Vori is a San Francisco-based SaaS company building the all-in-one operating system for independent grocery stores. Their platform, VoriOS, combines AI-powered point-of-sale, inventory management, automated ordering, pricing automation, loyalty programs, and back-office analytics into a single system — giving independent grocers the same technological leverage that Walmart and Amazon use against them. Founded in 2019 by a third-generation grocer and Stanford/Cornell engineers with backgrounds at SpaceX, Lyft, and Stripe, Vori has processed over $500 million in payments across 140+ stores in 55+ cities, and raised $50 million total including a $22M Series B in May 2026.
Jason Potter is the President and CEO of Grocery Outlet, the Emeryville-based bargain grocery chain known for its independent owner-operator model and treasure-hunt aisles. He took the top job on February 3, 2025, after nearly five years steering The Fresh Market and 26 years climbing through Sobeys, Canada's national grocery giant. He started bagging groceries at 13 in a small Alberta town and has been in the trade ever since.
Foodsmart (formerly Zipongo) is a San Francisco-based telenutrition company that pairs registered dietitians with a food benefits marketplace to treat diet-related chronic disease and food insecurity. It serves more than 2.2 million members across employer plans, Medicaid managed care, Medicare Advantage and commercial insurers, and in 2024 raised $200M led by TPG's The Rise Fund to expand its 'Foodscripts' food-as-medicine programs with major U.S. health systems.
Matt Schwartz is the CEO and co-founder of Afresh, a San Francisco-based AI company building the operating system for fresh food in grocery retail. A Stanford MBA alumnus with a lifelong obsession with food systems, he co-founded Afresh in 2017 after discovering that billion-dollar grocery chains were still managing produce orders with paper and pen. Under his leadership, Afresh has raised $181.8M in total funding, deployed across 12,500+ departments in 40 states, and prevented more than 200 million pounds of food waste - serving major chains including Albertsons, Meijer, and Wakefern.
Amrit Robbins is the CEO and co-founder of Axiom Cloud, a San Jose-based AI-powered refrigeration management software company serving grocery chains and cold storage operators. A Stanford-trained engineer and Forbes 30 Under 30 alumnus, Robbins previously co-founded Axiom Exergy — a hardware-first thermal energy storage company — before pivoting to software in 2020 with Axiom Cloud. His work addresses refrigerant leaks, which rank #4 on Project Drawdown's climate impact list, with a platform that requires no new hardware, deploys remotely, and earns payback in under a year.
Brandon Hill is the co-founder and CEO of Vori, a San Francisco-based B2B operating system for the grocery industry. A Stanford graduate and Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, Hill grew up surrounded by grocery — his grandparents ran a small store in Oklahoma and his parents spent 40+ years in the industry. He channeled that heritage into Vori, which he co-founded in 2019 with Tre Kirkman and Robert Pinkerton to modernize the technology stack powering America's independent and regional supermarkets. Vori's AI-powered platform, VoriOS, handles point-of-sale, inventory, pricing, supplier integration, and back-office operations for 140+ stores across 55+ cities, having processed over $500 million in payments. The company raised a $22M Series B in May 2026, bringing total funding to over $32M.