Afresh Raises $13 Million in New Funding and Welcomes Former CEO of Ahold USA as New Board Member
SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 19, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Afresh, the first artificial intelligence-powered fresh food optimization platform for grocers, announced today that the company has raised $13 million in new funding. Afresh also welcomes grocery industry veteran James McCann, CEO of Food Retail Ventures and former CEO of Ahold USA, as a new member of its Board of Directors. The new funding is a Series A extension that was sparked by inbound investor interest thanks to new customer growth. The round was led by Food Retail Ventures and joined by existing investors Innovation Endeavors, Maersk Growth, and Baseline Ventures.
"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."
New research from Afresh shows the improvements that grocers realize when they use Afresh. On average, stores using Afresh reduce food waste by 25% or more. They also see 2-4% top line revenue growth and have a 40% or more increase to their produce operating margin. Employees who use Afresh save valuable time, too. 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 of Afresh. "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."
Afresh has seen tremendous growth 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 will double again in 2021. The company will be expanding the product 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.
About Afresh® Technologies
Afresh Technologies develops A.I.-powered solutions that optimize merchandising, ordering, and operations for all fresh departments. Afresh significantly reduces food waste, improves its partners' profitability, and makes fresher, healthier food more accessible to all. One-third of all food is thrown away each year, and Afresh is addressing this enormous problem, which leads to expensive losses for grocers and significant impacts to the environment. Afresh is a Series A startup based in San Francisco that was founded in 2017 by Matt Schwartz, Nathan Fenner, and Volodymyr Kuleshov. Learn more at www.afresh.com.
SOURCE Afresh Technologies
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