Friendlier, the Guelph, Ontario-based cleantech company replacing single-use food containers with a reusable alternative, has raised $4.5M CAD in a seed extension round.
The all-equity round was co-led by Good & Well and Relay Ventures, with participation from Garage Capital, angel investors including Carol Leaman and Christine Tutssel (Axonify co-founders), and others. To date, the company has raised nearly $13M CAD.
Expanding beyond dining halls
Founded in 2019 by Kayli Smith (CEO) and Jacquie Hanton (CRO), the startup provides food service operators with reusable, deposit-backed containers that are collected, sanitized, and redistributed. The system is already in place across Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia, and has been adopted by institutions including the Toronto Zoo, Coca-Cola Canada, Farm Boy, and the University of British Columbia.
The new funding will be used to expand Friendlier’s infrastructure, including new micro-sanitation hubs to support growth in Winnipeg and Halifax, and extend its model beyond dining halls into hot beverages, catering, and grab-and-go retail.
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Accelerating impact
Since its $5M seed extension in December 2023, Friendlier has grown revenue 4x and added 20+ post-secondary institutions as customers. The company now claims over 3.3M containers reused, up from 1M at the time of its previous round.
Jonathan Shui, Director of Investments at Good & Well, said:
“Friendlier’s end-to-end solution has the potential to reach significant scale and catalyze the system-wide change needed to protect our planet for generations to come.”
Friendlier joins a growing group of Canadian startups tackling single-use packaging waste, including Vancouver-based Reusables, which raised $3.6M earlier this year.
