Diamond Edge Ventures, the corporate venture arm of Mitsubishi Chemical Group, has invested in Freshr Sustainable Technologies, a Canadian startup pioneering sustainable active food packaging to extend shelf life and reduce food waste. DEV participated in the oversubscribed Seed round, led by Invest Nova Scotia, with participation from the BDC’s Climate Tech Fund, Nadarra Ventures, and Blue Tide Capital Ventures.

Founded in 2017, Freshr has developed a technology platform that enhances food packaging with natural active ingredients, extending shelf life and reducing waste throughout the supply chain. Freshr’s proprietary approach enables more sustainable and functional packaging solutions by immobilizing these natural active agents onto plastic films. This financing round will accelerate Freshr’s technology scale-up and global expansion.

Curtis Schickner, President of Diamond Edge Ventures, said: Food quality preservation is a major pillar of Mitsubishi Chemical Group’s KAITEKI Vision 35 strategy. We believe Freshr’s technology platform, combined with MCG’s expertise in packaging materials and food preservation ingredients, can drive meaningful innovation in food shelf-life extension for our customers.”

 Mina Mekhail, Co-Founder & CEO of Freshr, said: “Partnering with Mitsubishi Chemical Group is a tremendous opportunity to scale our sustainable active packaging innovations globally. MCG’s deep expertise in materials science and food packaging solutions will help us accelerate the adoption of our FreshrPack™ technology in the fresh protein sector.”

Diamond Edge Ventures, based in San Francisco, CA, was established in July 2018 as Mitsubishi Chemical Group's corporate venture capital arm. DEV invests in and partners with high-potential startups to drive innovation and new product development across MCG Group’s business areas