DECENT is an alliance of multiple decentralised food enterprises working together to build an AI-first marketplace for a more ethical food system.
Together, we are decentralising the food system by making it easy to access fresh food from thousands of small-scale, independent and ecologically sound producers.
Our combined expertise, experience, and market presence will enable the Decent Marketplace to launch with sales exceeding €100m.
Substack Articles
The Problem We're Solving
Systemic Fragility
Centralised giants dominate distribution, relying on mass synthetically produced food, eroding diversity, health and trust.
Disenfranchisement
Small-scale producers of natural food are pushed out of mainstream supply chains due to prohibitive compliance and transaction costs.
Funding Dilemma
Purpose-driven platforms are forced into misaligned funding paths that compromise mission and seek excessive extraction.
Our Three-Pillar Solution
1
DECENT Alliance
A non-profit that brings together leaders of decentralised food enterprises to share knowledge. It offers research, connections, and campaigns to build the community.
2
DECENT Market
A steward-owned platform that uses AI-First technology to bring together regional platforms with different business models into a connected marketplace.
3
DECENT Fund
A fund focused on the independent food sector to provide ethical financing, cash flow, and liquidity to companies building and growing the movement.
Founding Alliance Members
Ooooby is UK's leading decentralised food platform
£13 million GMV
Focused on ecologically sound food direct from farms to households
Linked Farm is Belgium's leading decentralised food platform
€10 million GMV
Pioneering short-supply-chain food both B2B and B2C
Plant on Demand is Spain's leading decentralised food platform
€17 million GMV
Short-supply-chain solutions for small farms and food hubs
If you represent a decentralised food enterprise; a digital platform, a wholesaler, retailer, food producer, or service provider to the decentralised food sector, we invite you to review the member benefits to consider joining us.
The AI-First Decentralised Web Advantage
The next generational leap in online technology will not come from layering AI onto legacy systems, but from building on new decentralised web architectures with an AI-first approach that is adaptive by design and operates efficiently at higher orders of complexity.
Modular & Extensible
Inherently adaptable to change, lowering development and operating costs
Future Integration
Enables integration across emerging marketing, distribution, and regulatory frameworks
Scalable & Adaptive
Inherently more scalable and adaptable to various market conditions
European Market Size
€4T
Total EU + UK Food Economy
2025 estimates of full supply chain economic activity.
€200B
Eco-Sound Segment
~5% incl. organic, regenerative, low-impact, and health-focused foods
€80B
Market Opportunity
~40% eco-sound via decentralised independent businesses
Assembling a €100M+ Starting Point
The DECENT Alliance is bringing together regional platforms that between them will represent more than €100m in trading volume. This provides the critical mass to make investment in the DECENT technology viable and uniquely positions DECENT to provide the digital substrate for decentralised food everywhere as we enter the AI age.
Why Now? The Perfect Convergence
The Timing Is Right
The opportunity to unite decentralised food enterprises with technology has only recently become viable.
AI-First
AI is cutting the cost of building adaptable, future-ready platforms, enabling independent systems to interoperate without sacrificing sovereignty.
Food Security
Mega-scale centralised food systems are damaging the ecosystems that feed us. A more resilient food system is urgently needed.
Regenerative Groundswell
Trust in big brand food is crumbling as the boomer generation give way to socially and ecologically minded citizens who are demanding change
Action Plan
Starting on the right foot
1
Unite
Assemble a critical mass of existing platforms with established market share to inform design requirements and share in the technology ownership
2
Design
Establish fundamental design requirements, systems architecture and user interfaces.
3
Build
Develop the MVP ready for adoption and deployment by alliance member platforms
Leadership
Pete Russell, Founder of Ooooby, is spearheading DECENT's formation.
Ooooby currently facilitates 55,000 gate-to-plate deliveries per month to 15,000 active customers via 150 regional food hubs, generating £13m in ecologically sound, decentralised food sales annually.
Pete has over 20 years of food system experience across most aspects along the small to large scale food industry spectrum.
(copyright Koen Keppens)
Laurence Claerhout, Founder of ​Linked.Farm​, is a founding partner of DECENT.
Linked.Farm facilitates B2B and B2C trade directly from small farms and food hubs in Belgium and is comparable to Ooooby in terms of trading volume.
Laurence has worked in executive roles over the past 25 years and founded Linked.Farm 10 years ago.
Natalia Valle Aguirre, Co-Founder of Plant on Demand, is a founding partner of DECENT.
Plant on Demand is an all-in-one SaaS platform built to help organic farmers digitalise their operations, sell more efficiently, and collaborate through local food networks. The platform currently commercialises over €17M annually from over 200 farmers throughout Spain.
Natalia has over 7 years of experience in building and managing companies driven by purpose in the local and organic food sector.
Invest in the Future of Food
We're raising funds for phase one establishment of the non-profit DECENT Alliance.