Food Retail Ventures

Food Retail Ventures is a venture capital firm founded in 2016, with locations in Boston, Massachusetts, and Miami, Florida. The firm specializes in investing in early-stage companies within the food and retail technology sectors. By leveraging its industry experience and extensive network, Food Retail Ventures aims to support the growth and success of these companies.

James McCann

Founder and CEO

12 past transactions

Veeve

Venture Round in 2022
Veeve Inc. is a technology company based in Issaquah, Washington, that specializes in enhancing the in-store shopping experience through its innovative smart shopping cart. This AI-powered device attaches to existing shopping carts and automatically recognizes items as they are added, facilitating a cashier-less checkout process. Veeve's platform provides real-time personalized recommendations, location-aware marketing, and access to store inventory with navigational assistance. The system requires no app or login, making it accessible for shoppers. Retail partners, including major grocery chains and local retailers, report significant benefits, such as increased sales, shorter shopping trips, and high customer satisfaction scores. Veeve aims to transform traditional grocery shopping by combining the convenience of online shopping with the tactile experience of physical stores.

Flashfood

Series A in 2022
Flashfood Inc. is a Canadian company based in Toronto that operates a mobile app aimed at reducing food waste by connecting grocery stores with consumers seeking discounted, near-expiry surplus food. Founded in 2016, the platform allows grocery retailers in North America to sell high-quality food that might otherwise go to waste, enabling consumers to purchase these items at significantly reduced prices. By facilitating this marketplace, Flashfood has not only helped shoppers save money but has also redirected over 150 million pounds of food away from landfills. The company emphasizes its commitment to sustainability and community support, operating as a certified B-corp with the mission of feeding families rather than contributing to food waste.

FoodMaven

Seed Round in 2022
FoodMaven Corporation operates a digital marketplace that connects distributors, manufacturers, and producers of perishable and dated grocery items with restaurants and institutional kitchens. Founded in 2015 and based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the company focuses on selling local and oversupplied food at approximately half the price, promoting a zero-waste sustainability philosophy. Unsold food is redirected to food banks, animal feed, and composting initiatives, addressing both food waste and hunger. By utilizing an artificial intelligence-driven procurement platform, FoodMaven provides food service operators with valuable data to optimize their purchasing decisions while maintaining their existing procurement processes. The company aims to enhance the efficiency of the food system while benefiting both the environment and community welfare.

CYTRIO

Seed Round in 2021
CYTRIO is a company that specializes in data privacy rights management, catering to security and privacy professionals. Founded in 2019 and based in Wayland, Massachusetts, CYTRIO offers a platform that automates identity verification and employs artificial intelligence for data discovery and classification. The platform also features ID correlation capabilities, allowing businesses to enhance trust with their customers by helping them exercise their data privacy rights effectively. Through these services, CYTRIO aims to support organizations in navigating the complexities of data privacy compliance.

Halla

Series A in 2021
Halla is a company that specializes in Taste Intelligence, focusing on delivering personalized grocery experiences through advanced artificial intelligence. Their platform combines food data and human behavior insights to create tailored product recommendations, substitutions, and search functionalities for grocery retailers. By utilizing machine learning models, Halla enables grocers to understand and respond to individual shopper preferences in real-time. The company's suite of products can be integrated into various customer touchpoints, including online cart pages and in-store promotions, enhancing customer engagement and driving sales. This approach not only helps shoppers discover appealing products at optimal moments but also aims to improve overall shopping experiences and increase transaction values.

Pensa Systems

Series A in 2021
Pensa Systems, Inc. specializes in developing autonomous perception systems designed to enhance inventory visibility and management for retailers and manufacturers. Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, with an office in Den Haag, the Netherlands, Pensa employs advanced computer vision and artificial intelligence to provide real-time insights into retail shelf inventory. The company's predictive technology automates the identification of products on shelves and forecasts out-of-stock situations, helping consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands and retailers reduce stockouts and increase revenue. By partnering with prominent CPG brands and retailers, Pensa addresses significant challenges in inventory management, offering a cost-effective solution that improves operational efficiency in the retail sector.

