Solving the Worlds Dumbest Problem

Komal Ahmad, Founder and President of Copia, is Solving the World’s Dumbest Problem by reducing food waste and hunger. Komal has built Copia as a for-profit technology company that has diverted over 3M pounds of perfectly edible food from landfill and will feed over 4M people in need this year.

 Copia has managed food recovery from high profile events including Super Bowl 50 and the Oscars. Copia is recognized as 1 of the top 3 startups run by women in the U.S. and 1 of the top 8 startups graduating out of Y Combinator.

 Komal graduated from UC Berkeley with honors where she was awarded the University of California's “30 Under 30” Global Food Changemaker, along with Social Entrepreneur of the Year and a 2017 MIT Solver. Komal is on Forbes 30 Under 30, a Toyota Mother of Invention recipient and was also honored with the Nelson Mandela Humanitarian Award.

During COVID-19 we are turning on large commercial kitchens in days, immediately identifying at-risk recipients in need of food, and routing drivers (commercial & volunteer) in <30 minutes with individually packaged restaurant meals to deliver safely to the doorsteps of the most vulnerable at-risk to COVID-19. Through our real-time matching algorithm we’ve provided over 11,000 high-quality meals in <3 weeks.

Unlike other businesses, Copia provides a comprehensive end-to-end solution to manage food distribution to nonprofits (e.g., relief centers, veterans agencies, etc.) and directly to the most at-risk individuals to COVID-19.

Copia makes healthy food more accessible to people in the community by connecting commercial food businesses with high-quality excess edible food to local nonprofits in need of food donations. Current customers include hospitality companies, grocery retailers, corporate cafeterias, universities, hospitals, and sports franchises. We have built an end-to-end technology platform that directly addresses the challenges of data collection, complex logistics, and nonprofit management. Our service matches the type & quantity of excess food businesses have available with the type & quantity of food a nonprofit needs. Copia’s matching algorithm is based on real-time information to ensure food is only delivered to nonprofits that need that specific food at that specific time to avoid donation dumping. Not only does Copia’s program recover edible food to feed people and divert it from landfills, but it helps donor businesses understand overproduction trends and reduce their food surplus over time. Key component of the program is the cloud-based Analytics Dashboard that tracks a customer’s edible and nonedible food waste by specific food categories

COVID + lockdown = ⇧17M+ additional Americans facing food insecurity In response, we launched Delivering with Dignity - the first-ever emergency food response platform that is currently - Delivering healthy, quality meals to the most vulnerable - Getting local restaurants and employees back on their feet - Generating positive contribution margins. Copia is saving livelihoods while saving lives. Your financial support amplifies the delivery of high-quality nutritious meals to feed the most vulnerable communities (including homeless, immune-compromised, immobilized, veterans, etc.) as well as frontline healthcare workers, first responders, and other food-insecure communities. In 4 years we’ve fed 3 million people, over the next 3 months we will
- Feed 1,000,000 more
- Restore 150+ jobs
- Keep 25+ local restaurants in business

Copia is an online marketplace that connects food donors to organizations in need. By automating the matching process, organizations we set up instantaneous supply and delivery chains with the intention that no one goes hungry. 365 million pounds of food is wasted every day and 1 in 6 Americans don’t know where their next meal is coming from. Copia has identified that this epidemic is not a lack of food but rather an inequitable distribution of food.

During COVID-19 we are turning on large commercial kitchens in days, immediately identifying at-risk recipients in need of food, and routing drivers (commercial & volunteer) in <30 minutes with individually packaged restaurant meals to deliver safely to the doorsteps of the most vulnerable at-risk to COVID-19. Through our real-time matching algorithm we’ve provided over 11,000 high-quality meals in <3 weeks.

We want to assist in bringing this same type of program to other cities.

Unlike other businesses, Copia provides a comprehensive end-to-end solution to manage food distribution to nonprofits (e.g., relief centers, veterans agencies, etc.) and directly to the most at-risk individuals to COVID-19.

 I believe no one should ever wonder where their next meal is coming from. The fact is there is enough food to feed every single person in the US, it has always been logistics; how do you get it from point A to point B. That is what Copia is trying to do.

Our restaurant partners are able to provide meals for $4-$10. Our logistics and management cost (for recipient agencies, commercial kitchens, and delivery routing) nets to less than $1.00 per meal.

I was told from the beginning that I needed to get a real job, that Copia was just a dream. 

It isn't a dream, it's a reality. To date, Copia has diverted 3.08M pounds of perfectly edible food and provided 2.57M meals to non profit organizations. 

Our core business is helping those in need, so we have re-tooled our business to feed individual people and not just non profit organizations

Copia has some amazing partnerships; we did food recovery at Super bowl 50, we partnered with Freida Pinto and recovered food from the Oscars, we participated in food recovery and assisting to feed First Responders during the CA Wildfires. Copia has partnered with Pac-12, The San Francisco 49ers, HP and Pinterest for during our regular operations. Most recently, we became a part of Delivering with Dignity in Las Vegas, which we started when Covid-19 hit