The leading AI-powered fresh food technology provider, Afresh announces a USD 115 million Series B funding round headed by Spark Capital, and along with participation from Insight Partners, VMG Partners, and Bright Pixel Capital. Walter Robb, senior executive partner at S2G Ventures and former co-Chief Executive Officer of Whole Foods Market also joined the round. All erstwhile stakeholders, including Maersk Growth, High Sage, and Innovation Endeavours, also participated in the round, fetching their total funding to USD 148 million.
Afresh Chief Executive Officer and co-founder Matt Schwartz, shared his belief that food shapes the health of people and the planet more so than anything else. Afresh was initiated with the purpose of eliminating food waste and making nutritious food more accessible. By this capital, the company would nurture the measure and scope of the Afresh platform to serve considerable number of stores across the United States and Europe and expand new fresh categories like meat and bakery.
Scaling social impact
At Afresh, their mission is to eliminate fresh food wastage and increase access for everyone. Studies have shown that around 40 percent of all food in the U.S. is discarded and Project Drawdown mentions reducing food waste as the key initiative to curb climate change.
Will Reed, General Partner at Spark Capital stated that the transformative results that Afresh provides are not only seen in grocers’ bottom lines, but also extend to the impact on the planet through the reduction of food waste. He further added that the company is proud to support Afresh through their next phase of growth as they continue to progress on their mission to curb climate change and enhance their ability to nurture the planet in healthy practices.
By the end of 2022 the Afresh intends to serve 10 percent of U.S. grocery stores, tripling their customer base in 2021, signing regional chains like CUB and national chains like Albertsons, with plans to roll out to more than 2,300 Albertsons stores by the end of 2022. Afresh new USD 115 million series B round empowers them to keep driving toward their vision where everyone has the food they require and nothing of it goes to waste.
Investing in a fresh-first future
As the world’s leading solution that is created to optimize critical purposes in fresh food, Afresh technology is in extreme demand. The company is thrilled to bring in more Afreshies onto the team to allow further innovation, enhance support functions, augment product functionality, and expand their reach beyond the U.S. Through this, grocery retailers will be able to provide their customers with the fresh foods they love while prioritizing sustainability.
The company meets at an implausible joint between rocket ship financial growth, innovative technology, and positive social impact. Afresh is delighted to pronounce that their solution continues to aid grocery chains like Albertsons, Fresh Thyme, Heinen’s, Save Mart, WinCo Foods, Cub Foods, and Bashas’ prevent millions of pounds of food from ending up in the landfill.
Enabling transformation across the supply chain
For grocery retailers committed to fresher food, environmentally safe practices, Afresh is the cornerstone solution that fresh teams know they can count on. On average, stores using Afresh reduce food waste by 25% or extra. They also find a 2-4% increase in top-line revenue growth and have a 40% or additional increase to their supply operating margin.
Alongside profitability, store employees who use Afresh get to devote additional time on value-added responsibilities that shape customer loyalty and basket sizes. Furthermore, the people who shop in the stores get fresher produce that lasts longer after they take it home.
Fresh is the Future of Afresh Food Industry
Afresh is excited to support critical functions across the supply chain and explore all the ways fresh-first tech can have an outsized impact on businesses, people, and the planet. The company is on schedule to aid retailers save thirty-four million pounds of food waste by the end of 2022.
With even more mission-driven folks solving the critical challenges of the fresh food supply chain, the climate-critical technology can benefit millions of people who buy fresh food at grocery stores and reach considerable number of retailers. As the company proportions, the team is exploring for initiative-taking data scientists, engineers, and account managers who care about the kind of impact they can have with their work.
