Afresh Raises $34M in New Funding Led by Just Climate

Fresh food is harder to manage because it spoils quickly, demand changes with the weather and seasons and inventory data is often incomplete and always changing. Traditional retail systems aren’t designed for this, making it difficult for businesses to balance having enough stock while avoiding waste.

Afresh uses AI to provide real-time insights for decisions like store ordering and distribution center purchasing. It was first built for fresh food, handling short shelf life, changing demand, and incomplete data. Now, the platform also supports other areas of the grocery business, including center store, frozen goods, and general merchandise.

The funding comes as grocery retailers rapidly move from small pilots to large-scale AI use across stores, categories, and supply chains, with Afresh leading this shift. More than 60% of the company’s total order volume has come in the past year, as retailers expand their use across different operations. During the same time, Afresh has achieved 70% year-over-year revenue growth and grown from a fresh food solution into a broader platform with six enterprise tools, covering store ordering, production planning, distribution center buying, and supply chain optimization.

Afresh is used in over 12,500 departments across 40 states and works with major grocery retailers like Albertsons Companies, Meijer, and Wakefern. Its platform helps merchandising, store and supply chain teams improve product availability, reduce waste and increase profits, delivering results such as up to 25% less waste, a 3% increase in sales, and a 7% improvement in inventory turnover.

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"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."

"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."

"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."

About Afresh

Founded in 2017, by Matt Schwartz and Nathan Fenner, Afresh is an AI platform built for grocery operations, from fresh food to center store and from retail stores to distribution centers. It helps grocers decide what to buy, order, produce, and sell, improving profits, reducing waste, and keeping food fresher. With a mission to reduce food waste and improve access to fresh food, Afresh now supports over 12,500 departments across 40 states, and works with retailers like Albertsons Companies, Stater Bros., Meijer and Wakefern.

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