In this founder spotlight, we sit down with Winnie Wambugu, a Venture Scientist in Residence at Deep Science Ventures, and a Kenyan farmer-turned-founder building antimicrobial biocoating technology to protect tropical fruit exports from cold chain failures.

After watching produce spoil before reaching markets due to fluctuations in temperature, instead of waiting for costly new refrigeration infrastructure, Winnie is taking a practical approach, developing a biocoating that extends shelf life and turns container losses into recovered revenue.

As a solution that adapts an existing system to create resilience in the face of intensifying climate impacts, it’s the perfect embodiment of climate adaptation technology.

Interview

Q1: The Problem

You mentioned that 80% of shipments from Kenya to the Netherlands experience cold chain failures, with losses of $5,000-10,000 per $30,000 container. Can you walk us through what this actually means for an exporter's business? Why are even small temperature fluctuations (3-5°C) so devastating for tropical fruits?

Cold chain failures are a systemic risk to exporters especially for tropical fruits that are highly sensitive to temperature fluctuations. Even a +1. -1 0 C change can trigger chilling injury, accelerated ripening, lenticel proliferation, or microbial spoilage, all of which compromise fruit quality and physical appearances, leading to rejection by buyers and consumers. For exporters, this has major financial consequences:

1. A container with cold chain failure loses $5,000- $10,000 in unsellable fruit, a 16-33% loss per shipment. Damaged produce can fail quality inspections, leading to rejected shipments, extra storage costs and reputational damage.
   

2. Beyond the financial hit, these losses waste embedded inputs i.e., water, fertiliser, labour and energy contributing to GHG emissions. Nutrient rich fruit is lost, posing a threat to malnutrition and food security in importing and local markets.
   

3. Transit risks especially from East Africa are magnified by route disruptions. For instance, the Red Sea closure forces longer or alternative shipping routes, increasing transit times and the likelihood of temperature excursions.

Q2: The Climate Question

So, it’s clear that Kenya is suffering from an increased risk of pests and disease outbreaks linked to a changing climate. Can you give us a specific example of how climate change has impacted growers in Kenyan orchards in recent years, particularly with the mite infestations you mentioned?

Rising temperatures in Kenya are directly altering pest and disease dynamics in orchards. For instance, in avocado farms around Nakuru, higher average temperatures over the last 3-5 years have accelerated mites outbreaks, which thrive in warmer and drier conditions.

These mites feed on leaves, reducing photosynthetic capacity, stunting growth and causing up to 25-80% yield loss in severe seasons. Growers report that traditional mitigation strategies like regular pesticides applications, are less effective, as pests reproduce faster under warmer conditions and recover between sprays.

The situation is compounded because some of the strongest miticides have been banned while the export market increasingly demands organic produce. This combination has made pest management more challenging, costlier and riskier, with increased production costs and higher risk to fruit safety and quality.

 Q3: Why Biocoating?

Your antimicrobial biocoating integrates with existing cold chains rather than replacing them. Why did you choose this approach instead of something else, for instance, building new refrigeration technology? What makes it more practical for exporters?

We are designing an antimicrobial biocoating to integrate with existing cold chains rather than replacing them because practicality and scalability are critical for exporters. Building new refrigeration infrastructure is capital intensive, slow to deploy, and often infeasible for small and medium exporters across developing countries. In contrast, a coating is a low cost, immediately deployed solution that extends fruit shelf life without requiring major changes to existing logistics.

The biocoating works synergistically with cold storage, protecting fruit against chilling injury, microbial spoilage and lenticel damage, even during minor temperature fluctuations or extended transit. This solution becomes more practical because it reduces postharvest loss, minimise the risk of rejected shipment and preserves fruit quality for international markets, while staying aligned with organic and residue free export requirements.

Q4: How Does The Solution Work?

You're targeting specific post-harvest diseases like anthracnose and stem rot. Please could you explain how your biocoating actually prevents these pathogens from corrupting fruit during the 2-3 week transit to Europe?

The antimicrobial biocoating forms a thin, edible layer around each fruit both physical barrier and a microbial inhibiting environment that slows the growth of pathogens during transit. It targets post-harvest diseases by sensing moisture and pathogen activity, releasing antimicrobial compounds when and where they are needed.

Q5: What Is The Market Opportunity?
 
Beyond avocados and mangoes from Kenya, what other crops or regions could benefit from this technology? Is this solution applicable to other tropical fruit-growing regions facing similar cold chain challenges?

Our technology is broadly applicable across tropical fruits that are highly sensitive to cold chain disruptions, including avocado, mango, pineapples and papayas. Globally, regions such as East, and West Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America face similar challenges with postharvest losses especially during shipping.

Our antimicrobial biocoating can extend shelf life, reduce microbial decay and preserve export quality of these fruits, creating a scalable solution beyond the initial market. Because the coating integrates with existing cold chains, it is practical for exporters worldwide, particularly in regions where investment in new refrigeration infrastructure is limited.

Q6: Your Journey

Winnie, what led you to focus on this specific problem? Was there a moment that made you realise cold chain losses were a solvable challenge?

I am a farmer and over the years, I have experienced the frustrations of watching our produce spoil before reaching retail markets due to lack of affordable preservation methods.

The turning point came when I spoke with 10 major exporters, who confirmed that these losses are systemic, predictable and costly impacting hundreds of exporters across developing countries. This insight showed that instead of overhauling the cold chain, we could protect the fruit itself with a coating that can preserve quality extend shelf life and reduce waste.

Q7: What Does Success Look Like?

If everything goes to plan, what does success look like in 2027 when you spin out of Deep Science Ventures? How do you measure impact - containers saved, dollars retained by exporters, something else?

By 2027, success looks like a validated scalable MVP coating deployed with East African exporters.

1. Each shipment seeds a 50-70% reduction in postharvest losses translating to $5,000 saved per container.

2. Minimising spoilage protects earnings and strengthens trust with international buyers

3. Fruit remains high quality for 40+ days enabling longer transit routes and access to new markets.

4. Prevented losses reduce wasted inputs and associated GHG emissions, aligning with a circular economy model.

5. MVP validated with 4 pilot exporters proving commercial feasibility and laying groundwork for full scale rollout

Community Announcement

After speaking to practitioners in the field and conducting some basic market research, it’s clear that there are dozens of climate tech communities out there, all doing a great job, but none that exclusively cater to those entrepreneurs building within the adaptation economy.

Unlike energy or carbon, which operate as vertical sectors, adaptation is horizontal, cutting across industries from agriculture to infrastructure and biosecurity. This is fascinating for those working in the space, but deeply frustrating as fragmentation makes it harder for founders to find investors taking climate adaptation tech seriously (there aren’t many), for investors to source deals, and for everyone to learn from, and syndicate with each other.

I’d like to change that.

As well as transitioning into a biweekly newsletter with deal announcements and more regular founder and investor spotlights, I will be building a community for founders and investors at the cutting edge of technologies that help industry and society prepare for, adjust to and ultimately deal with climate induced change.

A community for those not making marginal gains in emissions reduction or charging green premiums, but innovations driving efficiencies that outshine incumbent technologies in our new reality.

If that sounds like something you would be interested in, let me know here: https://tally.so/r/LZ9rLp

Best,

Will