Afresh lands $34M as grocers lean on AI to manage fresh inventory
The financing, announced May 10 and led by Just Climate and High Sage Ventures, comes as Afresh pitches retailers on cutting shrink by 25% and stockouts by 80%.
Afresh has brought in $34 million in new funding, with Just Climate and High Sage Ventures named as lead investors. The company did not disclose the round type in the provided materials.
Afresh sells an AI platform for grocers that combines store ordering, production planning, inventory management, demand forecasting, and DC buying, with a particular emphasis on fresh foods. On its website, the company describes the platform as purpose-built for grocery and says it is designed to optimize freshness, increase profits, and reduce food waste.
That positioning matters because Afresh is not trying to be a generic AI software vendor. Its pitch is that grocery, and especially fresh departments, are unusually difficult to manage with standard tools. The company argues that traditional systems struggle with the variability of fresh merchandising and the messy data that comes with changing pack sizes, seasonality, quality, and day-to-day operational shifts. Afresh says its software goes beyond traditional demand forecasting and perpetual inventory to help stores make better decisions across the fresh supply chain.
The company also frames its product as a single platform that spans more than one store workflow. Its site highlights capabilities in supply chain optimization, data management, intelligent inventory, sustainability, and department-level tools for produce, meat, bakery, deli, and center store. That broader footprint gives Afresh a more operational story than a narrow forecasting product.
Afresh lists a roster of grocery customers including Albertsons, Bashas, Brookshire, Cub, Fresh Thyme, Heinen’s, Smart & Final, Stater Bros, and WinCo. It also cites results on its website that include a 3% sales increase, 25% shrink reduction, 80% stockout reduction, 20% labor efficiency gain, 7% faster inventory turns, and a 94% adherence rate.
What the new capital will specifically fund was not disclosed in the source materials. Even so, the financing gives Afresh more backing as it presses a clear market argument: grocery operators need software tailored to the unpredictability of fresh food, not systems built around the cleaner, more stable data of center-store retail.