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Food-tech start-up AKA Foods has secured $17.2 million in seed funding to support the launch of AKA Studio, an AI platform designed to enable food companies to innovate more efficiently and affordably.

Described by the start-up as a ‘world-first,’ the system is designed to transform how food products are researched, formulated and developed.

AKA Studio consolidates a company’s knowledge and R&D into a structured foundation that incorporates experimental and analytical measures related to texture, aroma and taste, from sensory research facilities. AI assistants are then applied to guide formulation and optimisation.

This integration aims to shorten the innovation cycle for R&D teams from year to weeks, by combining historical and ongoing R&D data, ingredient specifications, sensory feedback and regulatory documentation into a smart, unified framework.

By linking digital information with sensory evidence, AKA Studio could enable companies to bring healthier and more sustainable products to market with greater precision and security, through formulation optimisation.

The platform also supports reformulation for cleaner labels, reduced sugar and fat content and more resilient supply chains – major priorities for food producers currently. It also holds potential for future applications in flavour, fragrance, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.

AKA Studio operates as a secure Software as a Service (SaaS) platform managed by AKA Foods. The company has assured that this offers a private environment for clients’ data, and the tech can be deployed on-premise, air-gapped, under the same protection standards for organisations with heightened security requirements. Data is never shared for model training, and clients retain full ownership and control of their information in every case, AKA added.

Alex Bronstein, chief scientist at AKA Foods, said: “AKA Foods is essentially bringing to market a new type of a grammar – a language for food, creating AI agents that are capable of connecting to different external data sources and then making recommendations on how to improve the recipe. This is something that a generic AI model like ChatGPT will never be able to achieve.”

Founder and CEO, David Sack, added: “The global food industry holds enormous amounts of valuable knowledge but struggles to use it effectively. AKA Studio gives companies the ability to capture, organise and apply that knowledge securely. This investment allows us to expand deployment to enterprise clients worldwide and continue advancing the science behind how food is created.”