Published On: October 30, 2026

At SV2, we invest in early-stage companies using market-based solutions to address some of the world’s most pressing challenges. We look for scalable businesses where commercial success and measurable impact reinforce one another, led by founders with the expertise and ambition to build at scale.

We are excited to announce our investment in PeelON, a materials company developing functional, compostable packaging designed to extend the shelf life of fresh produce while reducing dependence on conventional single-use plastic.

Tackling Two Problems at Once: Food Loss and Plastic Waste

Fresh fruits and vegetables begin losing quality from the moment they are harvested. During storage and transportation, ripening, moisture loss, microbial deterioration, temperature fluctuations, and logistics delays can shorten the time growers, exporters, retailers, and consumers have to use or sell the product.

Packaging helps protect fresh produce, but much of today’s food packaging relies on conventional single-use plastic. Meanwhile, many sustainable packaging alternatives focus primarily on end-of-life impact without addressing the biological processes that drive food deterioration.

This creates a difficult trade-off: protect the food or reduce the packaging footprint.

PeelON is building a solution designed to do both.

Making the Package Functional

PeelON has developed a proprietary materials platform that incorporates naturally derived functional components directly into compostable packaging.

Rather than acting only as a physical barrier, the packaging is designed to create a protective microenvironment around fresh produce, helping manage factors associated with ripening, moisture loss, and microbial deterioration.

The technology can be manufactured as bulk liners and retail packaging that integrate into existing packing and cold-chain operations. PeelON also produces functional resin formulations that can be supplied to packaging manufacturers and converters, creating a pathway to scale the technology beyond the company’s own finished packaging.

The initial focus is fresh produce, where shelf-life extension can translate directly into lower product loss and greater flexibility across storage, transportation, and distribution. Over time, the underlying materials platform could also have applications across other perishable categories, including flowers, bakery products, and dairy.

Why We Believe PeelON Can Scale

What particularly impressed us is that PeelON is moving beyond laboratory innovation into real-world commercialisation.

The company has progressed from materials development and shelf-life testing to paying and repeat customers in India and the United States. Because the technology is designed to work with existing packaging formats and packing operations, customers do not need to fundamentally redesign their supply chains to adopt it.

That matters for scale.

Rather than asking the food industry to choose sustainability at the expense of performance, PeelON is working toward a product where performance drives adoption and environmental impact follows with every package sold.

A Team Built Around the Science

PeelON is led by co-founders Dr. Taraka Ramji Moturu and Dr. Venkata Ravi Sankar Ummidi, PhD scientists who have worked together for more than a decade and previously built and exited a company together.

Their scientific backgrounds are particularly relevant to the problem PeelON is solving. Extending the usable life of fresh food requires understanding not only packaging materials, but also the biology of the product inside the package.

The team has combined that scientific foundation with a strong focus on commercialisation—moving from the laboratory to manufacturing, customer trials, and repeat commercial orders.

Why PeelON Is an SV2 Fit

PeelON sits at the intersection of two major environmental challenges: food waste and plastic waste.

Its impact model is also directly connected to its business model. If PeelON succeeds commercially, more perishable food can potentially remain usable for longer and more conventional single-use plastic packaging can be displaced.

That alignment between revenue and impact is exactly what we look for.

Every shipment that maintains its quality for longer represents an opportunity to preserve more of the resources, energy, water, land, and labour already invested in producing that food. And every conventional plastic liner or bag replaced with an appropriate compostable alternative represents an opportunity to reduce persistent packaging waste.

PeelON is tackling both challenges through one material platform designed to fit into the way food is already packed and shipped.

SV2 is proud to partner with the PeelON team as they scale their technology and work to make longer-lasting food and lower-impact packaging part of the same solution.