May 2

The 7th Semi-Finalist of Start:up 2014: Trace it back to the barn

The modern consumer faces a daily challenge of how to check the origin of the food product in their hands. The reason for this lies in the unavailability of data and the interest of many food enterprises that the chains and paths remain hidden. The team of Prospeh wished to maximize the transparency of the origin of food products and thus it developed OriginTrail, a system that will enable the consumer to have easy access to that information.
 

The team of startup Prospeh Ltd. (from left to right: Žiga Drev, Branimir Rakić and Tomaž Levak)
 
OriginTrail system consists of three components: at the end of the production line each product will be marked with a unique code that the application on the user device will read. Then it will gather information from a server and display it to the consumer.
 
Both the manufacturer and the consumer will benefit from the use of the system, as each product from the production line in the consumer’s basket will serve as a medium of communication. The manufacturer will get instant information about the consumer’s shopping habits, wishes and complaints, while the customer will have access to food products with a traceable source.
 
The three team members have been working together since 2005, when they participated in student and school projects, and began to collaborate professionally in 2011. They participated in the development of the first version of a traceability system for Slovenian organic meat and received a diploma from the Slovenian Chamber of Commerce for an innovative system that checked the origin and authenticity of organic meat by using QR codes.
 
In 2013, they decided to start a company and upgrade the traceability to a higher level that covers all food products. They are currently working on the first pilot project with one of the biggest Slovenian food producers. The second pilot project is planned for abroad and will enable the standardization of the product.
 
Author: Anja Kodra