Foodforecast, a German AI startup within the meals retail market, has raised over €3 million in funding. The spherical was led by Scalehouse Capital and Future Meals Fund II, with further help from their current VC traders, Blue Horizon Ventures and Aeronaut Make investments, and different strategic traders. This funding can be used to scale their operations and develop their footprint throughout the European meals retail market.
Since its Go-to-Market in 2022, the corporate’s AI-driven gross sales forecasting options have been utilised in a number of thousand buyer shops and have been adopted by a number of the trade’s largest gamers, equivalent to SSP Germany. Foodforecast specialises in optimising the complete meals provide chain, starting on the Level-of-Sale (POS).
By leveraging technological developments, Foodforecast permits its clients to automate ordering and manufacturing processes by a mean of over 90%, equaling greater than 20 million automated orders inside a yr, which considerably reduces the burden on workers and has develop into the principle promoting level for its clients. Nevertheless, the discount of meals waste stays the corporate’s major driver, which might be decreased by as a lot as 30% on common, whereas on the similar time growing gross sales by as much as 11%.
AI in opposition to meals waste
“We’re on a mission to avoid wasting €10 billion price of meals waste throughout the subsequent 10 years,” mentioned Justus Lauten, CEO and founding father of Foodforecast. “In 2023, we not solely saved 4,000 tons of meals waste but additionally averted the annual CO2 equal of over 1,000 vehicles and conserved greater than 2,500 Olympic swimming swimming pools’ price of contemporary water. The backing from our traders is a strong endorsement of our imaginative and prescient and the large market potential we’re tapping into. This infusion of capital will allow us to develop our workforce and proceed delivering unparalleled predictive capabilities and repair high quality to our purchasers within the gastronomy, bakery, and retail sectors.”
Meals waste shouldn’t be solely an financial situation but additionally considerably contributes to the degradation of planetary well being. The pointless lack of meals takes its toll on invaluable assets equivalent to water, vitality and land, and it’s a main driver of greenhouse fuel emissions that gasoline local weather change. Given these pressing considerations, discovering modern options to fight meals waste is crucial. By deploying their AI-driven options, Foodforecast helps their clients optimize their useful resource utilization whereas making a crucial contribution to defending our planet and making certain a sustainable future.
Silla Scheepens, Accomplice at Future Meals Fund, highlighted the strategic significance of Foodforecast’s know-how: “Foodforecast is on the intersection of superior know-how and significant affect. Their AI-driven options not solely tackle a number of the most urgent challenges within the meals trade, but additionally ship important environmental and financial advantages. The mixture of their technological innovation with a powerful concentrate on sustainability makes them a game-changer out there, incomes the belief of quite a few high-profile purchasers throughout numerous sectors.”
The spherical additionally noticed participation from a number of trade specialists turned early-stage traders, related to a number of the most distinguished meals service firms within the DACH market, equivalent to Subway®, dean&david or Bäckerei , Göing seit 1920.
