Europe’s food supply chain is undergoing a gradual digital transformation as startups seek to modernise procurement processes that have long relied on manual ordering, fragmented supplier networks and limited price transparency. In this context, Saltz, a digital marketplace built for the professional food supply industry, has secured €20 million in Series A funding to accelerate the development of its platform and expand across Europe.
The funding round attracted a mix of institutional investors and experienced technology entrepreneurs. Participants included the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Inovo, Lifeline Ventures and Change Ventures. The round also saw support from a group of strategic angel investors, including Mantas Mikuckas, co founder of Vinted, and Miki Kuusi, founder of Wolt, alongside several executives from Shopify and other industry operators.
The new investment will support the company’s growth as it works to modernise how restaurants and food suppliers connect, trade and manage procurement across international markets.
Addressing fragmentation in food distribution
The food distribution industry remains one of the largest yet least digitised sectors in global commerce. Restaurants and professional kitchens often rely on numerous suppliers to source ingredients, particularly for fresh products such as meat and seafood. Ordering processes are frequently managed through phone calls, emails or manual systems, making procurement time consuming and difficult to track.
This fragmented system also limits transparency around pricing and supplier availability. Restaurants may need to maintain relationships with multiple distributors while manually comparing prices and managing separate ordering channels. For suppliers, reaching new customers across borders can also be challenging without an efficient digital infrastructure.
Saltz was founded to address these inefficiencies by building a centralised digital marketplace that connects restaurants directly with verified food suppliers. The platform aims to simplify procurement by consolidating supplier catalogues, ordering systems, payment processing and logistics coordination into a single interface.
Building a digital marketplace for professional kitchens
Saltz operates as an online marketplace accessible through both a web browser and mobile application. The platform allows chefs and restaurant operators to browse products from multiple suppliers in one place while placing and managing orders through a unified system.
By digitising these processes, the company aims to replace fragmented procurement workflows with a streamlined platform that provides greater visibility and efficiency for both buyers and sellers.
The marketplace currently provides access to thousands of food products, particularly fresh and frozen meat and seafood, which are commonly sourced by professional kitchens across Europe. Through the platform, restaurants can connect with suppliers across borders, expanding their sourcing options beyond local distributors.
The company believes that enabling direct digital connections between kitchens and suppliers can improve efficiency while also helping reduce unnecessary intermediary costs.
Leveraging marketplace experience
Saltz was founded by entrepreneurs with experience building large scale ecommerce and marketplace platforms. The founding team previously worked on global B2B marketplace products at Oberlo and Shopify, where they developed tools that helped merchants manage cross border commerce.
During their experience building these platforms, the team observed that many sectors still lack the infrastructure needed to support direct international trade. Food distribution, in particular, remains heavily dependent on traditional intermediaries and manual workflows.
Saltz aims to bring a marketplace driven approach to the sector, creating a digital environment where restaurants can source products directly from suppliers while maintaining transparency around pricing and product availability.
Expanding across Europe
Since launching, the Saltz platform has expanded to operate in 20 countries. The company provides professional kitchens with access to a broad network of suppliers offering a wide selection of food products across international markets.
The new funding will allow Saltz to accelerate its expansion strategy across Europe while continuing to develop the technology behind its cross border marketplace.
The company plans to invest heavily in product development and engineering in order to improve the platform’s capabilities, particularly in areas such as logistics integration, payments and supplier management.
Strengthening the team and platform
Over the next year Saltz intends to grow its workforce across several key areas including engineering, product development, sales and operations. The company believes that building a strong technology and operations team will be essential to scaling the marketplace across new regions.
As digital commerce continues to reshape industries from retail to logistics, Saltz is positioning itself as a technology platform designed specifically for the food supply sector. By connecting chefs directly with suppliers through a transparent digital marketplace, the company aims to bring greater efficiency, visibility and scalability to one of the world’s largest yet traditionally offline industries.
