Woohoo! We’ve just released version 1.4 of OLIO which takes the awesome food sharing app across the whole of London!

olio-egg-small
Neighbours and retailers share surplus food on OLIO

We first teamed up with OLIO in April 2015 and we were so impressed with the startup and its founders that we decided to invest, making OLIO the third addition to our investment portfolio.

The first version of the app launched in July in Crouch End, London. OLIO expanded across a further four boroughs over the summer, and has recently raised seed funding from a leading Silicon Valley venture capital firm whose investments include Facebook and Spotify. Team OLIO plan to follow demand and expand across the rest of the UK (and across the world!) in 2016.

OLIO co-founders Saasha and Tessa
OLIO co-founders Saasha and Tessa

OLIO has shown some amazing traction in its first six months. It trended at number 1 in the UK App Store and was chosen as Tech City News’ ‘download of the week’. OLIO has been nominated for New Business of the Year and Social Enterprise of the Year at the Dot London Small Business Awards (vote now!), and even has support from London MP Catherine West who said:

“Food waste is a scandal. 15 million tonnes of food and drink are thrown away every year, yet at the same time over a million people are turning to food banks. It’s immoral and I’m pleased to welcome OLIO’s new local free food sharing app aimed at tackling the problem and stopping perfectly edible food ending up in landfill. It’s also a great way of strengthening communities and bringing people together”.

What are people saying about OLIO?

The app has gained a lot of fans so far, including ASOS who featured OLIO on their blog, and Dawn O’Porter who put the app as #2 in her “Going Up” list in Glamour Magazine. Here’s what some of OLIO’s other users have to say about the app…

valentina
Valentina

OLIO user Valentina, 44, is passionate about reducing food waste and loves the social aspect of OLIO. “I love meeting new people through the app and have made many friends already. I’ve also had a bit of a rough time recently, being ill and not being able to work and there have been tough times where I haven’t been able to put food on the table. OLIO has helped me find food and make nutritious meals for my family. I wish it was around earlier!”

Chris
Chris

 

Chris, 36 from London was sharing juice boxes left over from a kids’ party. “I received some lovely messages on the app, which made me grasp the social aspect of it. I felt like there was a strong, friendly community on OLIO before I had even met anyone at the doorstep.”

blackstockkitchen
Rohan

 

Rohan, 26, who owns Blackstock Kitchen in Finsbury Park, uses OLIO to share leftover produce at the end of the day. About his first time using OLIO, Rohan says “I put up a load of surplus vegetables and they went straight away! A woman then came in later to see if the vegetables were still going, and I felt bad, so I gave her some pastries. She then told me she would share some on OLIO herself so that others could make use of the ones she didn’t need. There’s your community in a nutshell.”

Simpleweb will continue to work with OLIO on further releases to make the app even more awesome. We’re also helping them to hire their first team members and we’ll be on hand to support them every step of the way.

“Simpleweb have been a brilliant partner throughout our journey so far” said OLIO co-founder Tessa Cook. “We’re proud of the product we’ve built together and look forward to continuing to work with them as we take OLIO to the next level.”

Version 1.4

Version 1.4 of OLIO includes the following updates:

  • You can now control how often you receive notifications and for which items (i.e. distance from you)
  • A new profile section where you can set your default location, customise your notifications & amend your profile
  • Expanded app boundary to include anywhere inside the M25
  • Improved in app notifications
  • You can now use Emojis in your messages 😉
  • You can now reset your forgotten password!
  • Fixed Facebook login issues
  • General design and performance improvements

If you need a hand accelerating your startup, get in touch with Simpleweb today to see how we can help.

Related Stories