SAN FRANCISCO, CA - A multi-million-dollar investment and the appointment of an iconic retail leader are the talk of the town, as Afresh announced the news last week. The artificial intelligence-powered fresh food optimization platform has raised $13 million in new funding in addition to appointing James McCann, CEO of Food Retail Ventures and former CEO of Ahold USA, as its new Board Member. Each of these exciting announcements is suspected to fortify Afresh as a formidable industry competitor.

"I believe that the fresh ordering technology that Afresh has pioneered is set to become one of the most important technologies in food retail," said McCann. "The improvements to freshness, sales, shrink, labor, and, as a consequence, profitability, are truly transformational, and every grocery store around the world—large and small—should be using Afresh. I'm thrilled to increase my backing of the team and look forward to working closely with them as they continue to grow."

A press release explained that a boost in customer growth contributed to the new funding, a Series A extension made by inbound investor interest. The round was led by Food Retail Ventures and joined by existing investors Innovation Endeavors, Maersk Growth, and Baseline Ventures.

Afresh research shows that on average, stores using its services reduce food waste by 25 percent or more. They also see 2–4 percent top line revenue growth and have a 40 percent or more increase to their produce operating margin. Additionally, each produce team member who uses Afresh saves 1-2 hours per week or more, which gives them more time to help customers and merchandise fresh produce.

"We headed into 2020 with some incredible momentum from early customer partnerships and validation of our technology. As pandemic set in earlier this year, we were proud of how well our product helped fresh departments adapt during these unpredictable times," said Matt Schwartz, CEO and Co-Founder. "In addition, we're seeing enormous demand from new customers. So, when industry veterans and inside tech investors came to us and asked if they could double-down on Afresh, we quickly said yes. This new capital will enable us to grow faster and bigger in 2021, thereby accelerating our mission of reducing food waste while making fresh, nutritious food accessible to all.

Over the past year, several major customers have added and expanded their use of Afresh, and the company's employee size doubled from 2019 to 2020 and is expected to double again in 2021.

The company will be expanding across more fresh functions in the coming months, and will eventually support critical functions across supply chain, store operations, and merchandising for all fresh categories.

Fresh, funded, and expertly led? Afresh sounds like one company to keep our eyes on, so stick with us.

Afresh