Olio (app)

Last updated

Olio
Type Private
Industry Mobile app
FoundersTessa Clarke, Saasha Celestial-One
Headquarters,
Areas served
Worldwide (currently in 49 countries)
ProductsFood-sharing app
Number of employees
100 (2023)
Website olioapp.com

Olio is a mobile app for sharing by giving away, getting, borrowing or lending things in your community for free, aiming to reduce household [1] [2] and food waste. It does this by connecting neighbours with spare food or household items to others nearby who wish to pick up those items. The food must be edible; it can be raw or cooked, sealed or open. Non-food items often listed on Olio include books, clothes [3] and furniture. [4]

Contents

Those donating surplus food can be individuals or companies such as food retailers, restaurants, corporate canteens, food photographers etc., and donations can take place on an ad-hoc or recurrent basis. For example, some supermarket chains in the UK, including Tesco, [5] the Midcounties Co-operative, [6] [7] Morrisons, Sainsbury's [8] [9] and Iceland [10] have piloted Olio as an 'online food bank' to donate food and to reduce their waste. In March 2022, Olio partnered with Pandamart in Singapore. [11]

First launched in early 2015 by Tessa Clarke and Saasha Celestial-One, [12] [13] by October 2017 the company had raised $2.2 million in funding. [14] Olio's Series A funding was led by Octopus Ventures, with investors such as Accel, Quadia and Quentin Griffiths contributing towards the $6 million that was raised. [15] The Olio app had around 7 million registered users as of May 2023. [16]

See also

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References

  1. "Martin Lewis says people are missing out on free cash - 'you may as well get cashback'". Daily Express (UK). December 2022. Retrieved 20 January 2023
  2. "I've been using a food-waste app to snap up free food, including coffee-shop salads, cookies, and meat from grocery stores". Business Insider. September 2022. Retrieved 20 January 2023
  3. "Save money on back to school costs as savvy parents cut £205 per child off bills". Daily Mirror. August 2022. Retrieved 20 January 2023
  4. "The rise of reuse: How to furnish your home for free, from your bathroom to your kitchen". Evening Standard. August 2022. Retrieved 20 January 2023
  5. "Tesco teams up with sharing app Olio to give away wonky fruit". The Grocer. 14 December 2016. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
  6. "Banbury chosen to pilot food waste initiative". Banbury Guardian. 23 May 2018. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
  7. "Midcounties Co-op teams up with food-share app Olio". The Grocer. 29 May 2018. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
  8. "Morrisons teams up with food sharing app Olio to cut waste at south London store". The Grocer. 26 January 2017. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
  9. "Sainsbury's food waste communities sign up to Olio app". The Grocer. 22 June 2017. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
  10. "Iceland Launches Partnership With Olio To Offer Families Free Surplus Food". Grocery Gazette. 4 July 2022. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
  11. "Food-sharing app Olio appoints Yien Li Yap to lead new Singapore operation". Eco Business. 26 April 2022. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
  12. "Feed thy neighbour? There's an app for that - Xanthe Clay tried out food-sharing app Olio". The Telegraph. 27 February 2016. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
  13. "Food for London: Olio, the app matching surplus food to hungry Londoners". Evening Standard. 4 November 2016. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
  14. "Don't Toss That Lettuce — Share It: A free food-sharing app aims to go global with a hyperlocal focus". Insights by Stanford Business (Stanford Graduate School of Business). 23 October 2017. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
  15. "Olio, the app that lets you share unwanted food items with your neighbours, picks up £6M Series A". TechCrunch. 11 July 2018. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  16. "The Olio story - An entrepreneurs journey - Building a sustainable business". Disruptive Innovator's Network. 18 May 2023. Retrieved 6 June 2022.