Food waste platform Yume collapsed after exhausting its financial runway, founder Katy Barfield OAM announced this week.
What’s happening: Food waste prevention platform Yume Food Australia entered voluntary administration on 18 November 2024, with Teneo Financial Advisory Australia appointed to manage the company’s affairs.
Why this matters: Yume’s collapse highlights the brutal reality facing mission-driven startups in Australia’s current capital environment.
A pioneering Australian social enterprise that transformed surplus food from waste into commercial value has wound up operations after a decade of proving the viability of its mission-driven model.
Yume Food Australia announced the closure in a LinkedIn post, confirming the board had made the difficult decision to wind down after exhausting its financial runway despite demonstrable impact across environmental and commercial metrics.
“Startups are hard. Changing systems is harder. And while we have reached the end of our runway as an independent company, we are incredibly proud of the flight path we charted,” the company stated in the post.
Over 10 years, Yume returned $30 million to Australian manufacturers, redistributed 11.5 million kilograms of food, donated 1.55 million meals to those in need, saved 44 million kilograms of CO2, and preserved 2.5 billion litres of water.
The company emphasised these achievements represent more than statistics. “These aren’t just numbers. They represent a fundamental shift in how the Australian food industry values its resources,” Yume stated.
Founded in 2015 by entrepreneur Katy Barfield OAM, Yume’s marketplace connected food manufacturers including Unilever, Mars Food and Nutrition, Kellanova, and General Mills with buyers such as Sodexo and Accor Hotels. The platform automated the typically manual process of selling slow-moving, obsolete, or excess inventory.
“We set out to prove that surplus food wasn’t ‘waste’, it was a commercial asset and a climate solution waiting to be unlocked. Together, we proved it,” the LinkedIn post stated.
The acquisition opportunity
The company is now actively seeking acquirers or interested parties to take the Yume technology, brand, and mission forward. “The blueprint for a waste-free future is built, and it is ready for a new custodian to scale it,” the company stated in its LinkedIn announcement.
Teneo Financial Advisory Australia, appointed as administrators on 18 November, is managing expressions of interest for the sale of business assets. The opportunity includes the Yume brand, an award-winning social enterprise with recognition across government and industry; proprietary marketplace technology designed specifically for industrial surplus redistribution; robust environmental, social, and governance reporting tools used by major multinational food manufacturers; and established vendor relationships with Australia’s largest food producers.
Mission versus runway
Yume raised approximately $7 million throughout its lifetime. Its most recent funding round, announced in January 2024, was a $2 million seed investment led by Investible’s Climate Tech Fund, with support from Investible’s Early Stage Fund 2, Club Investible, LaunchVic, Goodrich Group, and Veolia, as well as angel investor Pitzy Folk.
At the time, the company was planning to double its headcount and explore international expansion. However, the broader capital environment proved challenging for early-stage ventures seeking follow-on funding.
The company expressed gratitude to those who supported the mission over the past decade whilst signalling the fight continues. “To our team, our courageous buyers, and our pioneering suppliers: thank you for believing. You made a difference,” the LinkedIn post stated. “The fight against food waste isn’t over, and neither are we.”
Australian venture capital investment in 2024 showed signs of cautious recovery, with investors revealing their 2025 investment targets focused on profitability and sustainable growth. However, climate technology and social enterprises faced particular challenges in securing the patient capital required to achieve scale.
For mission-driven ventures like Yume, the challenge is particularly acute. These businesses must demonstrate both commercial viability and measurable impact, often requiring longer development timelines than purely profit-focused startups.
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