The whirlwind continues for Fenugreen, winners of last year’s Startup Open competition during Global Entrepreneurship Week. Whole Foods announced today that it would start carrying FenugreenFreshPaper in stores across the entire Northeast and North Atlantic regions in the United States (all stores in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island & Maine).
Fenugreen was founded by Harvard and Yale grads, Kavita M Shukla, inventor of FreshPaper, andSwaroop Samant, a medical doctor, as a simple project to learn more about the food system and how to make it more sustainable and accessible—25% of the world’s food supply is lost to spoilage. It all started with handmade batches of FreshPaper handed out at the farmer's markets and street fairs in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Infused with organic spices, a single sheet helps keep produce fresh for 2-4 times longer than normal.
"We sell FreshPaper to make it available to those who need it most,” said Shukla. “We’re excited to partner with Whole Foods Market because of the opportunity to develop our ‘Buy One, Give One’ program and make FreshPaper accessible to all, especially the 1.6 billion people living without refrigeration in the developing world, and the food banks and food pantries here at home that struggle to provide fresh, healthy food to the hungry.”
While the startup launched in July 2011 ahead of Global Entrepreneurship Week, Shukla developed and patented its product while in high school, after she happened upon its active ingredients in a home remedy given to her by her grandmother in India. After being tabbed as one of the most promising startups launched between GEW 2010 and GEW 2011, its founders, Kavita Shukla and Swaroop Samant, found themselves onstage with Richard Branson at the Global Entrepreneurship Congress. Since that time, Fenugreen has enjoyed visibility from CNBC, the Boston Globe and theWashington Post.