Food supply chains are messy, outdated, and hard to manage. Now, Steph Curry’s VC firm just backed an AI startup that wants to fix food supply chains by using intelligent automation to cut costs, reduce inefficiencies, and modernize a trillion-dollar industry.
Image Credits:Burnt
Why Food Supply Chains Need A Fix
Orders often arrive through multiple channels, forcing staff to manually enter them into outdated software systems. Compliance is still managed with spreadsheets, and logistics delays create massive waste. For decades, software vendors have tried to modernize food distribution, but the results have been underwhelming.
Meet Burnt: The AI Startup Tackling The Problem
Burnt, a Y Combinator–backed startup, believes AI agents can succeed where traditional enterprise software failed. Instead of relying on manual processes, Burnt automates back-office supply chain tasks using AI.
The company recently raised $3.8 million in seed funding, led by Penny Jar Capital — Steph Curry’s venture firm — along with Scribble Ventures, Formation VC, and angel investor Dan Scheinman.
A Founder With Deep Roots In Food
Burnt co-founder and CEO Joseph Jacob grew up surrounded by the food business. His great-grandfather pioneered shrimp exports from India to the U.S. in the 1930s. Since then, each generation of his family has worked in some part of the seafood supply chain, from farming and processing to importing and exporting.
Jacob himself spent time working on the floor of a shrimp processing factory in rural India. That firsthand experience gave him a deep understanding of the inefficiencies in food production and distribution.
Why Investors Are Paying Attention
The U.S. food market is worth trillions, and inefficiencies add up to billions in losses every year. Burnt’s approach — using AI to automate repetitive and compliance-heavy processes — could help food businesses cut waste, boost efficiency, and improve margins.
With backing from Steph Curry’s VC firm, the startup has gained credibility and visibility in a sector where innovation has been slow. Investors see Burnt’s AI-driven approach as a chance to bring long-overdue transformation to food supply chains.
As AI adoption accelerates across industries, food supply chains are emerging as one of the biggest opportunities for disruption. If Burnt succeeds, it could set a new standard for how perishable goods move across the globe — reducing waste, improving traceability, and making operations more sustainable.
