Tuidi, a start-up founded by Giulio Martinacci and Vincenzo Morelli specialising in the development of proprietary machine learning platforms for large-scale retail, has announced that it has closed a €3 million seed round.
The Italian food retail sector is a pillar of the national economy: with over €135 billion, in 2024 it accounted for almost 6% of Italy’s GDP, according to a statement released by the start-up. It is an important industry, but one that suffers from many inefficiencies due to sub-optimal data management. Tuidi therefore offers its artificial intelligence platform to automate point-of-sale management and make it more cost-effective.
To strengthen its growth, Tuidi is now leveraging the €3 million capital increase subscribed by Vertis, through the Vertis Venture 6 Digital Sud funds, partially financed by the European Union’s Next Generation EU programme, and Vertis Venture 7 Digital Puglia, and Azimut through the Azimut Eltif Venture Capital ALIcrowd III and IV funds and the Azimut Digital Equity Italy fund managed by Azimut Libera Impresa. Qberg, a company active in the market research and price intelligence sector, is also participating in the operation and will also play a strategic partner role in the development plan.
“At the heart of Tuidi’s offering is Delphi, the platform that acts as a point-of-sale controller,” explains Martinacci in a statement, “a system that provides daily recommendations on how to manage procurement, sell-out prices, assortments and staff shifts.” With this move, the start-up aims to strengthen its position as a technology brand on the market by further enhancing its products, thanks in part to the use of AI and generative AI agents.
Morelli adds: “The core of the solution is represented by proprietary machine learning models that process millions of data points, cross-referencing them with internal and external variables in order to anticipate consumer purchasing behaviour and improve operational processes within the point of sale.”
The impact of Tuidi’s technology can already be measured in its customers’ results: sales increases of up to 2% and order cost reductions of up to 10%. With over 620 million products managed through Delphi, the company has already helped reduce waste, improve sales performance and optimise operational efficiency for companies such as Conad Centro Nord, Maiora, Retail Pro, Ama Crai Est and Gruppo Romano.
Tuidi aims to lead the daily transformation of Italian large-scale retail, translating complex data into concrete operational choices for stores. “Italy has one of its most iconic and recognised sectors in the world in food,” explain the founders (pictured), “our goal is to ensure that it also becomes a model of technological innovation. A country where foodtech is not a promise for the future, but a real lever of competitiveness, sustainability and quality for consumers and retailers.”
For Giacomo Giurazza, partner at Vertis, the value of innovation is already evident in the everyday experience of consumers: “As a consumer, I see problems in supermarkets every day: from empty shelves to prices that do not meet expectations. Tuidi demonstrates that cutting-edge technology exists that is capable of addressing these real challenges. That is why we want to support them in their growth, so that we can bring the entire Italian food industry to higher standards of efficiency and innovation.
Guido Bocchio, head of venture capital at Azimut Libera Impresa, adds: “With over 28,000 points of sale throughout Italy, large-scale retail trade represents a world with many areas for improvement: over 7% of turnover is eroded by inefficiencies such as stock shortages and waste, which undermine retailers’ competitiveness. Tuidi represents an opportunity to make concrete improvements in this area.”
Fabrizio Pavone, founder and CEO of Qberg, emphasises the strategic value of the partnership: “Qberg’s entry into Tuidi represents not only an investment, but also the decision to support a technology company capable of influencing the dynamics of large-scale retail. The cutting-edge nature of their technology convinced us to embark on a joint venture, with the aim of supporting their expansion and consolidating their growth at a decisive stage in the evolution of the sector.”
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