Shoptalk2018

Shoptalk is billed as the world’s largest conference devoted to retail and e-commerce innovation. Conference organizers expect more than 7,500 attendees at the event this year, which runs March 18–21 in Las Vegas. Coresight Research is again partnering with Shoptalk to host the conference’s annual startup pitch competition. On March 20, Coresight Research CEO and Founder Deborah Weinswig will also participate in a Shoptalk session entitled “Overview of Retail and E commerce Innovation in China.” Zia Daniell Wigder, Chief Global Content Officer of Shoptalk, will interview Weinswig and Hans Tung, Managing Partner of GGV Capital, on topics that include technology and business model advancements in areas such as checkout, payments, delivery, logistics, the IoT and robotics.

Startup Competition

On March 18, Weinswig will emcee a startup pitch competition between 15 early-stage companies. Each company will present its business to a panel of judges from the investment community and to the audience. Two winners will be announced, one chosen by the panel of judges and one by audience vote, and each winner will be awarded $25,000. Shoptalk curated the participating startups based on their solutions to some of the most pressing challenges facing retailers today. As we highlight in our 18 Retail Trends for ’18: Preparing for Another Year of Change report, the retail industry continues to under go transformation, characterized by five key factors that are either driven by or affecting consumers and retailers:

1. Consumers continue to switch from conventional retail formats to new, alternative formats and channels.
2. Shoppers value life-improving services from retailers and technology providers.
3. Brands, retailers and technology firms are offering new types of interactions, rewards and experiences.
4. Industry changes are compelling closer collaboration among retailers, technology giants (including Amazon), logistics technology vendors and social media influencers.
5. Retailers are leveraging technologies as diverse as block chain and 3D printing to make their supply chains smarter and fitter in an increasingly competitive market.

In response to these trends and opportunities, retailers in all channels are changing to accommodate shoppers’ shifting preferences. Below, we profile Afresh Technologies, one of the companies participating in the startup pitch competition at Shoptalk 2018.

Afresh Technologies

Company Description

Afresh Technologies seeks to bring the cutting edge of machine learning and AI to demand forecasting for fresh food. The company uses demand forecasts to provide item-level predictions of future demand and its technology powers a suite of predictive supply chain solutions.Afresh Technologies provides a store-level replenishment tool for fresh categories including meat, produce, deli, dairy and bakery. The company’s technology is currently being piloted by a 300-store grocery chain.

Market Overview

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, roughly one-third of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year (approximately 1.3 billion tons) gets lost or wasted. Food losses and waste amount to roughly $680 billion in industrialized countries and $310 billion in developing countries. According to the Afresh Technologies website,US grocery stores throw away an estimated $40 billion worth of food each year.

What Problem Is the Company Solving?

Afresh Technologies seeks to solve problems associated with food waste and food freshness and to improve the in-store grocery experience for consumers.

Headquarters

San Francisco, California

Funding Stage

Seed

Afresh Technologies’ Value Proposition

Source: AfreshTechnologies.com

Business Model

Afresh Technologies’ clients pay a monthly subscription fee for the software-as-a-service platform.

Competitive Landscape

Itasca Retail and Invatron also provide demand-planning solutions for fresh food retail.

Management Team

The company’s founding team consists of three Stanford University graduates. Matt Schwartz, CEO, holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and formerly worked in the consumer packaged goods industry and as a consultant at Bain & Company. Volodymyr Kuleshov, CTO, holds a PhD in computer science/machine learning from Stanford and was the lead engineer at Moleculo, which was acquired by Illumina. Nathan Fenner, COO, was formerly a robotics engineer at Liquid Robotics and a lecturer in Stanford’s Engineering Department. He holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Company Outlook

The company is expanding its offering into omnichannel inventory optimization and online order fulfillment optimization.