Some startups whisper their value. Metafoodx? They plate it up loud, and every bite saves money, time, and the planet. Founded in 2021 by a trio who don’t just build tech, they architect impact, Fengmin Gong, Jun Du, and Wicky Zhang, Metafoodx was born out of back-of-house chaos most folks never see. Think hotel cafeterias where trays of untouched food meet the trash bin like clockwork. Now multiply that waste by every university, resort, and cruise line on the map. That’s not a food problem. That’s a systems problem. And Metafoodx decided to fix it, from the tray up.
Fengmin isn’t some hobbyist founder dabbling in AI with a side of idealism. He’s a serial entrepreneur who cut his teeth building Cyphort Inc and INTRUVERT NETWORKS, INC, heavy-hitters in cybersecurity. Now he’s taking that same precision into kitchens. Jun Du brings the engineering muscle, fusing IoT, cloud, and AI/ML like a Michelin-star chef layering flavors. Wicky Zhang keeps the customer engine running clean and sharp. They didn’t just identify inefficiencies in the $400B U.S. food waste crisis, they built patented tech to crush them.
So what does that look like on the ground? Picture a 3D AI scanner, Metafoodx’s Food Sensor, that tracks image, weight, and temperature of food within two seconds flat. It knows what’s being served, eaten, and wasted, down to the portion. It logs food safety compliance like it’s second nature and pushes AI-fueled recommendations back to the kitchen before your plate’s even cold. The result? Up to 50% waste reduction. 200% ROI. And real-time insight that helps places like University of Massachusetts Amherst, Vanderbilt University, Pomona College, and University of California, Riverside run tighter operations.
It’s no wonder they just locked in $9.4M in funding, led by Trustbridge Partners, with BlueRun Ventures and ScalableVision Capital jumping in. That stacks on top of a $3M seed last year from names like 421 capitals, DayDayCook (DDC Enterprise Limited), and GFM Food Tech Accelerator, bringing Metafoodx to a cool $12.4M total raised. This round fuels expansion into hospitality and enterprise food service while doubling down on AI/IoT development and customer analytics.
Metafoodx isn’t just serving data, it’s serving transformation. And if you’re in foodservice and still operating without this tech, you’re not just behind. You’re bleeding margin, missing compliance, and tossing opportunity in the compost.
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