ISSF Invests $250K in Jordanian Food Safety Startup Decapolis

Jordanian food quality platform Decapolis has secured $250,000 from the Innovative Startups and SMEs Fund (ISSF) and Oasis500. The funds will fuel the startup’s expansion into Saudi Arabia, as well as go towards growing the team and developing the platform’s capacities.

Decapolis provides blockchain-based, compliance-as-a-service (CaaS) software that allows for accurate end-to-end food traceability, helping food suppliers maintain high standards of food safety compliance and ensure quality. The startup’s operations involve working with various entities and institutions including government agencies, retailers, agri-businesses, farmers, and food manufacturers.

According to Founder and CEO Abdelrahman Habashneh, the startup broadly works to improve collaboration and simplify the process of information-sharing between audits and all stakeholders involved in the food sector. As a former food manufacturer himself, Habashneh says he saw a lack of consistency when it came to sharing food safety-related data, driving him to create Decapolis.

Habashneh explains that food safety standards stand out as a key issue in trade, and that the wider economy can be affected by businesses’ failure to comply with such standards and regulations. “A lot of exports can be denied entry to the global market on food safety grounds. This is one of the top challenges for most of the countries in the region, not just Jordan,” he said.

In 2020, Decapolis worked with the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) to launch a pilot initiative aimed at raising farmers’ awareness and compliance with food safety standards, with the first cohort bringing 100 smallholder farmers onboard and training them to use the Decapolis platform.