Willy anti-waste is a French startup which launched the first e-commerce site exclusively dedicated to anti-waste. The latter have just completed a fundraising of 1 million euros. Business Cool spoke with Clément Méry and Jonathan Negrin, the two founders of Willy anti-waste. They presented us with the future projects of their startup!
Everything you need to know about Willy anti-waste
Who are you ?
We are Clément Méry and Jonathan Negrin, two friends with varied backgrounds (purchasing and production at Décathlon then catering entrepreneur in New York for Clément, banking at Crédit Agricole then operations at Uber for Jonathan), children and a strong desire to create a project together with impact and meaning. Food waste is 10 million tonnes of food thrown away each year in France. This is a huge problem that needs to be addressed.
What is Willy doing to combat waste?
Willy anti-waste is the first e-commerce site 100% dedicated to anti-waste. Concretely, we are an online grocery store which offers dry products (savory groceries, sweet groceries, drinks, home, hygiene, baby), essentially organic or French and which are all anti-waste. Which means that they are out of date or past due, overstock, with damaged packaging, a change of label, etc. Reasons why these products are no longer accepted by traditional distribution even though they are still good to consume. In just over a year, we have convinced more than 10,000 customers. We work with around a hundred brands and together have saved 175,000 products from waste.
Willy’s anti-waste fundraiser
Why did you raise 1 million euros?
This fundraising will allow us to recruit people in key positions, find new customers and expand our offering with even more products to save. It’s a way for us to accelerate very hard.
Why did you choose to bring these investors into your capital?
We mainly chose investors with an entrepreneurial background to support us in this phase of growth of our company. More specifically, we are supported by the Good Only Ventures fund, which specializes in impact investments, and by Wilco, a startup accelerator.
What will anti-waste Willy look like in 5 years?
Our ambition is to become a key player in anti-waste in France and to save a larger part of the 10 million tonnes of food that is wasted each year in France.
