Farmstead, which describes its service as “farm-to-fridge in 60 minutes” will use the new funds to scale operations, continue building out its core AI technology, accelerate hiring, and expand beyond its current Bay Area locale.

Using Technology to Source Local Food

A recent study from the Food Marketing Institute projects online grocery sales in the U.S. could reach as much as $100 billion by 2025 – or 20 percent of the total market share.

Farmstead uses an AI platform to manage its supply chain by tracking what customers buy and when they buy it, source food from local farms and purveyors, and receive their deliveries in one hour using AI-optimized routes. The company claims prices are competitive with traditional grocery stores.

Grocery Disruption is Coming in Many Forms

The fresh food and produce segment is seeing a tremendous levels of disruption all along the value chain.

Vertical Farming startup Plenty has made one of the biggest splashes for its plan to place vertical farms in urban areas to better supply high-value produce to consumers – and for its sky-high valuation and funding levels. The company has secured $224 million to date.

Others are looking to bring the farm directly into stores. In February,  German urban farming company Infarm announced $25 million in Series A funding. The company has pioneered a model that combines modular vertical farms with IoT technologies and data science to optimize the production up to 1,200 plants per month of dozens of varieties of herbs and leafy greens directly in-store.

“Farmstead’s model is proving that it’s possible to disrupt a trillion dollar industry and improve margins with AI, while doing right by consumers, food sector businesses and the planet,” said Resolute Ventures Co-Founder Mike Hirshland.

 By David Nitchman, GAI Media