Burnt has secured $3.8 million in seed funding to build AI-powered automation tools for the global food supply chain. The startup's technology addresses operational bottlenecks in the $9 trillion food industry by automating manual workflows that currently slow down distributors and suppliers.
Penny Jar Capital led the funding round, joined by Scribble Ventures, Formation VC, and angel investors including Dan Scheinman and several food industry veterans. The investment will help Burnt expand its AI agent platform that works alongside existing legacy systems rather than replacing them entirely.
Food distribution represents a massive $300 billion industry that largely bypassed the software-as-a-service revolution. Most companies still rely on enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems installed 25 years ago, creating significant inefficiencies in daily operations.
"The food supply chain runs on relationships, hustle, and a thousand moving parts—but behind every order is a team buried in emails, messages, voicemails, and spreadsheets, manually trying to keep everything on track," said Joseph ("JJ") Jacob, co-founder and CEO of Burnt. "I've experienced this first-hand, from working the shrimp factory floor to managing global procurement, and when I couldn't find a solution, I began building one."
Burnt's initial AI agent focuses on automating sales order processing, capturing orders from emails, voicemails, and spreadsheets before inputting data into existing ERP systems. The typical sales order takes about 10 minutes to process manually, with hundreds arriving every minute at larger distributors.
The startup's technology reduces processing time per order to seconds, potentially giving back entire workdays to focus on customer relationships. Burnt is already processing over $10 million worth of orders monthly for customers including top food distributors across meat, seafood, and specialty foods.
The company plans to expand with additional AI agents for procurement, distribution, accounting, finance, and compliance teams. Each agent will target specific operational workflows where manual data entry creates bottlenecks.
Burnt emerged from Y Combinator's Summer 2025 batch with founders who bring generational experience in food supply chain operations. JJ Jacob represents the fourth generation of his family working in food supply chains, starting his career on a shrimp factory floor before leading global procurement for one of America's largest shrimp importers.
Co-founder and Chief Product Officer Rhea Karimpanal comes from a third-generation food supply chain family with roots in India's spice trade. She previously built products for legacy industries at venture-backed companies including travel startup Fora Travel.
Chief Technology Officer Chandru Shanmugasundaram, also a third-generation industry entrepreneur, began his tech career building an in-house ERP system for his father's printing press company. He later held engineering roles at India's top unicorn technology companies before joining Burnt.
Nicholas Hanson, Managing Director at La Tua Pasta, one of Burnt's early customers, explained the difference: "After using other softwares that start-ups built, I saw why Burnt is different—they actually get the weird, wacky nuances of our world. They were relentless in making my team happy, and that's why I backed them in their seed round."
The funding round attracted investors who specifically value the founders' deep industry knowledge rather than outsider disruption approaches. Bryant Barr, Founding Partner at Penny Jar Capital, highlighted JJ's comprehensive industry experience.
"JJ brings unmatched expertise to the food industry. He has lived every layer of it—from the factory floor to managing hundreds of millions in procurement—and that kind of knowledge can't be picked up quickly by others," said Barr. "That depth, combined with his relentless drive and refusal to accept the status quo, is why we bet on JJ and his team."
Dan Scheinman, the angel investor, emphasized the importance of insider knowledge: "What impresses me most about the Burnt team is they are not just outsiders looking to disrupt a historic industry with radical technology. Instead, they've lived this life and know all the nuances in workflows and where the real opportunity is to help."
Formation's Solly Garber noted the unique positioning within the AI agent space: "Many founders are attacking obvious industries with agentic capabilities, but there are others that don't get the same limelight where the opportunity set is equally massive. Any modern piece of software that breaks through will be in large part to a team's customer sensibilities."
