Afresh Raises $34M to Scale AI Across the Grocery Industry -- Driving Fresher Food, Stronger Margins, and Less Waste

Round co-led by Just Climate — the climate-led investment strategy of Generation Investment Management — and High Sage Ventures, as Afresh's AI platform scales to 12,500+ departments with 70% year-over-year revenue growth in 2025

SAN FRANCISCO, April 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Afresh, the AI platform for grocery, today announced $34 million in new funding to accelerate its expansion. The round was co-led by Just Climate, the specialist climate-led investment business set up by Generation Investment Management, and High Sage Ventures, with participation from all major investors.

Every day, billions of decisions determine how food moves through the grocery supply chain: what to order, how much to stock, and what to produce. In a $10 trillion global industry built on perishable inventory and razor-thin margins, those decisions are made under constant pressure, often across fragmented systems.

Technology helped with shelf-stable goods. It couldn't help with broccoli or salmon fillets.

Fresh food operates differently. Shelf life is measured in days. Demand shifts with weather and seasons. Inventory data is incomplete and constantly changing. Traditional retail systems were not built for this. This creates an industry-wide challenge to balance availability and waste.

Afresh's AI platform brings real-time intelligence to these decisions, from store-level ordering to distribution center buying. Built first for fresh, Afresh developed AI designed for short shelf life, unpredictable demand, and imperfect data. That foundation now extends across the full grocery enterprise, including center store, frozen, and general merchandise.

"We've spent nearly a decade building AI to solve the complexity of grocery, and we're now seeing that approach scale across the industry," said Matt Schwartz, CEO and Co-Founder, Afresh. "The decisions AI makes in grocery aren't about optimizing pixels on a screen — they're about physical products with shelf lives measured in days, moving through a supply chain that feeds billions of people. Our platform orchestrates those decisions at scale, so buyers, store teams, and merchandisers can spend less time on routine execution and more time on the strategy and judgment that drive outcomes."

Afresh is live in more than 12,500 departments across 40 states, partnering with leading grocery retailers including Albertsons Companies, Meijer, and Wakefern. Its platform supports merchandising, store operations, and supply chain teams in improving in-stock rates, reducing waste, and strengthening margins, enabling retailers to achieve measurable results, including up to a 25% reduction in shrink, a 3% sales lift, and a 7% improvement in inventory turns.

This new capital will accelerate that expansion, supporting broader deployment across retail partners and continued investment in next-generation AI.

An Industry at Inflection

The funding comes at a moment of accelerating adoption, as grocery retailers move from isolated pilots to scaled AI deployment across stores, categories, and supply chains. Afresh is leading that shift.

More than 60% of the company's entire lifetime order volume has occurred in the last 12 months, as retailers expand adoption across stores, categories, and workflows. Over the same period, Afresh has sustained 70% year-over-year revenue growth while expanding from fresh replenishment into a platform spanning six enterprise-grade solutions — covering full-store ordering, production planning, DC buying, and supply chain optimization.

"HighSage has been invested in Afresh for many years, and our conviction has only grown," said Owen Wurzbacher, Chief Investment Officer at High Sage Ventures. "Afresh has an exceptional team, a happy and rapidly growing list of customers, and a differentiated platform. Their best days lie ahead. This was an easy moment to grow our investment."

Better Decisions, Less Waste, Lower Emissions

In grocery, food waste is a business problem before anything else. An estimated 30–40% of food is wasted across the broader food system, driving lost sales, margin erosion, and excess inventory. The decisions retailers make about what to order and stock ripple upstream — determining what gets grown, processed, and transported across the entire food system. Getting those decisions right is one of the highest-leverage interventions available to reduce waste and emissions at scale.

"Food waste is one of the most critical and overlooked drivers of emissions in the food system," said Libby Spalding, Director at Generation Investment Management. "Afresh's AI platform strengthens the demand signal at the retail and distribution center levels, which have outsized upstream consequences. The results mean stronger margins for retailers and lower emissions for the system."

To date, Afresh has helped prevent more than 200 million pounds of food waste. Afresh continues to advance a clear premise: better decisions drive better outcomes — for retailers, for consumers, and for the global food system.

About Afresh

Afresh is the AI platform for Grocery — built for how grocery actually operates, from the fresh perimeter to center store and retail to distribution centers. The Afresh platform helps grocers make smarter decisions about what to buy, order, produce, and sell across the entire operation, delivering higher profits, less waste, and fresher food on the shelf. Founded in 2017 with the mission to eliminate food waste and make fresh food accessible to all, Afresh today supports more than 12,500 departments across 40 states, partnering with Albertsons Companies, Stater Bros., Meijer, Wakefern, and more. Learn more at www.afresh.com.

About Just Climate

Established by Generation Investment Management, Just Climate is a specialist investment business focused on scaling solutions for the highest-emitting, most off-track sectors of the economy. Just Climate's mission is to establish climate-led investing as a capital allocation imperative for institutional investors globally. For more information, visit justclimate.com.

High Sage

HighSage Ventures is a Boston-based investment firm backed by permanent capital. The firm partners with world-class operators building competitively advantaged businesses, both private and public, with the goal of compounding per-share value over the long term. See more at highsage.com.

SOURCE Afresh Technologies