AI-driven forecasting platform for fresh food-to-go businesses, Martee AI, has closed an oversubscribed pre-seed funding round and secured a pilot with a sushi brand with concessions in hundreds of stores in France.
The round closed at around £540,000, and the London start-up will use the cash injection to expand its technical team, having already made several hires in machine learning and software development.
The company – co-founded in early 2023 by ex-CEO of meal kit brand Plateaway, Harry Slagel, and a former rapid grocer Weezy employee, Lucy Adams – initially launched as an unmanned, self-serve convenience store concept. However, earlier this year, it pivoted its business model towards providing demand forecasting software product for the grab-and-go sector. The AI-based product had been developed in-house, the forecasting algorithm leading to operational profitability and a significant reduction in waste, Martee AI said.
“We made the bold decision to pivot in January, after extensive research and some amazing initial results, identifying a unique market opportunity that aligned with the technology we initially built to power our own food retail business,” explained Martee AI CEO Slagel.
“Our pivot, supported by this raise, will allow us to scale our fresh food impact wider, towards our ultimate founding mission: to make healthier, fresher food more accessible and affordable,” he added.
The company revealed it had secured a deal with a sushi brands running multiple concessions across 450 French supermarkets.
“We’re just getting started, and we can’t wait to make a massive impact within the food system and make it possible for healthier, fresher food to be sold everywhere,” said company COO Adams.
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