BRIEF: India’s UPL partners with grain monitoring startup TeleSense to reduce food waste

• Indian agribusiness firm UPL is collaborating with US agtech startup TeleSense to implement the latter’s grain monitoring technology in its post-harvest storage and transport operations.
• Sunnyvale, California-based TeleSense uses remote sensing to monitor temperature and humidity in grain storage bins, helping to prevent disease and spoilage. 
• In a statement, UPL said it is tapping TeleSense’s tech with the hopes of reducing food waste, ensuring food security, improving supply chain sustainability, and increasing grower profits.

Why it matters:

Food waste continues to be a hot topic of interest for agrifood corporates. Last year, 200 major suppliers, manufacturers, and retailers including Walmart, Kroger, and PepsiCo committed to cutting their food waste figures in half by 2030, for example. 

UPL has made similar commitments and has highlighted its awareness of new technologies to increase its sustainability impact. Ten years ago, it adopted a water optimizing technology called Zeba to improve irrigation capabilities for farmers, for example. Considering its scale — operating in 130 countries with 10,000 employees — UPL could make a significant impact when it comes to scaling agrifoodtech startups’ solutions. 

Last October, TeleSense raised $10.2 million in Series B funding to ramp up its sales activity.