The supply chain is ripe for an upgrade.

Exploding complexity. Siloed data. Growing regulation.

Food recalls. US$2.6 trillion in global food waste.

What were we waiting for?

The perishables supply chain is a complex amalgam of producers, brokers, processors, logistics firms, wholesalers, distribution centers and retailers — and it’s facing unprecedented pressure. As the planet’s population grows, the industry struggles with rising complexity, regulation, data silos, ecosystem stress, and fraud.   

Even today, perishable imports continue to rely on paper records and fax machines, while in developed markets, data that could create significant efficiencies remains locked within disparate databases. And when food-borne illness triggers a recall, the forensic research required to identify and stop sickness takes weeks or even months.

Simply, this is a data problem.

Razor-thin margins discourage innovations that would lead to radical efficiencies. In the meantime, the outdated data environment contributes to us sending $1T of perishable food alone directly from farms to landfills.

Four data improvements are creating vast efficiencies that reduce waste and financial, reputational and health risk: 1) continuous IOT devices gathering more granular data, more economically; 2) cloud platforms connecting the disparate systems that store, secure, and share that data among supply chain partners; 3) machine vision and edge computing to augment human inspection of shipments; and 4) leveraging machine language to create predictive and prescriptive recommendations to help run businesses more efficiently.

This is the Transparent Path opportunity.

Our vision

To create the most trusted, transparent and collaborative supply chain platform.

We are a team of commercial, operational and technology executives who care deeply about reducing waste, risk, and insecurity.

Active in food- and health-related causes in our community, we are driven to bring our skills, experience, passion and focus to this issue, to scale our collective impact to feed a growing planet, more safely and more efficiently.

Our values

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TRANSPARENT

We are honest and transparent in everything we do.

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COLLABORATIVE

We will achieve our mission through cooperation, shared standards and successes.

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ETHICAL

We hold ourselves to the highest ethical standards.

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ACCOUNTABLE

We do our best to keep our commmitments and own our issues and actions.

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DIVERSE

We recognize and honor differences in people and ideas.

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ADAPTABLE

We are agile, adaptable, and led by our customers.

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PEOPLE & PLANET

We believe in People, Planet and Profit, and support the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

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FUN

We love what we do, and you’ll enjoy working with us!

Our path toward equity

We are inclusive. We celebrate multiple approaches and points of view. We believe diversity drives innovation. So we’re building a culture where difference is valued and a company that reflects the communities we serve and where everyone feels empowered to bring their full, authentic selves to work. Having varied perspectives helps generate better ideas to solve the complex problems of a changing — and increasingly diverse — world.

Our story

2017: Xerox VP Eric Weaver and colleagues at the company’s famed Palo Alto Research Center discuss how PARC’s printed sensor technologies could feed a distributed ledger.

Customer meetings indicate a high level of commercial interest.

The idea takes flight

APRIL 2018: On-stage at the Global Blockchain Summit, Weaver announces Transparent Path, a startup that will combine IoT sensors with a blockchain ledger. Initial mission: create better traceability for food products.

It's alive!

APRIL 2019: Transparent Path and blockchain development partner Penta Global kick off a pilot with Jack Brown Produce, one of Michigan’s largest apple packing houses. Sensors successfully track the provenance and conditions of Michigan apples from Jack Brown to US retailers.

Walking the walk

APRIL 2020: Transparent Path LLC converts to a Washington State SPC (“social purpose corporation”) to allow us to make money by “reducing food waste and financial risk.”

Cohort 1!

MAY 2020: Transparent Path is accepted into the 5G Open Innovation Lab, enabling new partnerships with wireless tech providers Intel and T-Mobile.

Field testing

JANUARY 2021: The company begins field testing its platform tracking food shipments for Feeding the Northwest, a division of food security non-profit Feeding America. Over the year, we add features, change the user experience, and refine product/market fit.

Our first raise

FEBRUARY 2021: Transparent Path closes its first fundraising effort. Over 400 people gave us their confidence through a RegCF investment on the NetCapital equity crowdfunding platform.

Commercialization

2022: Feeding the Northwest becomes our first customer and we onboard additional growers and packhouses to support them. Apples, onlons and other fruit and produce are tracked across the Continental US, Alaska and Hawai’i.

We got our start during 2018’s awkward “blockchain for food” phase. Our original goal was to provide better traceability during recalls. But within a few months, we realized the opportunity — and the need — was much, much larger.

Blockchain is only one tool of several —and traceability is only one feature of several — that are needed to create a more trusted, transparent supply chain. We needed to think bigger.

Visibility requires more than just blockchain.

Meet the Transparent Path Team

Headshots of the ten principals and advisors of Transparent Path.