Pesto Secures over $1m to Transform Operations for Food & Drink Manufacturers and Brands
Written by Christina Levada
Pesto, the ERP platform built by food industry veterans for ambitious food and drink brands, today announced it has closed a $1.1m funding round to accelerate the adoption of its AI-powered operations and insights software. The oversubscribed round led by Fuel Ventures, and including Prequel Ventures, Antler, Ventures Together, Leo Lion, Mark Philip-Sorensen, CEO & Founder of Sorven Capital Limited and other angel investors reflects strong investor confidence in Pesto’s mission to optimise operations, improve profitability and build supply chain resilience for businesses across the food and drink sector.
The funding comes at a critical time for the industry:
- Profit is getting squeezed – Food and beverage manufacturers saw a 28% year-on-year drop in profit margins last year alone
- Prices have surged – Food inflation has increased 13x in just three years
- The planet’s feeling it too – Food production accounts for over 25% of global carbon emissions
- Public health is paying the price – Unhealthy diets are costing the UK economy £268 billion every year.
Founded by two former food brand founders, CEO Kate Hofman (GrowUp Farms, IBM), COO Sanjay Sood-Smith (Tuk In, Bain & Co) alongside CTO Amish Ralhan (Citi, Galaxy), Pesto’s vision is to be the single connected platform for the food system, combining core commercial processes and data with relevant sustainability analysis. Designed specifically for the unique needs of food and drink producers and brands, Pesto’s technology reduces admin workload by 75% and eliminates spreadsheet chaos and costly manual errors.
Pesto automates and connects critical workflows including:
- Automated order management – AI reads purchase orders from emails, PDFs and EDI instantly pulling them into the system
- Instant document generation – Delivery notes, 3PL instructions and production documents are created automatically
- Autopilot invoicing – Integrated invoicing streamlines cash flow and reduces admin
- Inventory Management – Stock management and batch traceability for manufacturers and brands
The new funding will be used to accelerate product development, expand integrations and scale sales and customer support as Pesto targets rapid growth in the UK and international markets.
Kate Hofman, CEO and Co-Founder of Pesto, commented:
“Food and drink businesses face constant operational complexity and too often they’re stuck with outdated tools that slow them down. Pesto changes that. This investment allows us to accelerate the build of more features of our AI-powered ERP platform and help more businesses centralise their critical business data and automate key processes so they can operate with clarity, resilience and stronger margins.”
Adam French, Partner at Antler, commented:
“What excited us about Pesto from inception was the combination of experienced founders applying AI to address a challenge that they have all personally experienced. They are laser focused on the impact they want to achieve, and have built a solution based on world-class technology to achieve it. This funding is testament to their vision and I have every confidence in their future success.”
Mark Pearson, Managing Partner of Fuel Ventures, said:
“Pesto is solving real pain points in a sector that’s been underserved by modern technology. Their team combines deep food industry expertise with serious tech capability giving them a unique edge. We’re excited to back Kate, Sanjay, Amish and the team as they transform how food and drink brands operate.”
About Pesto
Pesto is an AI-enabled software platform for small and medium food and drink manufacturers supplying packaged products into retail and foodservice. It automates order-to-invoice, unifies operational data, and delivers profitability and demand forecasts quickly and seamlessly. Pesto is purpose-built for the food industry, replacing outdated tools with a single platform that automates processes, improves profitability, and integrates sustainability data into everyday workflows. Learn more at https://heypesto.ai.
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