Metafoodx, an AI platform designed to cut food waste in commercial kitchens, has raised $9.4 million in funding to scale its operations.
The funding was led by Trustbridge Partners with participation from BlueRun Ventures and ScalableVision Capital.
Metafoodx has developed a 3D AI scanner that captures a food item’s image, weight and temperature, linking it to a kitchen’s menu and automatically logging it for food safety compliance. The system also records whether unused food is composted, donated or reused.
Tackling food waste
According to the San Jose-based company, without the proper tools to track consumption and forecast production, the foodservice industry can potentially overproduce by as much as 20% to 30%, wasting as much as $382 billion in food each year.
‘As prices climb and margins shrink, profitably delivering high-quality meals has never been more challenging,’ it noted.
By analysing operations across ordering, food preparation, plating and waste, its technology seeks to forecast future production more accurately, based on actual consumption. Metafoodx earned a 2025 Kitchen Innovations Award from the National Restaurant Association, which was judged by foodservice experts from the US Air Force, Aramark and Disney.
‘Turning to technology’
“Commercial kitchens are turning to technology to reduce waste, control costs and meet sustainability goals, catapulting the food technology market to more than $80 billion in the next five years,” said the lead investor at Trustbridge Partners. “Metafoodx has tapped into this opportunity with advanced AI and scanning technology in a sleek, practical device that delivers fast ROI and savings.”
Elsewhere, co-founder and chief executive Fengmin Gong said that the “magic behind Metafoodx” is in its ability to tackle food waste at source.
“We’ve made it incredibly easy for operators to use data from their own kitchens to improve ordering, food prep and serving to reduce their waste by 90%.” Read more here.
