Freshflow Secures €6.5 Million to Combat Food Waste Using AI-Powered Supply Chain Optimization

Image Credit: World Fund

Food waste is no longer just a moral dilemma or a logistical nuisance — it's a billion-euro black hole that’s quietly draining profits and accelerating climate collapse. Across Europe, grocery retailers discard an estimated four million tonnes of food annually. That’s about 11 kilograms per person, year after year. And while this level of waste raises obvious environmental red flags, it also has brutal financial consequences, with some retailers seeing profit margins slashed by up to 50% due to spoilage alone.

One Berlin-based startup believes it doesn’t have to be this way.

Enter Freshflow — a machine learning-powered platform born out of supermarket chaos and fine-tuned for climate impact. Founded in 2021 by Avik Mukhija, an Indian-origin machine learning scientist with a keen eye for inefficiency, the company is on a mission to rewrite the rules of fresh food supply chains. With €6.5 million in fresh seed funding (bringing total funding to €8.7 million), Freshflow is poised to take its solution to supermarket aisles across Europe — and fast.

The round, led by World Fund (Europe’s foremost climate-focused VC), also saw backing from Capnamic, Venture Stars, and Caesar Ventures. It’s not just capital — it’s a vote of confidence in Freshflow’s thesis: that artificial intelligence, when applied surgically to the right pain points, can eliminate waste without compromising product availability or profit.

This latest investment will supercharge Freshflow’s next growth phase—expanding into new high-waste product categories like dairy, meat, and bakery, and scaling beyond fresh produce. The team, currently 24-strong, plans to double in size by 2026. Expansion across grocery distribution hubs in Europe is already underway.

The idea for Freshflow wasn’t born in a boardroom. It came during a university placement, with Avik on the ground at a local supermarket. There, he experienced firsthand the guesswork and confusion behind fresh produce stocking. In that chaos, he saw a pattern and an opportunity.

Freshflow’s AI platform plugs directly into a supermarket’s infrastructure and replaces human guesswork with data-backed forecasting. It analyses everything from store layout, local weather, regional shopping habits, spoilage risk, and seasonality, and then provides actionable, just-in-time stock recommendations.

The results? Impressive. Retailers using Freshflow report over 20% reductions in food waste and 2–5% increases in revenue — a rare win-win for sustainability and bottom lines. Heavyweights like Carrefour, Edeka, and Intermarché have already signed on.

The stakes—and the scale—are enormous. Europe’s fresh produce supply chain alone represents a €4 billion total addressable market. Globally, fresh food—from fruits and vegetables to perishables—is worth over $350 billion. That’s a lot of room for optimization, and Freshflow is charging ahead.

Yet for Avik and his team, the vision goes beyond market capture. It's about building a climate-smart, efficient, low-waste food supply chain that respects environmental limits and economic realities. Every algorithm trained and every SKU optimised is a step toward that goal.

As the climate crisis intensifies and regulatory pressure mounts, solutions like Freshflow won’t just be nice to have — they’ll be non-negotiable. And if early traction is any sign, the AI revolution in food retail is already well underway.

Bastien Gelin is CEO of Groupe Yabe, one of the largest Carrefour franchisers in France, and has deployed Freshflow in all its stores: “We have been working with Freshflow’s AI for nine 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.”

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 proven our system across many 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.”

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 in Freshflow and its talented team.” 

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