Concept: Belgian foodtech startup Apicbase has launched a centralized SaaS platform to simplify the supply chain of restaurants and hospitality businesses. It intends to help them manage products, inventory, orders, ensuring the health and safety of consumers while offering accurate sales analytics based on augmented data.

Nature of Disruption: Apicbase functions as a dedicated application that provides a suite of services from a single user-friendly interface. It allows restaurateurs to systematize recipe calculations, including direct costs, waste, and margin which can be used by both kitchen and administrative staff. The platform automates large calculations to provide real-time insights into big data and purchasing volumes, despite the number of locations or concepts the hospitality business manages. It is a standalone system that easily integrates with platforms such as POS systems, accountancy, and payroll. Restaurants and hospitality businesses can directly purchase the inventory from the suppliers using the software, thereby reducing human errors in procurement. Moreover, it provides a dashboard that helps foodservice providers in decision-making, especially in terms of avoiding waste and increasing profits.

Outlook: Cloud computing and big data are driving the food industry as a whole, with the cloud infrastructure providing the backbone to gather and analyze data through food supply line management. Apicbase has aimed to focus on capitalizing on this opportunity by providing practical and intuitive insights regarding the enablement of inventory management and procurement. This would be instrumental in decreasing the cost incurred during inventory management, enhance workflow efficiency and improve team management. The startup has raised $4mn in a Series A funding led by Volta Ventures, Newion, AAA Fund, and Business Angels. It aims to use the funds to uplift three major horizons of the product namely – usability, forecasting through AI, and scalability for enterprise customers. They also intend to double their workforce and expand their reach to New York, Amsterdam, and London.

This article was originally published in Verdict.co.uk