Help for Mallorcans

The Berlin start-up SPRK is helping an initiative that is fighting against increasing poverty on Mallorca. A first delivery has already arrived on the island.

While tourists are slowly returning to Mallorca, the effects of the coronavirus pandemic are devastating for the island's inhabitants. Poverty has risen rapidly and many people are starving, according to media reports. The Hope Mallorca initiative has been working for months to support the Mallorcans. And is now receiving help from a German start-up: SPRK rescues food and sends it to Mallorca, where Hope Mallorca distributes it to foundations and food banks.

The first ten tons of relief supplies were delivered at the end of March, reports the Berliner Zeitung. The delivery included 2.5 tons of flour, 1.5 tons of water and one ton of UHT milk and fruit juice, as well as hygiene and cleaning products.

The food rescue is all about SPRK, which uses artificial intelligence to detect surplus food in supply chains and redirect it to organizations such as hospitals or volunteer initiatives. Following a test phase, the Berlin-based start-up was launched on the market at the beginning of 2020 and closed a seed round in July with a single-digit million amount.