Traditional methods for developing new food products often rely on scattered R&D data and disconnected sensory evaluations, resulting in innovation cycles that span years. To tackle this, AKA Foods created AKA Studio, a secure AI-powered platform that consolidates a company’s institutional knowledge, sensory data, and research into one unified system.
This platform enables food companies to accelerate product formulation and optimisation from years to weeks, improving both productivity and profitability.
Today, AKA Foods secured $17.2 million in seed funding, led by AI specialists Alex and Michael Bronstein, which enabled the official launch of AKA Studio.
Blending human sensory expertise with advanced AI
Founded in 2021 by David Sack, who serves as CEO, alongside Chief Scientist Professor Alex Bronstein, AKA Foods originated from the simple desire to create the perfect vegan pizza cheese. This experimentation uncovered a broader problem: current food development processes are inefficient and siloed.
Driven by a mission to unlock and securely apply valuable organisational knowledge, the founders combined their expertise in food technology and intelligent systems to develop a proprietary solution. Their vision centres on blending human sensory expertise with advanced AI to create healthier, more sustainable food products with exceptional precision.
AKA Studio’s technology is built around a sensory-AI framework that integrates detailed sensory data, covering texture, aroma, and taste, from dedicated research labs with AI-driven formulation guidance.
Sack added, “The global food industry holds enormous amounts of valuable knowledge but struggles to use it effectively. AKA Studio enables companies to capture, organise, and apply that knowledge securely.”
Unlike generic AI models such as ChatGPT, AKA Studio employs a unique “language for food” to connect with diverse internal and external data sources and generate actionable insights. The platform is delivered as a secure SaaS offering, with private environments for each client and options for on-premises, air-gapped installations to ensure data confidentiality and full client ownership.
Furthermore, AKA Studio supports modern food innovation needs, including clean-label reformulation, reduced sugar and fat content, and supply chain resilience. Direct competitors include Bettani, Above Food, Fooditive, Umiami, Black Sheep Foods, and Nuttin Ordinary; however, these firms primarily focus on alternative proteins and plant-based products rather than AI-powered food innovation platforms.
What’s next?
Looking forward, AKA Foods plans to expand AKA Studio’s deployment with enterprise clients globally while developing new applications beyond food into areas such as flavour, fragrance, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals, where sensory precision is equally important.
