Loamy, a Los Angeles startup that sells operations software to produce growers, packers, and distributors, has raised $6 million in seed funding led by Zeal Capital Partners. The round, announced Oct. 27, brings the company’s total funding to $10 million.
Once a load misses a buyer’s spec after it ships, the grower has about a day to find another buyer, and the fruit often goes in the trash, according to Loamy. The company says its software spots fruit headed outside spec weeks earlier, while it can still go to a processor or juicer, and that it has cut product rejections in half for its customers.
Retailers set specs for color, size, testing, volume, and delivery day, and weather alone can push a crop outside them. Freezes last winter cost some Central Florida strawberry growers about 20% of their crop and left other produce at risk of scarring and smaller sizes, FreightWaves noted.
“A strawberry grower puts about $35,000 into every acre and can still watch a $40,000 load go in the trash because nobody knew it would miss the buyer’s spec,” said Charles Julius, Loamy’s co-founder and CEO.
How rejections work today
Under Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act regulations, a receiver generally has up to eight hours after being told a truckload has arrived to reject it, a window that 7 CFR 46.2 extends when the receiver is waiting on a federal inspection. Loamy says the work around those decisions still runs on WhatsApp messages, spreadsheets, and email threads.
Satellite imagery lets the company track customers’ field lots, and infrared analysis detects browning before the human eye can, Loamy said. The same app scores produce condition from photos at receiving, cooling, and shipping, reads supplier documents that arrive by email, reviews inspection forms, and runs on a phone or tablet without a cell signal.
It also traces each order back to its field lot with Produce Traceability Initiative case labels and the records required under the Food and Drug Administration’s Food Traceability Rule, known as FSMA 204. The rule covers foods on the agency’s Food Traceability List, which includes fresh leafy greens such as lettuce. Companies handling them must keep lot codes and data for steps including harvesting, packing, shipping, and receiving, and give the FDA a sortable spreadsheet within 24 hours during an outbreak or recall. The FDA will not enforce the rule before July 20, 2028, after Congress directed it to wait.
Growth figures highlight urgency behind tackling food waste
Annual recurring revenue grew more than 30 times over the past year, the company said, with net revenue retention above 500% and no customer churn. It did not disclose revenue or customer counts. Customers include lettuce producers and distributors that sell produce, meat, and grains, and the company says the platform usually pays for itself in the first month.
“Margin pressure and labor constraints are accelerating AI adoption across the food industry,” Qadree said in the release.
Loamy says about 40% of food is lost between the farm and the consumer and that about 75% of that loss happens before it reaches a retailer. ReFED’s 2026 U.S. Food Waste Report estimated that 70 million tons of U.S. food, about 29% of the supply, went unsold or uneaten in 2024. ReFED says most of that loss occurs at consumer-facing businesses and in homes.
Founders came from Procore and Motive
Julius, who worked on Procore’s app marketplace, later led a new verticals enterprise unit at Motive, according to Loamy. He co-founded the company in 2024 with Jason Pesek, Motive’s former head of product for mobile and core platform.
Slauson & Co., Supply Change Capital, and Amplify.LA also invested in the round. The money will go toward scaling Loamy’s engineering and go-to-market teams, building out its AI products, and expanding into new food categories.
“That is an information problem, and it is solvable,” Julius said of loads that miss spec. “When a grower sees it weeks earlier, the fruit goes to a buyer who wants it.”
Why it matters: For growers, a missed spec costs the most when it surfaces at the receiving dock. Loamy is selling a way to reroute fruit weeks earlier, but its rejection and revenue claims lack a public baseline, and the federal traceability rule that could push adoption won’t be enforced until 2028.
