Registrar Corp acquires Foodsteps as food industry faces mounting pressures to deliver supply chain sustainability

Registrar Corp, a Paine Schwartz Partners portfolio company and the USA's leading provider of regulatory and compliance software for food, cosmetic, and life science companies, has acquired Foodsteps, a pioneering UK-based company dedicated to helping food businesses reduce the environmental impact of their products.

Foodsteps was launched in 2018 by Cambridge University graduate, Anya Doherty. The company is now used by over 150 food businesses worldwide, including Compass Group and Sky, to accurately measure, understand, reduce, and communicate their environmental impacts from farm to fork.

The acquisition comes as the food industry – a major contributor to emissions and biodiversity loss – faces accelerating global requirements and mounting pressure to demonstrate progress against near-term sustainability and decarbonization targets.

The EU introduced the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) last year, with other major governments seeking to implement similar reporting requirements. Sustainability targets are also under scrutiny. In March, the Science-Based Targets Initiatives (SBTi) identified a number of major food businesses that had failed to meet the deadline to set targets and meet their decarbonization commitments.

The Foodsteps platform analyses data across company supply chains, incorporating sustainability metrics across farming, packaging, processing, and transport, and providing automated Life Cycle Assessments on products. It gives organizations a level of supply chain transparency that the industry has historically lacked, enabling companies to meet burgeoning reporting requirements, as well as set and monitor sustainability targets.

The acquisition of Foodsteps by Registrar Corp will give the platform access to a global market of over 32,000 companies in 190 countries (of which 28,000 are food businesses), as well as sustainability expertise from Paine Schwartz Partners, the largest private equity firm dedicated to sustainable food chain investing.

"We are thrilled to be joining forces with Registrar," commented Anya Doherty, CEO & Founder, Foodsteps. “This acquisition represents a significant milestone not just for our team but also for the future of food sustainability. By combining Foodsteps’ software, data, and expertise in sustainable food with Registrar’s global leadership in regulation and compliance, we are poised to deliver the next generation of sustainability solutions that the food industry needs. We look forward to this exciting new chapter and the incredible opportunities it brings for our customers and the industry as a whole.”

“Foodsteps’ data platform is like no other," added Brian Thies, Senior Vice President of Corporate Development at Registrar. "With industry leading data that is recognised through partnerships with the University of Oxford, WWF, and WRAP, the company has a track-record of helping procurement, sustainability, and marketing teams meet reporting standards and net zero goals. In joining forces, we hope to help businesses comply with sustainability and compliance regulations and facilitate the transition to net zero by enabling the growth of transparent and sustainable global supply chains.”