Afresh Secures $115 Million in Series B Funding and Rolls Out its Fresh Food Technology to Thousands of Stores Across the US
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 4, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Afresh, the leading AI-powered fresh food technology provider, today announced a $115 million Series B funding round led by Spark Capital and with participation from Insight Partners, VMG Partners, and Bright Pixel Capital. Walter Robb, senior executive partner at S2G Ventures and former Co-CEO of Whole Foods Market also joins the round. All prior investors, including Maersk Growth, High Sage, and Innovation Endeavors also participated in the round, bringing the company’s total funding to $148 million.
Afresh will use the investment to expand the footprint of its Fresh Operating System, an efficient, flexible solution for forecasting, inventory, ordering, and store operations, to support new fresh categories like meat and bakery. The funding will also be used to grow Afresh’s team and expand internationally to Europe.
“Food, more so than anything else, shapes the health of people and our planet. We founded Afresh with the purpose of eliminating food waste and making nutritious food more accessible. We’re thrilled to use this capital to expand the scale and scope of our Fresh Operating System,” says Matt Schwartz, co-founder and CEO of Afresh.
Aiming to serve 10% of U.S. grocery stores by the end of 2022, Afresh tripled its 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. On average, stores using Afresh reduce food waste by 25% or more. They also see a 2-4% increase in top line revenue growth and have a 40% or more increase to their produce operating margin.
“The transformative results that Afresh provides are not only seen in grocers’ bottom lines, but also extend to the impact on our planet through the