Brinc

Seed Round in 2021
What is BRINC? Brinc is your online platform for quick local delivery service. We deliver everything you need in everyday life. You simply order via app or on our website from our partner stores – and we bring everything to you. We are fast: in about 60 minutes, we will ring your doorbell. Instead of delivering in days, we offer you quick availability of all products. With our continuously optimized routes, our delivery fleet also saves resources, helps to ensure that fewer cars are on the road and thus ensures lower CO2 emissions. You can already enjoy our services in many cities. Our various partners include supermarkets, bakeries, beverage shops, pharmacies, restaurants, drugstores, flower shops and more. Your benefits: you save a lot of time when shopping, you can quickly fulfill urgent desires and simply relax and enjoy life. Using the innovative algorithms of our software, we always find the optimal route to your place and are able to deliver your items as quickly as possible. And the best thing is: You can start right away! BRINC brings everything you need in everyday life quickly and easily to your home. In short: You order. We deliver. Just give it a try now!

Kevel

Series A in 2020
Kevel is a company that specializes in the development of ad-serving APIs aimed at assisting developers in building server-side ad platforms. Its suite of APIs offers access to a wide range of ad-serving features and decision-making tools, facilitating seamless native promotions. Additionally, Kevel's solutions enable the easy integration of first-party data, enhancing revenue potential and ad relevance. By providing these resources, Kevel empowers developers to create customized ad servers efficiently and effectively.

Afresh

Series A in 2020
Afresh is an AI-powered company that provides software solutions for tracking demand and managing orders of fresh produce in grocery stores. Founded in 2017 in San Francisco by Matt Schwartz, the company operates a fresh-first supply chain platform designed to navigate the complexities associated with perishable goods for brick-and-mortar retailers and wholesalers. Its platform utilizes artificial intelligence and machine learning to analyze vast amounts of data, delivering precise item-level predictions of future demand. This enables accurate replenishment recommendations that take into account supply chain constraints, helping clients to minimize waste, enhance product freshness, and improve overall profitability.

Afresh

Series A in 2020
Afresh is an AI-powered company that provides software solutions for tracking demand and managing orders of fresh produce in grocery stores. Founded in 2017 in San Francisco by Matt Schwartz, the company operates a fresh-first supply chain platform designed to navigate the complexities associated with perishable goods for brick-and-mortar retailers and wholesalers. Its platform utilizes artificial intelligence and machine learning to analyze vast amounts of data, delivering precise item-level predictions of future demand. This enables accurate replenishment recommendations that take into account supply chain constraints, helping clients to minimize waste, enhance product freshness, and improve overall profitability.

Flashfood

Series A in 2019
Flashfood Inc. is a Canadian company based in Toronto that operates a mobile app aimed at reducing food waste by connecting grocery stores with consumers seeking discounted, near-expiry surplus food. Founded in 2016, the platform allows grocery retailers in North America to sell high-quality food that might otherwise go to waste, enabling consumers to purchase these items at significantly reduced prices. By facilitating this marketplace, Flashfood has not only helped shoppers save money but has also redirected over 150 million pounds of food away from landfills. The company emphasizes its commitment to sustainability and community support, operating as a certified B-corp with the mission of feeding families rather than contributing to food waste.

Evigence Sensors

Series A in 2018
Evigence Sensors specializes in manufacturing advanced sensors that monitor the shelf life of perishable products, primarily focusing on food and beverage sectors, as well as healthcare and cosmetics. The company offers a Freshness Management System that integrates sensors and data analytics to provide real-time tracking of food freshness from production to consumer. These sensors are applied during packaging and respond to cumulative time and temperature exposure throughout the supply chain. They can be scanned easily for immediate readings of remaining freshness, with data uploaded to the Evigence Insights Engine for visualization and analytics. This technology helps clients ensure food quality and safety, extend shelf life, reduce waste, and enhance operational efficiency. Founded in 2004 and originally focused on healthcare, the company shifted its focus to food monitoring in 2016. Evigence Sensors is headquartered in Yokne’am, Israel, with a commercial office in Hoboken, New Jersey, and holds 25 patents, including compliance with World Health Organization standards for vaccine monitoring.
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