Steph Curry’s VC Invests in AI to Fix Food Supply Chains

The global food supply chain operates with remarkable complexity, yet its administrative backbone often relies on surprisingly outdated methods. Orders pour in through a chaotic mix of emails, phone calls, and even faxes, forcing staff to spend countless hours on manual data entry into clunky enterprise software systems. This inefficiency creates significant bottlenecks and eats into the already razor-thin margins that characterize the food industry. A new startup, Burnt, believes artificial intelligence holds the key to solving this persistent problem, and it has secured significant backing, including an investment from Steph Curry’s venture firm, PennyJar Capital.

Burnt recently closed a $3.8 million seed funding round. The investment was led by PennyJar Capital, with additional participation from Scribble Ventures, Formation VC, and several angel investors. The company’s mission is to automate back-office supply chain tasks using AI agents, which are software programs designed to handle repetitive jobs typically performed by people.

The founder and CEO, Joseph Jacob, brings deep personal experience to the challenge. Having grown up in a family with generations of involvement in the seafood supply chain, from farming and processing to exporting, Jacob has seen the industry’s inefficiencies firsthand. After college, he worked on a shrimp processing factory floor in India and later managed large-scale seafood imports in the U.S. He was frustrated by the reliance on Excel spreadsheets and aging ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems. “In a business with razor-thin margins, it’s nearly impossible to succeed without good supply chain management,” Jacob noted. After experiencing multiple failed software implementations, he decided to build a solution specifically for this sector.

Burnt’s approach is distinct from traditional enterprise software vendors. Instead of demanding that companies rip out and replace their existing systems, a process known for being costly, lengthy, and disruptive, Burnt layers its AI agents on top of current infrastructure. The company’s first agent, named Ozai, focuses on automating the order-entry process. It can interpret and process orders received through various channels, handling up to 80% of workflows that are currently manual. This frees up sales teams to focus on higher-value activities like customer acquisition.

Since its launch in January, Burnt has already demonstrated impressive traction. The platform is processing over $10 million in monthly orders across clients in seafood, specialty goods, and packaged foods. A major U.K. food conglomerate with billions in revenue is currently implementing the system. The startup is already generating six-figure revenue and experiencing steady month-over-month growth.

Jacob believes his team’s industry background is a critical advantage in a market skeptical of “tech tourists.” His co-founders also have relevant expertise: Chief Product Officer Rhea Karimpanal comes from a restaurant-owning family, and CTO Chandru Shanmugasundaram has a background in building software for restaurant applications. Jacob’s prior role at Rekki, a B2B marketplace for restaurants, gave him direct insight into the fragility of existing supply chain technology.

Securing venture capital required a focused pitch. While AI is a hot topic, convincing investors to back a solution for the traditionally low-tech food distribution market was a challenge. PennyJar Capital’s investment thesis, which focuses on founders operating in overlooked industries ripe for technological disruption, proved to be a perfect fit. Jacob sees the decades of missed software adoption not as a barrier, but as a massive opportunity for a company that understands the sector’s unique demands.

(Source: TechCrunch)