United Kingdom-based startup Project Provenance Ltd. announced today closing $800,000 in funding to enable a market launch of its blockchain service.

Provenance has developed a distributed cryptographic ledger, or blockchain, designed to provide transparency to track fresh produce from origin to grocery store shelf. This seed round follows a successful international pilot tracking tuna through Southeast Asian supply chains and a pilot project with the world’s largest consumer cooperative tracking fresh produce.

Funding for this seed round came from Humanity United, a foundation that is part of the Omidyar Group, Merian Ventures founder Alexsis de Raadt-St. James, blockchain investors Digital Currency Group and startup accelerator Plug and Play Tech Center. Also joining lead investors was a selection of U.K. angel investors: the Angel Academe and John Taysom, founder of Reuters Venture Capital.

The company intends to use the money to complement grant funding and enable the market launch of the service, which Provenance expects to reach more than 1,000 food and drink businesses by 2025.

“Our mission at Provenance is to improve the lives and well-being of the people behind consumer products by bringing trusted, accessible information to commerce,” said Jessi Baker, chief executive officer of Provenance.

In the art world, “provenance” refers to the earliest known source or origin of a piece of artwork and a history of the hands that it has passed through. When it comes to tracking fresh produce, or any other supply chain, a blockchain can provide a highly detailed provenance for every action that a crate of lettuce, fish or tomatoes goes through.

For example, a crate of freshly picked tomatoes is filled up by workers and a label is added to the side that uniquely identifies it. That identifier and the time of the crates placement in storage awaiting transport is written into the blockchain. When that crate gets put a truck, that action gets written as a record to the blockchain. This keeps happening with each exchange from truck to distribution center, center to refrigerated grocery chain truck, from truck to grocery store.

Since a blockchain provides a secure way to encrypt and sign all of the metadata associated with every transaction — what, who, where, when and whatever else is needed — it makes it difficult to modify or remove transactions after the fact. As a result, if those tomatoes go missing, are delivered damaged or are discovered to be contaminated, their entire route from hand-to-hand can be backtracked. This opens up a lot of opportunities for maintaining food safety and streamlining product transport operations.

Many companies have explored the potential use of blockchain in supply chains. IBM Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. teamed up to tackle food fraud in China by tracking pork shipments while Alibaba Holding Group Ltd. and the Australia Post also worked together with blockchains to stop counterfeit food. Luxury goods, such as diamonds, also have attracted IBM’s attention in a collaboration with Everledger Ltd. to register and track the precious stones.

The first 100 transparent products tracked by Provenance’s blockchain service will be launched in October. This follows a pre-launch of organic product tracking in partnership with Soil Association for Organic in September.

U.K. food and drinks businesses can apply to be a founding Provenance member by signing up at the company’s website.

Image: Provenance