Divert, Inc., a circular economy company on a mission to prevent food from being wasted, today announced a strategic partnership with Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) serving as the lead investor in Divert’s Series C financing. This partnership is a first-of-its-kind model for the organics resource recovery industry, reflecting the demonstrated success of Divert’s commercially and operationally proven platform and elevating the company to a valuation of over $1 billion.
The partnership comes at a time when regulatory pressure, decarbonization goals, food supply chain inefficiencies, and rising disposal and energy costs are continuing to converge. As demand accelerates for infrastructure that can recover value from food that can no longer be consumed, MC’s expertise will play a key role in supporting Divert’s continued growth. As part of the partnership, MC has made an equity investment in Divert and in connection with that investment, has been granted preferred offtake rights for renewable natural gas. Together, Divert and MC are also establishing a new pathway to bring the benefits of renewable natural gas into Japan and other global markets through MC’s global energy platform.
“This partnership reflects the maturity of Divert’s platform and the value we deliver to customers every day,” said Ryan Begin, CEO and co-founder of Divert. “We have built a proven model that solves real operating challenges for food retailers and manufacturers, and creates value through food donations, renewable energy production, and nutrient recovery. MC recognized Divert as a disciplined infrastructure platform with proven results, strong operating capability, and a clear path to continued scale.”
Divert’s platform sits at the intersection of food, logistics, agriculture, energy and carbon markets, positioning the company to reduce waste at its source and maximize value from the material it receives. The company’s model supports major food retailers and manufacturers in achieving compliance, reducing waste, and improving operational efficiency.
MC leverages more than 50 years of expertise across energy markets to deliver solutions that support a stable energy supply and advance the transition to a carbon-neutral society. Given MC’s experience in developing and operating gas-related businesses in the United States, the partnership creates a strong foundation for collaboration and synergy with Divert.
“We are focused on building businesses that strengthen resource resilience, support stable energy supply, and create long term value through practical decarbonization,” said Shinya Naka, Senior Vice President, Division COO, Europe & Next-Generation Energy Div., Energy & Power Solution Group. “Divert has built a compelling platform at the convergence of food, energy, and circularity. Its proven operating model, strong customer value proposition, and ability to recover value from discarded resources made this a strategic opportunity for us.”
The partnership marks an important step not only for Divert, but also for the broader organics resource recovery industry. By pairing strategic equity capital with renewable natural gas offtake, Divert and MC are advancing a new model for financing and scaling circular food system infrastructure – one that links source reduction, domestic energy production, and decarbonization in a way that has not previously been executed at scale.
Divert is a portfolio company of Ara Partners, a global private equity, infrastructure, and energy firm focused on decarbonizing the industrial economy.
About Divert
Divert is a circular economy company on a mission to prevent food from being wasted through nationwide infrastructure and innovative technologies. Founded in 2007, the company provides an end-to-end solution that leverages data to prevent waste, facilitates edible food recovery to provide to people in need, and transforms unsold food products into renewable energy to power communities and fertilizers to enrich local soils. Through this integrated approach to reducing wasted food – Prevent, Provide, Power® – Divert works with customers across the U.S. to reduce wasted food and positively impact people and the environment.
For more information on Divert, Inc., please visit www.divertinc.com.
About Mitsubishi Corporation
Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) is an integrated trading and investment company that develops and operates businesses across multiple industries together with its global network. MC has seven Business Groups that operate across virtually every industry: Energy & Power Solution, Materials Solution, Mineral Resources, Urban Development & Infrastructure, Mobility, Food Industry, and Smart-Life Creation. Through these seven Business Groups, MC’s activities have expanded far beyond its traditional trading operations to include project development, production, and manufacturing operations, working in collaboration with our trusted partners around the world.
For more information about Mitsubishi Corporation, please visit MC’s webpage.
About Ara Partners
Founded in 2017, Ara Partners is a global private markets firm focused on decarbonizing the industrial economy. The firm invests in the middle market across three strategies: Private Equity, Infrastructure, and Energy. Ara scales commercially demonstrated decarbonization solutions, supports the businesses and infrastructure that enable their adoption, and reduces emissions at the source across the conventional energy value chain. Its model combines investing, market and policy expertise, project execution and operational optimization, and rigorous carbon accounting to reduce emissions economically and unlock growth at industrial scale. Ara operates from Houston, Boston, Dublin and Washington D.C., and, as of September 30, 2025, had approximately $6.6 billion in assets under management.
To learn more, visit www.arapartners.com.
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