AKA Foods raises $17.2M to launch AI-powered food studio

Amsterdam-based AKA Foods has raised $17.2 million in seed funding to launch its AKA Studio platform, which uses AI to accelerate food product innovation. The platform integrates a company's sensory data and institutional knowledge into a unified system, enabling food companies to shorten product development cycles from years to weeks, improving productivity and profitability.

AKA Foods was founded in 2021 by CEO David Sack and Chief Scientist Professor Alex Bronstein. The company's initial goal was to create the perfect vegan pizza cheese, but this led to the realization that food development processes were generally inefficient and isolated. This inspired them to develop AKA Studio, an AI-powered platform that consolidates a company's knowledge, sensory data, and research into a single, unified system. The $17.2 million seed funding, led by AI specialists Alex and Michael Bronstein, has enabled AKA Foods to officially launch AKA Studio.

How AKA Studio works

AKA Studio operates on a sensory-AI framework, integrating detailed sensory data (texture, aroma, and taste) from research labs with AI-driven formulation guidance. Unlike generic AI models, AKA Studio uses a unique 'language for food' to connect with diverse data sources and generate actionable insights. The platform is delivered as a secure software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering, with private environments for each client and on-premises installation options to ensure data confidentiality.

AKA Studio aims to transform food innovation from reactive problem-solving to continuous, data-driven improvement. It connects every element of product design, from formulation to sensory validation, through a Food-Specific AI Assistant in one secure environment.

AKA Studio centralizes formulations, results, and reports into one structured data framework. It provides digital workbench tools for product and process design with statistical, modeling, and Design of Experiments (DOE) capabilities. The platform connects human feedback with machine learning to continuously refine product quality and market adoption, while balancing cost, compliance, sustainability, and nutrition through AI-powered recommendations. AKA Studio claims its platform can reduce ingredient costs by up to 15% through AI-driven optimization and cut reformulation cycles by 50%. It also aims to accelerate development by 3x with consistent, data-backed decision-making.

Global expansion

The company plans to expand AKA Studio's deployment with enterprise clients globally. The organization also intends to develop new applications beyond food into areas such as flavor, fragrance, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals, where sensory precision is equally important.

AKA Studio supports modern food innovation needs, including clean-label reformulation, reduced sugar and fat content, and supply chain resilience. By connecting data from past projects, the platform guides smarter formulation decisions, models ingredient and processing trade-offs, and translates consumer preferences into measurable product targets, ultimately increasing product acceptance and market success.