(BlockBar) Lumachain, an Australian start-up, has received $3.5m to track blockchain technology in the food supply chain and tackling modern slavery at the same time. The fundraising was led by CSIRO innovation fund manager Main Sequence Ventures. Main Sequence Ventures is a $165.6m venture capital fund backed by the Australian government and the federal Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation.
According to the Australian financial review (AFR), a local financial news journal, on July 29, Lumachain’s new funds will pay for staff costs and international expansion. Lumachain reportedly uses blockchain technology to track the status and whereabouts of food in the supply chain in real time.
As stated by Lumachain’s website, founder Jamila Gordon says her blockchain solution aims to end modern slavery related to food production. Gordon told AFR:
“I always knew I would create the technology where we would connect big companies around the world to buy products and sell products anywhere, Knowing those products are ethically pleasantb and produced, and there’s no modern involved.”
It is reported that the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors ranks the food industry as the third most likely industry to be involved in modern slavery. In addition, according to Gordon, the fresh food industry isn’t digitalized which leads to a huge waste and low efficiency.
Jamila Gordon has been forced to work in Somalia since she was five years old. She later moved to Australia and built a corporate career with Deloitte and IBM before becoming Qantas’s chief information officer. Now that she’s launched her entrepreneurial career, Ms. Gordon’s experience as an executive has left her with many connections and a unique understanding of the startup’s target customers.
Lumachain is less than 18 months old, and while Ms. Gordon did not disclose specific growth figures, she said the startup already has about “six” customers.
Because of our background, the start-up “quickly earned the respect and trust of our customers”, she says.
The startup is also working with Microsoft on the tech giant’s first large-scale project. Microsoft has also nominated Gordon to be the recipient of the 2018 International Women’s Entrepreneurial Challenge Foundation, joining other International entrepreneurs in honouring the founder.
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