Berlin-based Freshflow raises €6.5 million to optimise fresh food supply chain with AI

German Freshflow – the AI-powered platform that optimises the fresh food supply chain with AI, starting with grocery retailers – has raised €6.5 million in funding to scale and expand into new categories on the back of rapid commercial and technical success.

The round was co-led by World Fund, Capnamic, and Venture Stars. Caesar Ventures also participated in the round. It comes after Freshflow scaled ARR to 7-digit figures and partnered with retail franchisees including Carrefour, Edeka and Intermarché, and saw its platform deployed across the L. Stroetmann chain.

Avik Mukhija, Freshflow Founder and CEO, said: “We’re seeing incredible demand from retailers, because we offer the first AI in Europe specifically built for the needs of their fresh departments. Having now proven our system across a large number of stores with 93% order acceptance and glowing reviews from fresh produce managers, demand from retailers is accelerating further.

“With the support of our investment partners, we can now build on this traction and serve retailers across Europe, moving one step closer to our vision to achieve a just-in-time, lean and climate-friendly fresh food supply chain.”

Freshflow, which has raised €8.7 million to date, was founded in 2021 after company Founder and CEO, Machine Learning scientist Avik Mukhija, spent months on the shop floor during a placement for his Masters degree.

Freshflow is reportedly the first European AI/ML waste-prevention solution to specifically target niche challenges around ultra-fresh products, including quality variations, short shelf lives, loose items, many different local suppliers, cashier errors, and more. Its AI-powered platform automates daily ordering decisions for fresh produce, leading to proven average waste reductions of around 20% and revenue increases of ~2-5%.

According to data provided by Freshflow, the grocery retail sector is responsible for ~5% of total annual food waste, binning over 4.5m tonnes – largely due to stock mismanagement. If retailers order too little they face the prospect of losing sales, but order too much and they run the risk of waste and killing profit margins.

Yet today, many retailers still rely on store team members’ intuition to handle fresh produce orders, leading to over-ordering and waste. Other fresh produce teams are left to use non-tailored AI solutions/software that were not built to address their specific needs.

Nadine Geiser, Principal at World Fund, said: “Until now, no one has offered European retailers a cost-effective and easy-to-implement solution to avoid fresh food waste. Freshflow is that solution. Avik has the vision, expertise and contacts to grow this into a global company – as evidenced by Freshflow’s impressive traction over the last year. We are very excited to be doubling down on our investment into Freshflow and its talented team.”

The Freshflow platform uses state-of-the-art probabilistic AI to overcome key challenges in fresh grocery supply chains. Unlike generalist retail forecasting tools, Freshflow reportedly adapts to on-the-ground realities – accounting for store layout, temperature, seasonal trends and spoilage risk.

Bastien Gelin is CEO of Groupe Yabe, which is among the largest Carrefour franchisers in France and has deployed Freshflow in all its stores: “We have been working with Freshflow’s AI for 9 months. Thanks to the application and Freshflow’s team, we have radically improved our process in the fresh produce departments. We have seen strong results: more inventory turns, less waste and more freshness.”

According to Freshflow, the European fresh produce industry is worth more than <€311 billion, with the TAM for Freshflow’s product approximately being €4 billion in Europe alone.

Mukhija plans to use the fresh capital to expand into adjacent ‘fresh’ categories including dairy, meat, and bakery and launch new capabilities its engineers have successfully trialled for distribution center (DC) ordering. Freshflow also plans to hire around 15 new team members across its Berlin and Paris bases in 2025, grow its 24-person team to 50 by 2026 and continue geographic expansion across Europe.

Markus Merz, Investment Manager at Capnamic, said: “The Freshflow team’s customer obsession knows no bounds and left a lasting impression on us as an investor. While their strong traction came as no surprise, it nonetheless exceeded our expectations and prompted us to further deepen our commitment to this partnership. The team is primed to scale, and we’re excited to support them on their journey.”

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