Tessa Clarke and Saasha Celestial-One
CEO & COO, Olio

Meet the founder

In 2014, Olio co-founder and CEO, Tessa Clarke, was putting the final touches to her packing for a move from Switzerland to the UK. The removal company told her she’d have to throw out the last of her food – and it just didn’t sit right. Vast quantities of natural resource are dedicated to food production, and as an industry it counts as one of the major contributors to our carbon emissions. And yet we still discard around a third of the food we produce every year. Alongside her co-founder, and Olio’s COO, Saasha Celestial-One, Tessa set about building a business that doesn’t just eliminate food waste – but imagines a future with redistribution at its heart.

Why we invested

When we met Tessa and Saasha, we realised that Olio’s solution didn’t just engage with the problem of food waste – it went further. Not long ago, we might have thought of passing a night in a stranger’s house as a novelty, or sharing a stranger’s car as something abnormal, or dangerous. Startups have changed that. The planet is hurtling towards a tipping point, and a major reappraisal of how we consume is needed. Redistribution will be as important as reuse and recycling, but sharing food requires a shift in mindset. We backed Olio because it’s one we believe Tessa, Saasha and the community Olio is building have the power to effect.

Initial investment stage

Series A

First invested

2018