AKA Foods has announced the completion of a $17.2m seed funding round led by renowned AI experts and entrepreneurs Alex and Michael Bronstein.
The funding marks the official launch of AKA Studio, a secure AI system and proprietary platform that enables food companies to create, optimise and launch products much faster, smarter and more affordably than ever before.
Why this matters
AKA Studio streamlines food product R&D by consolidating a company’s historical knowledge and ongoing research into a structured, AI-guided platform.
It integrates sensory data on texture, aroma and taste with ingredient specifications and regulatory information, helping R&D teams cut innovation cycles from years to weeks.
For business leaders, it turns organisational knowledge into measurable innovation assets, boosting productivity and profitability.
For investors, it offers a defensible, category-defining AI-powered solution at the intersection of food science and sensory evaluation.
Formulation remains a hands-on scientific process. AKA Studio accelerates it and improves decision quality.
Plus, by linking structured digital information with sensory evidence, AKA Studio enables companies to optimise formulations scientifically and bring healthier, more sustainable products to market with greater precision and security.
The platform also supports reformulation for clean labels, reduced sugar and fat content and more resilient supply chains.
Security and confidentiality are central to the system’s design.
AKA Studio operates as a secure SaaS platform managed by AKA Foods, giving clients private environments for their data.
For organisations with heightened security requirements, it can also be deployed on-premise, air-gapped, under the same protection standards.
Client data is never shared or used for model training and in every case, clients retain full ownership and control of their proprietary information.
"This is something that a generic AI model such as ChatGPT will never be able to achieve."
David Sack, Founder & CEO of AKA Foods, 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.”
The underlying sensory-AI framework also holds potential for future applications in flavour, fragrance, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, where sensory evaluation and precision formulation are equally critical.