratory where the product is made is in the Baix Llobregat and the ecological wrapper is manufactured in the Maresme, in a company in Cabrils.
This entrepreneur convinced family and friends, and launched Naturpod with 100,000 euros, developing the project in 2020 and commercializing the product in early 2021, through direct sales to specialized retail stores for kitchen and home items. "We went store to store to explain what these capsules were for and now Naturpod can be bought in 100 points of sale in the province of Barcelona", such as Teixidó, Culinarium or the Bio stores of the Molsa cooperative.
Expansion will come in 2022, "because we are working on it," says Marta Pastor, who is surrounded by a team of seven people. "We need an agreement with a distributor and to enter two supermarket chains to cover the national market." This new stage will be financed with a new round of funding to raise 500,000 euros, "a part, to promote the product and launch a marketing campaign." The increase in sales is expected to generate one million euros in revenue by the end of 2022.
The startup will launch a 500,000 euro funding round to sell throughout SpainResources will also be allocated to incorporate more technology into the capsules, so that the product can evolve, and to seek a Naturpod solution for retail and collective catering establishments, with the same objective of contributing to the fight against food waste.
Regarding its expansion, Marta Pastor is in talks with a group of private investors from California, linked to the distribution of organic products, who have shown interest in Naturpod. Entry into the US market, "even if it's with a test run", could be a trigger because "there, domestic refrigerators already have other filters for their proper functioning," she adds.